So that was the BACK of emma watson that I spotted.. dam.. should've stopped her and asked for a picture... Last night, I went to pi with winnie and her friends, it was quite a fun club in LKF.
I seem to hang out in LKF quite a bit, at least I've figured out how to take public transportation home. heh
Yesterday, I went to check out this mall called megabox with david. I think he did most of the shopping whereas I was a bit shopped out. We then met up with the gang and went up the peak. The minibus ride up from the IFC was not fun at all.. I totally got quite car sick, and to a point that everyone sat away from me... Next time - we're taking the tram up...(it's much more straightforward and stable). After some photo ops up at the peak, we took a taxi down (because there were 4 of us.. dam should've figured that out going up) and went to LKF hagandaaz to meet up with Jeff. We had the epic ice cream heaven! It was definitely so heavenly...
I wish we have hagandaaz stores in Canada...
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
HK again - book fair and b+ab
Went to the bookfair today and bought tons of books with MMM.
There was quite the line up to the convention center even during a weekday.
It was also today that I decided to buy that b+ab bag.. and i've done something that no other HK locals would do.. I started off being in TST and went to the b+ab store.. It didn't have the colour that I wanted so I went across the harbour to Central to check it out there at that store. They also didn't have it and we got them to call around to ask for me. they located stock in TusenWan. Since there's an MTR line that goes from Central to TsuenWan, i decided it was okay to go there. And so I took another 30 mins to travel there only to find that it was not the right purse... Since I'm an unproductive person in hk and was not in a rush to go anywhere, I asked them to locate stock for me again. This time they found it at another TST location... so i went there and found it..
Yep, i decided to take a grand tour of HK via the MTR today...
There was quite the line up to the convention center even during a weekday.
It was also today that I decided to buy that b+ab bag.. and i've done something that no other HK locals would do.. I started off being in TST and went to the b+ab store.. It didn't have the colour that I wanted so I went across the harbour to Central to check it out there at that store. They also didn't have it and we got them to call around to ask for me. they located stock in TusenWan. Since there's an MTR line that goes from Central to TsuenWan, i decided it was okay to go there. And so I took another 30 mins to travel there only to find that it was not the right purse... Since I'm an unproductive person in hk and was not in a rush to go anywhere, I asked them to locate stock for me again. This time they found it at another TST location... so i went there and found it..
Yep, i decided to take a grand tour of HK via the MTR today...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Last Day in Singapore
Having came back from BK last night, it is my last day in SG.
SG is a beautiful city and I definitely didn't see enough of it.. must come back one day!
Thanks to my gracious host Min <3 xoxo
SG is a beautiful city and I definitely didn't see enough of it.. must come back one day!
Thanks to my gracious host Min <3 xoxo
Bangkok- Day 2 and 3 : Shopping sums it up
CHaktuChak was quite the scene! It was totally worth it to wake up at 6am to get there ;)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Bangkok- Day 1: hotel Tai pan, Grand Palace and Wat Pho
Flight was bumpy from Phuket to bangkok on air asia. We went to the airport with Mr. Chit, our awesome taxi driver from yesterday since we couldn't find the first one.
In bangkok we stayed at hotel taipan which I would highly recommend. Its buffet lunch was super yummy (see pix)
I then decided to go visit the grand palace myself (min's been there before and she wasn't feeling too well so she took a break at the hotel. I took a cabbie for 200 THB, which would have taken an hour at that time in the day because of BK's terrible traffic. The driver suggested taking highway so an additional 40 THB toll to get there in 30 min which I took his offer up on.
The grand palace wasn't as crowded as i thought it would be. First lined up in the wrong line where people were renting clothing for 100 THB per piece (well borrowing since you get your money back) like a sari to wrap around your bottom, big pants for guys and shaws for ladies wiht their shoulders exposed. Being appropriately dressed, i just looked like an idiot lining up for the wrong line.
Admission prices also went up from 250 THB to 300, but oh well you have to pay for it since you want to see it. And it was worth every penny of it. It was so big, and so much to see it took me forever to relate my top 10 guidebook map to the one they gave me. It was so glittery and pretty and very glam. Definitely can only be described as grand and elegant. Thai people can go in for free, so a lot of kids were there on a school trip.
