A Dummies' Guide for Travelling Designers
Sayings, Abstracts and Advice of the Day
1) Do the moonwalk on a frozen lake.
- Location: 南湖公园
- Go during the cold weather (-12C to -8C is preferable)
- Invite your China friends to bring you there.
- Take a step of faith and walk on it!
- Next, take photographs of yourself on it.
- Dance, prance and all on the ice! (video cameras is a good accessory here!)
- Don't forget to do the signature MJ's moonwalk (who can't resist doing?)
1i) If you are not daring, try these;
- Ski on a chair (rentals is included)
- Visit their only indoor shelter. The toilet.
- Walk around the park. Just don't step on dog poo!
- Collect "free souvenirs". Leaves and flower bookmarks. Pluck. Press. Stamp.
*Finally, sitting in a cab is better than walking. Even though you can take lots of pictures while walking.
2) "Who ever knows how to cook is Martin Yan's wife."
- Visit a grill and barbecue restaurant.
- Wear a bib (literally one!)
- Start cooking...
- And unleash the Martin Yan in you!
3) China friends are generous.
- Warning: Don't exploit them.
- They are warm, nice and friendly.
- And if you talk to them, you might get to know interesting history of the place, affordable places for shopping, study tips and places for good food.
4) "Everybody must drink warm water!
- No explanation is needed.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Gui Lin Lu
Top 5 tricks to do bargaining.
(singlish translated version)
method #1: act poor (part 1)
"huh...dont like that lar...im only a student...$120? if it is $120, i still need to borrow $20 from my friends...$120?" -blink blink-
method #2: act poor (part 2)
-put a limited amopunt of cash in your wallet, others leave it in somewhere else-
"huh? i only have $100"
-give a puppy look-
"$100...can?"
-call for your friend-
"hey, you got money to lend?"
(friend) "dont have...i still have things i need to get"
-turn back to the owner-
"$100? my last $100.."
method #3: be friend
-be friendly, make friend-
"how much is this again?"
we are already friends, reduce another $20, if then i will buy..."
(effective but time consuming)
method #4: act like you are from part another part from china. eg guang zhou
-apparently, apeak like one of them-
WO SHI ZHONG GUO REN!
method #5:buy in bulk
-self explainable-
==============
well, all this trick is tested out before being posted. effectiveness, still depending on how you react. CHEERS!
(singlish translated version)
method #1: act poor (part 1)
"huh...dont like that lar...im only a student...$120? if it is $120, i still need to borrow $20 from my friends...$120?" -blink blink-
method #2: act poor (part 2)
-put a limited amopunt of cash in your wallet, others leave it in somewhere else-
"huh? i only have $100"
-give a puppy look-
"$100...can?"
-call for your friend-
"hey, you got money to lend?"
(friend) "dont have...i still have things i need to get"
-turn back to the owner-
"$100? my last $100.."
method #3: be friend
-be friendly, make friend-
"how much is this again?"
we are already friends, reduce another $20, if then i will buy..."
(effective but time consuming)
method #4: act like you are from part another part from china. eg guang zhou
-apparently, apeak like one of them-
WO SHI ZHONG GUO REN!
method #5:buy in bulk
-self explainable-
==============
well, all this trick is tested out before being posted. effectiveness, still depending on how you react. CHEERS!
06 December 07, Thursday
Day: Thursday, December 06
Venue: 滑雪场
Mood: Excited
Wanqi: Actually "hua xue" is quite "shuang"..
Clara: I think the instructor should show us more tricks and all.
All: I don't know why they keep asking us for tip. In the end, most of us paid about 250rmb on average. But the tour guide actually told us after that, that we didn't have to tip the instructors..
Wanqi: But actually the instructors are all quite helpful. For example: I fell down and another instructor helped me up even though they were not my instructor.
I stayed in the hostel with Jia Qi and Pepper because I wasn't really feeling very well. –shrinks- Accompanied pepper to meet her friend to lunch…went to makan at 过桥米线…somewhere near our dorm and her friend ordered a big bowl for three of us to share. And the big bowl was really very big and the friend was very kind because she paid for our food and drinks…and said that she is the “di zhu”( I think it’s means host in English) so she is treating us instead.
