Pray for my mum...

I never stared at my mum so closely like this weekend. If june 6th was the longest day for all the warriors in World Wall II, it was the longest weekend I ever spent. It’s my mum who recently encountered an unpredictable experience in Gui Zhou, south of China. Yet it was supposed to be a rejoiced getaway for my folks.

Aug 15th, 2009, my mum woke up early with numerous excitement towards this tour, she dressed up, took the early plane with my father, I vaguely heard them saying goodbye to me, then left the door shut behind them. I continued my sweet dream, indulging myself in a few days’ freedom without the nattering. I received a buzz in the middle of the day, a big laughter and my father’s husky voice from another end of the telephone undoubtedly revealed a beam of happiness they have acquired during the tour. My mum took over the phone, and reminded me of those trivial things like don’t forget the keys, lock the door after you leave, turn off the fans before you go etc. I was tortured by those cliché for 25 years, it didn’t bother me at all, instead, I kind of missed it this morning. After exchanging the greeting, I conveyed my best wishes to them; hopefully they would have a great and safe trip back home.

In the following day, I was with myself, cook, eat and wash, did everything what I relied my mum on, it was apparently easy for me, yet just somewhat troublesome. One day passed, I felt a slice of loneliness, especially in the night time. Fortunately I had dinner with some toastmasters friends on both Sat and Sun, I went straight to bed after coming back home. Somehow, I felt a little anxious with no particular reasons. Maybe because my folks didn’t call me like they did before, even they didn’t call, normally they would at least send me a message to say hi, but nothing this time.

Monday, it was ought to be the last day of their trip, I couldn’t stand waiting for their call, I sent a sms, distraughtly expecting to hear from them. The clock ticked away, but still no reply. I looked at my watch, it was already 22:00pm. I assumed that they might have been in the dream since they would also have an early flight in the following. I kept comforting myself, conversely, my panic level was stacking up like crazy. Even something ridiculous came across my mind: they had some accident…

Tuesday, my hunch played up badly. I couldn’t focus on work anymore, all my mind was fraught with negative shots. What happened to my parents? I kept calling my father, but his mobile phone was out of service, I felt even worse, desperately wanted to know where they were, what happened to them… a gust of regret traveled around my whole body. I should have left their guide’s telephone number, I should have called them last night, I should have asked what time their return flight was, it was too late at that moment. All I could do was keep calling…

At 15:45pm, I finally got hold of my father, whose voice was somehow unparalleled and worn out, he told me there was a big drama during the whole trip, they ended up in the hospital for 2 days. Almost stuck there… he said it was not the time to talk, he would elaborate after he came back. He then passed the phone to mum, I could feel the tremble out of my mum’s voice. She was under the weather. I almost burst into tears, but I know I was still in the office. I managed to oppress my emotion, but my heart had already been ready for home. I sorted out myself, waiting till the clock hit 17:30, I jumped out of my chair, grabbed my bag, switched off my pc, stormed out of the office and left a shaky door behind.

I arrived home shocked; my mum looked so pale that I could not even recognize her. She lost a lot of weight, half resting her eyes. When I walked in, she tried so hard to pretend that she was okay in front of me, however, her cold fragile hands had betrayed her. I kneed down beside her and whispered,” are you okay?” she nodded with a usual smile, her white teeth still glittering under the light. It was really hard to believe what she had been through during this couple of days, my father ran around like a lunatic, making all-out effort to rescue my mum from the devil of death, my mum, with her unswerving and strong willpower, she rode it over. On Thursday, my mum’s blood pressure ascended to 210 again, we couldn’t wait till Friday to take her to the hospital. After rounds of body check, all the syndromes were caused by her original disease – pheochromocytomas, which was not out of our surprise. The news was the cyst roared in my mum’s stomach after all the turbulence during the trip. Now my mum couldn’t do anything heavy, even sitting without leaning could get her blood pressure volatile. Tomorrow my father will take her to see the doctor again, who told us there is another alternative way to cure this disease, worth of a try. I pray for my mum, may her conquer this barrier in the life, my faith and love were all with her!! God bless…

A little pretext for being away for a while

Dont think I have abandoned my blog though I haven't donated any articles for quite a while. In each stage of my life, it appears to be different focus, no matter if it is for life, work, or study, there is always something... this time, for my study.

It's hard to get what you want, yet it's more difficult to give up what you have. Whenever you try to make some decision yourself, people around you might either encourage or pull you back, which in the end throw you into an ambiguous whirlpool. In this case, each decision you make has neither right nor wrong, whereas affecting your future life for long. This is what I have experienced over the last 7 months, hovering between each twist and turn…

By the end of last week, because my boss was away for holiday due to the Christmas when she goes back to Australia to celebrate with her family every year, I had more disposable time to play with, started to think of my future after reading many motivation, success philosophical books and articles, perhaps, perhaps it was the time that God kindly allocated to me for a detailed self-review, as well as seriously asking myself what I should do to make my life a bit different. At that time, I also came across a saying that impressed me dearly, ”Write something worth of reading, do something worth of writing…” we were born to be different, however, 80% of people amazingly had the same life experiences: birth, go to kindergarten, primary school, middle school, high school, university, graduate, find a job, work as a clerk in a big fancy office, start to date, get engaged, get married, give a birth, raise kid(s), grow older, retired, death… it seems to be an ideal curve to summarize an average person’s life. This is also the life my parents want me to follow, simple, peaceful, and happy… I don’t deny they are wrong at this point, some of them really enjoy what they get, and never want to redirect their curve whatsoever. Nevertheless, this curve might not be applicable to me since I have already experienced the turbulence in my first 25 years; my belief is my next 25 years won’t be predictable as what the curve reveals. Life is a bet, but it’s a much milder bet which doesn’t hurt you financially as 40 percent of our time is going to be undoubtedly devoted to your work, your company, and your business. Only 20% of time is for study. Study on the other hand is to help you to make more money. NO LOSS. I’m a big gambler for a start, when I worked out who I should be in my 30s, I walked backwards, calculated what I should do every year to achieve the goal I hold for a long period, it’s really the time for me to go back to university, finish what I am supposed to finish 6 years ago. 2009- the year for a real change.

