Today I am writing from London. I arrived at Heathrow airport after 12 hours flying with British Airway. BA was great with money and services. I arrived at terminal 5, which is very new and I have heard some negative news - unluckily I experienced it too. I was met at the airport and entered an elevator which then got stuck. We pressed the emergency button and the staff helped us to restart the system.

Leaving the airport we took the London Metro, known as ‘The Tube’. My first impressions are that it is very small, especially compared with Hong Kong and Guangzhou. I’m told that the metro is over 100 years old, so maybe that explains it, and would certainly explain the lack of air conditioning.

We arrived at John’s new two-floor house where he has his own garden and parking place. As a city girl, I have never experienced living in a house with two floors. I walked through the garden and entered the house to find it is stylish, modern, cozy and most importantly, feels like a proper home. I will take some pictures to show later.

We walked around the local area and then went Oxford Street. While there we entered Selfridges, a very big department store, where we amazingly saw Paris Hilton promoting a new perfume. Paris is so tall and slim and was surrounded by a lot of people. Wow, I thought it was so cool and the first time for me to see a celebrity in real life.

Anyway, in the afternoon we also went to Sainsburys supermarket to buy some food. There are lots and lots of different kinds of food from all over the world, food selections and they are far to expensive if you convert to RMB. For example, vegetables in China are generally only a few yuan while here they are many times more expensive. However, you can’t think like that as you are comparing different countries and different standards of living.

It is exciting, exhausting, and very strange to explore London. I have seen I saw a lot of stylish and chic people walking the street. I’ve seen many different types of interesting people and I am still not used to hear so many people speaking British accent around me. Right now I’m still overwhelmed with everything and my body is too excited to feel any jet lag.

The weather was hot and sunny until the day I arrived, then it was chilly and cold. I didn’t expect this after leaving hot and humid Guangzhou. Another difference I’ve noticed is that you can see daylight until about 10 PM. They have long daylight in summer, but short daylight in winter. I guess everyone like more daylight!

John has booked the Delays concert later tonight and we will have a Rock and Roll night. I can’t wait.

伦敦的第一天

今年利用年假计划五月份去英国旅游，因为5－6月份是英国最好的旅游季节。12 小时的飞机在早上6点钟到达了英国。乘着英航到了伦敦希思罗机场，进了5号航道，出了机场，在入了关的时候，没有任何的指示你应该排哪里，我就跟着大队就行！移民官会问题一些基本的问题哦！

拿了行李，英国人都很有礼貌，见我个子小就帮我搬行李，出了机场，约翰已经在机场等我了，听说5航道的设计有很多问题，晨早留留我们居然困在电梯里，真是有问题啊，按了紧急按钮才帮我们打开门，超搞笑！人生一次困在电梯里！伦敦的地铁因是很早就建成，容纳人数超小也很拥挤，听说有很多条线也很慢。幸好广州和香港因后发展所以都是用了采取最新的地铁和设备！对了，他们地铁是有暖气而反而没有空调的，外面舒服过里面呢。爱鞋子的我瞄了一下大家的鞋子都超干净。这时刻对我来说，什么都是超级新鲜！
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I’ve worn contact lenses for more than 10 years and my eyes were rated at minus 7. Recently I decided to have eye surgery to correct my eyesight and after a few minutes inside a LASIK machine I’m now told that my eyes are 1.2 or 1.3! I can see things perfectly without any blurring. How amazing it is! I had my surgery at Guangzhou No. 1 hospital and I know they use a German machine. The operation was very small and almost painless, although it sounds unpleasant to describe (which I won’t do!). If you do suffer from bad eyesight then I really recommend you to try it out. The cost for me was RMB 7500 and has definitely been worth it.

700度近视激光好了！
听了很多朋友说近视激光技术发展的很快了，近视治疗已经是小手术一宗。了解一个月之后，我和涵终于觉得花这笔钱。我们选择了广州市一去治疗，选择了最贵的LASIK 准分子切割手术￥7500，因我们是高度近视，短短的1分钟，我们的眼睛就重建光明了。手术之中一点都不疼，有点害怕，过后有点则热感，闭着双眼隔一天，第二天复查就好了。以后还要好好保护好眼睛，不过没有近视的人不知道，高度近视的辛苦，不戴眼镜或隐形能看到东西一清二楚，实在幸福无比。

We always planned to visit Beijing, but never had the opportunity. Finally, this Christmas, we had a Beijing trip (and before the 2008 Olympics too).

