Excited about the KL trip!!

Before i go on and on about my KL road trip tomorrow, let me share with you LADIES out there on this new book which i just bought today!

I saw the advertisment for this book on a mailer sent by borders about a fortnight back during the worlds' woman's day.

Initially I thought this would be a bimbo book. HAha, but later on, when i finally got to read it properly on the bus, i am really happie to have it with me.

It reminds me of all the magazine that I used to read. The difference? There are no silly advertisements - the ones inside (Discounts supposedly to be used in England) comes with a good write up. It isnt just a plain advertisement, it tells you a little about how woman - should and can continue to become the goddess she wnats to be while they advertise whatever that they are looking for.

According to WM, this is the book that will lead me astray.. hahaha... I suppose all guys would think so. AHha...

Now im gonna have my two fav books with me, im going bring them to kl and china with me!!

OK: Quick announcement. Im gonna go back to yantai on mon night. This time im gonna transit seoul!! No more SQ this time, gonna fly Korean air. Haiz, just when i finally begin to appreciate Beijing....

Well.. that is going to be another 1 month trip ahead.

Before that!! In less than 6 hours time, im gonna be on a road trip to KL with SY and JS. yay!!!

I havent done any form of research lei. Gonna totally depend on js.

28th - 30th KL

31st night flight to Seoul and then to china. Gonna reach yantai at 10 plus on april fools day...

7th May - back to sg. That is my tentative schedule. I dun even get to spend my april 2008 in sg!!! sigh.

OKay, i better go pack. nightie!

Thank you Uncle tin

I cannot be more happy to touch down at T3 last night.

My recent trip has been one of the most disastrous one ever since i started travelling to china last Aug.

I lost my wallet, blatently STOLEN by this professional Thieve while i was in a fast food restaurant with 3 others and none of us, including me, even though my bag was just sitting on the floor beside my left foot and i was already at a corner seat beside the glass pane, caught him in the act.

And so, I had to go make a trip to the police station to lodge a report. That was quite an experience.

It didnt help that the day before my flight, and that was just 2 days ago, I started vomiting and having diarrhoea at the office. It didnt stop until yesterday. I contemplated going to the hospital in yantai on wednesday night but decided to wait and see if my carbon pills worked. Well, they didnt and so it was already 10-ish and so i decided not to go since the driver was going to pick us up at 630am the next morning and I havent even started packing my luggage. So I decided to rest since i wasnt even able to get off bed without feeling giddy and I would be running to my bathroom every 30 min.

I manage to survive somehow to the next morning. And I also survived the flight to beijing T3 - New Beijing International Capital Airport. I was really happy that the shandong airlines brought us to the new airport because the place that I visited and needed most for the next 6 hours before my flight back to sg was the toilet. ANd since it was a new airport, the toilet is damn clean.

I was about to check into those hourly hotels to rest but because the hotel guy was stuck in a jam and we waited for about 30 min before they came, I was already pale and totally tortured by my badly infected stomach and intestine. I decided to cancel the hotel reservation. I am going to go straight to the nearest hospital.

And the diagnosis: Bad Gastrointestinal infection - Doc said there were some blood cells in my stool (in liquid Form already). And in order to make sure that I was well enough for my flight back to sg (something I will not compromise), I decided to be put on drip. Well, apparently, we just need to pay 10 rmb (2 SGD) to request for a bed. Majority of the patients there sit on a chair while being dripped. I guess that's cos it is free.

After I safely made it onto my seat on the SQ flight, I couldnt felt more relieved.

This trip would have been worst, much worst and I wasnt even ready to imagine how things could have been should I have been left alone.

UT accompanied me to the police station and was there with me the whole time while I was still trying to make sense of the whole situation when my wallet and hp were stolen. He remained composed and took care of not just me, but the situation.

On the night before my flight, UT rushed to send me back to the guesthouse even though he had a very important email to send.

When I was half alive in bed, he packed my luggage for me, not even my mum did that for me ok! All I needed to do was to tell him what I need, he just packed. And he had to bring clothes to me in batches to make sure that I can pick and choose the ones i wanted to bring home.

He gave up shopping in beijing to take care of me when i was totally down, physically and emotionally. He needed internet to work with his people from the finance team back in yantai, but because I was not well, he continued to do so over the phone, going through item by item for the figures. He arranged for the hotel. He arranged to bring me to the hospital.

He endured hunger and cold to be beside me while I was on drip for 3 hours. He was running around the hospital with me for 1 hour before that to take care of every little procedure and payment.

I was already in my down feather jacket, in blanket and I still felt cold on the bed. It was 4 degrees and there was no heater in the room. He was hungry and still, he took off his jacket and gave it to me. He was only in a polo tee. I had to force him to put the jacket back on.

This was the 2nd time I was in a hospital, to be exact, in a pretty run down hospital during winter in a foreign country. The first time that happened, I was in nepal. This time round, beijing airport. It wouldnt have been the same should I be alone. I dun think I would have the courage to go the the hospital too. Just by being there for me, sitting by my bed the whole time was a huge moral booster.

