Stocktake @ Wuxi! (30/12/07 to 01/01/08)

Going for our stock take at Wuxi...my FIRST oversea working trip!

Thank God for blessing me with this wonderful experience and a chance for me to learn! :D

And to my surprise (I only got my ticket from Yan Fang that morning since I was on leave before that)...we are heading straight to SHANGHAI international airport! :DD

The excitement is just undescribable as I have always wanted to visit Shanghai one day...and now I have the chance to get to their airport at least...woohoo! Yet the flight will take us 5 hours to get there...so in the meantime let's have some fun on our own ya? Say 'cheeze'! *bleah* :P We took the 10am flight from Singapore and hence we reached Shanghai Pudong at around 3pm. Unlike Europe, Singapore or Hong Kong, the paranomic view from the plane is just pieces of brown farm land.

Oh well, now is winter isn't it? :/ Yan Fang told me these are the farm houses for those who owns a land or work there to stay in. From afar, they truly look like mansions or even holiday resort...hahaha...lol Finally we arrived at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport!

It is actually quite big, new, and pretty clean and neat everywhere...GOOD! :) This is our very first oversea working trip together...and I am so glad to be working with my colleague Yan Fang as she is just so fun to be with! :)) This is my 4-stars hotel room! So nice right? :D

Our client gave each of us a room to ourselves at this high class 4-star hotel that is meant mostly for the expats. Thank God for this comfortable and luxury stay here at Wuxi! *bleam* Since it is winter, the sunset here is about 5pm and the sky turns dark truly fast. From Shanghai to Wuxi, the car ride alone already takes up another 2 hour 30 minutes. By the time we get to our hotel room, it is already 6pm.

From my window, you can vaguely see the tallest building of in Wuxi, the 360 degree, at the far end. That's is also where the Wuxi city central area is located...After settling our luggage down, the first thing we did of course is to explore our new surrounding environment! According to our client, our hotel, Xin Wang Hotel, is located at one of the most happening areas in the New Town.

We found a People Supreme Court and a Investigation Court right beside our hotel. Further down the road, there are a few shopping malls, a giant supermarket, a KFC fast food outlet, and many many Korean and Japanese restaurants. There are also many Korean pubs and KTV lounges where you can hear people singing korean songs from outside.

What's more unique are the pool centres where you get to play the usual American snookers and billards, and also the traditional Korean pool game that consists of 2 red, 2 yellow and 2 white balls. Anyone can teach me to play that???

We were getting hungry but in the end we have decided to return to our hotel restaurant to taste some local food. Thus before that, we shall get ourselves some local hot snacks and finger food...yummilicious! :P Guess what I am eating?

That's the chicken chop I am holding in my hand! :D Very thinly sliced, marinated with herbs and garnish with some herbal grasses as well, it is skewed and bbq with the satay stick.

Something different and special from Singapore isn't it? :)

Here's our sumptuous dinner @ Wuxi!

Moreover can charge to client's account...yeah! :P Two of us we ordered 3 dishes and a soup. We order one more crispy duck roll to take back to our hotel room for supper in case we are going to work and prepare our work papers late into the night...yum yum... *drooling* :P

Thank God for my wonderful Daddy whom I called with my roaming phone, the very first thing he told me is to recommend me what to eat in Wuxi! Hahahaha...lol

I trust my Dad and really order those that he recommended (except the claypot fish head) as he is so experienced with all the food in China since he has been working here for such a long time...so let me introduce to you the Wuxi delicacies...in case you will be there someday too! *wink* ;)1. Old Countryside Claypot Toufu

It has a very special taste for the toufu here that appears a little like burnt smell. Yet it tastes not too bad and the prawns are just so fresh that I think Weng is sure to love it...ha! :P

2. Wuxi Xiao Long Bao (mini meat dumplings)

For us, this is a slight disappointment as we still prefer the traditional soup based Shanghai Xiao Long Bao.

For this Wuxi one, the soup in the dumpling tastes very much sweeter and thicker. This is actually the Jiangsu food culture to produce mostly sweet tasting food.

Oh well, personally I guess I just don't really like it but take note this is something special of Wuxi! *wink* ;)

And last but not least...the most well known dish of Wuxi:

3. Wuxi Pork Ribs! :D

This is a MUST TRY food in Wuxi and there is even ready make packet ready for tourists to buy and bring back to their own countries. And again, this saucy pork ribs taste pretty sweet in nature too!

Yet it is also because of this special sweet taste that I believe contribute the most to the fame of this cuisine that make it so well known and stands to represent all the other Wuxi food dishes! :)) On the New Year Eve, we are all ready and dressed up (like this!) for work! :D

Oh well, you won't get the chance to wear like this to work in Singapore ya? :P

Can't you tell how we feel about our work??? :P

Our stocktake starts from 830am and the driver came to our hotel to fetch us at around 750am. There 3 companies in this stocktake and we were supposed to finish all of them today.

