Finally an update on what’s been happening…
Singapore Students Association Xmas party~
(L-R) Xinhui, Xiangwei, Me, Weilie
It snowed! Taken in front of Shaoyuan Blk 7
On our way to KFC after crazy intense mugging. 30 Jan 2006
The sacrifice to the snow god…. SNOW FIGHT! Of course being the gentleman, I give way… 
After exams ended on 11 Jan, we fast forward to my holiday in the NorthEastern provinces!!! First stop Heilongjiang province, Mudanjiang City! Ice sculptures and lights! Chio right? Mudanjiang is the 3rd largest city in Heilongjiang, home to my good friend Weichen!
The tallest sculpture! (L-R) Weichen, Li Dianqi, Me
Lit a Kong Ming Lantern and made 2 wishes! It’s kinda fascinating seeing it fly higher and higher and far far away until it becomes a bright speck in the dark velvet sky.
Ulu as Mudanjiang can be, it is STILL A CITY! So for those who thought I went to a village….
We went onto Mudanjiang (literally Peony River) to skate! It’s breath-taking to see an entire river frozen solid and people walking atop the ice. The best was when someone rode a bicycle over the ice. The form of skating I did was relatively easy. Just sit down and ski about~
This is what I call Snow City!!! The entire structure cast out of snow! And the lights! Fantastic!
There were many snow sculptures in there, just to show a random sample~
And then we took a 3 hour bus ride all the way to Dongning, which was near the Russian border. There may be all farming villages there, but Dongning people are rich from the international trade! At this point of time, I was 150m away from the Russian border.
A photo of a local reservoir. The water has frozen solid and snow accumulates on it. The Sun was setting, the skies a dreamy maroon, and the mountains surrounding us adds a tranquil feel.
Back at Weichen’s home, his mom and granny whips up another big meal for me. Every meal fills me to the max! Haha, but it’s nice, so I ain’t complaining.
And after 15 hours of train ride, I finally arrive at Jilin! The first major activity was mountain climbing!!! (the lousy pok kind lar~) That’s Ding Ziling on the slopes.
Being the scared-of-heights me, I grab for the nearest tree~! hurhurhur~ =)
Climbing the mountain isn’t easy, coz there aren’t any steps and basically you’re trudging through thick snow. The basic strategy was to grab hold of the next tree and clamber your way up, and it isn’t easy to NOT look like a bear. *sobz*
Finally at the peak! Handsome suave and unwavering in the wind~!
And from the top, you can see the entire Panshi city, which is Ziling’s hometown. Very small city this is. By the way, she was 3rd amongst all the people in the city who took their high school exams last year! First girl there to make it to Beida. Super power girl!
That’s her friend Li Hailan, very funny girl who’s studying law in Beijing.
And then we went skiing!!! Haha, interesting experience, though a bit scary sometimes.
Fell umpteen times, but I guess that allows me to learn faster bah~
And then the super experience! Because Ziling is on very good ties with her teacher, she managed to get me a place in her teacher’s class, where I attended language lessons along with the High School year 1 students =)
Mdm Yan, a very nice and devoted teacher, and friend too! After that we went out for lunch together and shared some thoughts on life, teaching and China.
And after another 15 hours of train ride (I clocked at least 40+ hours of train rides and 10 hours of long-distance bus rides during this holiday) I finally arrived at Beijing! Travelling alone and without a definite plan has been an interesting experience!
And after 6 hours of plane ride, home sweet home!
Setting up camp on my old table. There’s a lot of things I need to do during this holidays aside from the Taiwan trip (again~) from 3 Feb - 13 Feb. I need to do some prescribed reading for modern literature next sem, as well as dig into my newly found academic goal: Linguistics!
