缘尽缘散

Specially to all my friends out there ...

Thank you for coming by this little cyberspace, over the last 3 years, for some random updates/rambling of mine.  It has been great having you here to share some of my life experiences & thoughts, despite only with the use of simple "Singlish" & not bombastic words of expression. 

I've decided to close off this blog, with effect from 3 Oct 2009, as this little outlet of mine has been seen as part of an evil plot, between some loud, scheming, evil & ill-mannered enigmas.  However, if one's conscience is clear, there's no fear. I strongly believed that TIME WILL TELL & hoping for TIME TO HEAL.

Worry not, friends!  I'll continue to live my life to the fullest & fulfill my role & responsibilities on earth.  After going through this shitty mess, hopefully, I'd pick up the courage to create another "space of mine" in the near future.  

Till we get connected again, TAKE CARE & SAYONARA !!

Cheers!
Jane         

Picturesque Guilin {桂林}

As promised, I'm back with an outdated & lengthy post of our trip to Guilin, China (28 ~ 31 Jan 2009) ... well ... "a late post is rather than none". ** wink **

There's an old & well-known saying ... 桂林山水甲天下, which means the beauty of the landscape & scenery in Guilin tops the world. For this reason, a group of 12 headed on a 12-hour road trip from Zhongshan to Guangxi province. None of us have been to Guilin before BUT we managed to find our way, food & lodging with the aid of today's advanced technology -- GPS navigation !!

The group embarked on our journey after a nice lunch on 28 Jan (3rd day of Lunar New Year). R2 didn't seem to have much patience during our road trip there & kept bugging me ... "Are we there yet?" ... and napping off intermittently. Finally, reaching our destination slightly past midnight, with stopovers for "reliefs" & dinner. We checked into a clean & reasonably-priced hotel & had a BBQ supper right next to it.

The next day, our expedition began after "brunch" ... we relied heavily on our GPS for directions to the major attractions like:

Seven Star Park (七星公园) - covering an area of around 40 hectares, is the largest comprehensive park with mass scenery in Guilin City, and we spent almost half a day in the park. (Click here for the official site)

{ Here's a pic of the group at the entrance of Seven Star Park ... yes, there's only 11 headcounts ... plus ME, holding onto the camera ... Say CHEESE !! }

{ This is one of the 10 Scenes of Guilin -- a pic of Camel Hill, like a gigantic camel in a squating position, isn't it??

The camel looks so real that you might think that it's an artificial hill. No, it's entirely a natural formation!! Around the hill are bonsai gardens, a zoo with pandas and teahouses }

{Daddy NC suggested the kids to get onto a "hairy" camel, right at the foot of Camel Hill }

{ The park is so huge! After about 2 hours on our feet, the group has decided to hire a cart to send us to the rest of the key attractions within the park ... phew ... }

{ A pic of QiXia Temple (栖霞寺), did u notice another hill at the backdrop that resemble a chinese gold ingot ?? }

{ Pics taken at the Seven Star Cave (七星岩). About a million years ago, it was an underground river channel. With movement of the earth's crust, it rose above the surface to become a cavern.

A concrete & stone tour path of approximately 1 km runs through the cave; between its entrance & exit points. It penetrates several main peaks of Putuo Hill.

Artificial lightings for walkways & displays are staged throughout the long tunnel of the cave. It's an underground gallery of stalactites & stalagmites in the most spectacular shapes & forms ... definitely an enchanting experience for us! }

Majority of our group members wanted to leave the park, after completing about 80% of it. And we drove on to another "must see" attraction ... Elephant Trunk Hill (象鼻山).

{ The group was being splitted up into 2 bamboo rafts on Li River (漓江), to take us to the Elephant Trunk Hill (象鼻山).

Located at the conjunction of Li River & Peach Blossom River, the hill looks like a huge elephant drinking river water with a long trunk, it's the symbol of Guilin City.