We arrived in Beijing at 4 PM with a heavy foggy sunset. Beijing has winter trees that look just like Christmas trees. The temperature was -3. I haven’t been to Northern China before so I had no idea what the cold weather felt. I quickly found out that it was really dry and cold and you could feel your hands becoming numb when not wearing gloves.

Our itinerary was: first day to Great Wall, second day to Summer Palace, third day to Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and maybe Heaven of Temple. We had very little time to visit these symbolic Beijing attractions.

Great Wall

Our original plan was to visit Mu Tian Yu instead of Ba Da Ling, but we decided that Ba Da Ling fitted better with our schedule. I was very surprised at how difficult the transport is in Beijing, even for a Chinese speaker. There are no directions or signs to show you how to get to popular destinations. From research on the internet we took the subway to Ji Shui Tang and then went to find the 919 bus. This simple task took a lot longer than it should as, upon leaving the station, there was no indication of where to find the bus. We headed in one direction chosen at random and came across seven 919 buses, each going in different directions. I wonder how foreigners will handle this!

Luckily for us we had a beautiful clear day with blue sky and sunshine. The Wall itself was full of tourists, as expected, but we chose to walk in the opposite direction to the crowds. The walk is very tough and steep, and it is really breath-taking to see how long the wall is and how magnificent it looks. Every step reminded me of old stories about the wall’s builders.

We walked one hour on the Great Wall before returning to Beijing to see the Yong He Gong Temple.

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Autumn has arrived and I always think of the song “Autumn in New York”. The sight comes to my mind when people are walking in the quiet park path covered with deep fallen leaves. The colour from life has faded away but a kind of love has printed deeper in everyone’s heart. It’s pretty nice. Meanwhile, it’s the perfect time for picnics in the park on autumn days. Here in Guangzhou you can’t really feel autumn. In daytime there is still plenty sunshine, but it is only at night that you can feel a stronger cool wind.

I love life that has a fast beat and has always got new things in it. It really fascinates me. I have been busy at work and being a survivor in life; I haven’t written anything here for while, I realized. In other words I don’t have any inspiration to write. On the contrary, life is not about only working; it contains more different experience. I like to take everything slow down and use my heart to feel nature. Personally it’s part of my relaxing way. My friends and I went to Da Fu Shan rading bicycle and had a picnic in the park. It was the best relaxing way in beautiful Autumn.

秋天的脚步早已步入，它让我想起“纽约的深秋”, 人们走在布满黄叶的小路，记忆的色彩或许在退色，但唯有爱永不退色。

广州的秋天, 白天依旧阳光抚媚, 深夜才感秋意。

爱新事物，爱生活节奏快的我，时而为工作忙碌，为生活而奔波，此刻停留下来体验下大自然的美，也是另一种生活方式。

在忙碌的生活中放下脚步，在深秋的季节出外野餐，去郊游，去度假，去体验更多经历。

We were invited to try Go-Cart racing (Ka Ding Che) in the National Park at Foshan. At first, I thought it wouldn’t be that hard, just like Peng Peng Che. When we got there, the staff taught us some of the rules different flag signals. Wow, it looked really like racing. Most of people there got the driver license except me.

We were separated into two teams, men and women (along with three children). My friends told me that we shouldn’t challenge the kids as they are more professional than all of us. Some of them were only 7-9 years old, but I was told they have been racing Go-cart since they were 5. Oh. My God…

Finally it started, I was so nervous that we would drive the real powerful engine. The next was our team. I picked the NO.7 Go-cart. I remember when I was studying in Shantou Foreign Language School, NO. 7 was my seat; and it became my lucky number. I tried my best to drive and the hardest was turning the corners, but I finally made it through.

The first race I was no.9 out of 11 people. Second one was no. 7, then no. 5 in the end. I was happy that I could drive that well and even beat other women.

It was new challenge, exciting and scary but fun Go-carting racing. You need to try one day.

