g3 in china

WE FREEZE

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:28:40 GMT

Back in Nanjing following epic threesome in Shanghai - me, K and Laurent Perrier. Unfortunately Nanjing is freezing and rainy :s. Ick. Trying to make the best of it though!

waiting for the 06:06

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:51:54 GMT

I'm on my way to K in Shanghai...!

hibernate

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:06:10 GMT

Back from a much-needed weekend getaway with Jill in Shanghai -- had a blast! Put some Halloween photos up on Facebook, so check em out there. On my first day we went to the giant Barbie store for Barbie-tinis, and I went back the next day to get some waxing done. It's soo hard to find a waxing place in Nanjing! (I typed 'waxing' into Google-translate and called a bunch of spas here to check if they did it to no avail...except I later found out the word I'd been using literally meant CAR waxing oops.) 2 ladies did my wax jobs at the same time...now, a 4-handed MASSAGE is sweet, but 4-handed WAXING?? Not so much!

I foolishly didn't book a train ticket back to Nanjing in advance, and when I got to the train station at 7 pm on Sunday, all the regular trains back were sold out. I ended up paying double the usual ticket price to ride a Beijing-bound to Nanjing, where it stopped for 2 minutes to pick up more passengers. They didn't even announce that the train had arrived at the Nanjing station, so I literally had to jump off the top bunk, grab my luggage and dash out at the last minute.

Nanjing's freezing now; I think I'm actually beginning to hibernate. I slept 12 hours yesterday and I wasn't even tired! My body doesn't like climate change...I'm too cold to be hungry, so I've been drinking tea all day long and haven't eaten since yesterday. Not good, but I don't want to go outside, even if it's just to buy food!

It's 5 pm and the sun's already disappeared. Time to curl up in my stolen SQ blanket and watch Sex and the City!

here there everywhere

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:19:31 GMT

Went to Huang Shan with the girls last weekend, it was gorgeous! Lots of walking, phototaking, the occasional cablecar-ing, overpriced instant noodles, breakfast muffins.....all culminating in a 4 am trek to the summit for sunrise.

Spending Halloween in Shanghai tomorrow night, I'll probably go as a.....vampire (original, I know ;p but I don't have dressup supplies in Nanjing, and you can't go wrong with a black dress & red lipstick!)

In other exciting news, K is coming to visit next week :D

PRATA ALERT!!!!!!!!!!

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:12:19 GMT

BROWNTOWN LAHVE! I found a 100% original Indian prata man at a street food fair. Prata queen is officially happy!!!!

Other notable food fair discoveries - giant cauldron of snails, starfish, scorpions on a stick, ostrich, smelly tofu, ostrich meat.....

, but PRATA FTW! :D

(Also featured: a strange breed of coconut, which the stallkeeper used a POWER DRILL to create a hole in for me to stick a straw through.

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:40:09 GMT

Had a spa day yesterday at the Sofitel Nanjing, it was incredible. I don't think I was actually entitled to post-facial poolside-chilling privileges, but I've got a thing for lazing by hotel pools so I bluffed my way through the reception and read a book for an hour. The thing I like most about hotels is the feeling that you could be anywhere in the world. You can't be miserable in a hotel, they're too fun!

Last week I was in Singapore. Notable events included my grandma riding home from her 81st birthday party on my cousin's Ducati, and my sister nonchalantly ordering a wagyu which could've paid my whole month's rent in China at her Gunther's 18th birthday dinner.....which she didn't actually like, so I got to eat it instead hurhur.

This morning I woke up to discover I'd forgotten to turn off my water heater last night, so I foresee my electricity cutting out any time arrr. Wish I knew how to read the damn meter! Also, last night I was painting and I used a half-empty bottle of water to dip my brushes in. Today, as I stumbled groggily out of bed, the first thing I thought when I saw the blackish paint water was..."Ooh, COKE!" and took a swig of it before promptly spitting it out. Gross!!

In other news, my gym will not let up harrassing me. My assigned trainer keeps phoning to demand when I'm coming in to work out. "It's been a month!" he protested, when I said I didn't have any definite plans. "Well, I'm lazy," I retorted. I suppose it's probably "good service", but I just find it really annoying. He's probably right, though...so I'm off to the gym this very minute. Mission Don't-Turn-Into-A-Dumpling is now in motion!

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:47:41 GMT

Bye NJ!

love the 'bucks

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:25:16 GMT

Today at Starbucks I was reading a Shanghai travel magazine and came across this lolworthy photo article on the abbreviation of shop names in China. Burger King -> Burking... Starbucks -> Sucks...you get the idea! I love that there's Starbucks here though, the coffee actually tastes better than it does in England or Singapore. I think it's the milk. Whatever it is, it's nice to have a familiar brand, and Starbucks feels the same all over the world.

