This entry covers Turkey Pavilion, Ireland Pavilion & Romania Pavilion

(continue from the previous entry please check out other related posts under Travel)

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It was quite dark inside Turkey pavilion... Couldn't really see well in the dark...

Apparently Turkey have the same 12 zodiacs as the Chinese culture too! 
Including the Yin & Yang thing! But aiya.. flash spoil the picture....

Will take pics without flash I guess...



This monument looks like a tortoise leh =X
The pavilion is a museum style as if we were in a cave with many historical artifacts. 
But because of the dim lights I couldn't see properly though.

As usual, there will be a usual souvenir corner for tourist's purchase...


Aiyo, why Turkish features so sharp one huh!

How can we forget about Turkish ice cream!!! 
It's everywhere in the world!! LOL~~

We caught sight of a Turkish cutie and decided to quickly take pics with him! He was speaking Mandarin to some tourist asking direction so I asked in Mandarin, "可以和你照相吗？" and he replied, "可以的，没问题！" HAHAH! *huachi*

So we finished seeing Turkey pavilion.... Lisa wanted to take pics of the Turkish cuties but very paiseh so use me as excuse, trying to take photos of them but suay suay they were not looking at our direction...

Only can see side view. -_- better than nothing...

Not much time left, we had better queue for some pavilions... 
We went looking around for short queues...

Poland... cannot, queue very long. 
Did Poland change its name to Polska already?

Ukraine Pavilion but we can't see where the queue was. 
People were walking very fast on the streets, made me seriously kan chiong too.


Germany also out of the question judging by the endless queue as well... =(

We saw Ireland's queue moving so we quickly join in!

Yay we got in!
But why the logo was a harp?

Indication of Ireland's position in the Europe map...

I saw seats and quickly sat down, my feet were seriously aching...
Behind we can see Germany Pavilion...

As usual, I always have a group of paparazzi photographers around me 
taking pics of me from all angles! HAHAHA =X

Opposite me, K was taking a rest too...

I couldn't tell if he was actually posing but I find it damn funny la...hahaha

Pretty views of Ireland!

I laughed when I saw Westlife is part of the ''feature'' of Ireland! 
I mean... YA LA they're from Ireland but hahaha... 
then I saw other small pictures of U2, Boyzone, Cranberries etc...

A revolution of what's inside a typical Irish home since the olden days to present days...



Then we came by a an empty stage...
There are supposed to be tip tap dancing but it was finished long before we arrived

More bo liao pic while resting....


All 4 of us were captured inside: Simon, Lisa and a very small K's head.

Other special feature of Irish stuff?


When I saw this, I was remembered!! Riverdance! Tip Tap Dancing! 

They were all Irish culture! And I think Ireland is rich in musicals, broadway as well! 
Areas in performing arts!

Just a random shot of another ''stage shot" showcased there... 
There's actually mirror below...

We exit the Ireland Pavilion and it was getting darker & darker :( 
Was zi lianing and was capture by Simon....
Turkey pavilion was behind me... 
by now there wasn't any queue already from the empty barricades.

Moving on, this Happy Street is Netherlands pavilion!
Looks like a happyland, wonder if there might be any playground inside?

This is Romania! 
It's actually a design of an apple and the theme was Greenopolis or something...

This stylo looking pavilion is Austria.
Seems too long to get in within the next hour.

Another views of the apple....


Some happenings on the stage. 
They were performing some Romanian folk songs?

At first I didn't know what pavilion was this cos it was actually quite far, 
I zoomed it to this distance... It's quite beautiful!


Later on I found out from K, who visited the expo last week that it was the Russian Pavilion.

Croatia has no queue!! FASTER GO!!!

Then I realised why there was no queue!! 
Orr lu lu when you enter... just images on both the sides...

A paranomic image shot from Simon's camera.
Nothing much. You just walk straight across/forward toward the exit.

