names i never thought of

today is a slow day in office. to kill boredom, i started looking at the phone list and found very interesting names.

- crystal bao (makes me feel hungry)
- away zhou (shall i intro myself as "here"?)
- gentle li (want to be more gently?)
- day leung (i wonder if his sibling is known as night?)
- mad liu (speechless...)
- unique xu (i hope he/she is really unique as claimed)

it makes me wonder what makes them pick the names? uniqueness? strong recall? and to think i used to find names like "summer" & "january" weird. hmmm...
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walking home

today, i found an alternate mode to get home from office - walking. peak hours in GZ is terrible, it's extremely difficult to get taxi and u'll have lots of competition. i've to wait at least 30mins for a cab in the morning.

the journey home took 20 mins and it was better than expected. along the way, i passed by

park






















fire station





















chong qing steamboat (a familiar brand back home!)





















fedex kinko (can't help noticing it ;p)





















police station





















hospital






















ah yat abalone (another familiar brand!)





















pottery shop





















bus terminal





















park n shop (my favourite supermarket!)





















starbucks (it's huge here! the only foreign coffee that can be found in GZ)





















mei xin (from hk!)



















and many banks. i realised that there're banks everywhere - just along one street, there're 5 different banks and u can find the same 5 banks one street away .

just counting the ones around my apartment within 5km, i've got bank of china x 1, china merchants bank x 2, icbc bank x 2, hang seng bank x 1, agricultural bank x 1
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www.chinasmack.com

my boss introduced me to the real china.

the description reads "Hot internet stories, pictures, & videos in China. What’s popular, scandalous, or shocking that have the Chinese talking."

working on sat & sun

i can't get over the fact that i've to work this sat & sun (which i only found out today)! the chinese govt has declared this weekend end as working days in exchange for 7 days of public holiday.

there goes my plan to sleep in on sat & sun - i was so looking forward to that. plus i need to do my laundry and clean the apartment. i only brought one-week's worth of clothes and my boxes are still stuck at the customs :-(

me so smart lor!

boiling barley is becoming a frequent activity of mine

alrite... the heat is really getting to me... i'm having terrible headache and that's not a good sign. i wouldn't want to be sick & alone during the golden week holiday... that'll be totally unacceptable!

i decided i'll boil barley to counteract the heatiness (that's what we'll usually do in singapore). the other problem is that i've never boiled barley before - in the past, i just need to tell mummy and i'll have barley water to drink... now it's me who has to do it :-(

after speaking a "food consultant" (actually it's just mitch in hk), i went to buy the required ingredients (actually just barley seeds & water :p). went home & followed mitch's instructions - 1 cup of barley + 1 litre of water + 20mins boiling time.

end result - drinkable barley water!

raw barley seeds

1st experience with typhoon

it was declared typhoon 8 in hong kong while it guangzhou, it's business as usual... afterall it's only rain + flood + strong wind here - not serious enough for the government to declare it as a non-working day :p

however it's a welcome change to me... the weather has been horrible hot the past couple of days - 37oC! the moment i step onto the streets, i was soaked with perspiration. unbelievable!

to celebrate, i happily walk on the streets enjoying the coolness... never did i realise the wind is STRONG and i mean REALLY STRONG... i thought i was gonna be blown away! wow. i shall never wear skirt/dress on typhoon days.
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i'm connected

opened the bank accounts today - Bank of China & China Merchants Bank

if u're wondering why i've got 2 accounts, it's not becos i'm rich but becos of company's requirements. one for salary and the other is for allowances and claims. dun ask me why - i dun know the reasons. what's more puzzling is that i've to go hong kong to open a hk account just for my medical claims...

got my china SIM card (operator is China Mobile, similar to the Singtel in spore) - had to skim through 300+ numbers to find a suitable number. problem is u have to select 4-5 options as the number u like may already be taken but it's not removed from the booklet. i didn't know that and had to skim thru the booklet twice :-(

breakfast is served

one of the staff benefits is that breakfast is provided :-) you can pick either a chinese or western breakfast.

what i had today - beehoon with chicken + seaweed + veggie + man tou. yums!

medical check-up

feeling jittery about the medical check-up after hearing horrid stories and also becos i wasn't comfortable/convinced about the hygiene as well as the professionalism of the chinese medical staff.

what a surprise it was when i reach there - amazingly clean with helpful nurses and doctors. except for one who was so rough in opening my mouth & throat. i nearly choked! overall experience - good although long waiting time. the whole entire check-up took 2 hrs.

i have to register using my passport, thus all details including name is in english. the staff are unable to read english and thus i'm being called as 新加波的小姐 (miss from singapore)... i felt like i was in some beauty pagent ;p
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where i work

today is the day i reported for work. a huge bouquet of roses awaits for me at my desk plus a yummy welcome lunch. a very warm welcome from the head & shoulders team :)





















office interior really wows me and i'm loving the decor of my new work place!


office entrance





















washroom - just how cool is this?!






















see more pictures on facebook!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60483&l=be0e5&id=594239407
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guangzhou, china

today is the day i start a new chapter in life in a foreign country. well... not that foreign actually... will be surrounded by lots of chinese. every street. every corner. in short - everywhere.

not sure how well i'll be able to adpat but i'll try my best lor... afterall, i'm a SURVIVOR! :)

my family sent me off at changi airport and i arrived at baiyun airport at 1220pm. cleared the customs smoothly with my 2 luggages - i had excess baggaage of 19kg! (the allowance i'm given is 25kg). tried to get away with paying using the pitiful "i'm relocating" reason but no luck! i gotta pay :-(

company driver drove me to my apartment - a cosy one-bedroom in 天河区(tianhe district). there's a supermarket, mcdonald's, subway sandwich, brzilian restaurant, all banks etc etc. very very convenient. oh! the local tax bureau is just across the street - no way to evade taxation ;p

more pictures of my humble abode on facebook!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60224&l=e7bff&id=594239407