Back from the shanghai trip le... It was really fun!!! I don't even know when to start... ok.. shall classify into days.
Day 1
woke up at around 6.30am... got ready.. and made sure that everything was alright, and then left the house at around 7.45am. Traffic was light, and reached there at around 8.30am... which was really early because our flight was at 11.15am, which i had just realised. But being early, we chose our seats! Ok, that is so lame, but after that we had breakfast and then bought some little snacks, namely sweets *wink* and then checked- in... yeah.. mom went shopping at duty-free, rest of us had coffee... *skip-----* ok... boarded the plane, took off and on the way. Haha.. did i mention ow much i love take-offs??? so fun... the whole plane shakes, and i love turbulences too.. its like in the jurassic park movie, the gup of sprite ripples as the whole plane yet again, shakes like mad. We shook our way through the flight, seriously, the seat belt was never off the entire time. the whole time just shake shake shake... But anyway, i watched the movie :Dirty Dancing, Havanna nights... and saw some real cool latin ballroom. It makes our mambo and jive look so stoopid. Its really cool lar, but it was only 1.5 hours long, so the rest of the 3.5hrs had to sit there and play dr mario. Childish, i know, but, had been playing that game a long time, and i daresay i'm quite good at it... Haha..
anyway, touched down, and passed through immigration, there was this little door after the luggage belts, and going through the door you would see this great sea of people holding up placards of all different colors and sizes, wavin them about. we found our driver, *yes, we had a driver, courtesy of my dad's business friend* and we got to the car.. It was a 7-seater, brand's BUICK, car plate no is 沪 A 8876 Z... or at least, i think it was.
the chinese character in the front states the province of shanghai. In this case, 沪 stands for shanghai province. Weird ain't it?? SHanghai is a province in shanghai itself. It stands for the city of this city. The real industrial capital of shanghai, is shanghai! The ppl drive on the left hand side of the car, diff from S'pore, and the windows are shaded, so u can look out, but cannot look in, cos its dark and all, all the windosw are liddat except for the driver's windscreen *DUH!*. but one thing i noticed when i stepped out into the carpark, a lot of SMOKE. I'm not talking haze. I'm talking SMOKE. Everyone around was smoking, the air was well, not very comfortable to breathe in, i guess... Made me realize how clean the air in S'pore actually is.
ANyway, we arrived at the PUDONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, there are two airports, one is hongqiao domestic airport, the other is stated above. PUDONG, as you may have guessed, is another province!! Hahaha... ok.. so to get to the CITY, from pudong, which is an outskirt, we have to drive for one and a half hours. More sitting. I managed to stay awake, and i noticed how nicely pruned the bushes were at the side. ANd i was not just noticing that for the sake of suppressing my boredom, they were VERY beautifully pruned. There was not a stray leaf in sight. And the cable wires that hung above were twisted in very artistic shapes, and there was not a singles bird to be seen sitting on them. Amazing... But anyway, we passed by the more residential part of shanghai, which are the outskirts, and lotsa ppl riding their bicycles, and i tell you, they are good. They can weave in and out of speeding traffice rushing to beat the red light, avoid pedestrians crossing the roads.etc...
Honestly, the traffic system there is really very different. There is a motto, the driver told us, and the only way to go somewhere in a place liks shanghai, is to GO THERE. This is the time, where we must place the emphasis on initiative, if you do not take the initiative to actually go, you will never be able to go. SO, if you wanna turn let's say left, but you are on the right side of the road, just turn a bit, so that the car knows that u wanna turn. and he'll give way. But if you do not dare to, the car will just go, with the trail of followers behind it. There is this rule, and that any car that does not give way to pedestrians or bicyclers will be penalized. But the pedestrians are also very capable of using initiative. There are few traffic lights, most are zebra crossings. ANd you just cross. sound simple right? But think again. zebra crossings on big junctions, there is no break in the road between the two sides of the traffic, and cars do not stop for you *rmbr h=the motto??* so you have to face cars coming in both directions, bicycles weaving in a out of traffic, and of course, the simplest way to cross a road like dat, is to follow the crowd. One sound that you will hear every day, every min, are cars honking at one another. Its not considered impolite there, but its just considered a way of saying "Hey, keep your eyes open man" When the light turns green and you don't start your car fast enough, there goes the horn.