After I decide to apply for the university in Australia, instead of receiving all the blessing, I was being scolded to be a fool by making such a brutal mistake. Thinking about what you have now, you have got a good job, good boss; you can travel in Australia twice a year. Moreover, your family is with you, you don't need to worry about anything; your life is beamed with happiness and delight. Why should you make such a foolish decision? Another negative version was: Think in a big picture, Joy, Australia has no future, a country riding on the sheep, the total population equals to Shanghai’s, besides, so many Chinese have already dominated the market, less opportunities for new comers like you… some were even more practical:” does your company pay off your tuition fees? Unless the company finances my education, or Harvard or MIT gave me the offer, I wouldn’t give up what I have now. In another word, it’s a silly decision…” facing to an array of criticism, none of the normal person would wonder again if it’s really a rational decision, am I responsible for myself? Then the phrase “What if” started to sneak into the mind, did all kinds of dream damage as it could. Never underestimate these killing phrases, your dream, your faith, and your life might be crashed into ashes by such unnoticeable phrases, which repeatedly occurred in your mind. It’s a hurdle which blocked my way, it’s a tiger which intended to scare you away… being stalling, I used to reconsider many times, as I didn’t want to make any irrational decision that made me ever feel regret in the future. Life is too short to be regretted, too short to be wasted either. Going back to square one, I traced back to the threads of my dreams: I will go to Australia to finish my master degree, I will travel as extensively as I can, I want to meet my people, I want to be an independent marketing consultant, I want to do more things for the needy, I want to live as myself for my beloved Ben. I kept reminding myself of these missions, which was deemed to be completed in one day, like Osho used to say, “ life is a gift, if you change the arrangement, the total amount still remains the same, why don’t I make my life more vivid in this limited time?

Love, Case by Case

It was an interesting day, a little bit overcast; the sky didn't bother sharing single patch of blue. I woke up at 8:00am as usual, starting my morning meditation session so as to ensure the quality of today. My mom said it would drizzle in the afternoon, which didn't make the day terribly impressed. I was invited to be IE for a member in one of the Toastmasters clubs, by doing so; I received a few complaints saying how boring I was on Valentine. They were expecting me to have a nice date, maybe a few, having the most romantic candle dinner with potential Mr. Right(s). I didn't know why they would have such an impression on me as if I was a heart broker, and no one firmly believed that I was still single, not sure about availability. But reality tells. simply I was tired of proving everything, neither falling love with any one. I was flashing back last year and surprisingly the most asked questions were "why aren't you dating?, or that’s impossible…” if my answer was “No”, I would immediately receive a quizzical look, which seemingly implied if I was not in a relationship, there must be something wrong with me… maybe I was benumbed with this uncomfortable stare, normally I chose to shrug away with a smile. it was valentine day, but to be very candid, my mind went completely blank on this type of super duper commercialized day, a day created just for all the outlets to dig in your pocket as deeply as possible. As I was in marketing industry for such a long time, a sincere advice to those irrational male buyers,” gents, mind your wallet”… But if you are a “show-off” type, please neglect what you have read. Extravagance is not a sin, and personally I also wish your love to be sentenced to life imprisonment. But another advice is “money can buy the love for the moment, yet life long. True love is unnecessary to be proved in an extravagant way, if I could choose between 1 day big romance and 364 day little romance, my answer would be latter.

Another friend of mine has buzzed me the day before Valentine, wished me a happy Valentine ’s Day, as well as invited me to celebrate the friendship with her. I acknowledged and accepted this offer as I love the thought provoking proposal, yes, Valentine is not just for lovers, love could be of all kinds: passionate love between lovers, harmonious love in the family, sincere love between friends…

The night, my heart belonged to all my friends.

We exchanged many opinions about her relationship with her ex boyfriend who was full of himself; every end of the relation will leave you something worthy of thinking, I was glad that my friend and I both possessed the attribute of self-criticism, indeed understood every crack of the relation was not derived from one party. We desperately wanted to learn from each heart broken relation for the better future. Nevertheless, I was pondering towards the end of the dialogue, did we really learn something from the relation, or we just get each relation worse which led to be too timid to take the next plunge. Is that the reason why we still kept ourselves single. To wrap up with a bit of laughter after such a philosophical chat with a hint of pessimism, she urged me to take a transsexual operation, thus made us the perfect couple. Again, I shrugged away with smile.

In retrospect, I was shocked to figure out how alike we both are:
1. We both rejected those who used to be so romantic and touched us dearly before.
2. We both had no feeling to those who were trying very hard to impress us by all means
3. We both value more intelligence than materialistic provision
4. We hate those who are only interested in showing off, just shows how immature those men are…
5. We both hate those who are being bossy and controlling.
6. We both don’t care much about the romance, however it could be a plus, but the man who truly knows how to respect and appreciate us, being with us not just for the satisfaction of self-ego.
7. As time goes by, the more we both experience, the more rational we are, which might or might not be a good sign of forming a new relationship.

I don’t know if the above could represent every woman’s voice, but it certainly played up on us, I was drawn myself into another deep thought while I remembered another case happened to one of my classmates. A few days ago, I received her invitation letter for her wedding, I was a bit surprised, not being evil, surely I was exceptionally honored to see both of them tying the knot finally, but as her former classmate, and colleague for a year, I witnessed this couple’s love, which completely revolutionized my view towards love. Should love be rational or irrational?

She was courting that guy approx 3 years ago when we were working together in a study abroad agency, after around half a year later, she told me that she broke up with that guy for long for the sake of his love affair. I 120% stood on her side, and said this kind of SOB didn’t worth her tears. Learn to forget… blah blah blah, all those meaningless clichés were flowing from my mouth without rehearsal to make her feel a little bit better. she decided to forget him…

Another half a year elapsed with no trace, one day she intentionally lowed her voice, with her eyesight almost out of focus, whispered to me, “ Joy, I don’t know how to say this, but XXX has called me again, he said he still loves me and wants to be with me again… I don’t know how to respond…” “Oh no, he doesn’t deserve you, forget about him, now his love affair has dumped him, he comes back to you again!! Ridiculous! Tell him to leave you alone!!...” I was outrageous; seemingly the person who was being dumped was not her but me… “But, I have forgiven him… well, he said he still loves me, and even he was with his gf, he’s still thinking how great I was that time, he couldn’t erase me out of his mind… I don’t know, I…” I was speechless, squeezed extremely hard to get a line from the mouth, “how could you still believe his evil moldy sweet tongue… that’s every man’s trick, how could you allow a heart broker to hurt you again?! Have you forgotten that he’s the person who betrayed you half a year ago… have you forgotten the time you shed the tears…” even my saliva flew every where; she had already made up her mind… Now, the wedding invitation was physically under my eyes with this couple’s photo sticking on the inner page as if they were teasing at me “you are wrong!!!! See how happy we are now!!!” (Making faces). 

