British dream.

One year study in UK is my best one ever. I really miss it, my second home.

I love the city, Manchester. I love my friends. I love what I've been experienced that year. Well, love booze.

Donno how to describe my complicated feelings. Don't even know if that's real. It's too fruitful to make me feel that's probably a dream.

Everything seems just happened yesterday. And now I wake up and find I'm in my own bed, 7000 km away from them.

Sometimes, I blame myself didn't do all my best to fight for my life, so as to stay with the little dream. The rest of the time, I persuade myself to roll with outcome.

When can I go back again?

14th?

In a few years?

Next life?

Or in my dream?

Food adventure in Chengdu, China

I have to confess that I didn't plan a trip like this at first. However, things always change. The first day I visited Qingcheng mountain. Basically, I intended to climb to the top and take a cable way back to the gate. Unfortunately, I didn't know the that was being fixed until I reached the top. So I had no choice but walked down to the sea level. My legs were so wasted after 6 hours non-stop climbing with my 20kg photography equipment. This turned my trip into a food adventure, coz I couldn't really walk for a long distance in the rest of the days in Chengdu. Here we go!

(1) Sichuan hot pot

I met my friend Rui in the city centre. He is my classmate in Manchester, a local Sichuan guy. So where he took me to must be the more authentic one. 

It's sooooooo good! Compared with its taste, the massive spices in it are not big deals.

(2) Normal Noodles.

This is my breakfast. I definitely asked for a bowl of boiled noodles. And they gave me this. I almost cried when I saw it at first.

（3）Another breakfast

I apologize my unprofessional behavior. too lazy to get this pic right. The thing looks like bread is called 锅盔. there are beef in it. It goes the best with the thing on the bottom, named 肥肠粉. It's kind of rice noodles and something you don't really wanna know.

（4）伤心凉粉

Donno how to translate it. People gave the thing this name because it's really spicy and makes people cry. I didn't feel the same way.

(5) Lazy afternoon tea

（6）夫妻肺片

The Chinese name includes liver, but actually there is no that part of meat in it.

(7) Sichuan famous snacks

担担面，龙抄手 and 钟水饺。For me, they are spicy but sweet noodles, dumplings and dumplings, respectively.

(8) Sichuan rost fish

It's not really rosted.

(9) 三大炮

Rice snack with brown suger. When people are making this, they always make the noise like a bomb.

In sum, It's weird that I didn't feel sichuan food is spicy for my, despite I have no tolerance for chilli. Perhaps, I'm too old to feel it. Scarlett, come to china. Food here can cheer you up.

Aftermath

A bit bored after finishing my internship in China daily. Became a nerdy boy who wouldn't even go out of his home for one week again. Keep learning some financial stuff without any efficiency. Sigh, time for travelling again. The destination will be Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan province of china WITH MY CAMERA!

This is what I'm doing right now. Wanna have some gin?

Should have posted this blog three weeks ago. But since I've been busy with job hunting, I think it's ok to talk about my trip now.

I don't feel like posting too many pics, despite I have some. I wasn't allowed to take my Cannon with me, because it's too professional. That makes sense for a misery country. But it turns out I have no interest using my mom's tiny camera. Here is the one I reckon can show the impressive side of the capital city of North korea. Maybe I'll be assassinated by some spies by posting bad views.

In general, some big city views are quite nice. And I didn't even lose any weight after 4 days trip. The food is tasty there, especially the spice source. I heard that they can be arranged into companies when they finish uni. They may save a lot of energy on job hunting. I should be jealous on this part. Anyway, it was a great adventure though. At least I've been North korea in my life and saw early 1980s view before I was born in china.

Well, this week, I'm gonna know the arrangement of my job and all the things before next year will be solid. Good luck for you all!

Back to my blog

Suddenly feel like writing something, but don't know where to start. At least report what's new recently.

Working as an intern now. Maybe I know I'm not gonna stay there, so feel quite bored.

Went to North Korea during the national holiday. Keep forgetting to upload pics and write something about the trip. I bet that's the result of travelling without my camera.

Met a really good girl in my family and she turns out to be my cousin actually. She just came up to Beijing early this year. She's one month younger than me. This is the milestone for me. I have been living without any cousins at same age for 24 years.

Studying finance right now. Will join this field soon. Hope I can get rid of this jobless situation quickly. Just give me a chance to make contribution. I'll be really happy.

To be continue...

