Suzhou 2010

While in Shanghai, we took a day tour to Suzhou. The train ride was only half an hour! I've not been to Suzhou before, only Hangzhou. The last time we tried to go by tour via a mini van (on our last trip to Shanghai), it was too foggy and we had to turn back.

Honestly, I was expecting something more tranquil (to get away from the Shanghai madness), especially since it's supposed to be Venice of the East (not that Venice is very tranquil), but Suzhou is also developing very fast, so lots of construction going on. But there are still some nice spots (though more touristy now). However, the people here seem more cultured. Anytime, even the boatman/guide, can start to quote idioms and poetry as they related the stories of this old city. And they ,speak more gently than what I've experienced in Shanghai. Did you know that Suzhou was actual 吴国 territory during the 春秋 period more than 2,500 years ago? The capital, in fact. Suzhou was planned and built by 伍子胥 (Wu Zixu), a great and loyal general who was eventually killed by the king 吴王. Part of the city wall still stands. Places I visited include the houses along the Suzhou River, 盘门 (Pan Gate), the silk factory, 留园 (Lingering Garden) and 虎丘 (Tiger Hill), which had a leaning pagoda (ha! just like the leaning tower of Pisa).

And of course, there's always food. We only had time to have lunch there.

Shanghai 2010

It's been at least 5 years since I last visited Shanghai, and with my parents, I went there last month as we had some timeshare offer stay for 5 days at this service apartment called La Residence, which was rather cheap (S$100 plus for 5 days) . However, as we decided to go earlier, we put up at another hotel first, Citadines, by Ascott. It also meant that we could go visit the World Expo since it was ending soon.

Impressions
As someone who doesn't like crowds, going to Shanghai during the World Expo was a bad choice. I only went because I haven't travelled with my parents for quite a few years already. I was pretty stressed by the crowds and congested human traffic whether at the Expo or along the streets, especially Nanjing Road. What made it worse were the spits around and hearing people preparing to deposit their saliva on the streets. And they do that anywhere! Even in shopping malls! I must say they have improved a little bit since I last went, but it was still disturbing as I have to constantly watch where I'm walking. The situation wasn't so bad at the more upscale areas though. The traffic was horrendous too as the drivers horn at the slightest, and they will never give pedestrians right of way at turnings, even when it's green man, and they make their turnings at pretty high speeds. The only time they would actually stop was when there's a traffic guard at that corner. Fortunately, I learnt to be immune to their horning and just continued crossing. Again, I must say that it was even worse before. At least they are also less "pushy" in the trains too now. I still recalled in the past when they even pushed a pregnant lady!
Another thing was that it had become even more commercialised since I last went. There used to be some old city flavour previously, but now, it just feels like any city as the place was covered with so many new buildings.
So yah, it was a rather stressful holiday for me while I was there, and it was with much relief when I left for Hong Kong. Haha...it is usually after this kind of trips that I appreciate Singapore more.

Ok, ok, no more grouses, but more about what we saw and ate.

Hotels
The first hotel we stayed at, Citadines was pretty nice. We booked an executive suite to fit all 3 of us, which had a bedroom, living room (which had a sofa bed) and kitchenette. Being a Singapore-run hotel, it was not surprising (but still amusing) to find a Singapore restaurant (but selling Thai shark's fin) just downstairs. It was convenient too, situated just behind 新世界 near Nanjing Road, but away from the crowd.

The 2nd place we stayed, La Residence wasn't as well-maintained though, but it was pretty cheap for such a big space. It was clean nonetheless, but a little rundown. They gave us a room on the top floor, which had not too bad a view. It was double-storey with a spiral staircase. That's not so good for my parents though. They didn't have any other rooms available, so we continued our stay there. There were 2 bedrooms upstairs and 1 bedroom a living room, plus a kitchenette downstairs. There was one toilet downstairs, but the bathing facilities (1 shower room plus 1 bathroom with toilet and bath) were on the upper floor, so we ended up staying upstairs. I had intended to stay on the lower floor since the bed looked more comfortable, but think the aircon wasn't running too well, and there was a strange smell coming out when that happened (probably the coolant). The drawers and cupboards need to be changed though as the doors weren't fitting properly.

Hmm...my photos made it look better than it actually was though. But since it was at a very good rate, there was no cause for complaint.

World Expo 2010
One of the main highlights of the trip was supposed to be the World Expo 2010, which was hosted at Shanghai this year. We had thought whether to visit it over 2 days, but after experiencing the crowds and queues for 1 day, it was enough. There were so many people and the queues were terrible, some even up to 7 hours or more for the more popular ones! Good thing I didn't go on the day there were over a million people there. And you can't go into the China pavilion without the advance ticket, which we didn't manage to get. We figured it was no point wasting time queuing for long hours and miss out on other pavilions, so we picked those less crowded ones (which still required at least 30 minutes) and of course, as Singaporeans, we should go visit our own pavilion (which was actually our 1st stop).
Well, the easy way in was to flash our Singapore passport at the back door and we were granted immediate admission. Believe it or not, there was a queue at the main entrance (not that long though).

