You know you've been out of the country for too long when...

*your long-lost friends greet your phonecall with "You're alive!!!"

* Malays, Indians, and Angmohs all look foreign to you.

* You're taken aback when someone addresses you in English

* you go misty-eyed at the sight of hummus, avocados and REAL wholemeal bread at Cold Storage. and OMG - Carrot Cake! with egg & chilli!!

* people drive on the "wrong side" of the road, and guess what, they actually DO give way to pedestrians!

* You forget how good the sun feels on your dry, pasty-white skin and wonder why whiny singaporeans complain "so hot! need air-con!"

*you scream in shock at your receipt when you realise that GST has risen to 7%

*you forget to tap your EZ-link card before you get off the bus and that cost you 10RMB - you can buy a big bowl of noodles in china with that!

*a waitress from mainland China is amazed you can actually order food in fluent, perfect mandarin.

Here, there, everywhere... they must have followed me home...

Hangzhou in snow

January was a lark, with record-breakingly bad weather not just in Hangzhou and other parts of China as well. The days got progressively more chilly, cold rain turned into slushy ice beating down on my flimsy umbrella and soon that turned into snow. and that meant only one thing - snowball fights! ;-)

It didn't matter how many layers of clothes i wore - it didn't make me feel any warmer. It was equally cold inside the house AND outside even with my heater on at full blast. I guess a major reason is because the apartment i live in is a little old, and most houses in the south don't have internal heating or double-glazed windows.

The snow didn't stop Mao from his long march.. nor us from our weekly run ...

My "First Year in Hangzhou" anniversay was spent fretting all day because it was the day before i was supposed to leave Hangzhou but snow was falling fast and thick outside - very ominous.

There was a record snowfall of 32cm in Hangzhou city the next day- the biggest in a hundred years and threw the Hangzhou airport, trains and highways into complete chaos. The planes were grounded, the highways were iced-over and too dangerous to drive on. Needless to say that got me into a major panic but there was nothing i could do but wait.

For lack of better things to do while waiting to get out of Hangzhou, i trudged out to make a snowman. I had to pry myself away from my laptop - to stop myself from refreshing the weather and airport information webpages every 10 seconds! Family back home were getting antsy too - Mum suggested that i called the Singapore consulate - would they be able to charter a plane to take all the stranded singaporeans home for the lunar new year? [The answer from the embassy was a polite "um, no, because this is not a humanitarian crisis and therefore no evacuation required - which of course made sense]

[It is a long story but i will summarise it as] After much difficulty, i made it back to Singapore via Shanghai Pudong airport on 4th Feb - 2 days later than scheduled. At the immaculate and highly-efficient Changi airport, i cleared myself through immigration via the automated booth within 20seconds - no human immigration officer required.

I could not have been more glad to arrive home.

New Year's day hike

Eva, Karolina and I kicked off the first day of 2008 with a walk along the hills. No hangover as i was sensible enough to leave Caris' new year eve party before it was too late (specifically, tequila shots were introduced later on and i escaped!) The weather was perfect for a nice little hike - crisp cold air but sunny!

New Year offerings at the temple on top of Wu-yun mountain.

Meijiawu's unfortunate ducks ...

Because just like school bags and bedlinen, ducks need to be sunned.

Fowl and fishy...

overdue ..

Ok, so i'm aware that its already a month and half into 2008, but i didn't manage to post some december events of 2007.

In between business trips, i went on a weekend hiking trip with Eva, and we had a great time at the Tianmushan national park strolling amidsts the tall cypress trees and bamboo forests. It was so peaceful and tranquil out there we didn't want to leave at all. We both agreed this is the perfect place to run away to if you'd like some quiet time to contemplate your naval or just sort out your thoughts. The owners of the guesthouse where we stayed at were incredibly friendly and hospitable and it felt more like a cosy homestay experience. Our meals were taken together with the family, we played with the feisty 10 year old kid and even attempted to help her with her schoolwork (with limited success). We warmed our hands and roasted sweet tapioca over a charcoal pit[indoors!] while watching TV together and discussing the culture differences between Singapore, Slovakia and China. This is just the sort of travel experience i can't get enough of ...

Cypress trees that stretched way up into the sky ...

i tried climbing but i didn't get very far...


Junwen also visited me in December and it was nice for me to show him my hangzhou - my usual haunts, my favourite Xinjiang noodle shop in my 'hood, and for him to meet my friends.

Here, Junwen attempts to hold up the Baochu Pagoda on Baoshi hill, until he got thirsty...