Annual Pugilistic Meet 2005

九华山庄聚会 (Meeting at JiuHua Mansion in the suburbs of Beijing, China)

Hmmm it has taken me so long to actually blog this since i came back from the meeting... haaa..just shows how busy i m .....

Day 00: 27th February 2005 Sunday 0930Hrs

........after my mum & my bro saw me off at the CIA T1, i met up with my Boss right after the Departure Gate and boarded flight CA958 to Beijing via Xiamen. The flight was loooong and arduous...luckily i did not sit beside my Boss...an escape from naggy boring discussions of work....it took about 4 hours to reach Xiamen...transit there for an hour and off again into the skies towards Beijing...
.........(kuik note: Seasoned travellers like my Boss would actually know the trick of wearing minimum in hot humid Singapore and start wearing winter wear only in Xiamen to prepare for the cold weather in Beijing....haaa but silly me wore everything right from the start...wrapped up like a rice dumpling.....almost cooked while i was waiting for the flight at CIA T1 ....)
..........upon landing, we were separated from the rest of the passengers on flight 958 to go directly to the luggage collection section as we have already gone through customs in Xiamen.... once again... not that i want to complain,,,, but hor .... they are really slow in their job.... it took 45 minutes for the luggage belt to start turning... yessss .... and another 15 minutes passed by before we get to see our luggages.....something that would never happen in our 1st Class CIA....yes i am proud of our airport service .... :)

...........woah.. seems like a pretty looong day right? well the best has yet to come....our mian office in Beijing sent a chauffeur to pick us up and to bring us directly to the meeting place....which is a SPA RESORT haaa yess a SPA cum HOTSPRING resort in the suburbs of Beijing....origiannly meant to attract only local customers but now it is mainly booked by big coporate firms to hold meetings and seminars... yesss unlike Singapore, the mainlanders know how to pamper themselves.....

............the journey from the airport to our destination is yet another looooooooong and tiring ordeal....15km in total...well at least the ride was an eye-popping experience for me....the scenery was absolutely breath-taking...the sun setting and the skies changing colors the birds flocking back home to their nests and in the distant a pale moon starts to reveal her shy yet shimmering face....emotions filled my head and heart almost at once....very conducive for writers and painters....not forgetting poets... now i know why in the olden days the scholars like to drink and recite poetry underneath the vast blue sky....

............Rows of naked trees baring their skeletal limbs, braving the cold dry winds of the night, with only the deep indigo cloudless sky as their blanket, and occasional puffs of white fluffy smoke meandering from the chimneys of the rustic brick houses, created a masterpiece beyond the brush........

.............though not a single person sould be seen, the liveliness of the rural areas seem to be resonating in the dimlit dilapitated houses standing smartly in the vast open fields of harvested sorghum, waiting to burst back to life in springtime....
.............somehow deep inside of me, i felt home...as if i used to live here many many years ago.....an uncanny feeling of dejavu.....maybe its in our deepest consciousness that we are all one big family in the not so distant past.....maybe.....

.............oh oh getting all mushed up.... ok back to reality......after the 15km of emotionally charged ride, we reached the resort....greeted almost immediately by the organising committee, we were ushered into the dining hall where people from all the various branch offices were seen munching away....oh yes i was once again tucked into the corner table with a bunch of heavy smokers...could hardly see their faces with all the pollution...but as a marketing personnel, i must endure the hazards of the job....
.............the meal was not fantastic but was filling....then the head of the committee, a sickly looking wiry man croaked out loud that he has set up a surprise for all of us outside in the courtyard area.......the thought of going back out into the cold was very daunting but as this is a group thing i had to give face.....oh but it was worth it i tell you !!!! the reward?? hahaha i get to set off firewirks!!!!!!!!! yesssss firecrackers as well.......things i have never seen nor touched not to say light up and shoot into the sky!!!!!

..............for the first time i truly immerse my self in the joy of the New Year celebrations.......little things like this that we were robbed of are actually stuff that can light up our lives... a pity i cannot share this moment with my Singaporean family and frens......i know it wud be great fun for all of us..........
..............the excitement, the eagerness and the fear before lighting up the fireworks combined with sheer eye-candy of brilliant displays of colour and sparks with deafening explosions and pungeant smell of burnt gunpowder is simply overwhelming for the senses..... Oooooohh sooo good....

..............Though i was numb from the cold night air, i was all warmed up by the joy and excitement of an age-old tradition that was taken away from us.....sad isnt it......

............ok ok almost done for the first day.... ugh..my hurting fingers....oh yeah yeah the steamy finale........literally....after the spectacular fireworkz, in come another breath-taking scene.....while i was walking together with my roommates back to our rooms, we realised our chalet blocks were encircling a huge bubbling hot spring!!!!! what a sight i tell you.....

..............the dark harsh jagged outlines of stone boulders contrasted well with the swaying withering willows over a steamy almost frothing pool of spring water ever emitting a veil of misty clouds over the surface of the water which occasionally was rippled by the hot rising air bubbles from the bottom of the pool........

it was simply amazing...like i was in the land of the immortals as depicted in many novels and fairytales.....haaa as if that was not enuff, upon entering our rooms, we saw that we have our own little spa pool at the back of our unit overlooking the huge pool outside and is separated only by a bamboo-chic screen...Ooooohhh Ooooh again so ooo oo good....my clothes flew off one by one onto the bed and i jumped in immediately haaaa then the resort attendant start letting in the water and yeowch!!!! it was HOT!!!!!!!! then he slowly let the bamboo blinds down and the space immediately became private.....sooo gooood....immersing in the hot steamy water and the soft zither music in the background is what i call INDULGENCE of the senses.....
........ok that wraps up the first day and so ends my blog......more to come as the saga continues........awaiting the sun to rise again in the EAST.........