Please Sponsor Caroline

Dear Friends,

This is a call for help. My friend and colleague Caroline Smith needs help.  She lives in the UK and works for the same company as I do. We have worked together on a project recently and I know her to be a very hardworking and caring person. She is running in the upcoming London Marathon with her sister to raise awareness and funds for Bowel Cancer. 
 

In order to do my bit, I have offered Caroline this forum to spread her request for sponsorship as follows:

"
On 13^th April 2014 I am running the London Marathon (26.2 miles) with my sister for Bowel Cancer. Our Dad came close to dying from bowel cancer. Surgery and extensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy saved his life but it was a difficult and often undignified time for him. We feel lucky as a family that he is still here to make us laugh and although the future is uncertain as he has now been diagnosed with myelodysplasia* (once known as pre-leukemia), we know nothing will stop him from being at the finish line to cheer us on. It is important to me to help all other families and individuals going through this process to receive the hope and support they need. All the money I raise will go towards this.

 

·         Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK after lung cancer.

 

·         It is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and yet rarely talked about.

 

·         Around 15,700 people died of bowel cancer in 2011 in the UK, that's around 43 people every day.

*Myelodysplasia can be caused by previous cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy and is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow does not make enough healthy blood cells; there are abnormal (blast) cells in the blood and/or bone marrow.

Any support you can give will be gratefully and thankfully received by not just our family but also the charity, and all the people it will help. Thank you.” "

To support Caroline, please visit the following page on www.justgiving.com 
 

Just click on the link to see Caroline's updated, fully secure fundraising page:

http://www.justgiving.com/Caroline-Smith42?utm_source=emailvision&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fundraisingpage-donation-alert-email

 

Please take a moment and think about someone whom you don't know but needs your help and support. 

Caroline can be reached at :          caroline.a.smith@shell.com
You can also contact me at:            faisalbhatti111@gmail.com

Kindly contact us and we will acknowledge and thank you for your generous support.

 

Chinese Whispers 5

March 20

Meetings ended late evening today. Since it was past 6 in the evening it was a bit late to go some place so I went out for a walk around CBD – Central Beijing District.  Spent some time with team colleagues having a quite evening – just relaxing. Tomorrow some of my colleagues have decided to go on Beijing’s day tour. Looking forward to an exciting day! 

March 21

Today we go out for Beijing City Tour which includes: Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City.

The bus arrived with an English  speaking guide Mr. Wong. By 7:45 am we headed towards our first destination – the Forbidden City. It is located in the center of Beijing, surrounded by Chairman Mao’s mausoleum, National Assembly and National Museum. Except Forbidden City, you must keep your passport with you when visiting any of the these places, without which you will not be permitted to enter them.  

We entered through compound to buy tickets and to my utter surprise, at 8:15 am the compound was full of hundreds of people queuing up for entering the Forbidden City. This magnificent structure served the kings and emperors for almost 500 years. It’s been declared as World Heritage Site by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. 980 building structures comprise of thousands of rooms.
 

It’s not only the magnificence of the structure but also the riches it holds, some of them are:

The Palace Museum holds 340,000 pieces of ceramics and porcelain.

The Palace Museum holds close to 50,000 paintings.

The Palace Museum's holds 10,000 bronze collection.

The Palace Museum has one of the largest collections of mechanical timepieces of the 18th and 19th centuries in the world, with more than 1,000 pieces.

We headed towards Temple of Heaven. It is a complex of religious buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest.  I found this place very relaxing. Trees. Green Grass.  Birds chirping.

 

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant and then headed for the Summer Palace. A world heritage site, located just outside Beijing. Although it is named Summer Palace but now there are only gardens and lakes. No palace. The actual palace was burnt a couple of times and the last fire burnt it to the ground. It was never rebuilt. I don’t think I will be able to put the grandeur and magnificence of this place to words.

We spent some time there and then headed to our hotel.  

We still had some time to venture out for shopping, so we hopped on a taxi to the Silk Street. China is world’s number 1 fake products manufacturer and you’ll get all the big brands in clothing, sports, watches, electronics, toys, etc under one roof. You won’t find price tags on products because all prices are negotiable and prices start from a ridiculously high level. use  your negotiation skills to bring the price down to your level. 

If you are in this market or any other market in China, use the following tips:

   

1-      Don’t look the at shop keeper in the eye unless you are interested to buy something.

2-      Don’t talk to them unless you are interested to buy something.

3-      Don’t ask price of any item unless you are interested to buy it.

4-      Don’t show your interest in any item as it will increase the price many folds. Just put up a poker face and be disinterested in his/her shop.

5-      Whatever price the shopkeeper quotes, you offer 80% lower than that. Be polite and firm in your offer and be ready to walk out as well.

 Once done, we dropped our stuff at the hotel and went out to an Italian joint at walking distance for some pizza.

By the time we reached back to hotel, we were dead tired and called it a day.