Am I really wrong? … I locked my eyebrows hard towards the bridge of my nose, couldn’t help contemplating. I unconsciously took a glance at the table right beside us, saw a couple sitting opposite, remaining silent, who were busy sending sms individually with no facial expression at all… in a sudden, I was enlightened by this plot. Maybe I overestimated the power of marriage. In another word, marriage is not always the symbol of love, being raised up in a relatively traditional family, to me people wouldn’t commit to the marriage if they don’t love each other… but the perception seemed to have been evolving since then. But I was bewildered… guess the answer to all the puzzles is “love should not be generalized, but case by case…”

TRAP – trip to HK, Macau and Zhuhai

Travel is the most amazing gift to my life, the sentimental excitement arouse from each journey is the best reward of all time as if strolling along the tree-shadowed boulevard, swinging in the summer breeze… stunned by each extract of scenery, fascinated by each dialogue conducted with the locals, and last but not least, heartquaked by the history, along with the culture evolved as time goes by. Nothing is no more exhilarating than being on tour; like a drifter, going anywhere his fate takes him to is an unadulterated glee for life, whereas hardly being accepted by the mass public.

Buried by stacks of work, I was deadly longing for a break to nest somewhere quietly without being a clown; once a while, I will reach to my limit, tired of being glossy shallow look chic, always painted the face like a Peking Opera singer; being disconcerted by the annoying clink leaked from high heels; sick of each fake nodding and smug giggle. All those superficial manners turn out to be a cluster of beasts ripping myself apart, with an unbearable final polish. I crashed every night, dreaming of being somewhere tranquil and worry free. Every morning, daymare returns and successively devours my body and soul. I’m knackered; I need a break more than any other thing in the world before I turn myself into a neurotic.

An unexpected chance dropped from nowhere which allowed me to go to Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai for 5 days with my mum, scrutinizing through my to-travel schedule, these are the top cities I would go, (coughing) counting from the bottom. My affection to these cities was not even closer to my mum’s. After all, it was her maiden voyage to officially leave China mainland, doomed to be fascinating, or maybe less than more…

It was 8 days before Christmas, a crisp day started with a beam of cold sunshine, morning wind cut right cross into my bone which arose the goose bumps on my cheeks, I tried to shake away the chill by squeezing with my mum and a few her senior friends, funnily the plots stuffed in my mind were all from the movie “Love Actually”, a homey and well structured movie to be watched especially during Christmas period. I particularly enjoyed the jolly music, blended with the festivity for this holiday season. In a jiffy, we have reached Hongqiao Airport which is the first airport in Shanghai. Due to its limited capacity that was unable to cater the boom of mobile population in this ultrasonically developed city, all the international airlines have been relocated to Pudong, left with civil airlines only. I took a quizzical gaze at our itinerary, which stated “Day one: Flying from Shanghai to Hong Kong”, apparently Hongqiao airport had no direct flight to Hong Kong as far as I knew. Wandering off around to look for our tourist guide, who was middle aged, with a bulbous nose and naturally squinted eyes made him stand out from the rest. He was always with his cap, pretending at his 40’s. Albeit his unconvincingly attractive look, he was quite well spoken, and being unexpectedly helpful. I was not an arranged tour fanatic, as a matter of fact, since 2003; my arranged tours could be counted with less than 5 fingers, neither of which was impressive nor enjoyable. Every time I felt myself like charged radar scanning through all the spoilt points in the most time-effective fashion, ended up with no real fun. If my mum wouldn’t be my company, if the places I went were neither HK nor Macau, I would have never ever considered arranged tour. Going to these two places has been long infamous for shopping and gambling, that didn’t appeal to me at all.

Anyway, desperately pleading for a getaway, the destination appeared to matter least whatsoever. I went with flow, expecting nothing upbeat. Our group had nearly 30 people, accountable by two tourist guides; Mr. Cap was our guide, the rest team members could be categorized into baby boomer. But being with old was sort of fun for you got indulged and spoiled from time to time: they would peel the apple for you; tuck a candy into your mouth even though you had your mouth full already… Live proof shows senior people are always more hospitable than the youth, maybe people who experienced “Great Leap” and Culture revolution always be afraid of both famine and property will return to their offspring, rather than die in hunger, they’d rather you enjoy eater’s death. I was always bombarded with so many snacks on the way. And surely the transport time was much longer than expected for the sack of a combination transfer between air and overland. We flew to Shenzhen, then hopped on a shuttle bus to Hong Kong through Huanggang custom which ran 24 hours a day, unlike Luohu that would normally close at 10pm. Within the whole trip, we have changed 4 tourist guides derived from different travel agencies as if we were so prestigious. Our schedule in HK at the looked quite abundant at the first time compared to the amount of money we paid (1400rmb), nevertheless, there are no longer petty advantages…

Dates	Planned Itinerary	Actual Itinerary
Day 1	Fly from Shanghai to HK Lunch in HK Visit Repulse Bay, Chatham Road; Ocean Park Accommodate in HK	Arrive HK at 16:00pm Visit Repulse Bay, convention center Drove us to Repulse Bay for shopping Accommodate in International Regal Hotel (that’s the highlight of the day)
*Day 2	Visit Huang Daxian Temple in the morning Visit Causeway Bay, Convention Center Victoria Harbor Cruise	Visit Huang Daxian Temple at 9:00am Followed by shopping, shopping, shopping… Raced to Ocean Park at 16:30pm, got out at 18:00 (ridiculous)
Day 3	Self-organized	It could be the only day I have done something I loved every minute of it… Lunch with a TMC friend Went to Star Avenue, and Disney Land for free till 21:00

* The second day, here named “Aggressive Shopping Day” was a shocker, which reflects how sick HK is from another angle.

After a whole day turbulence, we were still quite thrilled about the 4 star hotel, the bed, the pillow, the size of the room… wow, out of 1400rmb fee we paid for the whole tour, how kind the travel agency put us into such a nice hotel with the retail rate listed 1500HKD/night. Everyone was praising the remarkable decision they’ve made to join this tour. But I was a bit puzzled for there was an old saying, “after all, it is the customer who pays”… travel agencies were not dumb explicitly. I was just wondering how the system run to allow us to accommodate in the 4 star hotel, the answer merged as the day moved on. The first shop we visited was an Italian Diamond Factory named Diamond In Love (DIL) nested in a narrow alley, no grand French doors, crystal Chandelier, neither glittery showcases. Only an array of posters hung on the wall, showing a few sample they’ve got. I guess they could be the nicest ones out of all the garbage. A stylish lady in cream white shirt with permed brown hair and heavy make-up elegantly walked to us, who was also holding a mini microphone, they were very well prepared by the look of it, geared up to cater to large group of tourists like us. She began to deliver a presentation about her company in no time. From her speech, she has at least practiced for more than 10 times with no verbal stumbles, ushering us into a small dark room, which was similar to film processing/duplication room. Imagine you, with the other 29 people all in one tiny room, the light even didn’t allow you to recognize each other’s face, the subconscious pressure and tense created in no where but continually got stronger and stronger as if we were about to be slaughtered in a few seconds. While everyone was seduced by her brainwashing speech and PPT, I was checking around the edge of the ceiling to see if they have installed any poisoned gas shower rose. How bizarre! The clock was ticking, the sharp lighting shot from the LCD screen caused so much discomfort, I was trying very hard to distract myself from something trivial on the ground, even a cigarette stub could be my mate.

