David Tan's Little Corner
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David Tan's Little Corner
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Star Cruise - Nov 2009
Click the photos above to watch the video
Jean
Leaving for UK
To view video clips as well
as the above photos,
Four of us...my cousin and his wife, my wife and I...left for Shanghai on Friday April 15. We arrived at the Pudong International Airport at 6.00am. The clearance at the immigration and customs checkpoint was without any hitches, but the taxi ride to my apartment in Pudong about 45 miles away was quite scary. The taxi was speeding all the way, at 100-130 km/h! There are of course speed limits for taxis but my taxi driver, and in fact almost all taxi drivers in Shanghai, do not care much about speed limits. I'm not sure why, but I can guess that if they don't drive fast enough to pick up more passengers, they may not be able to earn enough because there are too many taxis in Shanghai. A few days before I left for Shanghai, I had asked one rental agent Ms Min (闵小姐) to buy two queen-sized beds and a table with 6 chairs for my apartment. I had also paid the maintenance office to tidy up the place prior to my arrival. So when I opened my apartment I was happy to see the place clean and satisfied with the new furniture I had ordered. I was also relieved to find the 3 air-conditioners, the fridge, the clothe dryer in working condition. But I was not happy to find that my old dining table, cupboards, and a TV set had gone missing. A few days later I managed to get back the old dining table with 4 chairs and the TV set from my rental agents stationed at Regalia. I went to Shanghai with the intention of finding a buyer for my apartment. Unfortunately I came a month too late as China government had already imposed many rules against property buyers and sellers to curb property prices escalating too fast. As a result when I was there, property prices for condos like mine had tumbled from RMB13,500 to RMB12,000 per sq metre. I refused to sell at a RMB12,000 so I came back without making a sale. My wife, my cousin and his wife however enjoyed their stay in Shanghai very much. Shanghai is a shopping paradise and the food too was very cheap. They had a wonderful time shopping and eating. The photos below were taken during my 12-day stay in Shanghai. The first 5 photos will certainly attract your attention. Have you ever seen a bookshop without doors?
Mother's Day Sunday May 8 2005 Like in previous years, my children asked where we should go to celebrate Mother's Day this year. Which restaurant should we choose this time? And should we go for breakfast, lunch or dinner? Mother was quite firm when she said, "Don't want to eat outside. What's the point when I can't eat much?" So I suggested celebrating Mother's Day our way, not swayed by what restaurants' ads wanted us to do. "Have it at home," I said. " All of you come to the house at three, each one bringing something for tea, and we can have an enjoyable time together....easy and free!" That was exactly what we did, and we had a wonderful Mother's Day get-together at home. Unlike dining at a restaurant in Orchard Road area, we had no traffic jams and car parking problems; and we need not have to confine ourselves to just the one table for one hour or more waiting to be served! We had a variety of food for tea...Chinese, Malay and AngMo types, for the children brought with them different kinds of food. We could move around freely, relax and enjoy our food and drinks at a leisurely pace. We could chat and laugh loudly without worrying about diners at other tables! So, next year, when Mother's Day comes round, and you want your aged mother to really enjoy herself, don't pressure her to go to a restaurant and make her spend one or two hours confined to a table, eating something she may not find suitable but does not want to say so because you have already ordered it. Ask your mother what she wants on Mother's Day, not what social convention dictates, and NOT what you think your mother should eat on Mother's Day! Truth is: It is your coming home to see her and talk to her that makes her day.
Visiting
Tulou (土楼) -- Hakka's Earth Buildings
Besides
visiting Singapore's Consulate in Xiamen, community centres, an The bus journey
from the city of Xiamen to the earth buildings in Yongding County took about 5
hours. Travelling along the fertile plains of south Fujian (福建), we saw endless
stretches of vegetable and fruit farms, dotted with well-built wooden and brick
houses. But as we entered the mountainous region of Yongding, the farms gave way
to rugged and rocky terrains, and the roads were narrow and winding.
The tour guide
also told us that some years ago, some American satellite photos picked up the
pictures of these Hakka Tulous and thought that they were China's nuclear
reactors hidden in the mountainous regions of Fujian. Greatly alarmed, some US
military liaison officers stationed at the American Embassy in Beijing were sent
down to Yongding to investigate. They found to their relief and embarrassment
that what they thought were nuclear reactors or missile silos were in fact
harmless earth buildings where the Hakkas had been living for centuries! ZhenCheng Lou 振成楼 We stayed here for one night We mixed with bamboo, brown sugar and
sticky rice. Each wall is 1 metre thick and about 18 metres tall. There is only
one door and the windows are small and found only on the higher floors. Most of
the Tulous are round, square or rectangular. The big ones are as large as a
football field and can accommodate more than 600 people. The bedrooms are at the
3rd and 4th levels while the second level is a granary. The first level is for
communal activities such as cooking, dining, washing, meetings, ancestor
worship, games, rearing fowls, goats and pigs.
We returned to
our "Tulou Hotel" at about 9.30pm. Most of us elderly members retired to our
rooms early. As the young ones were still full of energy, the place was not
quiet until well after midnight. After breakfast, we went to Zhongchuan Village again. Besides visiting Aw Boon Haw ( Tiger Balm King) Memorial Hall, we also visited homes of some local residents to learn first hand how they lived their lives in such a mountainous region so far away from the city.
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