I like the light system. The Traffic light for the car turns from a steady green, to a flashing green, then amber, then finally red. At least the green flashes before it turns amber, i mean, with the driving habits and all, u really need it. And the funny thing is, there are hardly any accidents in shanghai. And i tell u, its not easy to be a taxi driver in shanghai. U gotta know the roads. ANd guess how they name the roads. Ok, take my service apt road as an example. 淮海中路 ( CENTRALＨＵＡＩＨＡＩLU ), further down is 淮海东路 ( EASTＨＵＡＩＨＡＩLU ), and further up is 淮海西路 ( WESTＨＵＡＩＨＡＩLU ). And i tell ya, this whole road is long. Damn long. ANd getting around S'pore is hard enough, how do you expect to get around a place 10times bigger？ That's for DAY1. Actually i haven't even finished... shall continues tmr. haha.. sammo getting descriptive,,,,
sammo
hold me TIGHT; and NEVER let go*
take my HAND; and GUIDE me through*
Monday, June 07, 2004
Hey yall... am really sorry i haven't been posting lately.. been really busy with summer school and all... Really regret not having gone to the LOTR exhibit with you guys.. But anyway.. really wanna blabber my past week's experience but you guys will probably sleep.. i mean, its not like it'll interest you guys or anything right?? But to those who really wanna know... well... See..On mon the 31st May, i had this full dress rehearsal for the GEP conference on thurs... SO we took london cabs to and fro, and believe it or not, at the courtesy of Makky!!! She paid like... $70 for the two taxi rides and she was kind enough to drop me on Tanglin CC on the way back. I guess she was in a good mood that day... SO anyway.. she dropped me off just in time for the ballet class to start. Phew...
We had 31 people all crammed into a room around the size of our classroom!!! Normally it won't seem such a bad thing, but jumping around the room, plus the piano at the side, it really makes one cramped studio. Ballet teacher for the week is Mr David Prudham. He's alright, quite funny and comedic.. i mean duh! He's like the teacher of miming techniques and acting.. but he's quite fierce when agitated.. so we were kinda weary of him... Then after an EXCRUCIATING ballet class, and i mean EXCRUCIATING.. imagine doing 48 kicks and 64 jumps, all proper ballet technique...
Anyway, we had russian after dat.. RUssian was quite boring lar... we spent the whole week learning a russian dance that counted 5mins long... 5 mins may seem short to the audience, but to the dancer... another marathon...
ANyway, after the BORING russian class.. we had JAZZ!!!!! Ok.. i think mel already knows how much i love the jazz class, not just because its fun, but because its relaxing and i can finally get to let go of my ballet technique, not entirely, but its a relief anyway.. ANd we get to do stuff to pop music! Its also excruciating because we spend 45mins stretching, jumping, kicking and warming up. The next day all your leg muscles will be aching.. after the torture, we started on our performance item. Not the real formations, but the routine, and basic stuff. Loved it!
SO anyway... dancing 4.5 hours everyday... plus dance in the morning... ever heard of marathon dancing?? Maybe i should go and take part... Let's see... 4.5 x 5 =.... 22.5 hours!!! That's almost a day.. but plus the dance stuff.. more than a day le... ANd all these hours of hard work.. just amounts to 6 mins on the stage. My teacher once told me, one minute on stage is ten years of hard work. Not literally ten yrs, but you kinda get the idea. she also said that ten rounds of practice backstage can't even amount to one round of performance on stage.
I know that i owe some people quotes, but it doesn't matter how many quotes i give to you guys a week. Its just like my quote (honestly, its mine): WHat matters is not the truth, but whether or not you believe in it. For what use is the truth if you do not believe in it? in this case, its not how many i give u, its whether or not it really sets you thinking, whether your remember it. Its no use if i supply u zillions of quotes every week but they all just get read once and forgotten. My excuse for not giving yall quotes is because, well, i've been really busy for the past few weeks. You really have to forgive me if i'm geting temperamental.. This concert thing is driving me nuts.... This post must be really long.. I apologise ah.. I'm in one of my inspirational and very "zen" moods...
sammo
hold me TIGHT; and NEVER let go*
aboutME.
amethyst1943
08 03
jc
dancer
shooter
myLOVES.
=)
dance
green
chinese
ducks!
the west side of my island
myWISHES.
golden leaf
strong constitution
pleasant disposition
do well for 'A's!
[still thinking]
goldenWORDS.
the greatest thing you'll ever learn
is just to love and be loved in return-