“Okay, thanks for your listening, now follow my lead, let’s see more display prepared for esteemed you!” the moment I heard this line, I almost jumped to my feet, all the panic and tense has elapsed in no time. Unfortunately the elation didn’t last that long. The time she pushed the hidden door open, it was almost like NARNIA, well, not quite, a NARNIA, swarmed with tourists. Overhearing the accents, majority of them were from Shanghai, Hangzhou and Wenzhou… What a trap! Our HK tourist guide Mrs Zeng had eventually ripped off her disguised smile, bug-eyedly monitoring us around, pushing her envelop to force us to spend, I was in sales for 2 years, never despised any sales people until today I saw how nasty sales could turn people to… but I guess it was not sales itself, but their evil spirit… All the shop assistants were doing the worst sales I’ve ever seen in my whole life – begging and insulting… there were no eye contact, but pocket contact, no questions as a start, but direct sell all the way through, no elegant smile exchanged, but aggressive bargaining. But one thing was somewhat positive for you could hardly feel the financial crisis in this hall. We were kept there for 2.5 hours just because few of us have shopped, not anywhere near Mrs Zeng’s sales target, how did I knew, well, everything has written on her face, which had lasted in the next 5 hours. The day was yet finished; we continued our journey to shops, to shops, to shops, which patronize us in the accommodation, meals and transport fee. After all, it is the customer who pays.

The tourist guide in Macau was way kinder compared to the one in HK, mostly because of country’s totally different economic status. In Macau, the lowest wage is 6000-8000 Macau dollars (equivalent to 5280 – 7040rmb) similar to HK to certain extent, however living expenses in Macau were almost 4 times less, plus so many numerous allowances for kids, women, old that made every one of us jealous of being Macau Landers, unluckily, not long ago, legally permission of migration was no longer granted. On the contrast, their neighbouring city HK has turned their citizens into materialistic and practical monsters, who only work for living. They were trapped in this vicious cycle deeply and unswervingly. The more I thought about that, the more empathy I paid on HK people. This is so called “China’s capitalism”…

Travel with Mr B...

It was a funny holiday...

I didn't really expect my national holiday to be such a drama! I had no plan initially which however ended up with a family trip to Yandang Mountain, located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. One week before National Holiday,my father's inferior invited us to go to his hometown during the national holiday where is close to Yandang mountain and Huangyan, I checked out my schedule, funnily I didn't have any plan in-between.I accepted this offer with no hesitation. For one reason was I haven't had a trip with my parents since Jan last year. I'm so used to traveling by myself or with some mates that I sometimes omit my folk's feeling. I reckon this time would be a great opportunity to make up for the long-lost gathering with them.But besides the family, there was one more person who led the whole trip, Temporarily we called him Mr B.

We set out in the early morning of Sep 30th, as usual, I was packed one day earlier so that I didn't need to worry anything on the day of departure. On the way to the Shanghai Long Distance Bus station, we were planning what we could do once we arrived which injected a blast of joy and excitment into this coming tour. After all, we haven't been traveling together for a year, which in a sudden retrieved the long lost harmony and pleasure that only penetrated within our family, until we arrived the station, we were being pushed back and forth by a swarm of crowds, looking for Mr B, 10 minutes ticked away, he still hasn't appeared, my father gave him a call, he replied and said he was held up in the basement, about to head back to us... what was he doing in the basement?? As we were not familiar with this newly built station, we didn't say anything but silently waiting for his presence.

20 minutes later, here he was, a 58 year old bloke with a hooked nose embossed in the middle of his decadent face,rat like eyes as if he was always half asleep; I was not a big fan of any smoker,his two arrays of mottled teeth made me frown hard whenever he laughed with his big mouth wide open as though he never used toothpaste when brushing his teeth... In short, he was definitely not a spunky guy. As his my father's employee, I rendered 120% respect on him. However, a sense of discomfort crept upon my mind. Well, maybe I was over-sensitve, I told myself not to judge a person according to the appearance. the journey just kicked off.

"Shanghai to Luqiao", a big signboard has been flipped back onto the bus. Where is Luqiao? I thought we were supposed to go to Yandang Mountain... Mr B explained," oh, Luqiao is not far from Yandang mountain, only half an hour, Shanghai to Luqiao only takes 4-5 hours..." Well, it could be a new exploration for me. We got on the bus at 9:00am, whereas didn't arrive till 16:00pm... I didn't have a clue where Mr B's 4-5 hours came from, plus he said he went back to his hometown almost every 3 months, didn't he have any sense of time? Whatsoever, we arrived, got off the bus, ready to chill out for a while then, another drama hit us woozy, originally Mr B asked us to accommodate in his friend's home, he walked away with a call and left us alone in the station for almost half an hour, then he came back with a perplexed face himself, and kept muttering,'let's go, let's go...!" Went where? we were being dragged from here to there, running around like a bunch of loons, "aren't we supposed to stay in your friend's home?" My mother couldn't wait to question. "I dont know, my friend never tells me his thought, he keeps changing, I can't follow his thought... " he replied with an innocent voice. Mr B kept talking on the phone the entire time we were in the taxi, felt like sb instructing him from another end, but poor communication forced the taxi driver to drive like a manic... the moment I felt I came back to Shanghai again, 'enjoying' being swung back and forth.

In the end, the taxi driver dropped us off in front of a shabby look motel. Mr B finally put his phone back to the pocket, I felt a bit sorry for him being attacked by the phone radiation over the past 20 minutes, he put me and my mum in a standard room, decided to take my father to his friend's home, what a lousy plan! I thought we were supposed to be together according to the original plan. There were so many "suppose" s which got rise to nil realization... I was a bit grumpy at the moment for I didn't want his silly organization to ruin the whole family trip. But the fact was our bed was not big enough for 3 people... With a big compromise, my father had to go. My loath on Mr B has been accumulating since then, and that was not the end of the story. tentatively I had to say goodbye to my papa, hopefully I could dream of him even when we were apart... ( a bit too serious, just one night:-p)