It was quite disappointing... 
but at the exit, you may take pics with beautiful Croatian girls like this uncle....


Not much time left, we could only visit the very last pavilion of the day - Romania.
By the time we got through, it was really dark.
The pavilion is a big stage and opposite would be where the audience were.

Beginning is the little presentation of how the Romania pavilion was designed, the concept, the idea, the building, the furnish, the objective in this Expo and what they want audience to know more about Romania etc.

And the performance began... background very distracting though...




And then dancers appeared...



And then the came up to the audience, seeking volunteers to join in the dance...
And that was the end of the show...

We had to get out of the place asap.
Along the way, I saw the Netherlands Pavilion again.

...and it was time for us to hurry back to the exit to board the bus back to Suzhou. The bus was scheduled to leave at 8pm and it was already 740pm so we rushed to the nearest volunteer and was told them how to get to the exit.

Apparently after rushing to the correct exit ON TIME, the bus wasn't waiting there anymore! We called Mayun and they said they were already on the bus and they were at the EARLIER exit. Earlier there was a confusion and we spent almost 20min walking to the NEXT correct exit. So now we have to walk/run another 15min...

We ran & ran & ran. We were all already tired from the 8 hours of walking in the expo but yet still have to run...

Ended up we were the last 3 ppl and the entire bus of others were waiting for us, felt quite paiseh...

Didn't really feel comfortable in the bus cos I was holding my pee throughout the whole bus journey...

After 2 hours, Mayun, Lisa & I dropped off at where we board on at INCITY Plaza and we parted way when I board cab back to the apartment.

I was quite amazed I could hold my pee for so long... Was simply too tired to do anything after shower and basically concussed on the bed.

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Saturday, I hibernated until 1pm.... ate cereal, washed clothes, bathed.... went back to room and nuah on bed while being online.

I discovered a drama to watch - Marry A Millionaire. 
Starring Go Soo & Kim Hyun Joo.


I went to wiki about it and realised it was actually a 2005 drama. During that time, reality shows was quite popular so the whole drama was about that.

Go Soo plays a poor guy who wasn't educated, his only plus point was that he was blessed with good looks. Ppl usually have good impression of him but upon knowing his background more about him, they are usually taken aback and do not really wish to have any further contact with him.

Kim Hyun Joo is an average, simple girl who was actually quite on par with Go Su in terms of background - living with single parent and working hard to support beloved family.

The story started with Go Soo was scouted by a TV station to play a rich guy who has inherited a large sum of money & asset from his grandparents & parents if he was able to find the girl to get married with. This part would be like The Bachelor where a few girls would also be selected to date on-screen with him and he'd eventually choose someone he likes and get married.

In reality, Go Soo is a poor chap but the TV producer promised to give him a million dollars as his ''talent fee'' to go through this whole series so that doesn't really consider deceiving the girls.

Hyun Joo was also scouted by the Producer to be one of the girls. The whole production took place in Paris, France. It was the most romantic place to fall in love and Go Soo eventually chosen Hyun Joo.

Meanwhile, the Producer was also attracted to Hyun Joo and the female host of the show was also attracted to Go Soo and this result in a Love-Square. LOL!

ANYWAY.....

Mr Leong came back around 3pm+ and knocked on my door asking if I was ok. Haha I went to open the door and asked what's up? He said he thought I was dead so there was no sound, nothing! HAHA!

Mr Leong has arranged to have dinner with Mr Wang & Lisa again, together with Vivian at this HK restaurant at Jinji Lake.

This is actually mango... the juice below is some kinda mango syrup. 
The white part is some kind of pudding. 
I'm not sure how they make this but it taste good!

Normal celery with red bean actually taste pretty good too!

Apparently Mr Wang bought 2 friends wanting to discuss about F&B business with Mr Leong. Well... I'm not surprised ppl would always want to meet Mr Leong and get him to become investor of some sort since he's so rich~~

Yup, the 2 buggers seeking investors. =P

Here's Mr Leong & Mr Wang who brought the 2 guys...

