DAY 700

Aug 2

1) So that's about it - my final day here in Suzhou, China. I attended my last morning seminar, at which Chris gave a brilliant presentation in English. Immediately afterwards, he gave me a brilliant tie tack bearing the "Soochow University" logo. When I asked him if he really wanted me to have this, he said he would get another one after completing his PhD. I felt quite touched that he would give something as precious as that to me. Half anticipating this, I had the night before prepared a sketched portrait of the two of us, taken from the time we saw the sunset at Dushu Lake. I'm not an artist by a long shot, but I suppose that's the best I can come up with.

2) As part of my own "farewell dinner", I had planned to go for a seafood buffet at "Duolunduo" (多伦多). After inviting Niamh, we got on more people from our labs to come. At 4.30pm, we booked a taxi to Suzhou Center (苏州中心), where the buffet is located. We had to wait till 5.30pm for the buffet to begin, but boy oh boy was it worth the wait. I have never seen such a vast array of dishes from all corners of the world. Particularly fascinating was the seafood spread, which truly lived up to its name of a "seafood buffet"!

3) In between all the food and drinks, servers would wheel out extra dishes such as durian pizza (!), and offer us coffee and extra drinks. All in all, it was well worth the 130 yuan price. After our dinner, we walked outside the shopping mall and across to the promenade, chatting away for what seemed like an eternity. Then Chris suggested that we take the subway to the next stop, which would be right across the lake - affording us an even better view of Suzhou Centre. Sadly, by the time we reached, the lights had been switched off!

4) That did nothing to dim the conversation though, as we walked along the now dimly lit promenade, stopping finally to rest on some steps just beside the lake. As it was approaching 11pm (and my transport to the Pudong International Airport was at 3am!), we had no choice but to call it a night. Our friends helped call a taxi for the both of us back to our apartment, where I spent a sleepless night awaiting the ride back to the airport. That would be the conclusion of my stay here in Suzhou, I honestly do not regret one moment of it. As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And this was one of the very best...

5) And that concludes today's edition of my blog. Thank you very much as always for visiting my blog, and have a great week ahead. Cheers! :)

Pencil sketch of Chris and I

Final goodbye to my lab mates in the Molecular Cancer Research Laboratory, 3F 

I've always wanted to try this Korean rice dish, from Family Mart

(it's a bit expensive, but as today was my last day here I figured why not...)

It's really filling with pickled cabbage as the main ingredient - very tasty!

Tie tack from Chris...

Duolunduo Seafood Buffet

("Duolunduo" for some strange reason translates to "Toronto" in English!)

Take a look at all the colourful drinks! <3 <3 <3

Living up to its name of a bonafide seafood buffet!

One cannot help but laugh at the English translations

(the translations are done word for word - which explains the really strange names in English)

This salmon came with the most delectable honey glaze sauce I've ever tasted. 

(10/10 would recommend!)

Beautiful seafood spread :)

The presentation was top-notch in my opinion

Durian pizza!!! <3<3<3

Dessert section was where it fell a bit short for me, as the quality wasn't up to par with the other buffets I've tried here in Suzhou...

(overall still an amazing experience though!)

Oh look guys - we reached the Forbidden City, Beijing!

Group pic yeay ^^

The sign reads "My house is at the Forbidden City"!

A rainbow of colours to cheer us up on our last night out!

Right beneath the Gate of the Orient (also rather affectionally known as the "Trousers"!)

Rainbow Walk

Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre - on the opposite site of the lake from where Suzhou Centre is located

Too bad the lights were off when we got there - it would have been many times more beautiful had they been kept on... ):

A powerful green laser projects into the night sky

A beautiful illuminated bridge

DAY 689-694

July 22-27

1) These past few days have been a mad dash for me, as I try my level best to finish up the remaining experiments in both the chemistry and biology labs. As (I think) I mentioned earlier, the MTT Assay results for the two compounds that I synthesised were not good, so I will be redoing the same experiment again, using a different cell line. On Wednesday night, I was in the biology lab carrying out serial dilution of my compounds and adding them to the 12X8 wells. It really is a quite tedious process, especially if you are not adept at pipetting (that's me XD).

2) This morning, for the first time I presented a PowerPoint presentation for the morning seminar. I talked about my research project which I did last year, under my Principal Investigator Dr. Darren Griffith. It was a short presentation, after which the floor was open to any questions. Professor Long (who is present for all these seminars) then asked me many questions regarding my project, at one point also asking me to introduce myself. Talking about the project made me feel all nostalgic, as I remembered the long hours I put in for those two months. It was an interesting session, but there would be more to come...

3) In the afternoon, it was time for the Work Report - a "big" seminar where everyone gives an update on their work progress for the past two weeks. I was obliged to give mine as well, seeing as this would be the last Work Report seminar I would be attending. So I gave a long talk about my research project, on the design and synthesis of specific protein degraders. I received a warm response from the Professor, and that was instant relief and joy for me.

4) In the evening, all my lab mates and I went to take pictures at various scenic points in the campus, as they were planning to make a photo album for me to take home. It was a pleasant surprise when Prof. Long suggested that, and I was very touched at how supportive my friends were in coming and taking loads of pictures together with me. We took photos in front of the lab, the library, the gate, and the old campus gate replica. Fast forward the next evening, and everyone went to the area around Dushu Lake, where we got a fantastic view of the sunset. We took many pictures as you can expect, till everywhere was dark and I had to return to continue my experiments.

5) So on Friday night, I was preoccupied with two tests in the Biology lab - the re-test of the MTT Assay for my two compounds, and the adding of primary antibodies to my proteins for my Western Blot test. The latter requires more steps tomorrow actually, including the addition of the secondary antibodies that bind to the primary ones. Too bad I won't be here in tomorrow, as I'll be travelling to Shanghai with my friends. So on that high note, I think I will end my blog update here. It's been a while since I last published, so I hope you enjoyed reading about the updates. Thanks for visiting my blog, and have a nice weekend ahead. Cheers! :D

Beautiful group pic in front of the Binglin Library (苏大独墅湖校区炳麟图书馆)

Right in front of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Building :)

Another one, cuz why not XD

And one more for the record...

Casually posing at the campus entrance :D

With Dr. Hu, post-doctoral researcher in the Medicinal Chemical Biology Lab

With Kong Jiao and Han Yuqing

From l-r: Feng Shun, Zhou Jujun, Yours truly, Chris, Zhou Tan, Dr. Hu

V for Victory! XD

The replica of the gate in the main (old) campus, complete with motto and flag

Tried the food in Cafeteria No. 1 for a change

Candid group photo at dinnertime :)

Very touched and grateful to receive this water bottle and a T-shirt as a parting gift from Prof. Long and co. <3 <3 <3

Presenting these couple of slides again made me remember the good days I spent last year doing research for the first time :')

It was pouring cats and dogs in the afternoon, so Chris recommended I order takeout, and he recommended this dish

(滷肉饭) "Lu rou fan" - one of the most beloved Taiwanese comfort foods ever. Just like the famous red braised pork belly (红烧肉) in mainland China, "braised pork belly with rice" is essentially one of the most popular comfort foods in Taiwan, originating from either Taiwan or Shandong, China (depending on who you ask haha)...

And that's the dish! The pic doesn't do it justice at all, as the meat (top left corner) is way too dark in this photograph, and so is the slightly tangy seaweed soup (left). Absolutely delicious is my verdict! ^^