Sunshin3

Like all good things, they must come to an end.

After 17 months, Old boy has decided that i’m not worthy enough to be with him. In a teary weekend, he has informed me that he’s leaving me for good.

Short of becoming jaded, i’m tempted to go self-destructive.

I don’t know if i will seek a transfer overseas.

I don’t know if i will seek a stable relationship with a friend.

I don’t know if i will return to the old ways.

I might even join a nunnery but i am sure vibrators are banned there.

I really don’t know yet, i am not even sure how i am feeling.

What is only clear at this point is that i know i’ve got friends who will band around me and be there lending their support. Ironically, most of them are men.

I have no one to blame but myself because i chose this path. Past experiences have taught me that I’ve always been left behind in the chase but i still stubbornly refused to let go.

I believe that i will eventually move on.

Devote myself to work, devote myself to a business venture that i have recently joined with a friend, devote myself to the pursuit of other matters.

Because life still goes on.

Old boy is spoiling me silly with his spontaneous, romantic dates.

Just the other night, we went to this french restaurant, “Andre”, located along Telok Ayer. It was a quaint restaurant situated in a shophouse, and not exactly our first choice because we were kinda just hoping to have a grab and go dinner before heading back to our respective offices to continue working.

After all, you know how french restaurants are like.

Based on the waiter’s recommendation, i ordered a duck confit while he had the tenderloin. Like all the reviews online, the meats were tender and definitely artery-clogging. If you ask me whether it’s well worth the wait, i’m sure Old boy feels that it was acceptable.

Probably the only spoiler was them serving house wine in their usual water glasses. And we ordered premium house wine to boot.

Imagine, a french restaurant serving house wine in normal water glasses.

Good lord.

Coming home essentially meant having to take 2 days of medical leave and a day of urgent leave because the weather proved too extreme for me.

I guess it wasn’t hot enough for me to handle.

On hindsight, if i knew i was going to take medical leave, i should have delayed my return from Shanghai.

Heh.

As fun as Shanghai was, it couldn’t beat returning to the strong arms that held me to sleep every night and the familiar masculine scent that brought back fond memories.

Old boy and I had a wonderful date last evening.

image courtesy of http://sparklette.net

He brought me to this restaurant at Tanjong Pagar, called “Blue Ginger”, an alternative since he couldn’t locate the French restaurant that he ate previously. Serving mainly Peranakan fare, the food at Blue Ginger was excellent. We ordered beef rendang, curry vegetables served in assam gravy, and ngoh hiang, which was the boy’s favourite. In fact, you can read another blogger’s review on Blue Ginger.

And thereafter, we took a nice stroll back to the Mrt station.

It’s been a while since i last saw him enjoying something as simple as a good dinner.

In comparison with day 1, day 2 was quieter but not necessarily, boring either.

The boys went out to the outskirts of town to get some kinky leather stuff while i walked the streets of our apartment in search of coffee, food and massages.

Since the meeting was cancelled, i spent the afternoon sleeping before heading out with Terz to Labella Cafe. It’s a neat, and cozy lounge opened by one of their friends. No pictures though because the main reason why i was there was to work on some documents given that wireless connection was free.

I figured that if i was going to take a later flight out, i had better get some work going which yes, sucks because i was on holiday somewhat.

Terz headed out to watch Bjork in concert but returned after an hour and a half. Not sure if he managed to catch her infamous Declare Independence farce.

And we spent the evening watching Lambo before catching a short nap for my 8.20am flight out the next day. There’s a reason too complicated to explain why it’s Lambo and not Rambo.

Despite the crazy and impulsive move, it has been a fruitful weekend for me.

I guess like the purpose of his trip, my batteries needed recharging. It was an emotionally challenging week for me prior to the trip and i am thankful for his offer to pop by.

I finally feel well-rested and ready to deal with the hand that i have been dealt.

Thank you.

The plane touched down at Shanghai Pu Dong Airport at 6.30am in the morning. With a journey that took about an hour to reach downtown, no prizes for guessing what i was doing in the car that Terz arranged to pick me up.

This year’s winter in Shanghai was especially harsher and longer. It took a while to get used to the extremities of the weather but it was refreshing nonetheless.

And i continued snoozing at Xavier’s place till we decided coffee was essential to keep us warm.

The day saw us driving by the bund, exploring downtown, taking photos of ordinary folks doing ordinary stuff, having good dim sum etc..

It’s always nice to explore cities when you have friends already living in the city. I was supposed to meet up with a client during my trip too and she had the intention of bringing me to Xin Tian Di but ah well, some events happened and i had to give that leg of the weekend trip up.

Probably the most interesting highlight of the trip was witnessing this group of elderly folks trying to match make their kids. It was quite a scene watching these folks exchanging numbers and resumes of their daughters and sons publicly in a couldn’t be more aptly-named “Peoples’ Park”. I’ve been told that they only do it over weekends which also makes me wonder if their kids are aware of what their parents are doing.

Who knows? Singapore could draw inspiration from them.

And when evening fell, we headed out for a hot-pot dinner with more of Terz’s friends. Honestly, the number of Singaporeans living in Shanghai is amazing and you don’t really feel alien in this country. Drinks was held at this place called Barbarossa, which served sheesha pipes as well. I took a drag, and found it sweet and light although i much preferred the Chilean wine that we were drinking.

Barbarossa from People’s Park

Drinks, good meals, great company.

I was glad i came.