I'm back from Xiamen! I must say China has seriously progressed alot over the years, or at least Xiamen has. Theres plenty of high end shopping spots there and the stuff there are pretty cheap, clothes and food alike. Its quite a beautiful city, with colonial architecture along side traditional chinese buildings and modern apartments and buildings. At times it reminds me of singapore.

several places are worthy of mention:

1) xiamen and jimei university. this 2 major universities in xiamen both have sprawling campuses with beautiful landscaping and massive lakes. The building architecture is an interesting blend of east and the west.

2) Gu Lang Yu island. An island withour motor vehicles. The architecture there is an remniscent of european colonial times, as many countries set up their consulates there in the past. the view from the mountain top there is also fascinating. theres a piano museum there with a impressive collection of antique pianos.

3) The shopping districts. The shopping districts there were simply amazing. Its so vibrant and posh that I almost forgot that I was in China. There were plenty of famous brands there and high-end dining options were aplenty, yet prices were pretty reasonable.

4) The food. Food there is cheap. If you dun mind the lack of ambience, you can get really cheap food. We could get a really filling meal for four with meat, seafood and more seafood for about 30 sing dollars. simply amazing. well xiamen is a coastal city after all. seafood is cheap and very fresh.

5) The wet market. Its worth mentioning for some not-so-pleasant reasons. Plenty of live animals there waiting for slaughter, including fish, turtles, crabs, prawns, various sea creatures, ducks, chickens, pigeons and rabbits. watching the fish still alive and flapping around on the market floor is a little depressing. Its a interesting but slightly disturbing experience.

thats about all i experienced i guess. I was only there for 6 days so I bet theres alot more to do and see there. Its a very nice place for a holiday and definately quite economical too. I wouldn't mind going back there again.

the enrollment package for vet school finally arrived today! about time. anyway i'm still in the midst of going through it but sounds like it will be exciting. i really can't wait to start sch!

on a sadder note, a good friend of mine just lost her pet dog. it had to be euthanised and she did it personally. felt so bad that i wasn't there for her. i'm sure sooner or later i'll have to to similar procedures. when it comes to life and death its always never an easy decision.

oh man chuck bass has to be my fav male character on gossip girl. female character would definately be serena, but that story is for another day.

i just finished season 1 in 6 days. and all i can say is wow. gossip girl in simply mind blowing. and this is my favourite funny moment in the season, and of course, it involves chuck bass.

warning though, SPOILER ALERT!



can't wait for season 2!