Between Then And Now

I went on a weekend trip with Singaporeans to Shaoxing, there are a lot of Singies studying in Shanghai, and a large majority of them hail from Hwa Chong, with some in those groups originating from Chinese High or Nanyang, and if you go even further back, from Nanyang Primary. So the stereotypes are true. We are, as they say, cheena-poks.

It was very enjoyable, not least because Rui and Esther were there. I hate making new friends, seeing how horribly shy I really am. I'm not the type of person who will try everything on the menu once, I'm more the person the barista at Starbucks can remember for a specific order. The people on the trip were mostly nice, except for one or two obnoxious fuckers, and I, as usual, didn't really interact much with them. I regret this, this is my personality, and I have no idea how to do this befriending thingum properly.

Shaoxing was, refreshing. Not least because once you leave Shanghai, you remember what clean air tastes like. The night before leaving I had horrible chest pains just off where my heart is located, and there was no emo factor in this. It was a deep, dull ache that protested every move I made with my upper body. Maybe it was my smoking, maybe the smog played a part too, but it cleared up immediately after we sped towards Zhejiang. On the highway, I felt humbled by the sight of a great country with so much land it can afford to be lax in planning, and have fresh vegetables to eat. Once off the bus I walked down and gulped the crisp air with a vengeance, and the weather was great. By great I meant I could walk around in a t-shirt (I have been doing this in SH for nearly a week now, much to the disbelief of my friends) and not feel any chill.

The hostel we stayed in was a quiet place converted from an old residence. For 60rmb a night, you can't really complain, we had clean sheets and an AC, and the toilet was clean. There was however a glass window in the bathroom overlooking the beds, and no curtain. It was tricky, but we managed. It was also 5 mins away from the Lu Xun's Residence, where we headed down to see old rooms, and faded pictures, to celebrate this great Chinese writer.I had no inkling about. I used to think I was pretty Chinese, until I came here and met this bunch of Singaporeans who study Chinese Literature for a living, only to realise I know nothing.

We had some Shaoxing wine, also called 黄酒 locally, and it tasted like sweet vinegar. I kept making faces to keep people entertained throughout dinner, but really it wasn't as bad as say, tequila. I finally found my lotus stuffed with glutinous rice glazed with honey, and pigged on that, which Zi Wei was nice enough to buy for me the next day before we headed back so I could OD on that shit. Music really affects me, earlier in the entry I was in a mellow mood because of Leona Naess, but once I switched to The Mighty Underdogs (hip hop) you see the words "OD" and "shit" in the same sentence. "It's a gunfight, high noon fight to the death...."

Next day we visited the Wine Museum, and East Lake, and you know what I'm tired of typing, so there's really nothing much to say, except I spent the weekend visiting dead people and walking through their memories in photographs and historians' 片面之词, have already started referring to my dorm room as "home", girls in Shaoxing are prettier than those in SH, I will need to start doing a lot of travelling now because time is running out.

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I have been watching many DVDs, sometimes sacrificing classes to finish a film. Surprisingly, my top 3 are all Criterion:

Bicycle Thieves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_Thieves

Bob le Flambeur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_le_flambeur

Heaven Can Wait http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_Can_Wait_(1943_film)

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Pictures are up on Facebook. Take care.

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