Shanghai Tales Part 2

I am late. Monitor just went dead few days ago after a hilarious videocam chat session with a friend who is now station in Dubai. Guess the monitor recovered from the shock of deafening roars from 5 of us.

I shall continue my horror stories of Shanghai. I was glad that I can come back come in one piece, really! The traffic at the city is horrendous! The city dwellers have no respect for green light. Managed to take one snapshot as evidence:

Did you see that the bus is dashing across the pedestrian crossing despite the fact that it is green light? It happens everywhere. In Shanghai, you are bombarded with incessant honking to the point that you are de-sensitized by them. There's one incident that sent chill down my spine. A motorbike was honking right beside me but I was oblivious to its presence as I was concentrating and trying to walk gingerly across to the other side of the road. My hubby alerted me, so I tried to distance myself away from the oncoming vehicle but it moved right into my path until it was physically just a hair's breadth away from me. Mortified, it took me a few seconds to align my path out of the motorist's way. Okie, I was not civilized enough not to curse right on the busy Shanghai street. Err, but that's beside the point. I thought I was going to be hit at that moment. Or maybe the talisman from the Temple I mentioned in Part 1 of horror story really works. Ha, I must try to comfort myself right?

I guess the situation must have degenerated to the point that the city has to engage many traffic controllers to manage the traffic flow at major streets. Here's something they are campaigning and I thought it's interesting:

It says that everyone can slow down their pace for one another when the pace of civilisation picks up. A gracious smile will go a long way to make the journey safe and enjoyable. I guess the efficacy of the campaign can only be realised when they have a critical mass internalising the philosophy.

I was also a little surprise to see people touting, pimping and also begging in the bustling city. Those who beg for money are very young girls, most probably under the age of 20. They could walk alongside with you for 15 min, lamenting on how miserable they were and wanted you to buy them bread, if not, give them money. Some even suggested that we brought them into the restaurant we were about to step in, or give them RMB $1 (as a last resort). When I refused, they scolded me loud, "Petty!" Sigh! Yes, RMB$1 is just a few cents, but it's a matter of principle. If more people give in to their demands, they will continue this demeaning trade, trading off their dignity for easy money.

That sums up my unhappy moments during my stay in Shanghai. See below for my "Before (being conned at temple)" and "After" mood:

Ha, from high spirits to melancholic. I am sure you got the idea.

Shanghai Tales Part 1

Horrified, petrified, mortified.

Yes, this is how I feel during the short 4-day trip at Shanghai. The revisit to the cosmopolitan city after a one decade gap left me with a bad after-taste, probably an indelible one.

My last visit in 1995 was a touch-and-go experience. I was a young graduate then travelling with my group of close friends and stopped by Shanghai for one day before continuing the rest of the journey in the JiangNan part of China. I can vividly remember how dazed I felt after walking out of the train station. The crowd in the city was just too overwhelming. So that's a bit of history about my first acquaintance with Shanghai. Well, people have been telling me that the city has changed quite a bit and I thought I should give her another chance. That's why I decided to join Yilin after his seminar at Shanghai ended. That's a mistake on hindsight.

My horror story starts on the first day of travelling to the so-called renowned water town of China, Zhou Zhuang. I did enjoy the picturesque scenery at the start of the tour but the serenity ended swiftly when the mercenary temple shrine cons swindled a significant portion of our $$$. How could someone as "intelligent" as me (haha, did you detect that bruised ego?) ended up in such a state? Perhaps we are being hypnotized, perhaps we are too trusting, perhaps we really are far from being street smart.