After spending about an hour there, I decided to head over to Wat Pho which was number 3 on my guide book list and very close by. The entry fee was only 50 THB since it's the oldest temple in thailand. It was another maze and i had completely missed the reclining budda until i finally oriented myself 45 minutes later. In the process of that, some Aussie guy was showing his creepy side again. He asked if i would go pretend to be a goalie in a soccer net where the little kids who are schooled inside the wat pho have their playgrounds. So i said no thanks, but i offered to take a picture of him (even though he has friends) and he just insisted.. so i smiled and walked away. Why are all the aussies that we're meeting in thailand so strange?
Anyways, the reclining budda was HUGE and it was very grand again like everything else in thailand. We had to walk from its face all the way to its legs, then around its back and then exit. Along its back you can donate some money and get a bowl full of coins (i think it's 1 satang (cent), which does not get used anymore) and you get to put one into each of a whole row of jug things that collect them. I think if you get to the last one that means you're very lucky. I ran out about 10 from the end... so i guess i was not that lucky. I should look up what it actually means.
Then i saw the fruits that the cable ski guys shared with us yesterday, they said in thailand they call it longkong, it's like a longan like fruit but the fruits are in little slices. Min said they call them Baluku (or something) in singapore. The lady originally asked for 40 THB a kilo then i walked away. Then she offered a bag of it for 20 THB. I don't even know if it's a kilo.
anyways so they weren't lying when they said bangkok traffic is bad, it took me 1 hour to come home. The driver was so bored, he started clipping his nails.
Now we're waiting for kally to arrive and then probably hit up one of the malls and get a massage to fix our sore sore necks and muscles from cable skiing and do some shopping!
oh on a side note, the aussie guy that min met last night, came by our room at 5am knocked on our door scarily and apparently wanted to say goodbye. He gave up finally when we refused to open the door and decided to call instead. Trust me it was strange....
In bangkok we stayed at hotel taipan which I would highly recommend. Its buffet lunch was super yummy (see pix)
I then decided to go visit the grand palace myself (min's been there before and she wasn't feeling too well so she took a break at the hotel. I took a cabbie for 200 THB, which would have taken an hour at that time in the day because of BK's terrible traffic. The driver suggested taking highway so an additional 40 THB toll to get there in 30 min which I took his offer up on.
The grand palace wasn't as crowded as i thought it would be. First lined up in the wrong line where people were renting clothing for 100 THB per piece (well borrowing since you get your money back) like a sari to wrap around your bottom, big pants for guys and shaws for ladies wiht their shoulders exposed. Being appropriately dressed, i just looked like an idiot lining up for the wrong line.
Admission prices also went up from 250 THB to 300, but oh well you have to pay for it since you want to see it. And it was worth every penny of it. It was so big, and so much to see it took me forever to relate my top 10 guidebook map to the one they gave me. It was so glittery and pretty and very glam. Definitely can only be described as grand and elegant. Thai people can go in for free, so a lot of kids were there on a school trip.
After spending about an hour there, I decided to head over to Wat Pho which was number 3 on my guide book list and very close by. The entry fee was only 50 THB since it's the oldest temple in thailand. It was another maze and i had completely missed the reclining budda until i finally oriented myself 45 minutes later. In the process of that, some Aussie guy was showing his creepy side again. He asked if i would go pretend to be a goalie in a soccer net where the little kids who are schooled inside the wat pho have their playgrounds. So i said no thanks, but i offered to take a picture of him (even though he has friends) and he just insisted.. so i smiled and walked away. Why are all the aussies that we're meeting in thailand so strange?
Anyways, the reclining budda was HUGE and it was very grand again like everything else in thailand. We had to walk from its face all the way to its legs, then around its back and then exit. Along its back you can donate some money and get a bowl full of coins (i think it's 1 satang (cent), which does not get used anymore) and you get to put one into each of a whole row of jug things that collect them. I think if you get to the last one that means you're very lucky. I ran out about 10 from the end... so i guess i was not that lucky. I should look up what it actually means.
