LIFE GOES ON

Dear my loving readers and visitors,


The post below I have received last night through email and I find it is so inspiring and need to share with you soonest possible. As such, I have to put aside of other posts on my recent trip to China and resume them tomorrow onwards.








See the enthusiasm, confidence and tenacity on his face? Can we ever be distressed, impatient or complaining for frivolous reasons after witnessing this?


Miracle Man Walks Again Monday, July 9, 2007


He survived against all the odds; now Peng Shu Lin has astounded doctors by learning to walk again. He has become one of the examples of the UNLIMITED power of the human spirit.


If we decide to, you and I can make our lives one of this inspiring examples.







When his body was cut in two by a lorry in 1995, it was little short of a medical miracle that he lived. It took a team of more than 20 doctors to save his life. Skin was grafted from his head to seal his torso? But the legless Mr Peng was left only 78cm ( 2ft 6in ) tall.


Bedridden for years, doctors in China had little hope that he would ever be able to live anything like a normal life again. But recently, he began exercising his arms, building up the strength to carry out everyday chores such as washing his face and brushing his teeth.









Doctors at the China Rehabilitation Research Center in Beijing found out about Mr Peng's plight late last year and devised a plan to get him up walking again. They came up with an ingenious way to allow him to walk on his own, creating a sophisticated egg cup-like casing to hold his body with two bionic legs attached to it.


He has been taking his first steps around the center with the aid of his specially adapted legs and a re-sized walking frame. Mr Peng, who has to learn how to walk again, is said to be delighted with the device. What Self Confidence!


Please share with others of this news so that it will inspire others the same way it did to us. Thank you in advance for your kind action.




Wish you have a day of abundantly of joys, happiness and peace.


James Oh

MY FIRST DAY IN CHINA, HANGZHOU AIRPORT

Dear loving readers and visitors,

Although, we have missed the last bus from the airport of Hangzhou to Shanghai; which left before we cleared our way to the Exit 1 of the airport; it did not affect us at all. At that time, we had a choice either to catch a taxi to the city or put a night there before departing to Shanghai the next day. Alternatively, we find another mean of transport to Shanghai City.

Due to our languages constraints, we understand that it is not convenient to look for a hotel at that hour in the city, which is about 40 minutes drive from the airport. Moreover, it was summer time and school was off then. So, we decided to let the broker, who claimed he can arrange a transport for us to Shanghai, do the job.

It took us about two hours from the airport to Shanghai. The journey turned up to be a pleasure one as we met an Indonesia student, who majored in Mandarin there, and we made new friends and have good laughs on hearing his experience in China.

Here, my purpose of sharing this experience with you is that whatever unpleasant thing you encounter, always remember to look up for something pleasing to you rather than let that unpleasant incidence bother you.

Finally, we reached my friend's younger brother's condo safely. There, we put two nights and really had a very good rest before we began our trip the following day. Thanks to his brother who offered us good hospitality and also acted as our tourist guide for our two days trip in Shanghai city.

Below are the photos taken at his condo.



Outside of the condo




Bathroom




Kitchen



Living room



Thanks for your time and wish you have a day of abundance of everything.


James Oh

ORIENTAL PEARL TOWER ; MY WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE

Dear loving readers and visitors,






The two photos were taken at the second upper ball of the TV tower above the ground. You may notice that I was standing on top of the transparent glass floor.


For those who fear heights, perhaps you may try out my little advice. Do not look down on the transparent glass, which make you frighten. But you should look direct at the glass window and walk on top of the glass floor. Look down slowly at the moving vehicle just below the glass floor. Amazingly that the fear which trouble you much earlier has disappeared. This small exercise has proven that you can overcome anything if you could shift your mind set to other things that are pleasing to you. It also well illustrated that the real or perceived danger of what you think of is equally powerful and can be treated as a threat to you if you are not handle it with care. This experience shows how important is the control of your mind and emotion. Do not let others to manipulate you.

This similar principle can apply to life as well. Do not focus on something that is painful to you because it brings hurt to you. It may stir up your emotion and make you blame others for causing such pain to you. If you allow that to happen, then you may be easily manipulated and made use of by others for their selfish agenda. Be aware of such dogs.


As such, just stay focus on something healthy and you will be rest assured that lots of things are not that bad as what you first thought. Just like the above example, the fear is not real, but if you are not careful, you may perceive it as real. F.E.A.R is false expectation appears real.




Cultural show outside the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower.




Me at the museum of old town at the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower.


Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Lujiazui is located in Pudong New Area on Century Avenue One. The construction was began in 1991 and was finished in 1994. The main structure of Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower is 350 meters high; it is the third largest TV tower all round the world besides Toronto's TV Tower of Canada and the Moscow TV tower of the former Soviet Union, and the first one in Asia. Oriental Pearl TV Tower is comprehensively used for sightseeing, meeting, exhibition, meal, shopping, amusement, lodging and TV broadcasting. It has been the symbolic building of Shanghai in 21st century. Currently, the number of passengers and tourism earnings are ranked the second place in the world. It is only inferior to French Eiffel Tower.


The revolving Oriental Pearl Restaurant is located on the upper ball 267 meters of the TV tower above the ground. It is the highest revolving restaurant in Asia. Its business area is 1,500 square meters. It is able to accommodate 350 guests for dining. Restaurant at the same time can offer delicious set meals and Sino-foreign self-help dish. More than 100 kinds of delicacies are supplied without interruption.Simultaneously sharing delicacy and scenery with our best friends or lovers will be a romantic experience.


Shanghai city-history exhibition hall is also located in the Oriental Pearl TV Tower with an area covering over 6,000 square meters. It is for history education, culture, appreciation, tour and amusement. It is an innovative display. At night, seeing Oriental Pearl TV Tower far away presents you a colorfulness and attractiveness structure with neon-light illumination.

Thanks for your time and trust it is of assistance to you,


Look forward to seeing you again,



James Oh

MY 4TH DAY IN CHINA - LEIFENG PAGODA

Dear loving readers,







The above photo is taken at Leifeng Tower, Hangzhou and a very significant and inspiring revelation which I like to share with all of you. I hope it will inspire you, the same way as it inspired me.


Originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002. Thereafter, it has been a popular tourist attraction. From the above photo, you may notice that there are elevators to bring its visitors to the foot of the pagoda. Here, i realized that is even more glory than its past glory before it collapsed. The reconstruction with modern features such as autonomous elevator and lift, air conditioners, televisions and speakers, make it better in serving its visitors.


Similarly, this principle may apply to life. When we are disappointed in life, it may be a good beginning for us, the same way as this pagoda, we may bounce back and stand up a higher level than the level you were before the fall.


Therefore, we should treat the ups and downs in our life as part of life processes, which make us even stronger to face new challenges. It is not material how many times you fall, what is more important is that you are able to bounce back and climb up to a higher level than you were before the fall. You should not be distracted by a fall, but rather treat it as an adversary, which is meant for good - to make you even stronger than before. A good new chapter is beginning rather than the ending of the beautiful story.


Trust you too have learned a good lesson from the series of events this tower had gone through.


The information below, extracted from Wikipedia is for your further reading pleasure.


Leifeng Pagoda (traditional Chinese: 雷峰塔; pinyin: Léi Fēng Tǎ) is a five story tall tower with eight sides, located on Sunset Hill south of the West Lake in Hangzhou. Originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002, since when it has been a popular tourist attraction.


Original


The original pagoda was built in 975 AD, during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, at the order of King Qian Chu (born Qian Hongchu) of Wuyue. It was built to celebrate the birth of Qian Chu's son, born to Huang Fei, one of his favorite concubines. The Leifeng Pagoda was an octagonal, five-story structure built of brick and wood and with a base built out of bricks.


During the Ming dynasty, Japanese pirates attacked Hangzhou. Suspecting the pagoda contained weapons, they burned its wooden elements, leaving only the brick skeleton, as can be seen from Ming paintings of the West Lake.


Leifeng Pagoda was one of the ten sights of the West Lake because of the Legend of the White Snake.


Later, due to a superstition that bricks from the tower could repel illness or prevent miscarriage, many people stole bricks from the tower to grind into powder. On the afternoon of September 25, 1924, the pagoda finally collapsed due to disrepair.


As for whether there was a mausoleum below, this was debated for years until finally radar was used to investigate. On March 11, 2001 the mausoleum was excavated and many treasures were found, most notably a gold and silver coated hair of the Buddha.


Reconstruction


In October 1999, the provincial and municipal governments decided to rebuild Leifeng Pagoda over the ruins of the old one. The new pagoda opened on 25 October 2002. It is composed of a 1400 tonne steel structure with 200 tonnes of copper parts. It contains four sightseeing elevators, and modern features including air conditioners, televisions and speakers. At the entrance of the pagoda there are two autonomous elevators to carry visitors to the pagoda's foot.