Thank God the client is actually very friendly and cooperative and we manage to get everything done pretty smoothly. We did most of the work by 7pm with a few more documents that is pending to get them from our client. In the end, we decided to stop waiting and let them either fax, email or mail to us since they are not so urgent... :)Yan Fang is blessed that 2 of her aunties came all the way from Beijing to Wuxi just to pay her a visit! Oh that's so sweet of them...I bet they must have missed her lots! :) After work that night, we decided to take a ride to the Wuxi city central area to tour around. Well, from the photos you can see how beautiful and prosperous Wuxi is ya? :)

I AM SO GLAD TO BE HERE!!!Thank God for opening and exposing me to so much more new learning experiences and trips that I would benefit so much from it. Maybe I should just love this part of my job that I get to travel around ya? Hahahaha...lolNight life of Wuxi is just simply dazzling!My New Year Eve dinner -- Korean BBQ! We returned back to the nearby area of our hotel for dinner and get ourselves seated at one of the Korean restaurant there. The food is very very delicious and I love them!!!

Certainly, you would NEVER get such a good deal back in Singapore...so enjoy while I can! :DD

Korean seaweed rice balls!

The both of us like it so much that we almost want to order one more dish! :P Yan Fang's face should tell you how much we enjoy our last dinner of 2007 here...hahaha...lolOn the first day of 2008, we did something special...we missed our hotel breakfast buffet in the morning! Leaving with no choice, we had to go out to get our breakfast on our own... :S

It was not easy to get a restaurant there to open this early on the New Year Day. Thank God we manage to find a Japanese restaurant that opens! So somehow, we had a pretty heavy and fantastic ramen and sushi for our breakfast! Geez... :P

After a good meal, we head back to our hotel room and wait for the driver to fetch us to the Shanghai Airport. We arrived at the airport pretty early and thus we got quite a good chance to have our wonderful Western lunch (photos with my colleague; will update if got chance) and wander around this spacious, newly renovated airport...not bad at all ya? :P

Finally, there is an end to everything. It was a very blessed and wonderful business trip to me for the very first time.

Certainly I may not expect the next trip to be as good as this one, but I have gained yet another working experience in China and I would be well prepared for the next one to come...I hope I could get that chance! :)

Coming to China truly changes your thinking a little and you will realise not just the potential the China market now possess and the future influence they may have, but also there are many current situations that you might want to give help in.

I remember people sometimes warn us about thinking twice when you want to give some coins to the beggars on the roadside in China. Because if you do so, you will probably be swarmed by a crowd that is watching and waiting to see you reaction nearby. And THAT, shameful to say, had actually become my hesitation and barrier to help the beggars. Yet, thank God I didn't just walk away or I know I would truly regret it...

That happens when I saw an old man on the empty parade square after my Korean dinner and pool game on New Year Eve. It was about 11pm when my colleague and I decided to return to our hotel rooms because of the chilling weather outside. On our way back, an old man stood on the parade square and walked towards any passerby for money. He took my attention because I was concerned about the thin clothes he seemed to have put on and yet he stood in this empty square all by himself in this cold night. It really touched me that I truly want to help.

Yet part of me was afraid because it was late at night and I wonder if there is really anyone watching nearby to see how much you give to the old man and later came over to rob you. Or would the rumour of beggars waiting nearby be true? My colleague actually warn me about it when she saw me looking at the old man and urge me to ignore and walk away. I followed.

However, thank God for speaking to me and tell me to stop. Though I didn't give him a lot, but at least I decided to turn back. Come to think about it, it was rather an odd scene as by the time I turned back, I was actually quite a distance away and the wind is still blowing rather strongly. I left my colleague and just ran back to him. I feel so good to put the money into his bowl. And my reaction probably would have surprised him more because once I pass him the money, I actually ran all the way and jogged back to my hotel room. This is all because I scare of the rumour that there will be other beggars coming after me! Oh manz...I feel so ridiculous to think in that way! Ha! :X

Well, in fact, there is no one coming after me that night. So the rumour is probably false. And what if it is true? Sometimes, if we can give then just blessed the others while we can. Didn't the bible also says that it is more blessed to be a giver than to be a receiver? If these people are in good life or they don't need help, I believe they won't want to be out here to run after people for money too. So come to think about it, we are already blessed to be staying in such well conditioned houses, neighbourhood and even have high quality education provided.

It is always not easy for us to migrate and stay overseas for work and study. With all the language barriers, this is made even tougher. So here in Singapore, sometimes we can just stretch our hands and give help to our China neighbours, friends and colleagues too. I am truly glad and proud to see how my cell group members sacrifice some of their free time to give their friends from China English tuition to help them overcome their language barrier.

Even if you find there is nothing you can help, simply being there to interact and build friendship with them is already something good enough to make them feel more comfortable at home.

There is just so much we can actually do for others. I truly hoped and prayed for yet another China trip, and also for any chance that I can be a blessings to the people over there. Amen. :)