It was a wonderful trip, well taken care of by the men. On 16 Jun, we set off to Xiamen and from there we took a 3-hr plus bus ride to Fuzhou to attend the Straits Youth Forum. This Forum aimed to provide a platform for young people who are involved or interested in entrepreneurship to interact and exchange their creative ideas. Well, I was the only privileged lady in the Singapore team and the men took great care of me.
While waiting to set off. Hmm~ but I think this was not the plane I took.
From Xiamen airport to Fuzhou, on the way we took a lunch break at Jinjiang in a very Chinese restaurant. The food was… hmm… quite exotic? Eh, anyway Gurchran stuck to his KFC, while Sam and Quan Tee hardly ate the food. I thought the food was OK.
Oyster cakes. Not bad.
Oyster omelette with lots of fresh juicy oysters.
In Singapore, it’s more like omelette “garnished” with few pathetic oysters.
Finally after more than 7 hours of travelling, we arrived at the hotel!
Somehow, “My Youth Friends” sounds abit awkward. Heh~
Pampered by the comfy hotel room. I enjoyed the stay alone… Envious?
Knowing that next morning our schedule is packed with ceremonies and seminars, so of course we must not waste time and enjoy the night life first!
The night shopping in Fuzhou is… b-o-r-i-n-g.
1st-timer-in-China, Junwei (in shirt) & shopaholic me were disappointed.
Never mind, we found a better way to spend the night. KARAOKE!! This A-go-go ktv place has many spacious rooms and good service.
A night of singing and drinking.
Check out the 2 singers – Sam & Gurchran. Look so pro!
The next day, we woke up early in the morning for the opening ceremony of the Forum. Presenting to you, the men in suit. *drum roll* Ta da~
S.N.A.G. Interested in any of them? Hmm…
But some are taken already. So got to check with me first. Haha!
Rose among the torns. Heh…
The ceremony and seminars that followed were not exactly very exciting, but luckily the conversations between me and my “partner” Zhou Fang were entertaining.
Boliao partners trying to time every speaker who supposedly only had
10 minutes for each of their speeches.
Hmm… I wonder how you guys kept yourselves “entertained”
throughout the long ceremony.
During the break, as usual I kept myself busy with “choreographing” photo-taking sessions. I met “my match” – Mr. Gan who insisted that we should take a photo up on the stage with the backdrop. But the funny thing was, while we were on stage, the emcee was making announcement that participants should be back at their seats as the next part of the ceremony will begin shortly. Haha, so that’s why we have awkward smiles on our faces in this photo:
Up on stage shall be.
At night, we attended the closing ceremony banquet where lots of goodies were served. Why no pictures? I paiseh lah, so many guests and big shots around, cannot xia suey and take pictures of food like a sua gu.
Exchange of souvenirs. Exchange of cultures.
The usual group photo after dinner.
Next day, we bid Fuzhou goodbye and set off to Quanzhou.
I was the photographer.
We had meals after meals, red wines and more red wines with the local officials. Gosh I felt like a pig man! But, luckily we did quite a lot of walking too. First, it was the China Museum for Fujian-Taiwan Kinship.
Trying very hard to keep our eyes open under the glaring sun.
Guess how this artwork at the entrance of the museum was created?
Painting? Sculpture?
This intelligent piece of artwork was created using explosives.
It’s a “gunpowder painting” done by artist Cai Guoqiang.
I liked what was written on the small prints:
同文. 同种. 同根生.
Can you find your Chinese surname here?
Then, we visited the famous temple in Quanzhou – Kai Yuan Si (开元寺). I didn’t realised that it was my second visit here until after dinner that night. Blur me… But I was not alone, Xiang Lin went on the same tour as me in the year 2004, visited this temple and was clueless at first too. Haha, birds of the (blur) feathers flock together.
The East tower (东塔) of Kai Yuan Si.
And the West tower (西塔).
P.e.a.c.e.
The last night, we finally had a decent shopping spree in Quanzhou. There are many exciting shops outside the Quanzhou Hotel that we stayed in. I felt like a princess where tea was served while I was shopping, and the men gave me comments and even paid for my dress & shoes (Thanks Xiang Lin & Junwei)! So shiok, haha… Of course, not forgetting the forever “entertainer”, Quan Tee who never fails to make me laugh like mad with his crazy jokes and super good “acting skills”. And, the two “老大s” – Siew Kai & James really took very good care of us throughout the trip.
Goodbye, till we meet again… …
Heading home sweet home. Eh, this is also not the plane I took.