Even though I didn’t go sking, I feel that communicating with the Chinese people here is better than communicating with the Chinese people in Singapore because they are more humble and sweet. Hee;)
Samantha: Basically, the skiing was quite fun except that some oif us didn't know that we were suppose to come out only at 11.45am instead of 11am. Hence, some of us didn't really play for a long time…
After hearing what they said about skiing…I think I should really try it some day but not here because the weather is really very cold. Imagine -12degrees everyday…Jia Qi is wearing two thermal, one windbreaker and a outer layer of jacket already…
DEBRIEF>>>”Eeee。。。要下雪了。。”
Venue: 滑雪场
Mood: Excited
Wanqi: Actually "hua xue" is quite "shuang"..
Clara: I think the instructor should show us more tricks and all.
All: I don't know why they keep asking us for tip. In the end, most of us paid about 250rmb on average. But the tour guide actually told us after that, that we didn't have to tip the instructors..
Wanqi: But actually the instructors are all quite helpful. For example: I fell down and another instructor helped me up even though they were not my instructor.
I stayed in the hostel with Jia Qi and Pepper because I wasn't really feeling very well. –shrinks- Accompanied pepper to meet her friend to lunch…went to makan at 过桥米线…somewhere near our dorm and her friend ordered a big bowl for three of us to share. And the big bowl was really very big and the friend was very kind because she paid for our food and drinks…and said that she is the “di zhu”( I think it’s means host in English) so she is treating us instead.
Even though I didn’t go sking, I feel that communicating with the Chinese people here is better than communicating with the Chinese people in Singapore because they are more humble and sweet. Hee;)
Samantha: Basically, the skiing was quite fun except that some oif us didn't know that we were suppose to come out only at 11.45am instead of 11am. Hence, some of us didn't really play for a long time…
After hearing what they said about skiing…I think I should really try it some day but not here because the weather is really very cold. Imagine -12degrees everyday…Jia Qi is wearing two thermal, one windbreaker and a outer layer of jacket already…
After skiing and lunch with pepper's friend, we went to 桂林路to meet Ji lao shi. She brought us to Fine arts and Music school, Jilin College of Arts. The building is quite big but compare to the main campus, it is much smaller. The day ended with a five star service Japanese and Korean steamboat….why a five star service…- they shifted the lesser portion food to a small plate in order to make more space for more food- they make sure that all of us are comfortable by putting a cover at the back of our chairs. - they hold our bags while we were wearing our jackets- as we were walking out, all of them thanked us and bow 90 degrees to thank us…the two waitress hold the door and our cab was here…
DEBRIEF>>>”Eeee。。。要下雪了。。”
I guess it's going to snow soon. We are all very very excited for it to happen
Tr!p to 重庆路。。。
昨天在桂林路我们学会了好几个减价的好方法, 我们今天到了重庆路去逛。由于我们之前在桂林路和红旗地下街买了很多东西，我们今天没打算在重庆路疯狂杀价， 疯狂购物。但是，大家的心中还是默默地希望重庆路有很多好看，可爱， 时髦的东西可以买。因为“天意” 那的地下街和桂林路和红旗地下街买的东西都差不多，而且价格还比桂林路和红旗地下街贵。虽然我们今天买的东西和昨天比起来少了许多，但是我们见识到长春繁华的一面。
今天傍晚吉林艺术学院举办了“大合唱”。 在大合唱中，每一班都会到台上唱一首个。 我们的Sam 也参加了一份。大合唱后， 我们请了Yan Jing同学到我们的宿舍来。她非常照顾我们，还很欢迎我们到她的宿舍去上网。出了Yan Jing, 我们也认识了许多热情的同学。他们不只介绍长春的美食，带我们去逛书店，文具店，还带我们去逛街，帮我们杀价。俗语说“在家靠父母，出外靠朋友” 我们这次真的体会到这句话所表达的意识， 也非常感谢他们对我们的照顾。
最后我要和大家分享我们常说的一些口头禅：
1. Tired~~
2. Sorry/Nevermind
3. Yeah
4. 有笑点/不好笑
5. We are all human
6. 真的吗? / 真的吔
距离回国之剩10天。。。
今天傍晚吉林艺术学院举办了“大合唱”。 在大合唱中，每一班都会到台上唱一首个。 我们的Sam 也参加了一份。大合唱后， 我们请了Yan Jing同学到我们的宿舍来。她非常照顾我们，还很欢迎我们到她的宿舍去上网。出了Yan Jing, 我们也认识了许多热情的同学。他们不只介绍长春的美食，带我们去逛书店，文具店，还带我们去逛街，帮我们杀价。俗语说“在家靠父母，出外靠朋友” 我们这次真的体会到这句话所表达的意识， 也非常感谢他们对我们的照顾。
最后我要和大家分享我们常说的一些口头禅：
1. Tired~~
2. Sorry/Nevermind
3. Yeah
4. 有笑点/不好笑
5. We are all human
6. 真的吗? / 真的吔
距离回国之剩10天。。。
Monday, December 3, 2007
It's the 7th day of the trip December the 2nd. It's also a Monday - another school day. School in Changchun is quite interesting. It starts at 8.30 and usually lasts for only about 3 hours. There are classes in the afternoon, though, but those start at 1.30. we split up in the morning for our classes. and spent our time in school until lunch. For lunch, we went to the porridge place not very far from our dorm. There we had a quick bite before some of the goup went back to school for afternoon classes.