The Singapore pavilion was actually quite interesting on the outside, but we were disappointed with what turned out inside. The concept was good, based on movements in a symphony to bring you through the times of Singapore as you walk up, but the display was too "business-like" and a little boring. The theatre was actually not bad, intending to give an almost life-sized, Omnimax feel, but the music video was just like any music video, and didn't really show much, or bring out Singapore. The rooftop garden was probably the nicest part.
Another pavilion I wanted to visit was Denmark, which had The Little Mermaid statue brought all the way here. Wanted to see it in case I never get to visit Denmark. The Little Mermaid is one of my favourite H. C. Andersen's stories. Some other pavilions we managed to enter were Lithuania, South Africa, and some others.

Personally, I felt that the pavilions were ok in general. Maybe I didn't go to the more popular ones, but I believe it wouldn't be super different for the rest (haha...trying to console myself). Or maybe I see the possibility of myself visiting these places, or have already visited similar places. But it was probably an eye-opener for most of the locals. What was nice were how the pavilions looked on the outside. What with bicycle rides, ski lifts, slides, mirrors, colours, etc. Actually, I kind of liked Netherlands' pavilion, which was like a giant playground with a big "Happy Street" sign.
It was interesting to note that the most popular pavilions were actually not the country pavilions, but were those industrial/business ones, like the Oil Pavilion. Some of these were stopping people from joining the queues at mid-day as they were too long! These were probably more interesting and people can actually learn things from them. Coca Cola's Happiness Factory was also a popular pavilion, but I've been to the actual one in Atlanta, so no point going (anyway, they stopped adding people to queue in the late afternoon). I noticed also that the people of each pavilion (at least for some I've seen, e.g. Israel) who were from the said country were speaking fluent Mandarin! Of course it was probably expected, but it was still "amusing" in a way.
Well, seeing all these in the day wasn't enough, because there were beautiful lights! The Oil Pavilion's lights were amazing. From a simple blue building, it transformed into a dynamic animated screenbox.

 

Food
Another highlight of the trip would of course, be food. Eating well on a trip has always been a highlight. Haha...hopefully I didn't put on too much weight. What more can I say but just show you some highlights.

I will probably talk more about them separately in my food blog foodsie.two, but that will take quite a while.

Misc
Oh, on our last night there, we chanced upon an event at the Lamborghini showroom in Shanghai, unveiling a series of sculptures created by Simon Ma, a collaboration with Lamborghini. It was probably one of the more exciting moments of the trip. They brought out a whole range of Lambos. Cool!

Suitcases by The Finger Players

This was one of the most abstract plays I've ever watched. Maybe I'm not exposed enough to such plays, but as it is, it was abstract to me.

Stepping into the venue, one is greeted with a structure of scaffolding all over the stage, with intermittent announcements like a radio with poor reception. Of course, this sets the mood, albeit being creepy as it is in the dark surroundings of the Black Box.

(image from http://www.puppetsolo.blogspot.com/)

And "creepy" too as it started with the characters entering the space cloaked in white raincoats and painted white faces, in silent movements, dragging in objects in frames that seem to represent ships and planes. As the actors "pottered" around in slow movements, they sort of looked like they were in a chemical plant or something like that, where the things they held were delicate and transported with care. I couldn't help but be reminded of contemporary dance, though they were not dancing (so you get the idea of abstractness). This I guess, was like the "prelude" to the production.

Well, I couldn't really make head or tail of the content since speech was almost non-existent. As I went to do some research, this was what one would call "physical theatre" I guess, or maybe movement theatre (something I've heard before). So the only thing I could go on was the synopsis to make my own interpretation of the play. Here's the synopsis:

"In order to truly love a land, one must first unearth the beauty beyond its sorrows.
On a strange yet familiar city, a group of travellers is drifting about, ever-so-ready to fulfil their obligations in life. They exist but their physical beings are unable to fill the void within. A howl is heard from afar, sensual and primitive. The travellers slowly embark on a journey in search of the calling.
suitCASES is a multi-disciplinary performance which attempts to unravel the secrets of our land through an experimental and self-reflective approach."

