The day before CNY

Yup today is the 27th of January, on the 29th will be the first of the lunar calender, which is the actual day of Chinese New Year. It will also the the first year that I will be without a parent. Ah well, life goes on and it does kinda suck I reckon. Apart from the depressing factor of being an "orphan" of sorts, I was hoping for a better year ahead, and hopefully my latter posts would be in a more positive vein rather than the older more ranting of yestermonths'.

As I look back, I have been back from my China trip barely 3 weeks before and I am still reeling from a positive "chi". I had closed my practice for 8 days for my holidays in China and currently would be closing for another 4 days, all in all January have been a pretty leisure and relaxing month. I would hope that come Febuary and henceforth, it would be a more hectic time for me, least it would build up my financial reserves more.

I have encountered numerous patients these past few days, and sometimes it's funny that certain people doesn't want to spend money even at the expense of their own health. I mean, does prescribing 4 medications, 2 of them originals and charging them a sum of 32 ringgit exorbitant? I reckon people like these doesn't actually know the prices of rice eventhough they are eating it as a staple diet. Fact is I am finding it increasingly difficult to stay off the red and maintaining my previous charges of 30 ringgit as medicine prices has soared, some pharmaceutical companies increased their products by 10 to 15%. I wonder if I should absorb the costs of medications but then again, since rental is also increaseing by 15%, I find it difficult to even keep afloat let alone make a profit. Coupled with higher overheads and having to finance the xray and ultrasound machine, the increment of my staff's salary, heck I would be happy if I can just drop everything and sell it off! Really times are as bad as it can be.

Apart from that, I had also been brandished a critical person. I have my way of talking and writing which is basically my own "style", making me, ME and being critical is perhaps not one of them. I maybe be too straightforward, a character that is closely related to my chinese horoscope and I don't like being subjected to cross examinations. I am totally aghast when people jump into conclusions and then label me inappropriately but heck, what should I even care. I am a nobody.

Well, I am lucky in a way, I am still reeling from positivity after my trip and yes, things like this should not affect me and in a way it isn't. I am perhaps irritated when people start wearing "coloured" glasses and subject me under scrutiny. I am an individual who despite my whims and shortcomings are as sincere as I can get. If they cannot appreciate the fact that I am an individual, then move on. I don't need constant telling off. I will be what I am and I am proud of it, YAY!

First Night in Beijing

I wanted to say that we went partying after the initial first night, but heck, after the Forbidden Palace, we went for a impromptu lunch, which was nothing to shout about and then back to another place called "Wang Fu Chin" a Petaling Street lookalike which is famous for their barbeque on sticks pretty similar to our own satay, and the barbeque can be from a simple beef to more exotic seahorses, or even bugs, yeah huge bugs including silk worms and also some humongous cochroach and grasshoppers, lets just leave it by saying that "they" are crunchy!:P

There are also lots of imitation antiques as well as collectibles there and we spend our time browsing at all the numerous items on sale. The trick here is to counteroffer to a rediculously low price and then work up from there. There are not used to the bargaining power of a KLite and yeah good deals are all around, but at the speed of which they agree and deal on the price that I counter offered, I suspect, I must be the sucker here, but heck, I am on holiday and prices are no issue, IF I really like it right? My friend bought a humongous "Three Country/ Warring States" period knife and it was so cool! The problem would be to bring it back to KL, it's an experience by itself, haggling over prices while in the same time freezing my ass off, the jitterry words and the constant shivering makes it a worthwhile experience. On yes did I mention "stinky toufu", well stink is an understatement! The stinkier it is, the more delicious it is! GO FIGURE!

I also had my first taste of "Frozen Sugary Peach" or something likethat, it's call "Ping Tang Hu Lao" and it merely tiny apples or some fruit coated in liquified sugar, it was ahem a different experience and suffice to say I am no fans of it! :). By 5 PM the sky is already turning dark and there are more and more people around shopping and hurrying back, this was also the time that we got into the car and depart for our hotel.

We rested for sometime, to bathe and also to refreshen up before going for dinner, we had some local Beijing food and some really strong chinese alcohol, which is 56% proof! I can virtually feel the movement of the drink as it snakes its way down my oesophagus and into my stomach! But heck it's divine especially in the cold winter time! Ah the liquor the food, it almost brings a tears to my eyes! I also had my first Peking Duck, simply beautiful, done the traditional way, with dough wrappings filled with shallots, anions, and vegetables. It's simply beautiful that the crispy duck skin done to perfection and melts away in your mouth! Yummy!!! We had a big feast, with "Mah Lat (spicy Sichuan styled) fish", vegetables, meat, a few other types of beef, pork, chicken, beijing duck, 3 other types of vegetables and it costs nothing more than 150 ringgit! with beers and super strong chinese liquor! A feast to be remembered, not to mentioned FULL!

As it was our first day in Beijing and having travelled so much, we decided to return to the hotel for a good night's sleep in preparation for tomorrow!

Mood and Blog entry

I haven't been updating my blog lately, choosing to let day by day slip by without any updates. My Beijing trip traveloque has yet to be even through to it's second day and I still haven't had the time to even gross WINN out with the elaboration of the "exotic" stuffs that I verbally stuff my mouth with!