卡丁车比赛
我们被李宁同志邀请去卡丁车比赛，与很多专业赛车的至友一起在佛山三水森林公园整整比赛了一天。我刚开始觉得应该满容易的，就像碰碰车一样。但我们到了场地，经过工作人员一番讲解之后，我才知道，基本个个都有车牌，就我没有，还没有开过一次车的经验，几滴汗水已经从头上滴了下来！我们分成几组，男子组和女子组（加上3个儿童）好友李宁和我说千万不要惹3个小朋友，他们看起来7-9岁，一个个都是赛车老手，5岁就开始赛车了，很Pro的！我的天啊。。。

终于开始比赛了，对着强大嗡嗡声的Engine我十分紧张。男子队赛完了就我们了，我挑了7号车，7号是我中专（初中）的座位号，特别有感情，也是我的幸运号。我尽我最大的努力，拐弯时是最难，最斜的幅度；我还冲去撞了车道的车胎一次（哈哈）但最终我还是圆满结束了我们的比赛。

第一场11人中我排9名，第二场排7名，最后一场排5名，对于我第一次赛车的结果我还是满满意的。 李奶奶第2名（小朋友第1名）。这绝对是个新的挑战，刺激，好玩，却惊险的卡丁车比赛。你一定要试试看。

Singapore

We went to Singapore and Malaysia for a summer holiday in July. We decided to stay in Singapore for three days and visited my old friend Bu Duo, who I haven’t seen for 10 years. Singapore has a very convenient metro system. We checked in Hangout Hotel which is located in Little India near Mt. Emily. Singapore is very expensive, just like Hong Kong. I think I needed to pay five times what I need to pay in Guangzhou. Our hotel was a boutique hotel for young back-packers, and had a very strong Ikea style. The price wasn’t bad (especially not compared to other hotels in Singapore), with a quiet location. The room was very small, but the hotel made up for it in other areas.

Bu Duo took us to Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay - in the first night and we ate the delicious and famous Singaporean ’spicy crab’. It was the tastiest crab I’ve ever eaten. After dinner, we walked around the Esplanade (outside looks like a huge durian) and went to see the Merlion. The next day we spent the whole day in Sentosa, which was a small island. We visited Underwater World, rode on the Luge, and saw the dolphin show. Later we met with Bu Duo again and had a Thai dinner. We got tired for walking around all day and bought a ticket to see the “Transformers” movie.

Singapore is extremely clean and pretty. The city is full of energy and is very lively. It has some similarities with HK, but less people and more cleaner. I guess shopping in Singapore is more expensive than HK, although everyday expenses are like HK. I found so many cooking ingredients and imported foods in Singapore. I would like to live in Singapore!

Malaysia and Langkawi

When we arrived in Langkawi we rented a car from a company in the airport. We got a great deal for five days rental, totalling about 30RM a day! John drove of course; I was helping with directions.

We stayed in Tanjung Sanctuary hotel, which is a beautiful resort with a private beach. The hotel room was huge and we booked one with a sea view, right down by the beach. It’s so easy with the rental car and we enjoyed the freedom to explore different places in Langkawi. I am so familiar with the roads of this island even now. We went to see different waterfalls, the cable car, and went on a mangrove and snorkelling trip. The cable car was exciting and scary at the same time, with break-taking views from the top. The rest of the days we just relaxed and enjoyed the beach.

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First I would like to apologise that I haven’t written anything for the past 3 months. Sometimes you find it really hard to squeeze time and to clear your mind and sit down to type for a couple of hours. Every single day is occupied by work and when you return back home, you’ve got a life to lead. Actually my friends have been complaining that they haven’t seen me for over 6 months as well.

I found another interesting topic to talk about, which is the difference between how the West and the East evaluate employees. Have you ever sat down and evaluated yourself? I never have until now, and even scarier was needing to talk about my own performance.

Recently I’ve watched TV programmes like “American Top Model”, “Project Runway”, “The Apprentice”, and “Hell Kitchen”. They are all basically the same show, and are designed to evaluate who is the very best. The evaluation process is generally performed by a panel of judges who are experts in their chosen field. The most important parts of the shows are when we watch the contestants perform under pressure, and see what they have to say about themselves and their abilities.

I never thought about this process until it happened to me at work. A few weeks ago I was asked to evaluate myself, and told that my answers would directly affect my bonus. As a Chinese who has never worked for a foreign company before, and who has therefore never taken an evaluation, this was quite a challenge for me. The fact that it affected how much I got paid made it even more nerve-wracking.

I was told to talk about my achievements and the contributions I’ve made to work, and not to exaggerate or be embarrassed. This I found very difficult as it’s just not part of the Chinese culture. Even though I am a confident person, I still did not like talking about myself in front of my superiors, and especially did not enjoy being criticised or praised. This is a very noticeable difference between how the West and East operates

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Last Saturday we went to Hong Kong to see Muse play in concert. It was one of the most amazing live concerts I’ve ever seen, and over six thousand people came to see them at the Asiaworld Expo centre.