The kids were excited about the river ride & chose to sit at the front row, not knowing that they might get wet should there be any strong currents. Guess what?? My kids were perfectly dry after the entire ride. BUT my shoes & socks were all soaked up, as I was too engrossed in taking pictures, and got caught up with a sudden gush of water onto our raft }

After dinner, someone suggested ... FIREWORKS !! Since it was still the Lunar New Year period, fire crackers of all shapes & sizes were readily available. We bought a huge variety of them & spent around RMB4.5k (after bargaining for 10 mins).

It was our (ie. R1, R2 & I) 3rd round of such "bright, colourful yet ear-deafening" session, throughout this 12-day China trip. By now, my kids already got the hang of it, thus, required minimum supervision & enjoyed themselves to the fullest.

{ Pics of a fun "fire crackers/fireworks" session, along the famous Li River }

The group has decided to extend another night of stay in Guilin, as we only managed to go 2 places of interest during the 1st day. So, early the next morning, we continued on a 4-hr Li River (漓江) cruise.

{ A river cruise down the peaceful Li River (漓江) is the absolute high-point of any visit to Guilin.

On both sides of Li River are wonderfully-shaped hills, mist-covered mountains, peaceful green fields, farms & villages with water buffalos & cows wondering around. Those mysterious mountains are karst limestone formations evolved 200 million years ago, when that area was under the sea }

{ A feeling of peace and serenity ... it is no surprise this part of China is the subject of countless paintings and postcards!! }

{ A pic of cormorants sitting on bamboo sticks, fishing for their owners. Those birds' necks were tightened up by strings, so that they will not swallow the fish that they catch }

Our next stop at Crown Cave (冠岩), a giant subterranean river cavern by the Li River. Taking the shape of an gold crown of ancient emperor, the cave is 12 km long & consists of 3 parts. (Click here for the official site)

The views inside were fantastic !! Stalactites & stalagmites in all strange shapes, illuminated by lights ... glittering a golden glow. There's an underground stream which passes through the cave & joins the Li River.

Personally, I'd prefer the Crown Cave than the Seven Star Cave, as it's equipped with modern sightseeing facilities such as an elevator, small trains, yachts & sightseeing roller-coasters. We've tried every mode of transport within the cave ... and the kids simply loved it!

Again, our group only managed to cover around 70% of the cave exploration & chose to exit it by taking a sight-seeing roller-coaster ride (to save us some "legwork"). By the time we got out, it was almost dark & we had to head back home.

On our way back, R2 didn't bother to bug me anymore as he was too tired after 2 full days of fun. The kids slept throughout the whole road trip & we reached home safely around 6am the next day.

My thoughts :
Guilin is renowned for its karst peaks that rise up throughout the city like skyscrapers will do in any other cities. The picturesque landscape was just what I needed as a break from my life in the city.

Missing In Action ...

A quick glance at this blog of mine, made me realised that I've not been updating it for almost 2.5 weeks ... hmmmm .... some of you might be wondering why am I missing in action again ??? (ha ha ha)

Time really flies, and here's a summary of what I've been busy with for the past half a month ...

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12 Jan 2008 : Jazzscraps was here in Singapore with her hubby for a short scrapbooking-shopping trip ... ohhhhh ... I'm green with envy :)

Despite her super tight itinerary, Detha and I managed to meet up with her over dinner at Tambuah Mas Indonesian Restaurant. Our talking point for the whole dinner session was none other than SCRAPBOOKING !!! Simply fun !!!

Jazzscraps and I didn't see each other since her previous trip to Singapore in Year 2006, however, we still update each other thru' our blogs as well as Google Chat.

Anyway, see YOU again in June !!!

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16 Jan 2008 : Received a SMS for another dinner get-together session with a group of ex-colleagues (back in Year 1999). It was an evening full of eating & non-stop talking although there were only 4 of us ... indulging in reminiscence of the great old times working together.