Found an international book shop, nearly cried when I saw English books for the first time in 3 weeks. I bought Twilight - first in Chinese, then in English. The Chinese version cost 30Y, the English version cost 88...go figure.

I took a bus home after bookshopping; it was so crowded that at one point the door opened and crushed me against the side of the entrance. I couldn't breathe and thought I might die, until the woman next to me noticed and squaked at the driver to do something about it. My chest still hurts!

Tomorrow's China national day, am curious to see what they'll get up to. There've been random fireworks outside my window all week!

chop chop

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:22:51 GMT

I've wanted a China-doll fringe for a long time, so even though my charming boyfriend protested that I'd look like a "fat weird mushroom" the last time I brought up the idea of getting one, Sherilyn and I made a late-night excursion to a hairdresser.

+an unflattering reaction

Also I realise I'm the worst blogger ever...apologies! Backdated news to come!

chillsville

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:21:22 GMT

I'm having a lazy night in with Season 2 of Gossip Girl - which cost me all of $2. China is a

Last night my electricity got cut, so I woke up at 6ish feeling hot and fidgety. After class I went and paid 50 yuan for an extra 100 units, but it didn't make any difference. I went downstairs again and paid another 100 yuan. Came back to my room, still no electricity. As I sat on my bed in despair it suddenly occured to me I hadn't eaten all day. I promptly felt faint and fell asleep. I came to around 530ish when my surge protector started crackling -- HALLELUJAH, ELECTRICITY!!!

Other than my 12 hours of electricitylessness, my Nanjing stay's been very comfortable. I've decided to splurge (= SGD$100) on a gym membership at the semi-dodgy sounding Better Fitness Centre, so if I'm feeling less lazy than I do now I'll go round tomorrow and do the paperwork. A friend told me they have yoga classes and stuff, so I'll be v zen!

I've also got a secret which will transpire in 2 weeks...I'm excited!

nanjing day 4

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:44:50 GMT

I'M HEEEREEEEE!!!

Got here 4 days ago actually, but haven't had a chance to update. Nanjing's been gooood so far. No-one seems to find it weird that I'm brown but speak Chinese, so even though I'm taller, darker and fatter than the average citizen I don't feel like I stick out too much.

Have been v lucky with the accommodation - it's practically a hotel! My room definitely surpassed my expectations (tiny, squatting toilet, general hellhole), so I feel really lucky. I've got a corner room, so it's very cosy and has windows all round. Emily (who's doing the Nanjing exchange with me) got another corner room on the same floor, and hers is even nicer!

My parents came to Nanjing with me, but they're leaving tonight. We did some sightseeing together, most notably Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum. This little kid came up to us and asked where we were from, and when I told him he started chanting "XIN JIA PO XIN JIA PO XIN JIA PO!" as he skipped back to his dad......who had dispatched his son to ask the question! Dunno why he didn't just ask himself.

Yesterday Emily and I spent THREE HOURS queueing up to register for classes and stuff, it was crazy! I still don't really know what's going on lol. I might be stuck doing Law with the local students, 'cause there doesn't seem to be any special law programme for exchange kids. Almost everyone else in my building's an international student taking Chinese lessons, and even Emily's visa says she's registered for the langauge course. Mine says Law....WHYY?! I tried to tell the woman my Chinese isn't good enough to do Law with local students, but she wasn't particularly sympathetic. In any case, I'm taking a placement test in half an hour. I do want to do Law, since that was the whole point of coming here, but it kinda sucks to do it alone when everyone else is on the language programme!

visa woes

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:03:48 GMT

Applying for my China visa was a pain in the neck. The embassy's Enquiries Hotline was permanently engaged (I'm inclined to think the listed number was fake) and the website gave incomplete information, so I had to make 3 trips before I finally picked up my passport.

After all that, it appears they've given me a 2-month visa! I specifically applied for a 6-MONTH MULTI-ENTRY one, so I can fly back and forth between Singapore and Nanjing without having to worry about all this visa crap, but I appear to have been shoved into the mysterious Category X which entitles me to ONE entry within the next two months. Ridiculous!

There's nothing I can do about it now; the embassy's absolutely useless and I'm leaving in 2 days. I'll have to try and extend my visa from China or come home on the 27th of November and sort it out all over again.

SIAN.

Backstory

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:57:05 GMT

I'm moving to Nanjing on Friday to spend an academic year abroad as part of my law degree. I don't even know if I'll be able to blog from there, but I decided to ressurect my livejournal anyway. Wish me luck...!!