In the following day, we woke up early as Mr B said he would allocate a car to pick us up from the hotel for breakfast, then directly headed to Yandang Mountain. My mum got sort of rushy temper, I couldn't sleep while she was having the TV on... we were both sitting on the bed and waiting for the phone buzz, we counted the hours slipped through our fingers, couldn't help sneaking a peak on the phone still quietly lying on the dresser. My mum broke the silence and urged me to call my father for updating the situation. My father answered phone with half awake tune, which suddenly piqued his excitement while hearing my voice on the other end, " How are you? my daughter, they are arranging the car now, I don't know what happened, Mr B is organizing everything here, have you had your breakfast?" I was almost suffocating, what?! I thought we were supposed to have breakfast together, that was irritating... Were they going to leave me and my mum isolated till we were hungry to death!... Jeez, I couldn't help venting to my father, 'the whole plan sucks!! I can't believe Mr B's any nonsense, it's completely clueless! We are going to have breakfast now, afterwards comes to pick you up, Let's go to Yandang mountain together without him... !" My father was a bit perturb on the other side, he soothed me a bit and advised us to wait for a little longer, seemingly the car was out for us just now, I hung up the phone with a big sigh, we couldn't do anything except endless waiting in a 15 sqm large room. The car finally arrived, but a taxi rather than his friend's car...well, I didn't care no more. As I was going to Anji in the following day, Mr B invited us to stay with his sister living in Haimen(the current name is Jiaojiang), thus I carried my backpack with me. It was a sweltering day as we set out from the hotel around 8:30am, and didn't get there till midday, my stomach was rumbling as I was so used to a big breakfast... Apparently I resonated with my folks that the first thing to do was grab a bite once we got off the car. Due to the National Holiday, the whole scenic spot was surrounded by loads of private cars and giant shuttle buses, our taxi driver dropped us off near the entrance said it would be quicker for us to walk in. Since I had the same experience in Hangzhou the time we were heading to Lingyin Temple, there was a long drive way into the spot on which so many cars and buses were lined up, this was a good warning,"NEVER travel during Golden holiday in China..." Well, but no one really took that seriously. After all, being one of the crowds is better than being isolated at home...

We had something to eat near the closest eatery, Mr B continued his brag, "I have been to many places before, I have been to Yandang mountain for many times as well, I bet you won't be able to climb on the top, coz it's quite tiring... You should eat more, otherwise you don't really have energy..." His words not only killed joy but also provoked my anger, I decided to ignore him in the following couple of hours before I left for another trip. After lunch, he said he would lead the road since he said he has been here for many times. We were tagging behind. The sun was burningly baking behind my back, with the overweight of my backpack, I felt every two steps equaled one, I didn't remember how long we have walked until we asked a street vendor how far the entrance of Yandang mountain would be, my mum almost fainted, it was very obvious that we have already missed the entrance, there would be another small scenic spot, 3km away from here, Holy Molly... I felt like a Tibetan conducting a spiritual tour by surrounding the moutain with a prayer wheel. Sigh, I could see embarrassment creeping onto Mr.B's face, his facial muscle was no longer controllable, which he should. As we were already halfway to the small scenic spot, the only option was to finish the rest of the tour ASAP...

After we were done today's sightseeing, waiting for Mr's B's friend to pick us up from deep inside the valley was apparently a mission impossible, we hired a van to his sister's home. I was too tired to matter any other thing, melting into the backseat and straight dozing off myself after hopping into the van. When I had my eyes open after a couple of hour sleep, we were still on the car, had no idea where we were, the car kept hovering around the alien town like crazy... which turned out to be Mr B forgot where his sister's address, and left her phone number at home... I was completely paralysed, How great it was! The van was going to be our accommodation tonight. It was a long tedious drive for the cab driver and his wife, we eventually arrived due to Mr's B's sister's life-saving call. We had the simplest self-cooked dinner, and didn't stay in her home in the end, but headed back to the hotel in Luqiao... What a day!

My parents decided to fast forward their trip as well by going back to Shanghai one day earlier, I fortunately escaped from this dramatic trip with Mr B even earlier than my folks. Hehe... Even though it was such a horrible trip, it got me something memorable to talk about and Mr B demonstrated a very typical example of how bad organisation could end up with so that we won't make the same mistake while choosing our guide in the future... After all, I still enjoy being with my parents, which is the whole essence of this trip. It doesnt matter where you go, but whom you go with...

Impression on Yunnan

Yunnan, a wonderland, sits in the south west of China, where always stands apart from the rest of China. Counting for more than half of the ethnic groups in China, it’s deemed to be an elusive place, diversified by many different cultures, customs, and languages.

"Southern barbarian" is another name for Yunnan Peoples, due to its mixed geography, it used to be set high on the empire’s “barbarous and pestilential” southwestern frontiers and shielded from the rest of the nation by the unruly, mountainous provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou. But in my mind, Yunnan is beyond war or any battles, where however is the only place retaining a dash of unparalleled harmony and peace. When I was a kid, informed by those documentaries about Yunnan, in my little mind this realm was more likely to be described as a spectacular palace, full of royal bright colors, not only because Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan is nicknamed “Flower Town”, but those exotic trinkets, ornaments and costumes appeal to me most. I was particularly impressed by Dai Minority who is celebrated for its Water-Splashing Festival (泼水节)… Needless to say, Yunnan’s specialty is more than that.

Eventually I fulfilled my long-waited journey to the south west during this national holiday plus another week taken from my annual leave.

I was related by many experienced travelers before I headed for Yunnan, ‘Once you are there, you will never want to leave…’ I was pretty perplexed, is it because it’s too beautiful to leave, or something else holds you up?? With this puzzle hovering around my brain, I took off on Oct 3rd 2007 with my friend; we were sitting beside the window, watching the tarmac driving far away from us as the plane slowly lifted itself up to the cloudy sky. Like Vietnam, initially I thought even without any specific plan, we could play to our hearts content so long we were not overly adventurous. Well, we were sort of right, however we did suffer a little bit from insufficient preparation.

The first stop was Kunming, if you want me to comment on this city, well, I would say big city was always alike, concrete jungle… but Kunming is more mixed compared to Shanghai, where the whole town was sunk in clusters of sky scrapers. If you drove for 20 min from downtown, you would reach one of the most notorious mountains—The West Mountain (西山), the local suggested lovers better not to trek there, as there used to be many heart-broken stories happened so that majority of the lovers who climbed to the top of this mountain would be cursed till they separated once they climbed down. Sounded pretty spooky… Aside from that, the tram rail which directly took you up to the mountainside in my opinion definitely got your money’s worth though the tram itself looked quite dodgy, but if you love challenge, the scenery ahead of you would undoubtedly be your best bonus.
On Oct 4th, we decided to desert Kunming for a while and drew ourselves closer to the world marvel—Shangri-la. Rome can’t be built overnight, when we checked the bus timetable in the hostel, it would take 13 hours from Kunming to Shangri-la county. This time in order to reserve more energy for this trip, we chose to fly to Kunming rather than the economic sleeper on the train, we didn’t want to be too knackered to walk around right after we arrived Shangri-la, either. The optimal means was to have a stopover on our way there, a couple of days rest would retrieve vitality, but the nodus was where the stopover would be. After several round of screening, the answer was obvious: either Lijiang or Dali. What further exacerbated us was the bus from Kunming to Lijiang took 8 hours, to Dali, 4 hours; whereas, Lijiang to Shangri-la 4 hours, Dali to Shangri-la 8 hours… the total amount of time we would spend overland was no difference, it depended on if we would like to suffer sooner, or later? I was a bit reluctant to go to Lijiang as I was overheard heaps of negative comments against this town thanks to its over exploitation. Whatsoever, Lijiang has been color-printed on every must-visit attractions in Yunnan. Skip Lijiang as if we skip the Great Wall in Beijing… Thence, we opted to suffer sooner rather than later.