Like I've said, classes here are quite interesting. They seem to emphasize non-digital means of design communication over digital means. To elaborate, only now do students learn computer aided design. The first computer lessons for Interior Design and Architecture started today. What was taught was extremely basic (basic as in exploring Windows basic). But this is not odd as it is the first lesson of a 6 month long subject. The IAD students couldn't handle the basic-ness of the class. They skipped it to join their VSC counterparts in the illustration class.
Illustration, like the name suggests, focuses on Illustration. We spent a large part of the lesson in a dimly lit classroom staring at a britly lit screen. The lecturer flashed through images on images of old to-not-so-old illustrations. It was much more interesting than the CAD class and we learnt a substantial amount about visual communication.
I guess it's pretty important to have an open mind to design and to gladly learn as much as possible. If the IAD students hadn't taken the initiative to learn new things, they might not have learnt anything at all.
Like I've said, classes here are quite interesting. They seem to emphasize non-digital means of design communication over digital means. To elaborate, only now do students learn computer aided design. The first computer lessons for Interior Design and Architecture started today. What was taught was extremely basic (basic as in exploring Windows basic). But this is not odd as it is the first lesson of a 6 month long subject. The IAD students couldn't handle the basic-ness of the class. They skipped it to join their VSC counterparts in the illustration class.
Illustration, like the name suggests, focuses on Illustration. We spent a large part of the lesson in a dimly lit classroom staring at a britly lit screen. The lecturer flashed through images on images of old to-not-so-old illustrations. It was much more interesting than the CAD class and we learnt a substantial amount about visual communication.
I guess it's pretty important to have an open mind to design and to gladly learn as much as possible. If the IAD students hadn't taken the initiative to learn new things, they might not have learnt anything at all.
Currently, Sisi, PeiHua, Ivan and me are at the 'WANG BA'...it's the kind of internet cafe in Changchun. Today is monday and the lessons here are getting more and more boring. Their software is very very basic. Like normal photoshop and normal flash. For example: the teacher ask the students and me to do basic actionscripting without telling us how to...in the end...
it was just on(press,release,"a"){}loadmovie{};
It was something like that because it's just when you enter a key..for example "a"...A_movie clip will play and it will enlarge..and it goes the same for the other alphabets.
Their editing of movie is very boring because they are using adobe premium to do some basic editing. However, their graphics class is really very good because they actually give us a lot of examples..Sheeshh....i really don't understand why....
By the way, Peihua went for rebonding here and the result was quite good. And of course...ivan went for hair extension and now he looks like an anime character..you guys will see the photos soon...
videos too...
meanwhile..we will enjoy our stay here and keep coming here to see our latest entries alright:)
-jolene
it was just on(press,release,"a"){}loadmovie{};
It was something like that because it's just when you enter a key..for example "a"...A_movie clip will play and it will enlarge..and it goes the same for the other alphabets.
Their editing of movie is very boring because they are using adobe premium to do some basic editing. However, their graphics class is really very good because they actually give us a lot of examples..Sheeshh....i really don't understand why....
