Ianthey is hilarious, Jialin snores, and Gina is super good in chinese.
We reached ZZ, super excited to start the day, but Jialin was so tired she got held back at immigration, cause she had a light fever, and there was a Zika scare, so when we did the body temp scanning she didn't make it through and then we had to readjust our surprise Gina plan.
So Ianthey went out first and said i was the one inside, and then i went out and she expected me and then Jialin arrived as the last surprise Gina's heart almost stopped. Because Jialin was just casually walking with her phone outside the KFC, and Gina saw her before she saw Gina and gina was like "JIALINNNN". Mainly because Jialin didn't see where i entered the KFC and went to the wrong side and realised there was no door, so had to walk past the glass pane where i was trying to distract Gina, but she looked out and saw Jialin rushing to the door. That was so exhausting already.
Then we cabbed down to near her uni and had dumplings and then walked to her room, which is on the 6th floor and very exhausting to climb, but it is such a nice room, and she packed for the next 3 days, and then we went to the hotel, and shared two rooms, and i kind of filled her in on how busy Prilaa was, and how she wanted to be there, and gave her the pillow case.
And that was Day 1.
Day 2 was a late day. We had breakfast at the hotel, and explored the city. Took a cab down to Gina's uni and dropped off our bags, and packed for our 1.5 days in Xi'An. And then slowly walked around the city. We had yummy cold noodles, and went to a mall, where we were proper Singaporeans and shopped. And then we went home, had a mini nap, and headed out to collect our train tickets (this is when a man woke up his two sleeping friends to look at me) and eat at Hi Di Lao. Which was an experience in itself. The waiting room had snackerdoodles and photo printing machines amongst other things. We had way too much food, but it was well satisfying, especially the la mian dance guy. NOODLE SHIFU.
And that was Day 2.
We woke up early, got to the station just on time, and had a lovely ride to Xi'An. China kept blowing my mind. It was clean, modern, polite. Everything I didnt think it would be. We met a lovely grandpa and his grandson on the train. 2.5 hours later we were in Xi'An, and this city really reminded me how rich of history and culture China was. Just ancient ruins, well maintained. We got upgraded to a lovely suite at the Citadines, went out for some yummy halal meat and gnochi noods,and walked around the city. Had Gongcha, since it doesnt exist in Singapore anymore that felt quite legit. We roamed and then went and sat in a cafe where we had coffee and chilled out of the sun. We tried and failed at playing Psych, but at least coffee. Then we walked to wards the Wall, BUT got distracted in MINISO, because why not. We happily swung our bags to the wall, which was breathtaking. We slow walked and talked about culture and history and things. For all the tall buildings in Xi'an there was still enough visibility that you could sometimes just see the rooftops of buildings, and look into tiny rooms and terraces. I could imagine living in a place like that, the same sort of appeal that Tiong Baru has for me. After all of that we took a walk into the Muslim Quarters and were positively bombarded with the smells and sights of all things Chinese (minus the pork).
And that was Day 3.
This was a big day, we got to the Terracotta Soldiers. Got stuck in horrible traffic though, but still managed to get completely overwhelmed at the sight of rows and rows of soldiers. 2000 years ago, imagine that. We spent a good amount of time there and then made our way back to the train station and got back to ZZ. We split up, Gina and I went to collect some deliveries, and pick up some more of her stuff for the remaining two days whilst Iants and Lins had bubble tea. We then taxi'ed to our next location, the Tao Bao AirBNB.
And that was Day 4.
We had a pretty late start on Thursday. We were all quite exhausted from the Xi'An trip, and potentially just being around each other non-stop for 4 days and so we took it easy. We had some aeropressed coffee at home with fruits and then took a taxi down to the park. This park was beyond anything I had expected. Gina described it as each part of the park having its own purpose based on the kind of activity being done there. We saw singers, instrumentalists, dancers, calligraphers. It was the loveliest thing I had ever seen, nestled right in the middle of the city. We took a nice long walk past lakes and bridges and pagodas, shaded by large overhanging trees. And then when we got hungry, enter David Mall. The Ion of ZZ really. Theres really nothing I can say about the food in China, it was always good, fusion or not, and intensely satisfying. After lunch we made our way to Starfish! So nice to meet G's new family, and their love for her was apparent. They were so excited to see her, and us, and we got to pick out some lovely pieces for our friends. After this we walked over to the Zoo cafe to eat somemore, and picked up some fried yoghurt on the way there. Once we'd had our fill,we went back to the mall from the second day to finish some shopping for our colleagues. Got all the haw fruit rolls and things before heading back to the room. We all took our showers and had a time of singing and prayer, when Prills joined us. We talked about what we were looking forward to and what we could all pray for each other about. And I just have to say how grateful I am for this friendship, that we can all support each other like this.
That was Day 5.
Our last day was bittersweet. We woke up to horrible pollution (which Gina said wasnt bad at all) but it was bad, Ianthey wasnt feeling so well and we went out and had some yummy coffee and noodles. We went back to the room, did our final clean up and made our way to the airport. We got lost and we thought we were going to be late, only to find out that our flight had been delayed. By two hours. That's 2 hours too many, because we'd miss our connecting flight by a whole hour. So after that freak out, we just settled into having two extra hours with our beloved Gina. It was hard to say goodbye, so i tried not to think about it and focus on how tired I was. We made it to Hong Kong and slowly made our way to the Marriott. Ianthey got herself her own room cause she really needed some quiet rest away from the psychotic ramblings of Lins and I. Lins and I watched Confessions parts 1-8 in the room before showering and heading to bed with masks on (well i had a mask, she couldnt find hers till the next morning when it was too late).
