Wednesday, November 24, 2010

there and back again.

ok prep for phase 2. first roll out is new name.

bought a guidebook from impulse at coop for $19. looks colorful but it doesnt seem useful yet. after reading the first few pages. need to buy a lot of things.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

the list

A little ranking..

1) Shaoshan, (Hunan)
For obvious reasons. Go google. And don't laugh! Its a beautiful place.

2) Changsha (Hunan)
Must go to Yuelu Park in autumn. Best. And for all the happy people selling street meat. Good shopping too.

3) Chengdu (Sichuan)
For all the friendly happy people. Bestest hostel in the world is located there. Ma la heaven. And how can you forget the pandas.

4) Yongding (Fujian)
Engineering miracles all over, and great lesson on integrating physical and social structures. And its also hometown :)

5) Shuimo (Sichuan)
The admirable spirit after the deadly earthquake. Community-based social work. Marvelous.

6) Lhasa (Tibet)
The scenery, the culture, the monks. What more can you ask for. But altitude and permit / guide thing is a turn off. And the beggars. Though it is a place you must go once in your lifetime. Or twice.

7) Lanzhou (Gansu)
Another must go, though there isn't particularly any interesting thing to do. World's most polluted city! Its a living and breathing attraction. And its free. Travel advisory to stay one day max.

8) Shigatse (Tibet)
A bit repetitive after lhasa, but higher and more exotic. And it snowed there.

9) Guilin / Yangshuo (Guangxi)
Great scenery but full of irritating touts.

10) Macau (Macau)
Greyhound racing was closed. But how can you neglect a money making opportunity?

11) Xi'an (Shaanxi)
Another tout filled place. Hua Shan was legendary. Terracotta was average.

12) Beijing (Beijing)
Modern city, modern manners. Beijing Duck!

13) Xiamen (Fujian)
Not much things to do. Gulangyu island is cool stuff though.

14) Guangzhou (Guangdong)
Not much things to do.

15) Zigong (Sichuan)
Dinosaur museum was a letdown. But great find in the shopping area.

16) Shenzhen (Guangzhou)
Not much things to do and full of cheats and pickpockets. And touts. Its not the best place for shopping also.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Mao Fever

ok. so made this pictorial since i've been typing too much.

so on my 23rd bday, i went to Hunan, to the holy land of Shao Shan, to satisfy some hedonistic needs. where one man's greatness eclipses everything. i dont normally celebrate my birthday (its a social construct with the purpose of boosting the economy) but what greater celebration than to have it with Mao. and before u start criticism on communism and Mao, please open your eyes and find out what he did in the first place before u even speak a word. true that he may have been a little unethical in some aspects, but certainly china had progress under him. (its very debatable though.) and communism is utopia for social workers if u wanted to know (cos there will be no more FA cases!).

enjoy his epicness.


first stop at li shao qi. some other founding member of the ccp with mao. he was sth like his right hand man i think.


first mao stop. hero worshipping begins.


the horror when he died (look at their faces.)


with Mao's house where he grew up. If you noticed, the camera focuses on Mao's house. What a display of drawing power. Bow to his epicness. lol.


with a bronze statue of Mao. the main statue of worship. lol. plenty of flowers at his feet. there's a great story to tell about this statue, on the day it was erected. mayeb i'll write about it soon. somewhere.


epic photo atop the mountains and with wind blowing


epic statue seating on his throne above the mountains


many vehicles with Mao figurine, some safety charm


found another Mao in Hunan Uni where he studied


缓缓飘落的枫叶像思念,我点燃烛光温暖岁末的秋天
aha. ok finally some non mao stuff. hmm. no wonder singapore doesnt produce emo songs. cos we got no autumn leaves to write about.

i've got Mao Fever.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Dear Friends,

Hello.

Ok ignore my previous comment about a big post. It will be delayed. Need to write about Mao too.

But anyways, this is a public service announcement. Any social work friends, who wants to come to Sichuan for a little holiday is welcomed to. 3 of us are going to this primary school in Suimo town, and if you want to come along, u can email me.

There are some decently priced flights. (about 1100 ringgit from KL. plus bus/flight to KL, total will be about S$550. by airasia.) good for u if u can find cheaper ones..