By the way, Peihua went for rebonding here and the result was quite good. And of course...ivan went for hair extension and now he looks like an anime character..you guys will see the photos soon...
videos too...
meanwhile..we will enjoy our stay here and keep coming here to see our latest entries alright:)
-jolene
Sunday, December 2, 2007
lazy....wkkend.....shopping day
Sometimes all it takes to discover our course in life is a chances of encounter. One event or one conversation at the right moment, and everything falls into play.
Day 5 was an adventure of cultural exchange. In the morning, we headed for the cyber cafe. Wow! it was a hell lots of smoke in there. I guess that's one hundred pack of cig, agree? Totally.
Although it's smoky, we carried on using the net. It is our first exchange with the web here in changcun. Everyone logged into msn as though we hadn't interact with our friend in the long while. While others like me and sam played CS~ and Worms Armagedon.
2 hours later,we headed for our dom to fetch jiaqi and clara. They both came out of their dom with a SLEEPY face.
-----
Sometimes, all it takes to discover our course in life is the encounters we chance upon. One event or one conversation at the right moment and everything falls into play.
Our fifth day was a lesson on culture. In the morning we headed for the neighborhood cybercafe for some long needed internet access. When we walked in we were hit by how innocent it seemed. When we walked up to the second level for our computers, though, we were hit by something else altogether. The smoke up there was so thick you could have cut it through with a herring. Almost every other user had a cigarette in his mouth. Ironically, there was a large no-smoking sign on the wall. Even more ironically, though, there were ashtrays next to each computer monitor. I guess the Chinese are more open to smoking than Singaporeans are.
Despite the smoke, we continued to make use of the internet there. We did miss our internet anyway. The lure of the Internet Explorer and MSN were no match for the smoke, however. Jia Qi and Clara were forced to retreat back to the dormitory due to the respiratory discomfort they experienced. The rest of the group continued using the internet and the games there.
Two hours later, we met up with the two bleary-eyed apparently even-more-well-rested girls. We set out to meet a new friend of ours, Xiao Peng, at the school entrance. He would then bring us out to lunch around the block. We arrived at a crowded restaurant hoping for the best. We sat down in a small room for 12 before Xiao Peng started ordering lunch for us. After ordering, he left us to meet his friend. We were left in a foriegn country, in a foreign restaurant with no idea on what was ordered. Before we could think much further than that, food started flowing through the door. There was a plate of meat, and yet another plate of meat, and a plate of tofu, and a plate of vegetables, and a plate of 30 Xiao Zhi, and another plate of 30 Xiao Zhi, and some fish, and yet ANOTHER plate of Xiao Zhi. When we thought the food stopped flowing, in walked ANOTHER plate of Xiao Zhi. We sat there, google eyed watching the food. All in all there were 2 plates of meat, 1 tofu, 1 vegetable, 1 fish and 120 pieces of Xiao Zhi. Before we knew it Sam was getting out of his chair. He had apparently promised to meet up with a few of his friends. Jia Qi quickly followed after him. We were left with 10 people and 120 Xiao Zhi. We never finished our food. This is apparently pretty common in China. People purposely over-order their food to allow the vendor to show his generosity. You will never, if ever, find this in Singapore.
After our lunch, we set out to Hong Qi for some shopping. Hong Chi is an underground shopping center which sells underground goods. its the best place to find cheap, nice looking articles of clothing and other necessities. see a 300 RMB shirt? Haggle it down to 120 RMB! See a 200 RMB pair of shoes? haggle it lower! All in all we spent about 3 hours and a lot of money. each one of us bought at least one item from Hong Qi.
After Hong Qi, we walked to Oh Ya for some grocery shopping. It was already 5 o'clock but it was pitch dark outside. We didn't spend much time there. Just long enough to buy whatever we needed to survive.
For dinner we ate a a nearby KFC. I know what you're thinking - we can get KFC almost everywhere else in the world Why do it in China? It's simple - we wanted to see the difference. In the Chinese KFC, for example, they sell fried chicken 'Peking Duck' style - with sweet sauce and cucumber. Furthermore, the Chicken is smaller, the fries are less salty, the drinks seem home made and they sell salads. It was an interesting experience.
