Pure Indulgence @ Senteurs de Provence

The first Pure Indulgence Affair was held at Senteurs de Provence (located at Millinea Walk). It was a lovely way to spend the weekend - such calming setting with wonderful scent around us (it being a perfume shop and all), nice music and good company. I didn't take a picture of the table that was laden with sinful but yummy cupcakes, brownies, tiramisu, peach danish, carrot cake (my favourite), strawberry cookies and grapes (for those who wanted something healthier). Oh yes, not forgetting the nice selection of tea that we had too! The fantastic idea came from Mag and she got the contacts for the yummy cakes. Hey Mag, we got to do this again ya! :o)

Wish I had time to take more pictures. Just managed to grab a few pictures before my batteries went flat on me. Another thing that was down right irritating was that on that same day, the National Day Parade rehearsal was on and that meant the usual weekend crowd weren't heading to Millinea Walk where we were at (eventhough the roads there were NOT affected). But for a 'bad day', it was pretty okay and we had an opportunity to catch up with old friends.

Here's a picture of Mag's Baby Gem display. She had her gorgeous watch bracelets (and other jewellery on display too) and till today, I have yet to meet anyone who makes them as well as Mag. They are really great pieces to have and best part, only one for each piece.

More pictures of the other pieces that were up on display.

Here's a close up of one side of the display. Had only six bracelets at that time.

And for this picture, it is the other part of the display where the necklaces were. Anyone if any suggestions on how the displays can be improved? Useful suggestions please. Somebody mentioned to use a lighter shade for the table cloth so that the pieces will stand out in contrast to that. Good suggestion and thanks to the lady who shared that :o)

Moving on to Shanghai...

I visited several interesting places while in Shanghai and it's different from Suzhou. Shanghai is developing rapidly and from what has been planned, it will be a modern city by year 2010. That would be quite a sight to behold I think. I was in Shanghai for a few days and what I like is shopping for the local handicrafts. What was tiring was the bargaining. Trick is you have to bargain down by 75% before moving your way up to a compromise. And also, look out for counterfeit notes - look for the silver line for your RMB50 & RMB100.

It was interesting to see the new and the old blending together. I was surprised to see Starbucks there amidst the traditional looking buildings but why not when it's a tourist spot ya. This is a main shopping area and my only regret was that I didn't have the whole day to spend there. Instead, I only had a couple of hours and only explored a small fraction of the place. But I did manage to get some local handicrafts there so was pleased with myself.

I also had the chance to ride the Maglev Train and that's quite an awesome experience. It was going so quickly, fastest speed at 431 km/h. The ride lasted only 10 minutes but it was filled with lots of ooohsss and ahhhs from those on board.

I came across such vehicles (below) in Suzhou and Shanghai. My question to you is if you think this is a motorcycle or a bicycle? It's kinda both. You charge the motor each night and this vehicle is able to travel for a specific distance and once the battery dies, you use the pedal. Kinda cool I guess :o)

Just to sum up about China, I think I would have had a different experience if I spoke the language. I missed out on a lot because of that. But I met some nice people along the way who shared about the culture and life in China and that I found interesting. I saw beautiful parks and gardens, the toilets in Suzhou and Shanghai that I went to thankfully had doors. I have some horror toilet stories but those I will share in person and not very suitable for blog posts I think. And I guess I AM curious as to how the other parts of China would be like, especially the Great Wall China. So who knows when is the next time I'll step foot on Chinese soil :o)

Mansions and pagodas ...

While in Suzhou, I visited many pagados that used to be temples at one time but now some of them are mainly meant for tourists. They are really awesome and we had a chance to even go up one of them, but not till the very top because they had cornered off the top floor.

Top: Finally, after waiting for the people to move out of the way, I managed to get this shot!

Top: This is the Tiger Hill and yes, it's slanted to one side :o)

There are also huge mansions that belonged to rich merchants and I swear the whole compound is HUGE. I can so imagine myself being a tai-tai doing nothing but sit around in the garden. Okay, I might get bored after a while but as of now, am willing to trade current lifestyle to a more peaceful one!

