Disclaimer: I caught a cold on my first day, and it got progressively worse as the days wore on. At our last dinner, I suffered a burn on my left hand from ladling out soup for everyone, which they decided to not drink in the end because it was too salty. And the icing on the cake - my camera got stolen in a club. My camera, full of beautiful, hilarious moments captured over our five-day sojourn in the motherland, which has followed me all over the world like a faithful companion, now belongs to someone else. Because my mind may one day cease to recall the images, I will attempt to immortalise them in words. 

Photo which has been lost forever #1: Deb pouting in an alley in the French Concession

JL and I had decided to duck into an alley while Deb stalked ahead of us - as she is wont to do-so she'd freak out when she realised we weren't behind her. She'd actually been suspicious when she heard us sniggering, but we lied and said we were laughing at someone's shoes. Ironically, each time she heard us sniggering, she told us off for laughing at other people. When we finally hid from her and she found us in the alley with camera poised, she was not amused.

Photos which have been lost forever #2-5: Solo shots of the four of us having dinner 'on our own'

First dinner in Shanghai. By some stroke of luck, we jumped the queue at an excellent restaurant and were given a private room with a massive round table set for eight.  We each took a corner: north, south, east, and west. We proceeded to take photos of each other, framed in such a way that looked like we were dining alone in a very big room. Inane, but so much fun.

Photo which has been lost forever #6: The sun setting over a foggy day from the 91st floor of the Park Hyatt

On the evening of the first day, JL's friend took us to a gorgeous bar that overlooked the Oriental Pearl and this other pineapple-like building. Because visibility was so bad, the pictures turned out like dreamy sepia prints, one or two odd rays streaming through the sky. Another one of the lights catching in Deb's hair as she lounged in her chair, taking in the view, also lost forever.

Photo which has been lost forever #7: Deb and her exploded tang bao

A tang bao is like a fist-sized dumpling filled with soup, sitting in a little bamboo steamer atop a plate, and you drink it through a straw. While the three of us were slurping, I noticed that Deb's tang bao had sprung a massive leak. She was offended that I told JL and not her so that we could have a good laugh at her expense.

Photos which have been lost forever #8-10: Random people at Nanjing Lu

The so-called famed shopping stretch bored us to tears. We amused ourselves by taking random photos of strangers. These included a young but not particularly good-looking couple and a lady in a houndstooth mask. We also saw a monk in a yellow cape who had a cross around his neck but decided not to photograph him in case of divine retribution. Also lost: paparazzi-style photos of ourselves, in which Deb was sulking in the background.

Photo which has been lost forever #11: Woman with mad hair

Saw an elderly lady in trendy Taikang Lu who obviously fancied herself a fashionista, with about 6 different coloured streaks in her hair. She looked like she should have been in Cats the musical. Zoomed in on the back of head from three metres away.

Photo which has been lost forever #12: JL scratching himself

Timeless.

Photo which has been lost forever #13: Deb in a very revealing jacket at Qi Pu Lu

Can't possibly reveal more here than that tight, white jacket did.

Photos which have been lost forever #12-15: Matchmaking session at People's Park

In Shanghai, parents write personal ads for their children who are too busy working to fall in love, take them to People's Park, peg them to bushes, and then stand around chatting with other parents. These ads have all manner of revealing information on them, including height, weight, and salary. One I saw belonged to a Shanghainese girl, aged only 23 (!!!), looking for a boy who has family values, and a sense of ambition. Also saw an ad belonging to a 60 year old lady, looking for a man who has not yet been married. Bit of a tall order there. I asked a lady sitting on a bench if she was advertising her daughter, but she said no, and we ended up having a brief conversation. She told me that if you were interested in an ad, you simply asked around for the parents, who would be around the area. Before I could find out more, a man came up to me and started selling me a man who'd just returned from Japan, and was 1.8m tall. Some women joined in and starting appraising me, saying I was 'piao liang'. Then the man started shouting something at the crowd, which I did not understand. At this point, I decided to run for my life.

Photos which have been lost forever #16-18: Multimedia exhibition at the Moca

Saw a really cute exhibit - someone passed out a tube of bright pink lipstick at a party, and photos were taken of people kissing objects, or other people. One guy was showing off a bright pink kiss on his girlfriend's bare back. I liked the photo so much, I waited about 15 minutes for it to replay thrice so I could snap it with the right exposure.

Photo which has been lost forever #19: Candy Boy drinking beer cross-legged

JL's friend Candy Boy has lived in Singapore for 12 years but still looks every inch a China man. Couldn't resist his cross-legged pose.

Photo which has been lost forever #20: DS in the club

Saw a hot man with awesome biceps standing at the bar in front of us, was covertly taking photos of him on the pretext of taking photos of ourselves. Moan (sadly)!

It doesn't matter that the camera was a Christmas present from my family 2.5 years ago. Gadgets are replaceable. But I know better than most that memories don't necessarily last a lifetime. I mourn the loss of those photos. Not just my loss, but Deb's as well. I'm going to regret being careless for the rest of my life.