All in all the fifth day of our trip was largely a success. We were able to learn a bit about the chinese lifestyle and it's finer nuances. We might never learn everything about it, but with the right situations, or the right conversations, we might just be able to piece it all together.
Day 5 was an adventure of cultural exchange. In the morning, we headed for the cyber cafe. Wow! it was a hell lots of smoke in there. I guess that's one hundred pack of cig, agree? Totally.
Although it's smoky, we carried on using the net. It is our first exchange with the web here in changcun. Everyone logged into msn as though we hadn't interact with our friend in the long while. While others like me and sam played CS~ and Worms Armagedon.
2 hours later,we headed for our dom to fetch jiaqi and clara. They both came out of their dom with a SLEEPY face.
-----
Sometimes, all it takes to discover our course in life is the encounters we chance upon. One event or one conversation at the right moment and everything falls into play.
Our fifth day was a lesson on culture. In the morning we headed for the neighborhood cybercafe for some long needed internet access. When we walked in we were hit by how innocent it seemed. When we walked up to the second level for our computers, though, we were hit by something else altogether. The smoke up there was so thick you could have cut it through with a herring. Almost every other user had a cigarette in his mouth. Ironically, there was a large no-smoking sign on the wall. Even more ironically, though, there were ashtrays next to each computer monitor. I guess the Chinese are more open to smoking than Singaporeans are.
Despite the smoke, we continued to make use of the internet there. We did miss our internet anyway. The lure of the Internet Explorer and MSN were no match for the smoke, however. Jia Qi and Clara were forced to retreat back to the dormitory due to the respiratory discomfort they experienced. The rest of the group continued using the internet and the games there.
Two hours later, we met up with the two bleary-eyed apparently even-more-well-rested girls. We set out to meet a new friend of ours, Xiao Peng, at the school entrance. He would then bring us out to lunch around the block. We arrived at a crowded restaurant hoping for the best. We sat down in a small room for 12 before Xiao Peng started ordering lunch for us. After ordering, he left us to meet his friend. We were left in a foriegn country, in a foreign restaurant with no idea on what was ordered. Before we could think much further than that, food started flowing through the door. There was a plate of meat, and yet another plate of meat, and a plate of tofu, and a plate of vegetables, and a plate of 30 Xiao Zhi, and another plate of 30 Xiao Zhi, and some fish, and yet ANOTHER plate of Xiao Zhi. When we thought the food stopped flowing, in walked ANOTHER plate of Xiao Zhi. We sat there, google eyed watching the food. All in all there were 2 plates of meat, 1 tofu, 1 vegetable, 1 fish and 120 pieces of Xiao Zhi. Before we knew it Sam was getting out of his chair. He had apparently promised to meet up with a few of his friends. Jia Qi quickly followed after him. We were left with 10 people and 120 Xiao Zhi. We never finished our food. This is apparently pretty common in China. People purposely over-order their food to allow the vendor to show his generosity. You will never, if ever, find this in Singapore.
After our lunch, we set out to Hong Qi for some shopping. Hong Chi is an underground shopping center which sells underground goods. its the best place to find cheap, nice looking articles of clothing and other necessities. see a 300 RMB shirt? Haggle it down to 120 RMB! See a 200 RMB pair of shoes? haggle it lower! All in all we spent about 3 hours and a lot of money. each one of us bought at least one item from Hong Qi.
After Hong Qi, we walked to Oh Ya for some grocery shopping. It was already 5 o'clock but it was pitch dark outside. We didn't spend much time there. Just long enough to buy whatever we needed to survive.
For dinner we ate a a nearby KFC. I know what you're thinking - we can get KFC almost everywhere else in the world Why do it in China? It's simple - we wanted to see the difference. In the Chinese KFC, for example, they sell fried chicken 'Peking Duck' style - with sweet sauce and cucumber. Furthermore, the Chicken is smaller, the fries are less salty, the drinks seem home made and they sell salads. It was an interesting experience.
All in all the fifth day of our trip was largely a success. We were able to learn a bit about the chinese lifestyle and it's finer nuances. We might never learn everything about it, but with the right situations, or the right conversations, we might just be able to piece it all together.
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