Kind of coincidental that wongso called not long after I started my drip. He was shocked to hear that I was in a hospital. But you know what, it is also really warm to hear from someone back from home when I am at my most vulnerable.

I decided not to inform mummy cos I do not want her to worry.

Thank you Uncle tin.

I cannot imagine this trip without you.

Greetings

I finally felt it today.

Perhaps it is after the chat we all had after lunch, I am inspired to set up my own business.

I shall wait for the right time and opportunity, and I will go all out.

Whatever I am doing now gives me exposure, a good training ground to hone my skills and also allows me to look at businesses from a holistic perspective. The posting in May will give me a good financial training on businesses. With that I guess, it is more of time and opportunity later on. I dunno when that day will come. Maybe 2 years, maybe 5 years, maybe shorter, maybe longer. I never felt so strongly for this as a business student for years. Now I do.

We'll see!

Im happy to be returning home next thursday. I will get to enjoy good friday back in sg. Im going to go for good dim sum with my family. Im also thinking of my grad photoshoot. I know it is terribly overdue but i cant help it because at the rate that i am travelling, I seriously have no time to even do proper shopping. FRIENDS. Here I come.

Thank you Yao and Sy for emailing me. Yeah, I will make it a point to meet up with you!

I can imagine tons of letters piling up on my table. Not sure even if I have to file for income tax, how to file etc.

Here is what I bought in yantai, but i suspect I will return to sg with more shoes than what I list here because they are bringing in shoes for spring and summer and these are exactly the kind that I wear in sg!

1. I bought a pair of reebok track shoes. - but i havent worn it though I said many times that I will go visit the gym here. Guess Mr G is busy and now that he is sick, we all cant follow him there. And I did think of jogging around the yard but they advise that the weather is too cold and that kind of run is bad for lungs. So that explains why my track shoes are still in the box.
2. 3 pairs of jeans - 2 from http://www.only.com/#frontpage and 1 from http://www.veromoda.com/. These are my fav shops in Yantai. I love their jeans design and fit.. EXACT FIT. Guess what? They are on 50% sale. Winter sale. So I paid S$40 per pair of jeans.
3. 1 dress from http://www.only.com/#frontpage . Fits exactly too. Also on 50% discount. I paid S$50 for this dress.
4. 2 pairs of shoes from this local shops. I like the shoe design. And well, I bought 2 pairs of GREEN SHOES. haha... I think i will be back for more. Because I love their designs. Cost be 160 RMB in total = S$32.
5. 2 polo tees in beijing. On my return trip, think i will go visit there to buy more skirts and maybe shoes? Not sure. But I am beginning to enjoy shopping there. Silk street.

I am looking at returning to china, hopefully my last long trip in early april. I would expect at least a 1-month stay and then im good to go back to sg office!!

Maybe I should do Shanghai this time round instead of transitting beijing. Im also planning for a trip to bring mummy here.

For now... I am pretty worn out. For the past few days, I leave office at around 7-8pm. I start work at 8am. Tiring!! Yesterday i left at 730, went for dinner. Went home and ACCIDENTALLY FELL ASLEEP. Woke up at 130 to wash up and i started working on some stuff and eventually decided to sleep at 240am. Woke up at 7:am, back to office again.

I shall leave office early today. Im losing my momentum already... Need a break!

Colourful chicks

I was at the night market this evening and check this out!! This man was selling coloured chicks. Im not sure if these are real or natural cos my colleague said he saw the same kind in australia.

But they are pretty cute.

Haha, not long after i left this stall, I saw this lady holding up a doggie. Guess what, she just bought a doggie and apparently, this doggie is put inside those transparent plastic bag.. the kind the stallholders use to pack stuff for you from say, our sg wet market. That was quite a sight.

I wanna start my travelling stint this coming weekend. Gotta work on saturdays I think and well, I gotta be there for my team and I want to finish this project on time.

Things are getting tough for me. Im running out of capacity, motivation and time. Although im still holding an executive designation, the fact that i have to lead two teams to complete 2 mega projects is itself very challenging. I guess it doesnt help that these two teams are both in two different countries. There is only 1 me. And on top of that, i have another project going on that needs my time. My team in SG is losing people. But that is cos they have decided to move on in their career and not because they wanna leave my team. And i suspect it is because of that, i have another member who sort of foresee the workload ahead and so, decided that he wants to get out of this adhoc team too.

I have my goals in sight. I must deliver them. I would like to move on in my career too and start my official term with the finance team.

So drained.

It is at this point in time that I truly need support and strength to carry on. I thank my team for pushing me as much as i am pushing and showing them the way. I couldnt have achieved that alone.

Uncle tin has been my greatest pillar of support, though half the time he says im being stubborn. I really appreciate his time and effort because at the end of the day, he is facing the same amount, if not more, immense pressure from his side too.

Maybe I was right, maybe not. No matter what, things will never be the same again.

If not for the work in sg office, I would choose to stay in china till end april. All these travellings are too disruptive.

Haiz....

Im going to walk out of this agony with wisdom, perseverance and a clear mind.