Towards the middle, the musical fountain at the lake started.
So, we went over to the loft of the restaurant to catch it!
This camera really not suitable to capture night scene! 
I seriously need a better camera urgh~~

I thought that was all but not sure who suggested a second round of drinks at the bar below. 
It wasn't exactly a bar but definitely a beer place that is frequent by lao wais.

They ordered this thing and of cos Vivian & I didn't touch it... we just had soda. 

I didn't really enjoy mingling with them....

I can't emphasize this enough: I have night blindness and can't see well at night or dim places so my attention span also gets shorter...

We didn't stay long cos Mr Leong soon got drunk and started sprouting nonsense. And they didn't understand what he was talking (in English) and quickly ended the night and hailed a cab for us.

One moment I was quite scared I had to drag this ah pek back to the apartment but I was glad Vivian joined in too.

So 3 of us took cab back to our apartment.... Mr Leong probably got sober and would able to walk. I told Vivian that I could manage and asked her to get back into the cab again otherwise it'd be hard to get cabs on a Saturday at our areas.

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Sunday, Mr Leong would be heading to Changzhou to meet up with his friend, Alice who owns a franchise for baby products.

So both of us took the cab and head over to Suzhou train station. 
Along the way, usual zi lian pics.


Usually zi pai shots do not require photoshop cos 
I'm pretty good at capturing my flattering angles. Haha!!

Waiting for train at Suzhou train platform, 
snapped a pic of Mr Leong...with a usual photobomber behind!

We arrived at Changzhou in Changzhou looks cleaner than Suzhou leh...

Photobombers looking at my camera... -_-

This cube was juz outside the train station and I though it looks really cool! 

Singapore should have things like that! 
Will definitely 点缀 the boring looking SG... lol

Alice told us that she will pick us up at the Tai Ping shopping mall. By picking us up, it's actually her husband driving while she & her daughter were sitting behind.

Mr Leong sat in front at the passenger seat while Vivian & I squeezed behind with the mother & daughter.

We went to this restaurant which Alice's husband already made a reservation.



I don't know how to explain this but it was an extremely awkward lunch.

1. Alice has limited English. As mentioned, Mr Leong doesn't understand Chinese.

2. I was amazed by Vivian's ability to translate business terms. She was busy conversing with Alice then translating the content in English to Mr Leong.

Vivian holding onto her soya bean drink while listening to Alice explaining stuff...

Alice's very tall 13 year-old daughter. She's my height!

3. Mr Leong sort of put me down saying he thought my Chinese was good. But I told him I wasn't familiar with Chinese business term. I stunned at a lot of terms Alice mentioned.

4. Alice is a businesswoman while her husband is a lawyer.

Her husband and Mr Leong who was watching Vivian's explaining stuff...

5. Mr Leong actually wanted to start a ramen franchise in China and seeking Alice opinions about getting the rights on how to start.

The restaurant we had the sumptous lunch at...
Photobomber looking at my camera again... tmd see what see!

6. Alice is pretty much like the female boss from SpecHut except it's on a much bigger scale. She has many shops in Changzhou, Suzhou & Wuxi and even online e-commerce. They do baby products like bringing in baby apparel, shoes, milk powder, toys, prams etc.

After lunch, Alice brought us to one of her retail shops called BeiErMa 贝尔玛.

It was quite big.... if I was a mother or mother-to-be, 
I can find ANYTHING & EVERYTHING at her shop.

One of the brands, Goodbaby.

After visiting her shop, they had other matters to settle so we got her husband to drop us off at some popular shopping area to look around and pass time until the evening.

So we came by this beautiful place!


Mr Leong requested to do some foot massage so we went street searching....


So we found a place that does foot massage. Upon entering, the shop font looks not bad but suddenly 3 xiao didi appear to service us. They're really young... like 16, 17? But we still went through the session but it wasn't enjoyable cos well... they're not really experienceD.

