yesterday was the second day i went on site survey alone. for market research, i need to go run around the city to visit competitors’ sites, pretend i’m an interested buyer, visit their showflats, ask a lot of questions and come back to type reports on what i gathered from the visits. it’s fun, because i get to go walk walk see see, but it’s a lot of pressure too, because most of the time, i am unable to convince the salespersons that i am a potential customer. everyone tells me i look my age, and i don’t think there are many 21-year-olds who go around looking for property investments. anyway, it’s my job, and i had to try my best. had to cook up a big crap story to bluff the few who were willing to give me time. the sun was damn hot yesterday, and i spent the whole afternoon walking in the streets under the hot sun. had planned to go to 5 sites, but only 3 were willing to entertain me. :( the whole xujiahui area was super big, and although the 5 sites seemed near enough on the map, they were in fact very far away from each other. my day was like: - out for 7 hours - travelling time 1 hour - lunch for 1 hour - 3 site visits took about 2 hours in total - walking (plus losing my way) took 3 HOURS! i was pretty burned out at the end of the day, and my head pounded like mad. it was like IH trainings for 3 sports consecutively, minus the fun and adrenalin rushes. i felt sticky and dirty, especially since i breathed in dust and dirt at the construction site. very unglam! *pui* but there was an incident which made my day. i visited a sales office and after asking the usual round of questions, the salesperson offered to show me the show flat. that’s good, because it meant he believed my story of me being a rich girl helping my father scout for property investments. (yar, right!) i was gleefully grinning inside when we were walking to the construction site. and lo and behold! i saw the lift. it was the kind you would often see at construction sites, but seldom give two hoots about. the kind construction workers use to transport materials like cement and metal wires. it was a metal cage, OUTSIDE the half constructed building! (if you are my friend, you would know that i’m an acrophobic. if you didn’t know, i’m telling you now. just take me up anywhere with enough height, and i’ll do your bidding as long as you don’t make me look down). under the hot sun, i immediately broke out into cold sweat. there was no way i could back out of this. it was a gigantic squeeze in that small cage containing me, the salesman, half a dozen of construction workers and containers with cement (!!) filled to the brim. i froze up when the salesperson told the auntie operating the cage, “15th floor.” duh!!!!!! most showflats are located on the 2nd/3rd floor! my one sweaty palm gripped the cage, and my other very sweaty palm held onto the safety helmet, while the cage went “grooong… grooong… grooong… grooong…” up. i prayed and prayed for my dear life, all the while trying to maintain my composure. (oh, i’m a rich girl, remember?!) the cage went up and down and up and down until all the construction workers had finished transporting the cement. (and you thought customer was king!) then it went all the way up. i felt really relieved when it stopped. but it stopped at 20 cm above the 15th floor landing...!! poor me had no choice but to take a big step down to the landing. luckily i was wearing pants. there was this 5 cm gap between the lift and the landing, and i could feel wind gushing up from the gap. i held on to the wobbly scaffolding for my dear life, and my whole mind went *blank*. nothing terrible happened, hurhur… phew! these freaky things make me wonder what new experiences are coming along my way? at the end of the day, i thought it was quite fun, an alternative ferris-wheel type of thing. i hadn’t dared to look down, but i wished i had the courage to do it then. must have been even scarier. ES told me he saw one other type of construction lift before. it’s only a platform, with a skeletal of a cage, meaning no wire covers. so you either hold on to the skeletal form and stand at the edge of the lift, or you stand on the middle, hold on to nothing, and pray for the best. i wonder if i’ll have a chance to try that? erm... hehe... i hope not.