The first day in Lijiang was almost blown us away. Its unique architectural features, pagoda like tile roofs with red lanterns and copper bells hanging on the eaves; dark grey bricks stacked houses closely adjacent one from another with sophisticated auspicious patterns carved on the wood-made window panes; granite paved roads polished shine by thousands and millions of steps contributed by the tourists from around the world; the meandering streams from the Jade river acting as a moat across the whole town and pasting all the houses… It in a sudden rewound me back to Hong Cun Village situated in Anhui province and West Street in Yangshuo County, Guilin. But Lijiang Old town happened to be listed as one of the world cultural heritages for the sake of its 800 year history starting from Late Song Dynasty, as well as its unequalled Naxi Minority culture. I went to watch the most renowned Naxi Ancient Music show upon arrival. More than half of the performers aged 70 upwards. Three of them were almost 90 years old, who were playing the those antique musical instrument which I’ve never seen anywhere in my hometown. They were described as the ancestors of the modern Chinese instrument. Their music used to be played during the heyday of the glorious Han and Tang Dynasty and probably during the time of Confucius himself. Many pieces tended to be cleanse your soul and express exquisite joy of living. Dr. Xuanke was the most well-known advocator of this ancient music. Due to his great effort, Naxi Ancient Music has traveled around the world, and passed down from generation to generation.

The current Lijiang to me was more like a heaven for shop-holic. Almost every household restored its ground floor to a boutique shop, selling kindreds of Naxi deco, trinkets, accessories and some handcrafts, which were similar to those in any tourist attractions around China. The most exclusive handcraft is Piao shaped wood-craving. Piao is the dried and hollowed-out shell of the gourd, often cut into half, used as a drinking utensil. The indigenous craftsmen first shaped a block of wood to Piao, then carved directly on the bulge of a curve with very sharp graver, from a conventional drinking utensil to a piece of artwork, this extraordinary ancient technique has on the other hand refined Lijiang’s minority culture.

Impression on Lijiang was more or less controversial, when you peak through its materialistic appearance, you could still capture the deeply-rooted ethnic culture that fortunately is still being recognized and preserved fairly well. As we are flocking into a new era, we can’t allow this old town stagnant as it was, modernization will in the end be a must and incorrigible, the only thing we could do might be more tolerant against what have happened to it, and retain and respect its unique culture that differs itself from the rest.

We ended up in Lijiang for 2 days, because my friend experienced terrified altitude sickness, whenever she ate anything, she started to vomit in no time… the dream of going to Shangri-la turned out to be a bit dim. God may have noticed how strong our will was, sent a lucky angel to help us out. We got to know a driver who agreed to drive us from Lijiang to Haba Snow Mountain with the price of 60rmb each, then to Shangri-la in the following day. En route, he gave my friend some free medication particularly for altitude sickness. We eased ourselves for one night in his house when we reached Haba Snow Mountain. It was a small Hui Minority village, composed of 80 households, people all knew each other, after we put away our backpacks, we followed Master Bao (our driver) to drop around. Almost every household we stopped by knew Master Bao, showed their greatest hospitality to us by giving away so many fresh walnuts, apples, papayas etc as presents, abundant fruits, vegetables, and corns made this little village relatively prosperous compared to the others. However, we were told that they started to have electricity not long ago, which was out of my imagination…After all, agricultural richness is not equivalent to the industrial prosper.

Within two days, we’ve already fallen in love with this little town, where was cultivating so many warm-hearted villagers, untapped virgin forest, and delicious gourmet. We were extremely reluctant to part with Master Bao and his family, but our journey needed to be carried on. Next stop—Shangri-la… a name only appeared in the book titled “Lost Horizon” written by a British author James Hilton, now officially has been used as a county’s name in Diqin Tibet Autonomous prefecture. In the British encyclopedia, Shangri-la was explained as a distant and secluded hideaway, usually of great beauty and peacefulness; or an imaginary, remote paradise on earth; utopia. In Tibet language, they also had a homonym called “Xiang ba la”, meaning opposite bank, where people have no diseases, greed nor hatred.

To see is to believe. As soon as we stepped out the car, we almost jumped to our feet, but an unexpected blast of chilled wind swept through our face. We never anticipated how cold Shangri-la would be, well, there was no point crying over spilt milk. As soon as we feet our way to a guesthouse nearby, we eagerly asked for some hot brown sugar ginger tea to warm ourselves up. While trembled and curled ourselves in the corner of the sitting room, we were sneaking a peak at a young charming girl with pure black straight hair knitting beside us. I managed to exchange a few words with her in order to distract my attention from the unbearable coldness. She said she was Hui Minority, same as me, living here and running this little guesthouse for quite a while, had a 6 year old kid, but she was still in a pretty standard shape. We could tell from her blissful smiling face that life treated her well. She suggested us to work out a little bit by wandering off around the Du Ke zong Old town; also in the Si Fang Lou courtyard, at 19:00pm every night, most of the Tibetans would gather together to Tiao Guo Zhuang (perform Guo Zhuang Dance). That would be a not-to-be-missed opportunity to get to know of Tibetan culture. Guozhuang is the homonym of Tibetan language “Guo Zhuo”, meaning dancing around the bonfire in the backyard, normally to be performed in a family feast or reunification. It’s an iconic dance for Tibetan people, of which the form may vary slightly from county to county. We stepped out of the room, followed by the typical Tibetan music reverberating in the air. Since we were away from Shanghai, we never saw so many people like that night, sprays of crowds worn in various colourful costumes and turbans surrounded in a circle, hand in hand, shoulder by shoulder, kicking their feet back and forth after the rhythm of the music, we were also being cheered up by its festive atmosphere, feeling like being part of them, imagining everyday was a festival, how exhilarated we would be. We danced, sang, laughed and shouted till midnight as if we were like a 6 year old kids, lightheartedly immersed ourselves in such a delightful ambiance. No worries, no hassles, nothing would ever bother us at that moment; we were just ourselves, absorbing the long lost bliss that we should have had ages ago.