Never say never

I don't really know where I should start my word. I only know I had so many great time with you guys in one year. There was no two weeks similar coz of your company.

I knew one year was short, but i didn't know it can go this fast. I have too many things want to talk with you. I still wanna drink with you every week in the rest of my life. I'm also willing to figure plans out to spend time with you. But it's time for farewell temporarily.

"Never say never" is a sentence for me or you. Actually, it's not an end, it's a starting point. A new era for our friendships. We are getting mature and have abilities to decide the path of our life. I believe, we'll have formal jobs first, families, kids. And we can sort things out then.

Just want to say thanks to you and let you know that I DON'T THINK I WOULD BE THE PERSON I AM TODAY IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU GUYS.

Best wishes for you to gain the brightest futures.

我们是一辈子的兄弟！

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey -- Final day

I went to the longest sandy beach in Turkey today. I truly knew what sea looks like when I came here. Soooo beautiful. Blue and green consist of the colour of sea. Crabs are running on the beach. so many families and couples were lying on the beach. I'll take my family and love in the future to here.

Except, I wanna be tan. But it turns out to be red. Think skin dropping will happen in couple of days. Tan doesn't belong to me I guess.

So far, I don't think the colour of turkey is blue. Maybe that's kind of mood in the song. Although I didn't find it, I still pretty like here, especially for scenes. But kebab and people are a bit disappointing me. I prefer the Chinese kebab. As a big tourist country, I can tell a lot of Turkish people concern about earning more money from me.

The trip is about to be completed. Loads of nice pics. I'll pick and retouch them on my flight back to china. Well, time to sleep and say goodbye to the magic country.

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey -- Day 8.5

Today I did what I thought I would never do in my life -- Paragliding. Normally, I'm not a daredevil. But this time, since I'm in Turkey and kinda hate my timid feature, I decided to give a shoot. I made it without losing my cool. Ah, almost forgot the most important reason, which is to take a pic from top of the beach.

It's not that scary actually. Only the height is about 1800 meters. Sounds scary. But scenes are awesome. Got fab pics in my camera. maybe next time I'll try sky dive. I guess I'll never get sleep from now on rather than two days before paragliding.

Anyway, hope everything is going well on you all. Pic time!

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey -- Day 7.5

I came to Pamukkale for a one day tour. This should be the plan two days ago. Glad travel agency still have that in Fethiye. But that makes sense coz they need to earn money.

8 hours on the road and 2 hours in Pamukkale. It depends if someone ask me about the worth of it. Here is the pic and you tell me. :)

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey -- Day 6.5

Nothing special today. Took a tour but didn't swim in the beautiful Aegean sea due to the injury on the leg.

Just found out that I'm running out of cash. This is a country requires cash payment. Hope I can be still alive with my 70 Lira cash for 4 days.

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey -- Day 5.5

I arrived at Fethiye this morning and took a 12 islands trip during the day. The sunlight was good. This is the second time I saw the sea is blue like that. Just wanna stay there forever if time can be stopped. Need to get some rest. Too tired these days.

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey -- Day 4.5

I said I would upload some pics taking from hot air ballon. Here we go.

The view is fantastic during the sunrise period and hundreds of hot air balloons were in the air at the same time. This is the best experience ever.

After that, actually, I've seen all of the area. So just rented a scooter and chill. Also pretty good but hot. It's the first time I know scooters can be driven that fast.

On the night bus to Fethiye, I met a Turkish guy sitting right next to me. He is a student in a university and can speak some English. As his guest, I had two cups of free tea. This let me think actually Turkish people are really hospitable without being related to any money. He taught me Islam especially the life in heaven. Pretty good knowledge.

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey -- Day 3.5

Today, I arrived at Cappadocia, the middle area of Turkey.

Actually, I didn't get me destination and was called to get off to change another bus. This turned out to be the intention of a travel agency. I bought a ticket from here to the next stop as the assistance of the agency. But when I get on the bus, I found out the mistake on departure date. I thought it was may be a small mistake, however a couple also met some thing weird on their ticket. FUCK YOU ROCK TOWN travel agency! In the end, as the concern about the reputation, the contractor's owner helped me change a new and direct ticket. That the bright side. Wasted more than one hour on the ticket issue. This made me miss the robust information system in UK.

With the bad mood, I took a green tour to walk around the far places of the area. I know I don't like traveling with tour guide. But I can only accept this in an immature transportation system country. In the end, the car was broken , which consumed 2 hours on the road with doing nothing. This also made me miss the sunset period for taking pics. Sigh. What can I say?

