YOWZA!!!

The king has landed safely in Shanghai and has settled comfortably in his Uncle’s palace house. Praise God for the flight here! I was reading some of the letters and notes I received at the airport and the annoying Ind*an man beside me couldn’t stop looking. Extremely irritating. Come on! Give me a break! You have KrisWorld. But I think what I had was better. Letters, notes, the video from “the four most important girls in my life”, photos, recollections… Sigh… Tears welled in my eyes when I watched the video. It was so silly and yet so sweet… I was very touched. You made me smile and you made me cry. 笑着哭 最痛… Thank you from the bottom of my heart – Maisie, Mel, Cher and Yi. This video will be my way of escape each time I need to smile or get all sentimental. I miss you already.

I had the wonderful privilege of watching the sunrise from my seat and there and then, I witnessed God’s amazing beauty and I was filled with thanksgiving in my heart. God is good; firstly, I had a window seat, then I happened to be on the side of the right side plane where the sun rose. I remember sleeping all the way until daybreak – what an amazing sight to wake up to! I literally witnessed the entire sun rise from 5:25am to 6:15am. Praise God for giving me the privilege to marvel at His beautiful creation. I took pictures too! The banner on top – that’s one! I’ll post the rest soon. Lovely, isn’t it?

To start this off, I should give you an idea of my surroundings; I live with Uncle Andrew (whom I affectionately call AhKoonZekZek-AKZZ), Aunty Serene (AhZim-AZ), Grandma (AhMah-AM), Marcus (AhBoy-AB) and Michelle (MiXue-MX). It’s a narrow four-storey terrace house and my room is on the top floor with the husband and wife, the pair of siblings stay below me – I use the toilet on that floor. AM stays on the second floor with the two domestic helpers – that’s where the kitchen and dining room is too. The living room and garage is on the ground floor.

XiaoGuo (XG), the senior chauffeur, picked me up from the airport and after we had our usual banter in the car before I knocked out. It was a long journey back. He picked me up at about 7:15am and I reached home at 9:30am. I like XG. Maisie says that XG and her are buddies. I am not surprised at that. He’s a happy-go-lucky 27-year-old chap – no frills about him. I’ll write a proper description of all these characters in due time.

As if paying $200 for overweight luggage wasn’t enough… I sprained my left wrist carrying it. So that’s quite a bummer. Welcome to Shanghai, Shanghai Tan. I ate six red capsules (which supposedly aids blood circulation, why the massive dosage, I don’t know, I just follow the instructions written at the back of the box in Chinglish) and put a medicated plaster over it. I also did some rearrangement of furniture in the room… Actually, the only piece furniture in my room is a queen-sized sofa bed, which has now become a permanent horizontal rest platform for me. Ha. I need to buy three essentials – small wardrobe, small table and small chair. The last time I was here for two weeks, I returned home with a backache because I used the computer on my bed.

I guess my stay in Shanghai would probably increase the vanity streak in me – well, for starters, I took a shower and used the SunSilk Hair Treatment Mask and the BodyShop Vitamin C Face Polish, then I used the BodyShop Tea Tree Toner and I finished the vanity fair with a moisturising Vitamin C Fruitty Face Mask. Oooh. My face feels really supple now. HAHAHAHA! Don’t be appalled. (Come on, give me a break, people kept buying me these things and so I decided to bring as much as I could over here and pamper myself; at this rate I’m going, my skin would either glow when I return at Christmas or just disintegrate from an overindulgence of nutrients. HAHAHAHA!)

Ok, I’ve had brunch of ChuQianYiDing with fishball produced by AKZZ’s factory. So I shall head to bed now. The wrist needs rest and so does the body and the head (and the hair and the face). Hehe. When I wake up in a few hours, AB and MX would be back from school and we’re gonna head to the office to pick up AKZZ and AZ, who will be treating me to dinner at a Japanese restaurant tonight. “Joe, tonight I bring you eat Japanese dinner celebrate your birthday ok?” [sic]

So, everything is looking good! With bated breath, I shall anticipate my new adventures on the bund! Oh yes, I did not cancel my Starhub line so you can always reach me at the only mobile number you know – 9*23**83. Haha. I will receive every SMS and phone call and I will reply you either online (if you are a Singtel or Starhub user… Does M1 have internet SMS?) or with my Shanghai cell phone. Please do keep in touch with me either by email, MSN, or by SMS! I mean it! I want to hear from you! =)