My friend’s altitude sickness has been soothed a lot after drinking ginger-brown sugar tea and Yak Butter tea; also because we slowed down our journey to acclimate the various altitudes along our way. Most of people would feel some effects above 3000m...the time we reached Shangri-la, the altitude was up to 4290m, eat as local, do what Romans do would be the only solution to keep you away from the sickness, if you couldn’t stand the high altitude, never risk your life…

We were lucky enough to continue driving upwards to Deqin where the most sacred mountain—Meili Snow Mountain was situated, each step en route formed a new scenery, even the air turned out to be considerably fresh and crisp albeit lack of oxygen. The virgin forest over there were very special compared to South East Asia, for the sack of shortage of moisture, those trees didn't have gigantic roots, but were covered with light green lichens, a type of fungus, forms a crustlike or branching growth on rocks or tree trunks, which only survived in pollution-free areas.

The local Tibetans were extremely friendly who held deep faith in their divine peak of the Kawaboge (Chinese: Mt. Mei Li), anyone who did bad things would be punished by Meili. Along our way, we were all ears towards the myths and legends the locals told us, it sounded incredible, but no reason of not believing them if you knew how honest and down-to-earth the Tibetan people were. In Tibetan group, there was a saying:" as long as you can talk, you can sing, you can walk, you can dance..." which fully reflected how versatile and artistic this ethnic group was... every one of them could hum a nice tune, or sing several lines in Tibetan language with no hesitate, which entertained everyone around them. Even if we had no idea of what they sang, by our educated guess, they must be glorifying the massive land that nurtured them, holy realm that sent them spiritual power to conquer all the tough barriers, and first-class views that feasted everyone's eyes...

In the end we weren’t able to see the marvelous moment－Ri Zhao Jin Shan (Golden Snow Mountain: the morning sunlight turning the snow mountain to golden) due to the monsoon season. The thick veil of the haze was torn for a moment, to display the jagged outline of the peak, then closed in two shakes, as though Mt. Meili was playing peekaboo with us. However, time didn’t allow us to have this endless waiting, left a piece of shame, we had to wave to say goodbye. Nothing was perfect in the world, so was each journey, a little feeling of incompletion will trigger me to head there again some day. Mt. Meili, let’s take a rain check!

10 days allowed me to discover nothing but a tiny top of the iceberg. It’s not even close to the end of the trip, but indicates the onset of more exploration…

For more photos, please go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joy-wang/

A Wild Rat & Frenzied Cancer's Adventure 2

It was really a fun trip, within 9 days; I have come across 2 cities and 2 countries. I arrived in Guangzhou early morning, then caught the express train to Shenzhen to see my friend, flied to Singapore at 23:45pm, arrived at 4:10am (1 hour delay...), started to explore the town since then, Singapore is such a tiny harbor city, apart from being wowed by the varieties of architecture, (as their land is also lease-hold like China, capital Land, one of the state-owned developers built majority of the high-rises) the view along the Singapore River was worth a visit. Like the iconic snow-white Merlion (actually it's not as snow-white as it looked like, this lion is just photogenic...), Raffle's Plaza, and heaps of Shopping centers adhered from one to another... Well, to a Wild Rat & Frenzied Cancer like me, such a concrete jungle had no difference from Shanghai, except for the slightly fresh air and a dash of tranquility for the sake of weekend... As a backpacker, being well prepared prior to departure is of great importance. I have booked the hostel in Singapore, but unfortunately near the Red Light District as you might have read in my previous article... That area had another name -- Singapore's second ‘famous’ night safari. To my delight, I didn't get the chance to stay there. When I finally located this 'Hostel' with my Singapore Friend, the hostel has already had its name changed, the mobile phone they left on a piece of slip stuck on the wall was out of service. Eventually I settled myself down in another backpacker's lounge situated in the hustling & bustling Little India District. One day in Singapore actually was more than enough to me... since I'm not the frenzy in neither shopping nor fancy nightlife. Singapore is not my taste:-p

I took bus to go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, only 5 hours, the bus and road condition was way better than the time I spent both in Vietnam and Cambodia. Thus 5 hours sounded more like a bonus rather than redundancy. The most tedious place could be KL, I was dropped near China town, the huge contrast almost blew my mind away, the stinky smell of the exhaust, a blaring car horn, and piles of trash in every corner... In a sudden, I started to miss the cleanness and tranquility in Singapore, maybe I was too tired to even bother going to the hostel that I booked (the pivotal reason was I don’t know where it was located to be honest), thus found a nearest hostel, dozed myself off in no time.

I ordered the breakfast from the hostel in the following day, happened to meet an old gentleman with three nationalities who joined me for tea. I was learnt he headed over to KL International Airport as well, as I knew nothing of this area; he kindly escorted me, so that I didn't eventually miss my flight.

My adventure didn't stop yet... I left for East Malaysia, and on the plane met another senior guy who lived in Kuching, the capital in Sarawak I headed for, for the following four days, he offered greatest help that I could never afford to return. I was considerably hectic before I went away for my holiday; I only hatched the specific routes that I was going to follow, but nothing about where I should go and what I should do once I arrived... He genuinely drove me around the town, showed the most special part of this little town, also introduced a good tourist agency to arrange a day tour for me, took me to the local restaurants for house specialty; brought me to meet up with his relatives for chit-chat. The touchiest thing he did was he came all the way from Kuching to Rainforest Music Festival in Sarawak Culture Village (1hr drive) with his cousin and his cousin' wife to pick me up at 0: 00p.m. then I had a nap for a couple of hours in his guest room and he drove me to the Airport at 5:20am. I was deeply moved by his selfless hospitality, when I was on the plane, I almost felt the whole journey in Kuching was just like a dream, but the best dream I’ve ever had, the sincerity from a stranger, beautiful smiles worn on each passer-by's face will be the most cherish memory beyond all the natural beauty in this East part of the peninsula.

It was a marvelous adventure! I should have stayed there for more days; btw, in the end I discovered the senior guy who accompanied me in Kuching used to own half of the land in his city. He was inherited from his great-grandfather who was the best mate of Charles Brook Rajah, the founder of Sarawak, but he never ever showed off his wealth, nor arrogance whatsoever, which makes him even more laudable...

A 'Wild Rat, Frenzied Cancer'Adventure1-Tips Sharing

Sorry for being so stagnant after coming back from a week-long holiday. Initially I intended to keep silent on my adventure till I finish my C7 speech. Thanks to the constant requests from many fellow peers, I'm more than happy to disclose the veil of my ‘mysterious’ trip, but from different perspective which I assume will considerably differ from my C7 speech. That’s the most beneficial part of traveling, which will not only broaden my horizon, but also be objective in my point of view. (Btw, for those who are new in my blog, please check out the following links to understand what Toastmasters Club is: )http://joyw.blog.sohu.com/36619290.html
http://joyw.blog.sohu.com/40128490.html

Without further due, I will walk you through my adventure hand in hand. I'm a gal who loves adventure, but no one was born with this interest. Especially for those who were born under the year of rat, attached with the zodiac of Cancer, neither fortunetelling books will tell this person would be born with the sense of adventure, but much more lean towards family dependency, well, believe or not, I'm the exception in this case, nicknamed "Wild Rat, Frenzied Cancer". I certainly believe everyone is inherited some parts of the gene from their folks. But I assume the rest is gradually being generated for the sake of your living environment/culture, family pedagogy and inner observation other than the innate characteristics. My folks unfortunately are nowhere close to the word ‘adventure’, which might associated with the twists and turns they have gone through, thus stopped them from even thinking of this word. Present Satisfaction is more likely to describe their attitude. For a Kdult like me (Kid adult, to describe a young adult in his/her early 20), I give my full support to outing, go as far as you could, explore the world in person, only by seeing, can you remember by heart, only by walking, can you open up your mind to more tolerantly accept the rest of the world.