Look at the bright side. Met 3 japanese , 3 Korean, 2 Australian during the trip. They are quite nice. Pretty happy meeting them and talking with them. I just love the international environment! I'm gonna miss it two weeks later.

Sorry, there is no pic for today. Tmr I'll arrange myself. Will definitely upload afterwards. Need to do the hot air ballon in the early morning or sunrise. Gotta sleep soon. :)

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey-- Day 2.5

Well, today is pretty hot in Istanbul. I didn't realise this is Sunday and most of the restaurants were closed. Haven't had a decent meal.

I went to another part of istanbul today. It's new, but still quite untidy.its really hard to find a city as modern as big cities in china. Frankfort? I'll find that out in the future.

This afternoon, I went along the coastline of the old part of Istanbul. Aegean is sooo blue. Sitting by the see and felt like sinking in the dark blue world. I got the feeling from a Chinese poet. He wrote like, facing the sea and feeling the spring. It's warm and full of flower.

I'm on the night bus right now. The night bus is shaking so hard. A turkish guy looked like Javier Hernandez siting next to me helps me to find a toilet. Coz the staff on the bus can't speak Really nice guy, but cant speak english. Otherwise I'm gonna talk to him whole night. Google tranlate is the only tool now. Gotta have some rest. Good night everyone!

Chasing a blue dream in Turkey -- Day 1.5

Since I forgot to update my blog yesterday, think I'll just combine these two days.

I arrived at Istanbul around 5.00 pm in Turkish time zone on 17th. So far, I've visited most of the famous places of the city. Blue mosque, my favorite and some temples and palaces. I can't remember those names. I did the cruise and climbed to the highest point of the city for some pics today. Quite tired for a whole day walking.

I pretty like the city actually. There are loads of meat. Costs are cheaper than Europe. I found good high platforms for taking pics. I'll share my favorite two pics in Istanbul at the end of this blog.

In ads and songs, this is a country of blue color. But I haven't found anything related to it. Maybe I need more time to find out. Or maybe it's a country of white color with a sweaty Max in my mind.

I will keep uploading about my trip and drinking more water. Need to catch a night train tmr. Later! :)

Mu~ha~ha

No more dissertation for me any more! Hell yeah!

Check check check

It's July already. Time to review last month's plan and conceive a new one for the rest days before my leave.

Allright, start with review.

1. Improve myself to be more employable.
Got decent CV and covering letter. Thanks for the help from Scarlett. CHECK!

2. Have a trip to Scarlett's hometown.
Have a great time there and knew several new friends. They are quite nice. CHECK!

3. Read a book.
It's about Critical Chain, related to the topic of my dissertation. Not what I intended to read actually, but it's a book anyway. CHECK! 

4. Go to gym to loss a bit weight.
This is the tricky one with my weak knees. FAIL!

5. Work hard and be nice to people.
Yep! but need to work harder. CHECK!

Next one, the new plan.

1. Finish my dissertation before 1st August.
2. Visit Sherri in Loughborough.
3. Go to swim to be fit.
4. Apply some companies early August.
5. Visit William in Belfast if he can get the offer.
6. Visit William in Liverpool. SUIT UP!
7. Apply Turkish visa in london and have dinner with two of my friends.
8. Go to turkey with William.
9. Throw a great party and get drunk with my best friends.
10. Go back to China safely.
11. Still work hard and be nice to people.


Let me check these when I get back to china. Fingers crossed.

Wish you, readers, can be happy everyday. :)

Writing at the graduate season

Can't believe it's been almost one year, since I came to Manchester. It's an absolutely whole new world and culture for a nerdy boy. Each second i spent here is much more meaningful than what i've been through in the past. No two weeks are similar. I didn't even imagine I would have such a gorgeous time here when I first met a group of British student in Beijing. But that's indeed the start of the story.

To be honest, in some certain scenarios, i'm quite emotional. It's kind of different Max as you know. That's reasonable for a normal human being. and also a man with thankfulness. So that makes sense if I feel upset. I insist that there is no such a Max if I didn't have chance to meet you guys. You made me happy. You made my life different. You give me opportunities to grow up. We've been through so many awesome days together. Joy, sorrow, drunk, crazy..... they've all been carved in my heart. I'll tell these to my girl and descendant and take those memories into my coffin in the end.