The 70-min production was broken into 5 parts (as how I saw it), with the 1st being the prelude as mentioned above. The "prelude" as I call it prepares you for the way the play is played out, with the raincoat featuring often, and of course, suitcases. The raincoats seem to signify an outward shield, always preparing for "rain" but the rain never came. The characters take it off when alone or when they display their selves when their segment comes. The prelude leads you first to the 1st character's journey, that looked like the desire to find love, comfort and warmth; to fit in. The character is lonely, while everyone else is enjoying themselves (and "bullying"/shunning her). The apt use of balloons probably signifies how uncertain it is for  her, as they burst. Near the end though, she finds some gladness as someone and a child sees her and greets her (although the "child" was actually a balloon with a raincoat...it was a bit ghostly). However, I had the impression that this character seemed to be pregnant (or maybe not), so maybe there are some implications here. She leaves the stage with a balloon bobbing in the air from her suitcase, maybe like a glimmer of hope.

The 2nd character appears, a rather jovial one in fact, who performs tricks to entertain people and maybe gain their trust. However, the people, amused at first are cold when he(or she?) reaches out. A story about beings (in the form of puppets covered with "eyeballs"), earth and sky starts to be narrated, and puppets (and suitcases) from his suitcase emerges, even as he reveals a grotesque face on his belly. The story ends, and a final puppet emerges, bringing him joy, as he hugs it and leaves the stage. So this traveller finds what he was looking for and his void is filled.

The 3rd character seemed like someone working very hard to fit into society with the routine work, play, eating, sleep and following the directives from "up" above. My friends thought that maybe it was a little subversive. There was a segment on the "speaker's corner" which inadvertently causes some "torture" carried out. A half-normal (mannequin-like) and half-boils-filled faced puppet was used as the oppressor. The character leaves the stage with her suitcase, in pain.

The last character seemed to be one who was struck with an illness or odour that caused her to be shunned. Experts try to clean her up but to no avail and they abandon her. She reveals a decaying chest area and tries to make it worse, seeming to kill herself. However, she is halted when the other 3 characters appear, and they discovered they each have an infestation on different parts of their body and they connect, and become more relaxed as they find their commonality. They no longer need their raincoats and settle in. Suddenly, what they've been shielding comes, as it starts to rain (sound only lah) and they enjoy it.

So there, that's the production. I'm still pretty clueless. 

There were some interesting representations, which included the obvious MBS model hung high at the back. Somehow, it made me think that maybe, there's reference to the underbelly of the city.

As mentioned, it was kinda creepy at points, with the use of some puppets in "grotesque" forms and also the use of graphics on the actors shirts that looked like decaying parts. Well, maybe because it was Halloween weekend. Thanks to Keppel Nights, I got the tickets at a discounted rate (50% off).

CSI Interactive Exhibition

I recently saw the advertisement on TV for the "CSI: The Experience Interactive Exhibition" and am really interested to go. It's hosted at the Science Centre and runs frm 16 Oct to 20 Feb 2011.

However, the tickets seem a tad expensive at $22 for adults, which I think is much more than the LOTR and Da Vinci exhbition if I recall correctly. But I think it's because it's interactive and you can get to carry out CSI work! I'm a huge fan of the CSI series, especially the Vegas and NY series.

Wondering if any of my friends are interested in going as it would be more fun to go through the exhibition together. There are four crime scenes including a local story which is loosely based on a Singaporean crime scene to be solved.
Ready to solve crimes together?

not so "important" anymore

I've been quite busy lately, trying to clear as much work as possible before my holiday, my holiday, then now back to work and trying to find time to sort out the souvenirs/goodies and photos, that I've not really had time to blog. Passed over a theatre review on my other blog (which I'd left to my review counterpart to do here) since I was flying off the next day. But as it is, here I am.

Anyway, the point of this post was the settling in of the fact of my current position of "importance" (or lack of it) at work as made the more apparent by my recent trip. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but with my new portfolio/job scope after my "transfer" to a different department within the division, I am a tad more carefree now. No longer am I the (only) one handling the system issues or development of this particular web service I was in charge of, since I have "handed" it over to someone else. Am not sure if I've done a proper job in doing so, but since I'm still around, they can ask me. But anyway, it's like a big load off my shoulder in a way coz no one could really cover me last time in my department. And this aspect of my job scope was actually hindering my 'professional' development. I was feeling more and more like a technical rep (although I was just being the user rep for the department). Of course, I settled whatever phase of development as was ongoing under my care, which has now been completed, so I can safely do a clean "cut off" from it now. Anyway, the system has been operational for a while, though I was constantly pushing and following on the enhancements as required. If I had not been transferred, I think some of the digital projects would have been passed to me. *Phew*
But then again, since I can get out now, maybe I was not so important after all.
Well, I'm still in the midst of handing over another project, but that isn't so bad because it's not so technical and just more like handing over management of the project/collection.