We went there about 7 o’clock (concert starts at 8pm) and already fans were queuing up and hoping to get a good position. The setting was perfect, with stars on be the background just like “starlight”. The drummer sitting in the middle, Matt standing on the left, and base guitar on the right. There was very little space between the stage and fans so the early queuers got a real treat.

Muse played most of the new album, with a good selection of earlier music (including one from the first album). Matt Bellamy is an extraordinarily musician and singer, leaping from guitar to piano without blinking. The crowd feedback peaked during “Time is running out” with everyone joining in. The last song saw five giant balloons descend from the sky, with everyone trying to jump and hit them. There is no doubt that they deserved the award for Best Live Band at the Brits, as well as Best British Band from NME.

2 hours passed far too quickly. I didn’t expect Muse would be such a big hit in Hong Kong, but everyone was very energetic and responsive. Being on the small side I didn’t see as much as I would like, and often found myself being crushed by jumping guys, stepping on my feet and swinging their sweat next to me. Beside that everyone was awesome and you could feel their love of the music.

It was an outstanding concert to watch and I’m glad I went. Even though Jazz has an irreplaceable place in my heart, Rock is now part of my rebellion and I wish more concerts will be held in Hong Kong (even better, in Guangzhou) so we can appreciate talented musicians. Their music is a work of art.

Here is their MySpace

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I know it’s a late discovery, but I’ve recently found YouTube and have spent far too much time watching music videos.

Many music fans like me sometimes go to great lengths to find band’s music video online. Before YouTube, your only options were to either hope the band’s website had a few videos, or to try and find it elsewhere (such as on MTV). Most of the time these options were incredibly slow, didn’t work, or were a real nuisance. In YouTube, however, you type your favourite artist and the song and it’s all there. Click on the video, pause it until its all loaded (otherwise it may stutter while it downloads), then play it; the quality of the music video might not perfect, but it’s acceptable and at least it loads fast. You will find various music videos, including the original video as well as live performances.

YouTube also has a lot of home-grown videos, ranging from people recording themselves doing funny things, to students wanting to make a break in the movie world. Google thought enough of YouTube that they paid $4 billion US for it… a staggering amount.

It’s good news for music fans but don’t use it too often - you will become addicted. Enjoy!

也许发现得比较晚，但一但被你知道它的存在，你会情不自禁的坐在电脑前疯狂的使用它，我叫它是（录像点唱机），它就是YouTube。一个让你随时查找你喜欢的乐队或歌手的最新的Music Video（音乐录影带）。

许多喜欢音乐的歌迷像我一样有时候疯狂的在寻找自己喜爱的乐队或歌手的录影带，在YouTube诞生之前，电视播放的音乐录影带往往都不是你喜欢的歌手或乐队，所以都是上MTV 或其他网站查找我喜欢的歌手的MV，超慢打得开或缓冲太长，打开几分钟，之后最终还是打不开，索性不看了。但有了YouTube，找寻最新最快的音乐录影带2-3分钟搞定，有现场的，原版的音乐录影带，满足各位音乐迷的渴望，我的秘诀是，打开，按暂停，然后等它全部下载后就可以享受不缓冲的音乐录影带了。

You Tube的创意是提供平台给大家把自己喜欢的音乐录影带传上去分享给其他人，甚至有些录制自己的录影带传上去也有；有些人觉得这样有点违法或有点盗版行为，确实如此，但音乐迷们对YouTube得如痴如醉，这也使全世界的音乐迷对它的热衷支持。

好消息就得和大家分享，别像我一样爱不释手，或看上瘾了！

I’ve been watching “Dexter” a lot recently and have to say that it’s become one of my favourite TV series. It’s based upon a novel and Michael C. Hall (of Six Feet Under “David” fame) plays the lead character so smoothly and perfectly that the accompanying stories grab your attention from the start.

The story is a little bit bloody, creepy, quirky, dark, and constantly gives you surprises; it’s an emotional and a psychological struggle. Unfortunately it’s only been released on American TV so far, and the story may be a little too risqué for TVB Pearl or ATV World. However, if you get chance then don’t miss this amazing show. I’m definitely looking forward to Season 2.

The story is about Dexter, a blood spatter specialist in Miami who investigates murders during the day and commits his own murders at night. Dexter isn’t just your typical serial killer though, he’s a vigilante killing those who seem to deserve it. At the beginning of the film Dexter tracks and violently murders a child molester. It makes it hard to hate him for his acts because he killed someone who deserved it.

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