After that we went back to the mall/square we were dropped off earlier and look around...


Mr Leong wanted to get some extra batteries for his Lenovo mobile phone so we also looked around for electronic shop.

I was also looking at buying a cheap phone cos my Nokia 5200 really damn cui although I like it very much. We spent some time looking, searching, waiting... and kinda empty handed la....

Soon it was near dinner time and it was food hunting again....

WAH! Bread Talk so li hai!!! Guangzhou also have branch!! Not simple ah~

Those things inside are actually dumplings, shuijiao~ 
We get to see how the shifu actually steam it with swift moment! Quite cool!

About time to head to the train station so need to go toilet first and haha we saw this...
Always damn funny la! Haha!

We board the train back to Suzhou. There wasn't sitting seats so all of us stood inside. Mr Wang was nice enough to pick us up back to the apartment from Suzhou train station.

Do laundry, sleep....

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Monday, Mr Leong left for not sure where so I'd be all alone in the apartment - AGAIN! SIAN!

Work was ok but it was more of exchanging expo pictures & mingling with everyone. As we divided into 2 groups in the later half of the tour, I didn't get to participate the pavilion they visited so some of the photos they shared.

Photo consist of Denmark pavilion....

I heard from the Denmark Pavilion only consist of the little Mermaid and bicycles that's all... 
so pathetic ah?

Then a few pics of the various province pavilion. They call it 国内管.
I'm very sure this should be Xi'an Pavilion. 
Bing Ma Yong soldier holding hands with Hai Bao (mascot of Shanghai Expo)

Hunan Pavilion

Guangdong Pavilion


I also went back and sort out my expo photos

I was to conduct "English remedial lesson" as instructed by K. So I also checked with them what are the area they'd more like to improve one and I'd take the night to go search for materials. Really hope they'd be able to improve their English standard la...

Got home and ate junk food for dinner... lol... Webcamed with my sisters & papa and I showed them my Expo passport too and uploaded some photos on FB. But cos of the GFWC (Great Firewall of China), it was very slow....

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Tuesday, early in the morning when I got to the office I gather them inside the room and had English lessons for them.

My main aim is to increase their vocab... Cos they only know how to describe things as good & bad, beautiful & ugly. But there are actually a lot of other words for it like attractive, gorgeous, lovely, mesmerizing, breath taking and for the opposite also have unattractive, hideous, unsightly, ghastly, horrendous. A bit chim but better than always saying good/beautiful & bad/ugly Haha!!

I also told them to check out Thesaurus as often as possible cos it helps a lot. They're writers and researchers, so it helps to compose better articles otherwise I will edit until siao...

During lunch I realised they have yong tao fu too! We da bao it back to office!

What I do everyday after work is looking forward to watch my drama and what I'm currently watching is Marry a Millionaire and the thing with drama is... it gets addictive =X

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Wednesday, as I watched Marry A Millionaire till quite late, I couldn't get on time for work and only arrive office 10ish. Nothing much though....

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Thursday, morning cereal, afternoon bread. Super healthy lifestyle during summer season!

Nothing much at work so I decided to jog after work. I changed into my running outfit - tshirt, short, running shoes. The neighbourhood was divided into grids so it was quite easy to recognise my apartment.

After jogging for the first round... it was getting chilly as the sun set... I probably jogged about 4-5 runs until my nose ran. I was sniffing as I jog as it got colder. I barely sweat with the wind blowing in my face!

Got back to the apartment and dig the whole kitchen. I whipped up some spaghetti, tuna, luncheon meat... I ended up making er fried noodles. The spaghetti tasted nothing like spaghetti, more like noodles! HAHA!

Laundry again. Have to wash clothes often in China cos EVERYBODY SMOKES IN THE OPEN!!! MY CLOTHES ALWAYS STINK! tmd...