Dates are between 21-27 Dec. 3 days will be spent at the school. The rest is for holiday. There's skiing and pandas involved. So if u are interested and have the budget, just email me.

Pictures of the school are in fb (suimo ba yi sch), and we will be helping the social worker's there to run some activities. Living cost during the three days are negligible. Otherwise on other days, spending will prob be less than S$20 a day.

Can't take too many people, maybe one or two, so reply quick if you're keen.

And if you have a bigger budget to splurge, about 2k, you can follow us to Tibet and Beijing after. ROCKS.

Friday, November 20, 2009

akademik

quick post before a mega post coming up.

"Many Americans, including most students and practitioners in the helping professions, have been socialized to think in a certain way - primarily to understand case situations in individual, family, and group terms, often minimizing the effects of the multiple factors and levels of the social environment on human behaviors and lives."

from a outstanding book i found while doing my essay on social service management comparison between China and Singapore. I so regret deciding to take this topic. Too much to read, too much to write. Should have written on migrant workers in China or something. Spend lesser time on work so can go to China again.. To Hubei, Fujian, and Chaozhou. 3 more places to goooooo....


Social policy intervention. FTW! more reasons why you should take welfare econs next sem.. by Dr. Irene Nick.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Fighting a War

The watch hits 0129 hours. It has been 37 minutes. 37 minutes since the last mission began. 37 minutes of fidgeting.

Now is the time. The time to check on them. Dropping whatever he was doing, Carl heads on the door. Checks left. Checks right. And left again. Nobody. Stealthily, he ghosts down the corridor, turning the corner before peering into the lift lobby. All's quiet. Taking a quick scan of the area, Carl enters, reaching for the lift control buttons. He pushes it gently, then retreats into a corner where he had a good view of both exits of the lobby, as well as a full view of the lift door.

As he waits, each ticking second sounded was like a pounding hammer on his nerves. "It's been 38 minutes now" he muttered to himself. Finally reaching the 9th floor, Carl braced himself as the lift doors slide open. Empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, he enters at presses the button for the top floor.

The doors shut and the lift began its ascend. A moment of respite for Carl as he prays that nobody else will enter. The lift accelerates to its peak speed, carrying Carl closer to his destination. With two more floors to go, he readies himself to expect the unexpected. For all he knew, he could be walking right into an ambush.

As the doors gently open, the familiar blue and yellow doors greeted Carl. No trap. Taking his first tentative steps out of the lift, a cold rush of air met Carl, welcoming him to the top floor. Not taking a moment to pause, he scurried along to winding corridor, entering the brightly lit room at the end.

The humming of the machines filled the background as Carl made his way to the all too familiar machine. The mission had been completed. Opening the machine door, Carl started to check the status of the mission. Searching through the pile and putting it together neatly for quick retrieval, he then realized it happened yet again. It was the 7th time it has happened. "Not again," he muttered to himself. "Damn machines." For the 7th time in 3 months, he had lost a sock. A good quality sock. Shaking his head, he gathered the rest of his laundry and trudged back to his room.



haha! so the bloody washing machine/dryer keeps eating my socks. and thus... i went to buy ten pairs of socks. rockssssss. there was a good deal on them.. buy 4 get 4 free. lol. each pair only costs S$1.80. (bought another two elsewhere) yes. now i have enough ammunition to defeat the enemy - the bloody washing machine/dryer. STOP EATING MY SOCKS! half of the socks supposed to be yours though. for china.. (haha. you know who you are. not going to say, later some people say got some lovey dovey thing going on. HAHA!) well can always go back and buy more... SOCKS!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

confusion

in recent news....

guangzhou sent a team to singapore to study the social work/social welfare system. over the last few years, they have been modeling after HK. upon discovering the singapore model... they realized its so much cheaper than the HK model... and now they are confused whether to follow HK or Singapore.

brilliant hilarious stuff.

the singapore model will never work in china, because of the demographics. china is too big to use the singapore model. classic case of wei ren min bi fu wu rather than wei ren min fu wu.

but this made my day. haha! and yeah it really shows the determination of the govt to improve their social services. rocks. dept better allow us to go guangzhou for placement. need to havoc in school when i come back.

cos we're uniquely singapore.