Not forgetting to thank BH for her dinner treat at Swensen's :p

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Besides that, I've been running around sending/fetching R1 & R2 to tuition & enrichment classes ... 6 days in a week.

I'm also trying my very best to coach R1 in her schoolwork on a daily basis, without me throwing my temper at her (this is the reason why I'd rather engage a tuition teacher for her).

Other than my kids, I'm also in the midst of hunting for a full-time job. With CNY just around the corner, there's also loads of spring-cleaning & shopping to do ... busy, busy, busy, busy ... is the only word that I can think of now.

Today, It's MY Day ...

{ Warning : This is a Long Post }

Things seemed to be getting "on the right track" by itself today ... Yippee !!!

#1
Yesterday (and out of nowhere), I started to ponder on whether should I look for a full-time job after Chinese New Year 2008; in order to keep myself fully-occupied. But I've yet to discuss this sudden idea of mine with NC.

My reason for staying back here is hoping to coach R1 and hopefully she can achieve academically especially in Pri. 1. As I supposed this will be the minimum criteria to meet; in order to request for a transfer of school in the following year.

Guess what?? I received a SMS early this morning around 8am from a so-called "long time no see/hear" ex-colleague *L*. She offered me a contractual HR job in her company, whereby I can start work anytime next week ... was it telepathy?

Anyway, I didn't take up her offer immediately as I ought to discuss it further with NC when he's back next week.

#2
After months of sourcing around, I finally managed to find a reliable, responsible and reasonably-priced web designer for my upcoming e-store project. Thanks to Bunka, as I've got to know him last month while helping at the school.

We had several prior discussions on my new online store concept, and I've finally gave my "green light" to go ahead with the site development today.

Whoo hoo !!! ... and if nothing goes wrong (keeping my fingers crossed), it should be completed by end-Dec 2007.

#3
R1 wanted a birthday party in school this year ... and I've decided (just last night) to make her wish come true.

Granny has suggested on a McDonald's Outdoor Birthday Party for her next Monday - 12 Nov 2007.

This is going to be an "advance" celebration of her 6th birthday; as 13 Nov 2007 will be the last day of the school term.

With not much time left for preparation, such party can really take the load off our minds as their party professionals will take care of the planning, decor, food and games for us ... how nice !

BUT ... I started to panic after many calls to the nearby outlets last night. Many of them in the west area don't organise such parties except for their Bukit Batok Central outlet.

Without much delay, I called the outlet manager but was being told that my requested timing @ 9.30am is too early for them ...

Oh no !! What to do ?? Should I discard the whole idea totally ?? Will R1 be disappointed ?? *stressed*

However, this evening, a kind soul from McDonald's Bukit Batok called to follow-up my booking. I brought up to her my problem on their timing restrictions, and she actually agreed to help to take on my booking.

On top of that, she'll be our Party Hostess to run the show !! ... (Looking forward to meeting her next week to thank her personally)

Isn't this a great day for me? :D

Great Minds Think Alike

"If You Never Try, You Will Never Know" - this is what my dad used to tell me.

For the past week, I'm busy with some planning, sourcing and market researching for my new business idea ... where I shall not discuss any further now. I've even registered a new domain name for that ... so I'm pretty determined to give it a shot !!!

A friend of mine - *A* and I were chatting over the phone just now (as usual). We'd chat with each other whenever time allows and our subjects will be everything under the sun ...

*A* was away on a business trip to China last week, so we didn't have much opportunity to update each other.

So during our earlier tele-conversation, I shared with *A* my new business plan excitedly ... but to my great surprise ... *A* told me that she's having the same idea like mine !!

Likewise, she has also registered a domain name for it around 3 weeks ago. Can you believe it? Both of us are actually working towards the same direction without any prior discussion/information at all !!

Was it telepathy? ... Clairvoyance? ... Extrasensory Perception? ... Mind-Reading? ... Sixth Sense? ... or simply put GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE !!!