The original base of the pagoda is kept in good condition as well as the treasures discovered in an underground chamber.

To read other related article, please click at the title of the post.


I shall download the photos taken around this area later on as I have some difficulties in doing so.


Thanks for your time and look forward to hearing from you,




James Oh

THIRD DAY OF MY TRIP IN CHINA

Dear loving readers and visitors,


This is the place I spent on my third day in China.


Below please find some useful information of my trip for your reading pleasure. This is a wonderful trip with lots of excitements and enjoyment. The beautiful scenery, both of well preserved ancient or modern building are so wonderful waiting for everyone of us to explore and venture. As such, we should wisely spend our time and not waste our time for not delve in those unhealthy activities which can only bring pain and hatred in our hearts.


Life is a gift. So, live with wisely and meaningfully so as to leave behind a legacy which our great heroes had done for us. Now, it is our turn to preserve these ancient buildings for our loved future generations.







Map of Jiangsu Water-town, Zhouzhuang.







A QUICK BRIEFING OF THIS GREAT ANCIENT TOWN, exacted from its website for your easy reading


Zhouzhuang is a township of Kunshan City - a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. The town is situated between Suzhou and Shanghai, 30 km the southeast of Suzhou and 60 km the southwest of Shanghai.


Dubbed 'Venice of the East', this town boasts the best water town preserved in China. The town has a history of over 900 years and most of residencies and houses in the town were built in Ming (1368-1644) or Qing Dynasties (1644-1911).The rivers and streams in Zhouzhuang crisscross the town and are spanned by 14 stone-arch bridges constructed in Yuan (1271-1368), Ming, and Qing Dynasties. Many thanks to these waterways, the town avoided the chaos that might be caused by wars in the past dynasties and most of its architectural layouts have eventually remained intact.


There are many fantastic places and views to visit and see, including Twin Bridges, Fuan Bridge, Shen House, Milou Tower, and more. Many bridges in the town show unique bridge traditions different from other designs. The most amazing view displays a house where a boat can enter the property through the front gate and sail through the courtyard.


The public was aware of the beauty of Zhouzhuang in 1985 after the painting, the Remembrance of My Hometown, by Chen Yifei, was presented to Deng Xiaoping, the China’s most respected political veteran, by Mr. Armand Hammer, chairman the board of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation of the United States.


The town has been listed with the highest ranking of 5-AAAAA among the national tourist attractions, and in 2001 Zhouzhuang hosted the Informal Trade Ministerial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. This year the town has once again been selected as one of the top 50 China’s tourist attractions in a nationwide survey. There are more than 1 million tourists visiting the small water town each year.


Suzhou, the cradle of Wu Culture, is a city with a history of more than 2,500 years, tracing back to the later Shang Dynasty. While talking about Suzhou, the old saying mentions it as a “Paradise on the Earth” or the "East Venice of the World”, referring to its natural beauty, classical gardens, bridges and waters, traditional operas and soft dialect tone.


The city is well-known to its classical gardens, in which two of them have been listed as the great world heritage sites. Situated in the downstream of Yangtze River Drainage Basin and Yangtze River Delta economic zone, Suzhou has been a national tourist center and has attracted visitors around the world.


The passage of "The rivers and streams in Zhouzhuang crisscross the town and are spanned by 14 stone-arch bridges constructed in Yuan (1271-1368), Ming, and Qing Dynasties. Many thanks to these waterways, the town avoided the chaos that might be caused by wars in the past dynasties and most of its architectural layouts have eventually remained intact." attracted my attention the most.


For those of you who have read about the series of the unique and amazing bridges of mine, will know the greatness, these bridges have done for the human beings. Similarly, these 14 stone-arch bridges had done to people at that time.


Now, they still stand proudly serving the people in a different manner. I know that they bridge the differences between the human beings so as to preserve the peace and harmony of the world. Trust that these legacy will continue to remind us of the importance of having peace and harmony.


They are also standing there proudly to remind us be united and continue serving the people as they do. So, let these bridges touch our hearts and souls to transform us to be wise as them.


Hope that everyone of us can hear the loud and strong messages echoing from these bridges and let them put those unhealthy acts into shame. Let us be united and keep on educating people of this wisdom. Remember to share our blessings to these group of people. If those being blessed with God's wisdom don't care for them, then who else will care for them? Let the bridges be the light for our walk.


Wake up and stand up, like the bridge, proudly showing the way to bridge the differences of ideologies, genders, colors, social status and what ever differences either real or not.














James Oh