I wonder why I haven't the enthusiasm and mood to write, I think maybe it's because that I am tired, having to juggle my time in monitoring my investments as well as the daily running of my practice. I have been having a few more patients than I usually get nowadays and I suspect is that many patients are either over eating or taking medications first in event as a prevention so that they can enjoy the feast during CNY! Hmm, typical Chinese mentality eh?

I am feeling a burst of mental energy after my trip to China, and now my travel bug is up in arms and next month after CNY I will be travelling yet again, but this time to Bali, the lush tropical island in Indonesia. Other trips are already on the drawing boards and I am wondering if I am overdoing it? But what the heck, I only live once, I'd reckon and I should be able to enjoy myself once a while.

Meanwhile my xray machine is finally ready, everything now hinges on the people in the Health Ministry signing off my last miserable licence, which is the licence to use a radiation device! I reckon they have been super efficient in delaying and postponing it until yours truly is truly fed-up. Perhaps what they want is some tea money, ya will probably ask them to wait a while longer and take a bloody hike!! I have one whole year now to wait for the licence since my quota last year has gone to the dogs! All 40 thousand ringgit worth!

Now to better things in life, another year is finally here, but heck, again my horoscope is bad? I wonder if every year is supposedly bad for me? So chialat! Luckily I don't believe in things like this, so couldn't care less! I have an inkling that the year of my namesake would bring good fortune and good things to this doc, cheers~!

Emotional recuperation

My China trip has actually achieve 2 objective in my life, the physical aspect of it is what I have been writing about, a trip that enrich my life's experience, but I am interested in writing about the psychological aspect of alleviating my woes, today. I reckon it was a matter of mental stress that makes me increasingly tired and having lack of enthusiasm for anything. The break that I had 2 weeks ago had done wonders in recharging my senses.

If anyone has been reading my blog, they will invariably know that I had been carrying a lot of psychological baggage in my mind, I have been affected tremendously with the way my life was heading, with advancing age and all, makes me feel rather hopeless and also mentally tired. Coupled with some rather bad experience on the emotional front, it was really draining on my mental wellbeing.

I can safely say that I am free, especially in my attachment to my ex. I am very thankful that this trip has someone yank me to realise that I did what I had to do the last time and in a nutshell, it was a wise decision for splitting. Nothing will materialise even if I continue to pursue this relationship, I had instinctively know this for sometime and finding it's intellectual component sort of relieved the pent up frustrations.

I am definately feeling much happier now, and I could almost sense the "bounce" in my steps. To people unknown to me, they might had detected the change in my mood, and I also tend to smile more that I would. Maybe those people might think that I'm on some medications! hehe, Perhaps drugs? I reckon I had suffered enough for a failed relationship and I had finally dare say that I have and truly had moved on. YAY!

Beijing day 1-Forbidden city

As we made our way to the fortified red wall with a stern looking, listless Chairman Mao in a larger than life potrait, I couldn't help but smile and felt a sense of euphoria about what lays beneath the red walls, the Forbidden City! The city where men apart from being the Emperor, or high ranking officials either doesn't get admitted or had to be "minus" an important anatomy, now here I am walking leisurely into the "city" without having to part with some family jewels. kekekeke. What a wonderful world! I wonder how it feels like? Most definately painful, OUCH!!

Coming back to the city, it was humongous, and there were forts within forts and doors and buldings and words cannot describe it apart from a singular vocabulary, au magnifique! Everything about it is larger than life, from the chairman's potrait to the rediculously oversized door that even Andre the Giant would be pleased, everything comes to be as being larger than life! Perhaps that was the initial purpose of building this palace, which is to awe the public, looks like it is doing an exceptional job in "aweing" me.

The entry fee was 40 yuan and as commercial as China is lately, everything is priced, from taking pictures in Imperial Robes to locals touting to be tourist guides. I reckon capitalisme is alive and well in China! As I pass through the main gates into the inner courtyard, numerous flashbacks of the scene comes into my mind, courtesy of the TVB and it's never ending stream of Chinese serials, also this courtyard was where Bertolucci's The last Emperor is filmed. I cannot imagine that in it's yesteryear glory, the whole place is filled with mandarins, courtiers and eunuchs! It must be such a spectacle then.

The picture above is one of the many "reception" areas that the Emperor meets his ministers. I remember counting a total of 3 major ones and one after another bigger and more impressive. There are ornate carvings and antiques placed all over the places with strict adherence to the principle of Feng Shui, the art of geomancy and tranquility. Everything placed has a specific role and meaning. The whole city is so huge that one day is simply not enough to explore all the treasures that is hidden within it. The cold and inpersonal wall has stood the test of time, having many stories to tell.

Day 1 in Beijing

My first day in Beijing is made more memorable by the fact that I had made my first blunder. As I wanted to sit in the front passenger seat, I invariably opened the front door, and being used to having the passenger seat on the left side, I was dismayed to find the steering wheel! I had completely forgotten that the system employed in China varies from that found in Commonwealth countries. Well, I had the same experience the first time I visited China and it looks like a repeat performance.