Before diving into my travelogue, I believe it's of great necessity to harp on about the importance of adventure, as well as the notion behind it, therefore, you would not readily give up half a way.

Let's fasten our seat belt... time to take off...

Malaysia and Singapore are both countries that I should have set my foot to a couple of years ago since I used to tackle many cases with them in my Overseas Study Project back to 2004. Pitifully, I had a barrel of knowledge of these two peninsulas’ history, culture and education system, I didn’t grasp the chance to at least fly there to take a glimpse. Incubated for so long, time eventually allowed me to rest myself by taking a vacation over there. As an adventurer, words such as a plethora of Luxury, Leisure, Lavishness doesn’t usually suit myself. In another word, I couldn’t afford being so spoiled by just listening to the moaning of the ocean, doing the unnecessary shopping, nor watching the first splash of the sunlight. I hatched a fairly tough plan which in the end kept me on the run all day long albeit the considerable amount of excitement and fun.

The best weapon for being a successful adventurous backpacker is
"Budget Airline”,
"Guesthouse/Youth Hostel”
"Good guidebook”.
Fully geared with the above tools, I was almost ready to set out. But not quite yet... Booking as EARLY as possible will be more likely to help you save!!!! The normal plane fare from Shanghai to Singapore may cost you 5000rmb/round trip, from Singapore to Malaysia, 1000-1500rmb/round trip, West Malaysia to East Malaysia, 1000-1500rmb/round trip in the condition that you take normal Singapore Airway or Malaysia Airway… (Price varies with seasons). Roughly you might have splashed more than 7000rmb on transport, while not even starting your journey. Being a backpacker is really that costly??!! The answer for sure is NO… I have cut my overall transport fee down to HALF by a sophisticated combination of diversified transportation vehicles:
I first bought the plane ticket from Shenzhen to Singapore from Tiger Airway, (
http://www.tigerairways.com/) one of the most famous Low-fare Airlines in the world) which I only set back approx 1500rmb/round trip (including tax). Then I was learnt from other experienced travelers that overland service has been offered from Singapore to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), besides, it’s fairly easy to purchase the tickets on the spot. After doing a bit time calculation, I worked out my date of leaving from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia Peninsular and happened to detect another budget airline served intensely in South East Asia, namely, Air Asia Airline (http://www.airasia.com/), which is crying out for its short-term low-fare service, the fare from KL to Kuching only cost 440rmb (including Tax) at that time. However, I was pretty disturbed after finding out the expense on the flight from Shanghai to Shenzhen (2000rmb/round trip before tax), what would you do? Hands down, face to the reality?? NO, what have I told you at the early beginning? By holding a strong notion in your mind, never stop trying!!! Followed by an intensive consultation among my friends who travel back and forth frequently, compared with a range of airline companies, a civil budget Airline “Spring-Autumn” Airway (named Chunqiu Hangkong in Chinese) has finally drawn my close attention (www.china-sss.com). With limited discounted seats, I undoubtedly took out my credit card for my seat reservation; 900rmb/round trip was the best deal I could get at that time.

1500rmb+440rmb+900rmb=2840rmb+150rmb(Return ticket fare for Express train from Guangzhou to Shenzhen)+200rmb (round-trip bus fare from Singapore to KL)
3190RMB!!!

That's my total transport fee! Consequently I saved more than HALF of the expenditure by simply bettering the usage of various vehicles, but covering TWO cities and TWO countries! You might linger a bit longer on the road, nevertheless, massive panoramic view from the plane, tremendous plantation overland, and last but not least a subtle comparison along the way from country to country might inspire you to the fullest.

As related above, my second weapon to make my adventure come true is “Youth Hostel”. There are many not-for-profit websites offering this type of online room reservation. But this time, I made a big mistake by disregarding the location of the hotel. Notwithstanding, some websites did present a very clear list of the available overseas hostels; double checking the existence of your hostel, as well as the living condition would be of great use prior to your departure. Citing myself as an example, I booked a hostel in Singapore online before I literally set my foot to this country. When I was told the location of my hostel was very close to the second notorious Safari in Singapore—Red light district where boasts of brothels and prostitution, my heart sunk, with my chin dropped… misfortune never came alone, we walked all the way on Gaylong till our feet started to kill us, finally located the street number. A dash of morning breeze shivered me slightly. A narrow corridor was laid in front of us, where was hardly squeezed through if two people walked shoulder by shoulder. Frown crept on my forehead, I held backwards, feeling pretty reluctant to walk upstairs, my friend at that time happened to take a glance at a small piece of paper stuck on the right side of the wall, the name of the hostel seemed altered, the listed cell phone was out of service, in a sudden, a cluster of chill rushed into my back spine, which even more terrified the entire atmosphere. In the end, I had to waste my deposit to buy a safety for myself. Critical thoughts need to be carefully conducted before every leaping, what I gained in return is better not book any hostels beforehand unless other travelers or your mates recommend you accordingly, or select the hostel where obtains walking distance from the place you’ve been dropped. The following website is laudable and reliable enough for you to book online safely:

http://www.yhachina.com/
http://www.1rest.com/
A practical and fun guide book will not only tell you where to enjoy most, where to avoid going… I’m loyal and fanatic of LP—Lonely Planet, which is deemed to be the bible for international backpackers. The first time I backpacked to Cambodia, an isolated land with many hidden beauty and danger. I had not only enjoyed reading the history of this country, as well as the specific information ranging from district map to detailed address of some recommended hostels & restaurants. Even though the information sometimes won’t be updated as fast as its alteration, an objective comments embodied in the LP booklet would add much more creditworthiness up to this publication. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

Mark Twain used to say " The lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting the shoes on." I will say " the change can travel half way around the world while the plan is putting the shoes on. " which in another word, a perfect plan will always have its drawback when applying it into reality whatsoever. Remember, 10% of your life is what happens to you that might be out of your control; your REACTION will make the other 90% different. Hopefully my tips could pull your ambitious travel dream upfront bit by bit. Don’t forget to buy me a meal in return while you are beguiled with the joy of fulfillment.

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