Actually, I have 3 more months to graduate and leave this country. But I guess from now on, I may not have chance to see some of you in my life. Because of the international environment, i met you. Also because of it, i might lose the change to see you again. Things won't be changed by my sadness, but it can make me know how much I cherish the friendships. Scarlett is right. I need to try. I need to work really hard to add the odds.

Right,I sincerely respect and appreciate the time I spent with you guys.

THANK YOU

Today, I should take the train to have a look at Diamond Jubilee and my friend.

Unfortunately, I forgot my Railcard again. (Btw, Railcard has to be used with tickets if you booked so, therefor gaining great discount.) Normally, I just changed it into standard tickets in the past. However, I was shocked when the staff showed me I had to be charged £150 for that. That's ridiculous. Or i could apply a new railcard, which was only £28. Problem came again. I couldn't prove my age since I'm not a fan of taking my passport everywhere. When I was about to give up to change the ticket time, which was £68 and go back to collect my railcard. One of the staff did me a favour. He would give me a new ticket for free as long as I get my card. That will never happen in China.

Sorry I can't find a word to describe my thankfulness. Still, I want to say thank you for your help. 予人玫瑰，手有余香. Wish you can be happy for the rest of your life. For me, I learned a lesson. Not only will I take my railcard with me to take a train, but also be benevolent to get along with both friends and strangers.

Intouchable

Just watched a movie, named Intouchable. it was filmed by a true story. I have to admit, it is the best movie about "friendship" ever.

May be that's a coincidence, two completely different types of people are bound on a nursery job. And series of experience make them can't live without each other. The pilot seems quite simple and stereotype. However the director seized each tiny emotion and turned those into a touching movie.

Glad the two characters can meet each other in their short lives. Highly recommended.

NO MORE EXAM

Yesterday, I eventually finished my last exam in my life hopefully. Have been working hard for almost two months. Time to chill. Food, drinks, trip will follow up.

Meanwhile I have a simple plan for the brand-new month.
1. Improve myself to be more employable.
2. Have a trip to Scarlett's hometown.
3. Read a book.
4. Go to gym to loss a bit weight.
5. Work hard and be nice to people.

BTW, happy children's day to all. No matter how old we are, we can still have a young heart.

2012.3.18, Venice, Italy

FML

Sometimes I'm tired of being a perfectionism.

Attitude

Don't know why. Recently it's impossible to fall asleep before 5am. Reading books or memorising new words are helpless whatsoever. So kept refreshing Weibo and found some really good words.

Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience.---Victoria Holt

That's what we should live with, isn't it? Gotta try to get asleep again. Good night!

After my first blog, this must be the second.

    2012. 3.18, Venice, Italy

As usual, picture first. I shot this in my second europe trip. I was quite disappointed about the city.  Indeed, it's kinda commercialized as well as dark and dirty. Guess I brought too much expectation into the city, coz it's one of three my dreamt cities, apart from Prague and Istanbul. But after disappointment, I found out what my expectation should be. NATURAL VIEW. That's, deep inside, what i'm interested in during my trip rather than cities.

When I was reviewing all my pictures, this one did cheer me up. Sometimes, I can tell the sorrow from the man, and other times I'm jealous about his freedom. In the hustle and bustle world, where can we find our inside peaceful? A guitar, a brand-new land, an immersed heart.

My first blog

2012. 4. 2, Sagrada familia, Barcelona

I was not into writing something down in the past. But now I realize how beautiful words are and the happiness of sharing my experience with others. 

Let me start with one of my favorite pictures. Although I prefer to directly use the original pictures from my camera rather than retouch them afterwards,  this time I couldn't help trying this HDR technique when I saw a set of pictures in a photographier's blog. 

I must admit that Sagrada familia is the most gorgeous church and building I've ever seen in my life. Every detail of it is a piece of eye-catching design. I still can't get it why a man, named Antoni Gaudi, living in 18th century was capable to design a building even much more complicated than nowadays' constructions. The designer was died in 1926 and people carried on his work until now. Hopefully, it will be finished in 2025. That means I still have change to have a look at the completed Sagrada familia before I die. I was absolutely surprised. Nothing of it is vertical and balanced both inside and outside. It is totally beyond my imagination that so many designs on the earth can consist in one single thing. I don't know if it's proper to call it a building, a church, a museum or a piece of art. Maybe that why it's said that the devil is in details. 

Glad I finally have a hobby of photography, apart from playing computer games. And indeed I love the way to record my travel and my daily life.

Time to get back to my coursework.