Top: Huge compound that always had water and lots of greenery around.

Top: If you look at the pagoda-like building to the top right corner, that's a 5 star hotel!

I also had a nice walk to the 'town' area and had a look of how the ordinary folks lived too. Everything went about very slowly and the tourists seem to be the only one in the hurry. And what you'll remember about Suzhou is that there are a lot of bridges to cross everywhere.

Top: A picture of the homes of the locals from a bridge that I was crossing.

Top: Doorway to a home of a local in the town I visited.

Top: A local lady totally oblivious of the tourists around her as she goes on with her chores.

In terms of the local sights, I personally preferred Suzhou cuz of its historical and quaint little towns that we visited. Will post pictures of Shanghai that I took in my next post :o)

First time in China ...

Am glad to be back after 9 days away in China . It was a good experience, and personally for me it was an eye-opener as it was my first time ever to China. Would I go back to China? Hmm..yes. Am curious to see Beijing (ideally before the Olympics but doubt I can make it before 2008) and also to go back to Shanghai to see the bits that I miss and complete the shopping that I didn't manage to do. I did manage to get a few local handicraft but one regret was that I didn't manage to see as many as I wanted too. It's really awesome how talented the artisans are. I did bring a few pieces back as souveniors from the trip :o)

Have quite a few pictures from the trip and would be hard to put them all up here. So will try and put them according to different themes. Let's see how that goes.

I had a nice window seat on my way to Shanghai and managed to take a shot of this. Makes me miss my old 'job' *sighs*.

My trip took me to Shanghai and Suzhou. I preferred Suzhou for sight-seeing as they have beautiful green areas and lots of lovely looking architecture, be them mansions of rich merchants, houses of the ordinary people or different pagados that stand out majestically from a far.

I love flowers and I usually end up taking shots of them and end up liking only a couple from the whole lot. Here are some of the ones that I like.

Top: I love this shot. It just screams PEACE and TRANQUILITY!

Top: Here is what a Japanese Maple tree looks like.

Top: What caught my attention was the colour of these lilies!

Alrighty, for more pictures from my trip, read my next post where there are pictures of the mansions and pagados that I visited.

Off to China I go...

I think I'm all packed, just a few more things to squeeze into my bag and ready to go. First time going with a group of young charges cuz am used to having older ones so this will be a quite an experience for me. I remember last time I was on a trip and saw a group of young kids obviously from a school and I was just thinking to myself, my goodness, brave teachers to be taking such young kids on a school trip. And guess what, yours truly is in the same position right now. So wish me luck! Half of my bag is filled with biscuits and snacks just in case kids go hungry. Yes, I know, they have food in China but stil!!!! *laughs*

Have heard horror stories about loos with no doors in China and having to bring along an umbrella. But I was told it's not that bad. In the city the loos are fine, but during a pre-trip briefing, was told that when we venture out, there will be places where you just have to do it and not be bothered about the loos having no doors. I experienced the same thing before when I was in Sweden and stayed in a hostel. Had a shock of my life when I went to have a shower and noticed the shower area had no shower curtains. I went out and asked the people there and they were shocked that I asked them for shower curtains. So I had to use my towel to cover and showered real fast. And while showering, a whole group of German girls came in and they were walking about the bathroom totally naked. I mean, girls in all shapes and sizes just walking about as if it was the most normal thing to do. Was normal to them but I was like HUH? And I saw a Japanese girl walk in and she nearly had a heart attack at that sight. We quickly did what we had to and walked out. After that day, I took my showers either very early or very late at night when no one was around. Guess that's an Asian thing.

Also heard that I should not get too shocked when I see people spitting anywhere and everywhere in China, which I heard is a national thing to do. Dunno what to expect so will just have to see it to believe the things that I have heard so far.

Am clearing my emails so that when I get back on 11 June, my mail box won't be jammed up. Found this interesting clip on YouTube of a belly dancer. Very interesting mix and I enjoyed watching her dance and you may too. And there's more of her too if you enjoy this.

So enjoy and look out for posts from my China trip!!