Then i saw the fruits that the cable ski guys shared with us yesterday, they said in thailand they call it longkong, it's like a longan like fruit but the fruits are in little slices. Min said they call them Baluku (or something) in singapore. The lady originally asked for 40 THB a kilo then i walked away. Then she offered a bag of it for 20 THB. I don't even know if it's a kilo.
anyways so they weren't lying when they said bangkok traffic is bad, it took me 1 hour to come home. The driver was so bored, he started clipping his nails.
Now we're waiting for kally to arrive and then probably hit up one of the malls and get a massage to fix our sore sore necks and muscles from cable skiing and do some shopping!
oh on a side note, the aussie guy that min met last night, came by our room at 5am knocked on our door scarily and apparently wanted to say goodbye. He gave up finally when we refused to open the door and decided to call instead. Trust me it was strange....
Thursday, July 24, 2008
rainy day and cable skiing
Today was a rainy day in Phuket, but that didn't change our desire to participate in extreme sports!
Min and I got a taxi driver and went Cable skiing for the first time. I think she's done it before, but it was definitely my first time... Needless to say, I was not good at it.. (in fact, we got an amazing video of me going head first into it). So to back up a bit, let's describe cable skiing. Cable skiing is a type of water sport like wake boarding except you're pulled around by a cable and there's no wakes.
The place that we went to was in a little still lake (with very very dark water...=\) Once you're geared up, you sit at the edge of this dock and get hooked up to the cable. The cable goes around the lake in a circle and you'll be given the signal to get ready once the cable pull comes near, then off you go! The take off is usually very jerky and you have to have very good lower body strength (something that I don't have) to get into position to "ski"...
Min did a lot better than I did, and after around 10 tries, I decided I just didn't have that talent... I then sat around and had this amazing exotic fruit called long kong. It's like a cross between longan and lychee and looks also somewhat like a mangosteen.
Because of the crappy weather, we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day and hung out at the hotel (Min did ALMOST take us to go ATV-ing...)
Min and I got a taxi driver and went Cable skiing for the first time. I think she's done it before, but it was definitely my first time... Needless to say, I was not good at it.. (in fact, we got an amazing video of me going head first into it). So to back up a bit, let's describe cable skiing. Cable skiing is a type of water sport like wake boarding except you're pulled around by a cable and there's no wakes.
The place that we went to was in a little still lake (with very very dark water...=\) Once you're geared up, you sit at the edge of this dock and get hooked up to the cable. The cable goes around the lake in a circle and you'll be given the signal to get ready once the cable pull comes near, then off you go! The take off is usually very jerky and you have to have very good lower body strength (something that I don't have) to get into position to "ski"...
Min did a lot better than I did, and after around 10 tries, I decided I just didn't have that talent... I then sat around and had this amazing exotic fruit called long kong. It's like a cross between longan and lychee and looks also somewhat like a mangosteen.
Because of the crappy weather, we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day and hung out at the hotel (Min did ALMOST take us to go ATV-ing...)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Phi Phi Island, Kuai and Samui Island
We woke up extremely early this morning to catch our complimentary breakfast which was awesome and lots of selection at our awesome hotel Burasari.
Then the driver for the tour company came promptly at 8am to pick us up. We then got stuffed into this crammy 10 seater mini van and was off to pick up other ppl who also signed up for the tour. We drove across Phuket to the east coast and was dropped off at a place where we were assigned boat numbers. Each speed boat carried about 22 people. I paid 100 THB to get a pair of flippers thinking that i'll probably need them eventually since i don't like stepping on ocean floors.
We then went on the longest and the most choppy boat ride ever to phi phi island. We first went to phi phi ley, where there was a beach and lots of tourists. We stayed there for about 40 minutes for some swimming and just enjoying the sun. this was where the film the beach was filmed which starred leo dicaprio. Then it was a boat ride photo opportunity at the phi phi ao lang (or something) where it's a natural wonder of rocks? (what they said was more exciting, maybe i'll wiki it one day and add to this post). Then we went to the bat cave aka viking cave, where people live there to collect bird's nest. They said they have to live there to wait for the opportunity as it's really rare (i think this is yin wor, swallow's nest). Their living area looks very sketched.