As our car scream along the freeway bound for the city centre, I couldn't help but noticed the number of cars as they inch along into the Airport terminal. Beijing International is indeed a very busy place. The area is still shrouded in darkness with some light begining to creep up over the distant horizon. We reached our Hotel after an hour or more, I am still unable to get used to the fact that the traffic system is completely different from ours, there seems to be a lot of pedestrians, cyclists and cars on the roads, and for me this is completely chaotic, but it would seem for people here all this are systematic, and it is dumbfounding. Perhaps in this chaos there is some organised and systematic way of going about things?

Being hungry the first that that we on our minds was to have some breakfast. We went to a small shop next to the hotel and we had "Small dragon buns" and as it's name suggested it's small steamed buns and it was nice and filling, with meat and veges wrapped in dumplings or "pau" and retailing for 50 "jiao" or 25 cents each, it's very cheap and nice. We also had some porridge which was completely different from what we have here in Malaysia as well as soya bean curd which can either be sweet or spicy, back here we only had the sweet variant.

After the neccesary refreshing up, we went to the "Summer Palace". The area is capped with snow and the lakes and river are covered with ice. Merely thinking about it brings a chill in my body. It was indeed cold and as we speak, steam starts bellowing from our mouth. I had wanted to visit the compound but as it was undergoing renovation I reckon there isn't a point going in. Ah! the snow covered roofs are indeed very romantic and magnificient. No words could describe it. We adjourned to the "Tian An Men" Square and it was a fair distance away. We reached the square at around 10am and there were a lot of people hanging around already. I look around in awe as the square is magnificent, with scattered snow flakes with buldings surrounding it. It had the a magical effect on making the place even more enticing and appealing. We took some photos and proceeded to order a few cups of coffee. I reckon this is one of the few times that boiling coffee is drank in a single gulp, without even feeling the scalding effect. It was indeed very cold! As we walked, I could noticed that there are a lot of foreigners around this place, all walking towards the huge wall of the "Forbidden City". The potrait of Chairman Mao, overlooking the huge Tian An Men Square.

The Beijing Airport

The minute hand of my watch struck 6.10am as the plane touches down in Beijing International. I had been in the MAS flight embarking from KLIA 30th December and now after 6 hours flight it's the eve of the new year, and a begining of a new fine day. My immediate reaction when I reach was; Yay, I am finally here, the land of my forefathers, the land of the Middle Kingdom and I had after painful deliberation, finally decided to come.

Disembarking from the Malaysia Airlines I made my way to the immigration channel, it was smooth sailing without any untoward incidence, the female officer looked as my passport and flipped to it rigorously as if hunting for some chinese characters and eyeing the officer with my most sincere and innocent look, it struck me that eventhough we are of the same race, the people here and the chinese in Malaysia look considerably different. That would be discussed more in my later posts, what I am interested in writing now is about my trip and I would, ahem, stick to my plans of doing so.

As I advance to the arrival hall I could sense the temperature dipping. The chilly Beijing air suddenly enveloped me and it hit me hard, err cold! I need extra protection, I need my winter jacket! My! cold is an understatement, I reckon the warm ambience in the airport gave me a surreal feeling about comfort as I leave it's warm embrace, I am shivering now! I have shaking like a cheap 2 buck vibrator. I saw loads of people covered in thick jackets, and it was by itself something of an eye opener for me.

We met the chap that was supposed to pick us up and we left the confines of the airport and into the centre of Beijing. I couldn't stop but noticed the motherlode of cars that is queueing to get into the airport, to my untrained eye, it would seem that it stretched for as much as a kilometre, maybe more, this too at 6.50am in the morning, KLIA is so "empty" as compared to this terminal.

I'm back

Well, I'm back from my eye opening experience in China, my immediate reaction when I touch KLIA is that! YAY I'm back, I ain't not going to be freezing my b*lls off! It was a wonderful experience I had in Beijing and Shenyang, I totally have a different perspective in life and I am not ashamed to say that my previous woes regarding my status quo in relationships and business has been at least allayed and am feeling totally energised and recharged! Well mentally recharged does not neccesarily mean physically recharging! It was ahem, really tiring but well worth the effort. I reckon for me emotional wellbeing trumps physical comfort by a furlong!

I am still reeling from fatique and have yet to accomodate my inner "clock". When I was in Beijing, we had late nights, travelling to and fro from destinations and what I can bravely say is we, in Malaysia is so insignificant and minuscle as compared to China. Beijing by itself is more than a few times bigger than us, we have our single ring road, Beijing by itself have 6!! Imagine the humongous size of city! It seems barely 20 years ago, they were only constructing their first ring road, but it seems during the last 20 years, Beijing-ers have been very busy!

Anyway all those would be in my next postings, where I would detail my escapades in China. I travelled a lot over the last week and I'd reckon it was well worth it for the sheer reason of lifting my predicament from my ex. I feel a renewed energy to work as well as to move on with my life, life is at least injected with colours and sounds. Updates later with hopefully some pictures to "spice"up the blog!