Well. I'm back. Actually I've been back since 5.56am but I've been lazy, exhausted and just RELIEVED to be back. Not that my trip was terrible - in fact, it was amazing - but enduring temperatures that went down to -7 degrees Celsius for 7 days is more than enough for me. I've never been more thankful that Singapore has lovely weather. We should all count ourselves lucky that we don't have to wear five layers of clothes each time we step out of the house.

Anyways, I've taken, as promised, the motherload of photos. 708, not counting the images in the Canon Powershot. Now that I'm hovering somewhere near lucidity, I'm gonna plough through them and select some to put up here, edit them and then upload. In the meantime, lets just say that I loved Korea, despite the fact that the people there shove you on the streets without saying sorry. (It's a Korean characteristic) The food was awesome (yes there's gonna be foodpics) and the best thing? All the meat was refillable. I seriously pigged out to my heart's content. Somehow, I actually find myself preferring the city to the outskirts. Granted, Nami Island and the rural areas were beautiful, but I was drawn, almost magnetised by Seoul itself. It was pulsating, hectic, but yet there seemed to have a contradictory aura of indolence, hanging in ragged wisps over the skyscrapers. A sheer conundrum, despite it seeming straightforward prima facie. Not mentioning the fact that it snowed twice while I was there, blanketing everything with a layer of pristine snowflakes. Nature at her best.

Beijing, on the other hand, was totally different. I was almost repulsed by both the rural areas and the city. Perhaps it was that unyielding shroud of fog that made the villages look barren and pall-like. Perhaps it was because it was winter, that's why the leafless trees seemed like gnarled hands, looming over the titchy shacks and shanties that peasants call home, ready to engulf the frail structures in their vice-like grip. I don't know. Even the actual city itself had too many neon lights for its own good - making it look terribly sleazy, like the whole city had been turned into an oversized nightclub. However, the itinerary made my stopover there worthwhile. The Great Wall, The Forbidden Palace, Tiananmen Square.. it's amazing that both countries I visited have such legacies and hold vaults of rich culture hidden beneath the snake we term industrialisation. 4338 years for Korea and about 5000 for China. It's a shame that Beijing, being an area with such rich culture, can be home to some of the most awfully barbaric and uncivilised citizens.

Honestly, the people in Beijing.. have no manners at all. NONE. It makes me wonder how on earth they're gonna host the 2008 Olympics. Perhaps I'm making a very sweeping statement, but I'm not faulting them for being rude, for it's their culture. But it makes me wonder, is it that difficult to get me a spoon when I want one? Now tell me, would you walk up to a table of strangers and just grab a napkin - OUR NAPKIN MIND YOU - off their tabletop when the people are all still sitting there? Whatever happened to COURTESY? My dad got fed up and went to open their drawers to get a spoon for himself. Plus, they yell at each other in the shopping malls like they're the only ones in the damn place. Ohmygoodness. Don't even get me started about Air China and their stewards. Owing to the amount of public scrutiny that blogs are getting these days, I should think it prudent to hold my tongue or face a lawsuit from Air China, especially since I know that this blog gets a substantial amount of traffic each day.

Right, visuals of my trip coming up soonish, and I think it's about time to tell everyone interested that I've got the SAF Provisional Scholarship and I'll be in BMT from 3rd Jan. Whee. I think. Plus I need to collect my EAGLES money, cut my hair, collect my uniform. AAARRRGG.

EDIT: NO PHOTOS TODAY COS I BUSIED MYSELF MAKING A NEW TEMPLATE (: BUT MAYYYBE IF I'M IN THE MOOD I'LL RUSH THE EDITING TONIGHT HEH.