I have travelled East to LuoYang and ZhengZhou for the long weekend.
Both cities were in Henan and ZhengZhou is the capital of Henan.
LuoYang was a historical city similar to Xi an filled with dynaties and prehistoric records.  This is also the birth place of traditional pottery glazing method唐三彩。I was truely amazed by the  brilliant idea of […]

Today is the last day of 2011 with me in Xi An.
Top 3 happening events in Xi An as per followed.  Just My view.
 1.  Opening of the No 2. MRT line –simple and effective. 
2.  2011 Xi’an horticultural Expo — Room for improvement but is still impressive.
3.  Cooling measures by the central government.– Housing price is […]

On the 11 hours flight to Xi’an, i read LKY latest book on singapore polices on bilingualism.  The book record his account on the formulation of Singapore bilingualism policy since British colony time to his ‘iron fist’ control of the Ministry of Education to impose this far sighted policy.
Reading this book I felt that this was not his own written word […]

Hong Kong is my favorite stop over whenever I need more sunlight and a break.
I am here to spent about one week before going back to singapore with my family.
The big contrast against the weather and orderliness relax myself when I was in HK.
Xi an is dirty due to the nearby dessert.  The cars is […]

Where I stayed nearby was a taoist temple dedicated to one of the goddess from 八仙’s 韩湘子。Thus the street 湘子庙街 was named.  However, except for few tourist,  few local visited the temple unlike temples in taiwan or SE asia which was always crowded.
I met an elder who revisited this temple for the wrong reason.  He […]

Xi An or northen china food are oily and salty and is 重口味。
漠 or 馒头 is one of their staple food together with noodle and rice.  So far I have no luck whenever i am eatting 漠 as it seem difficult to digest for me.  I have a hard time whenever the local invited me […]

I managed to catch a glimpse of the International horticultural exposition Xi’an China 2011 before its closure tonight.
2011西安世园会园区总面积418公顷，其中水域面积188公顷；标志性建筑有长安塔、创意馆、自然馆和广运门；主题园艺景点分别为长安花谷、五彩终南、丝路花雨、海外大观和灞上彩虹；并设有灞上人家、椰风水岸和欧陆风情三处特色服务区；同时将设置展示来自国内外的精美艺术品、雕塑以及珍禽、珍稀动物等，将让人们充分领略园林、园艺、建筑、艺术之美.
From the offical report, this is a huge landscape to be built upon for a period of about 3 years despite 1/3 of the site is the existing lake. 
Most buildings are spectacular for its temporarily status especially the night […]

After 3 weeks in singapore. I am back to Xi’an again blogging at changi airport.
My agent informed me to cut down some 9kg to be eligible for my term insurance.
This deep rooted weight problem has surfaced and need to be addressed.  One of the main cause are social meals such as welcoming and farewell meals […]

As china going into mass holiday craze, I returned to singapore for a long holiday.

 
Finally the much anticipated metro Line 2 is officially open today.
My colleagues and I went for a trial ride.
Interior was well executed except for some minor faulty details.
The train cabin was smaller compared to hk, sg or taiwan’s.  And was shorter too.  Not too good for comfort during peak hours. 
二号线最终确定的23个站名由北向南依次为：北客站、北苑站、运动公园站、行政中心站、凤城五路站、市图书馆站、大明宫西站、龙首原站、安远门站、北大街站、钟楼站、永宁门站、南稍门站、体育场站、小寨站、纬一街站、会展中心站、三爻站、凤栖原站、航天城站、韦曲南站、渭河车辆段和潏河停车场.
Hopefully this will level Xi An into a modern city state to be […]