That was Day 6.
Day 7 we went home :)
So Ianthey went out first and said i was the one inside, and then i went out and she expected me and then Jialin arrived as the last surprise Gina's heart almost stopped. Because Jialin was just casually walking with her phone outside the KFC, and Gina saw her before she saw Gina and gina was like "JIALINNNN". Mainly because Jialin didn't see where i entered the KFC and went to the wrong side and realised there was no door, so had to walk past the glass pane where i was trying to distract Gina, but she looked out and saw Jialin rushing to the door. That was so exhausting already.
Then we cabbed down to near her uni and had dumplings and then walked to her room, which is on the 6th floor and very exhausting to climb, but it is such a nice room, and she packed for the next 3 days, and then we went to the hotel, and shared two rooms, and i kind of filled her in on how busy Prilaa was, and how she wanted to be there, and gave her the pillow case.
And that was Day 1.
Day 2 was a late day. We had breakfast at the hotel, and explored the city. Took a cab down to Gina's uni and dropped off our bags, and packed for our 1.5 days in Xi'An. And then slowly walked around the city. We had yummy cold noodles, and went to a mall, where we were proper Singaporeans and shopped. And then we went home, had a mini nap, and headed out to collect our train tickets (this is when a man woke up his two sleeping friends to look at me) and eat at Hi Di Lao. Which was an experience in itself. The waiting room had snackerdoodles and photo printing machines amongst other things. We had way too much food, but it was well satisfying, especially the la mian dance guy. NOODLE SHIFU.
And that was Day 2.
We woke up early, got to the station just on time, and had a lovely ride to Xi'An. China kept blowing my mind. It was clean, modern, polite. Everything I didnt think it would be. We met a lovely grandpa and his grandson on the train. 2.5 hours later we were in Xi'An, and this city really reminded me how rich of history and culture China was. Just ancient ruins, well maintained. We got upgraded to a lovely suite at the Citadines, went out for some yummy halal meat and gnochi noods,and walked around the city. Had Gongcha, since it doesnt exist in Singapore anymore that felt quite legit. We roamed and then went and sat in a cafe where we had coffee and chilled out of the sun. We tried and failed at playing Psych, but at least coffee. Then we walked to wards the Wall, BUT got distracted in MINISO, because why not. We happily swung our bags to the wall, which was breathtaking. We slow walked and talked about culture and history and things. For all the tall buildings in Xi'an there was still enough visibility that you could sometimes just see the rooftops of buildings, and look into tiny rooms and terraces. I could imagine living in a place like that, the same sort of appeal that Tiong Baru has for me. After all of that we took a walk into the Muslim Quarters and were positively bombarded with the smells and sights of all things Chinese (minus the pork).
And that was Day 3.
This was a big day, we got to the Terracotta Soldiers. Got stuck in horrible traffic though, but still managed to get completely overwhelmed at the sight of rows and rows of soldiers. 2000 years ago, imagine that. We spent a good amount of time there and then made our way back to the train station and got back to ZZ. We split up, Gina and I went to collect some deliveries, and pick up some more of her stuff for the remaining two days whilst Iants and Lins had bubble tea. We then taxi'ed to our next location, the Tao Bao AirBNB.
And that was Day 4.
We had a pretty late start on Thursday. We were all quite exhausted from the Xi'An trip, and potentially just being around each other non-stop for 4 days and so we took it easy. We had some aeropressed coffee at home with fruits and then took a taxi down to the park. This park was beyond anything I had expected. Gina described it as each part of the park having its own purpose based on the kind of activity being done there. We saw singers, instrumentalists, dancers, calligraphers. It was the loveliest thing I had ever seen, nestled right in the middle of the city. We took a nice long walk past lakes and bridges and pagodas, shaded by large overhanging trees. And then when we got hungry, enter David Mall. The Ion of ZZ really. Theres really nothing I can say about the food in China, it was always good, fusion or not, and intensely satisfying. After lunch we made our way to Starfish! So nice to meet G's new family, and their love for her was apparent. They were so excited to see her, and us, and we got to pick out some lovely pieces for our friends. After this we walked over to the Zoo cafe to eat somemore, and picked up some fried yoghurt on the way there. Once we'd had our fill,we went back to the mall from the second day to finish some shopping for our colleagues. Got all the haw fruit rolls and things before heading back to the room. We all took our showers and had a time of singing and prayer, when Prills joined us. We talked about what we were looking forward to and what we could all pray for each other about. And I just have to say how grateful I am for this friendship, that we can all support each other like this.
That was Day 5.
Our last day was bittersweet. We woke up to horrible pollution (which Gina said wasnt bad at all) but it was bad, Ianthey wasnt feeling so well and we went out and had some yummy coffee and noodles. We went back to the room, did our final clean up and made our way to the airport. We got lost and we thought we were going to be late, only to find out that our flight had been delayed. By two hours. That's 2 hours too many, because we'd miss our connecting flight by a whole hour. So after that freak out, we just settled into having two extra hours with our beloved Gina. It was hard to say goodbye, so i tried not to think about it and focus on how tired I was. We made it to Hong Kong and slowly made our way to the Marriott. Ianthey got herself her own room cause she really needed some quiet rest away from the psychotic ramblings of Lins and I. Lins and I watched Confessions parts 1-8 in the room before showering and heading to bed with masks on (well i had a mask, she couldnt find hers till the next morning when it was too late).
That was Day 6.
Day 7 we went home :)
posted by sangee @ 10:02 PM
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