The temple guide emphasized that we need not make any monetary donations at all, that let down part of my defenses. She also explained all Buddhist-related stuff in an orthodox manner, that drowns any cynical views about their intentions. All seemed well until we came to the last stop. The "well-intentioned" and benevolent temple assistants urge us to leave our name and address on their record book so that the abbot can recite sutras for us everyday. Next, she asked us to pick a few fish and tortoise (craps) from tanks and released them into the lake infront of the temple, a symbolic gesture of respecting life. I thought that was just symbolic, until I was told each fish cost RMB60 and each tortoise cost RMB90 and I should choose at least 6, if not 9 fish as they are auspicious numbers in Chinese context. I told them I don't have enough RMB and they had the cheek to ask me to pay in Singapore dollars! It then dawns on me that the whole thing is an unscrupulous way of sucking money from tourists! I was clenching my fists and ticking them off by saying this was not a very right thing to do. However, to get out of this situation, I compromised and minimized my loss by buying just one of each. I tried to stop my hubby and mother-in-law from becoming second victim but I was too late. My mother-in-law had selected a pool of picks. My hubby also tried to get out of the situation by declaring that we did not have enough Chinese currency but my devoted mother-in-law topped up the shortfall.

By that time, I am already giving all the temple assistants dagger-throwing kind of look. They escorted us out of the temple before all hell break loose. All in all, we spent 800RMB in that temple alone. We are left with about 300RMB to spend for the rest of the trip and need to ration our money and food frugally. But that's not the end of my horror tales from Shanghai. Shall continue with part 2 tomorrow.

Embrace Life

This week has been a light-hearted week for me albeit my crazy work schedule. In fact, I felt a sense of renewal after the sad event dislodged me out of complacency and dived me into a brief period of gloom.

So what triggers this new sense of buoyancy? A series of events made me realise that the energy of universe works in amazing ways and we have the innate ability or gift to heal ourselves. We are indeed stronger than what we have imagined ourselves to be and "collective healing" can indeed be a very powerful tool. This sudden epiphany offers hopes and strength for us to face the tribulations in life.

So here are the few events...The blogsite that was set up in memory of WK is still going strong and his buddies recalled all the wonderful and sometimes hilarious moments they have shared with him. Somehow, the feeling of loss is compensated by a genuine desire to be reconnected again amongst the closely knitted friends. Moreover, many little sprouts will arrive in the next few months. That was the circle of life, as someone aptly puts it.

And for me, my buddies are coming back to Singapore, some for good, some to stop over before they continue their pursuits overseas. This upcoming reunion lifted my spirits. It has been a long time since we all last had a face-to-face chat. Missed those days where we could talk right into the wee hours. We still do that occasionally but it's over msn or yahoo messenger. I advocate that nothing is a perfect substitute for face-to-face interaction! I am really looking forward to have a great time with them. Counting down now.....

A Fleeting Life is No Less Beautiful

This is my virgin blog post, after procrastinating for more than half a year. The blog finally happens because I am jolted out of the doldrums by the sudden demise of my husband's dear friend, WK, who died in his sleep. The news was covered extensively by the media and had become a much discussed topic. Whilst his death was poignant, we sought solace in the fact that he had touched the lives of many people during his short 32 years of existence, on this plane.

Wk was, as portrayed by the media, a caring doctor to his patients, a devoted husband to his wife and a loyal friend to his buddies, even my parents are impressed with him! He chauffeured my parents on my wedding day and pacified my dad who was complaining about the chaotic gatecrashing moments. I suppose that's him, a down-to-earth chap who wins people with his sincerity. Sounds a bit cliche, but we know he will continue to live in the hearts of many people and be a source of inspiration for all of us who are learning to love not only ourselves, but also those that we come into contact with. His close buddies started a blog, in memory of the beloved friend. Friends who have drifted apart got reconnected again and they recounted the good old times they had during their JC days and shared what's going on in their lives now. That's very positive.

So after that heart-wrenching week, I did some soul searching. There are too many things that I have put aside and too many people I have neglected. My mom said I sent out a few hundred SMS a month but none was for her. My hubby said I MSN and OT too much. Friends said it's difficult to fix gathering dates with me. The volunteer group that I used to work with was saying I had MIA for almost one year. Guilty, guilty, guilty. I must really start somewhere and make it a point to spend more time with my dear ones and resume my volunteer work soon. To touch people's life...hmmm..that will be my mantra, hopefully for the rest of my life journey here.