In my new job scope, it's a breath of new freedom as I now have people who can actually cover my work. And I don't have staff under me anymore. This could be a bad thing since it means I'm more dispensable now. Also, I'm totally new to this work and it was not my choice to be transferred there, although I have learned much since, and I have more contact with music stuff. A bit stressed in the sense of whether I can deliver and if I fit in. I hope I can do the work well since this is in one way developing me professionally in 1 aspect.

I Love You Philip Morris

I'm not one who go for films with strong gay themes (I think I'm a little homophobic), but since there's Ewan McGregor, one of my favourite actors, in it, I went to watch it. (Just like why I watched Brokeback Mountain because of Heath Ledger). And it's released 1 year late (it was released in the US Dec last year).

It was pretty comical watching Ewan (Philip Morris in the show) act 'coy' and "deh" as Jim Carrey's character (Steve) woos him, and how they go about romancing each other.

Actually, the movie was more about antics of the con-artist, Steve, whose venture into conning, as he claims, started out with his "coming out" in the open about his homosexuality after a major accident that prompted him to 'live his life as he wants it'. But being "gay" was expensive, so he started off with insurance scams. He's actually quite smart, able to "smoke" people and even masquerading as a lawyer, top-notch financial controller, etc. He met Philip Morris the first time he got caught, in prison. Philip had gone to jail for renting a car and never returning it. It's quite amazing how Steve managed to pull off his antics quite convincingly, not to mention escaping from prison many times (though the police always manages to catch him back), even to the extent of faking his own death in prison! How's that! That was the best thing he pulled off. And it's amazing that this is actually a true story! And his reason for doing all these? For love.

I must admit I kind of enjoyed the movie even though it was "gay".

《偶然》

A well-known (and often used) poem of  徐志摩...came across it when doing some work.

我是天空裡的一片雲

偶然投影在你的波心

你不必訝異

更無須歡喜

在轉瞬間消滅了蹤影

你我相逢在黑夜的海上

你有你的 我有我的方向

你記得也好

最好你忘掉

在這交會時互放的光亮

Gala: Lang Lang Live!

I'm in love.
With Lang Lang.

Ha! Ok, not so 夸张 but I was totally enthralled by his playing.

I had the good fortune of getting seats in the 1st row, and not just that, I was sitting directly in front of him! Initially I was afraid that I would be blocked by the piano, but I was seated just nice, at the "cut-off" point. I could watch his expressions and his fingers, and even hear him breathe at times (my friend and I were holding our breaths for the most part though). This was how close I was (photo taken secretly from my seat during the curtain call after the 2nd encore).

He played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15.
When you watched him play, you are happy, because he is so happy playing the piano, enjoying every moment of it, even singing along to the beats and melody. You know he is also playing the music in his mind.

How does he play his piano? I had the impression he was almost like caressing/serenading the keys, his fingers light and nimble, yet delivering each note clearly and precisely. At points, during the softer moments, he was almost like whispering sweet nothing to the piano. I've not seen someone play with so much love of the piano.
Although most say he's very "showy", but it was an "honesty" show of his passion for playing the piano, less of pride, and when playing the piece, he was like having a conversation with the orchestra. How inspiring. Watching this display, and with his boyish charm, I couldn't help remembering what I read in his biography how he was influenced and inspired by Tom & Jerry, about how he imagined Tom & Jerry running across the keys, and he's like chasing the keys as his fingers fly over them.

I couldn't help but notice his hands too, since I was at close quarters with him. Different from the usual long "bony"/sculptured fingers and hands I've seen, his hands were in fact pretty fleshy. But it also conveyed "flexibility". Maybe that contributed to his nimbleness.

The perfect performance was however, a little tainted by a less than perfect instrument. During an early part of the first movement, one of the Steinway's string snapped when Lang Lang played that particular punctuating note during the piece (how could they let that happen?). Lang Lang even stood up over the piano during one of his "breaks" in the piece to check it out. Nevertheless, the show must go on and he carried on, never missing a beat.

I'm a fan now...need to finish reading his biography (am only halfway through). I'm also inspired to try to play the piano again. :)

Hungry...

I've been feeling very hungry lately...no, it's not some eating disorder, but I've been trying to fill in posts for my new food blog foodsie.two. Just writing about the food and seeing the pics make me crave for the food. Ha! And I'm not even finished with my Sep food stuff yet!

Anyway, it's got me thinking about what places I should go to so that I'll have a constant "flow" of entries of new places. There are so many places to try and it's so tough just to research. Ha!
Anyway, I've actually been keeping a list of food places that maybe I should try, mostly gleaned from this blog I follow called The Travelling Hungryboy. And there are places that I just come across, maybe through magazines, newsletters, ads or even through friends' suggestions. Hopefully I do get round to trying them some time.