Pre-Jing prepn

What pre-Jing!?
Heheheh..I'm here at last. Will blog about the pre-Jing prepn later if time & memory permitting. I went with a heavy heart....(cite2 supervisors ku yg merajuk..)

On the technical side - I didn't bring my laptop so I'm using somebody's computer in which everything turn out in Chinese characters. Oh, there are a smattering of English words on every page like this one I can read only 'A page a day, html & preview' - the rest are all in Chinese. Dare not to change the computer setting..

Weather on arrival 11degree celcius - much colder at night. Sejuk yg sedap2 lagi. Of coz with winter coat.

Shopping? Already done halfway through my original budget. Ya Allah, murahnya barang2. The thing is as long as you're not looking for branded items (which is way too expansive here), you are already in a shopping haven! Rber, even in Mesia, everything Made in China are cheaper (Er, quality notwithstanding)! Mak pesan, "Kau jgn belikan untuk sape2 pun. Kau tu belajar lagi!" At the same time, she gave me money (shame on me but I do really want to borrow only since I failed to collect my hutang2) to spend...Even the steward said, as I was leaving the plane, "Jgn shopping byk2..." Snippets of conversation heard during the journey..."bargained til you get to pay at most 15-25% of the initial offer price", "Beg2 tak payah bawak - murah2 kat sana!", "shopping holiday ke?" But last night shopping spree at Silk Street was a bit too much for me - two salesgirls cornered me...talked nonsense (which meant I couldn't understand a thing), pegang tangan kiri-kanan, we bargained using calculator, last2 ada adegan tarik2 handbag & kejar-mengejar! I literally run away....my cousin said, I'm too soft-hearted! Mana boleh get good bargain mcm tu..

Language? So far so good but how I wish I could communicate with them in English...I was thinking nak jadi macam 'Lonely Traveller' ke hape (too much travel-chanel watching on Astro) but my cousin advised me against it...I read something about the subway here but couldn't find info on it. Taxi is easier...just rber to bring along the address of where ever you wanna go (written in Chinese) & show it to the driver! Funny thing, one of them lastnite really interestd in our coins (duit kertas taknak!) so we exchanged money with me ending up getting a good bargain (little bit la)! We don't understand each other that much (even my cousin having difficulty after spending like 2,3 years here) but it looks like he has lotsa foreign coins at home! Perhaps he's proud to show it around, "Look, I'm jz a taxi driver but I've met ppl from around the world!" That's a guy with an attitude to follow!

During the flight-
I sat beside a Chinese boy (he's only 21!) returning back from attending his convocation in Mesia. He's under the one-son per family policy, studied business in KBU (actually he's interested in astronomy)- had difficulty to understand him actually - he said he don't like Mesia as there're too many language to learn, foods as well (not the same Chinese food here & Mesia)...I do hope he'll come back & change his mind! That's Weng Hung or something...

Strike up a conversation with a Malaysian Chinese doing business in Beijing - something to do with reward card system...looks like there're many of them looking for opportunities to make it rich from the newly-open China!