My life in China

I've never talked about it.

But China left a huge hole in my heart, and not necessarily in a good way, either.

Pictures.

My second night in Beijing. Dinner with David, Magie, Jesse and the rest of the crew, minus her. Second biggest (and apparently most famous) restaurant for Peking Ducks. The days alone in Beijing had been the happiest.

Chiam was one of the people who (literally) kept me alive in China. My strong, silent, funny friend from KL, Chiam helped me adjust to all things China.

My walk to Tiananmen Square from Jian Guo hotel where I was housed for 11 days. Terence drew tic tac toes on my shoes when we were shooting in the studio.

The Forbidden City. I first heard of it in an old Chinese movie starring Zhang Yimou and Gong Li. Terracotta Warriors, I think.

The consequences of going places alone. There's never anyone around to camwhore with. I set the camera on my bag and posed.

It was here that she called. "Where are you?" she screeched on the line. It was barely 9am and I had set foot into the Forbidden City only 10 minutes before. "You need to come back NOW!" she said.

David was another one of the rare friends I made when I was in China. Having lived in China for 6 years, he saw all the bullying and unfairness that took place when I was there. He stood by me when I was about to crack under pressure.

David took this picture of me as we were boarding the flight back to Shanghai from Beijing International Airport. We had just shot a commercial with Liu Xiang, but as with most celebrities, no pictures were allowed. This was my closest shot.

The morning after Beijing, the art boys took me this fantastic little art community in Shanghai. I parked myself on a bench and Terence took this picture of me. It's been one of my favorites ever since. It didn't show any of the unhappiness I was going through.