Then we were driven over to Phi Phi Don, the main island. We first made a stop at Monkey bay where the guide warned us that we'll have to be rushed over to the hospital if scratched. Anyways, we decided not to get off the boat and just watch other tourists outnumber the monkeys in that section. Then we were at this place called maya bay for snorkeling where we snorkeled for 40 minutes. We decided to use life vest which was the best choice since it helps you float and minimize efforts. Then the guides were very excited to show us nemo, which i ended up didnt' see very well since my mask fogged up coz i couldn't stop breathing through my nose. I did manage to see something that vaguely resembled a clown fish so i'm just going to assume i saw it. I liked the fish and the corals but i really didn't like them too close to me.
We were then driven to the main area of phi phi don where we had lunch, a buffet lunch, at which point i was kinda sea sick, dehydrated, choked on sea water or whatever... so i didn't eat too much. There wasn't too much on the island except some hostels and bungalows. After that we were driven to kuai island where we spent the afternoon snorkeling with bright yellow fishes and when in deeper water more exotic fish. We were told if you go further you see better looking corals and possibly even sharks (actually they are observable, we just didn't end up going). The guides promised that sharks don't bite in warm water, but we just got too tired, heat stroke, sea sick to actually go there and look at them. This was also where toilet cost 20 thb a use, and they sell you pictures of yourself in frames as souvenir for 300 THB (i got it coz it's nice). Anyways, the guide was telling us that the secret was to the name of the island "P. P. island" so you can figure out how you can save the 20 THB. Kuai means egg and apparently the island looks like an egg so that's y, the green is the yolk and the white beaches is the egg white.
After 2 hours of frolicking in the water, we went back to phuket, and this time it only took 20 minutes. We were then driven back to our hotels. Min and i decided to go chill by the pool to wait for the pool's 1 for 1 mojitos special where some aussie guy started chatting us up. Then we went back to our room after more mosquito bite grossness and a sudden unexpected shower. And at about 8pm we went out for our adventure to find food for the night.
We ate at this place on the parallel street called dang, or something, and i had authentic pad thai which was super yummy. On the way, I also picked up a young coconut for 25 THB which was also super yummy, highly recommended.
We then went for a thai message at a place called welcome message. Thai message for 1 hour cost 200 THB which was super cheap like (6 CAD). It was so good. We've gotta go back for an oi message or something. And to think, the last time i had a thai message plus some body glow wrapped in honey thing cost 160 CAD, this was a great deal. Gotta do more tomorrow!!
Then the driver for the tour company came promptly at 8am to pick us up. We then got stuffed into this crammy 10 seater mini van and was off to pick up other ppl who also signed up for the tour. We drove across Phuket to the east coast and was dropped off at a place where we were assigned boat numbers. Each speed boat carried about 22 people. I paid 100 THB to get a pair of flippers thinking that i'll probably need them eventually since i don't like stepping on ocean floors.
We then went on the longest and the most choppy boat ride ever to phi phi island. We first went to phi phi ley, where there was a beach and lots of tourists. We stayed there for about 40 minutes for some swimming and just enjoying the sun. this was where the film the beach was filmed which starred leo dicaprio. Then it was a boat ride photo opportunity at the phi phi ao lang (or something) where it's a natural wonder of rocks? (what they said was more exciting, maybe i'll wiki it one day and add to this post). Then we went to the bat cave aka viking cave, where people live there to collect bird's nest. They said they have to live there to wait for the opportunity as it's really rare (i think this is yin wor, swallow's nest). Their living area looks very sketched.
Then we were driven over to Phi Phi Don, the main island. We first made a stop at Monkey bay where the guide warned us that we'll have to be rushed over to the hospital if scratched. Anyways, we decided not to get off the boat and just watch other tourists outnumber the monkeys in that section. Then we were at this place called maya bay for snorkeling where we snorkeled for 40 minutes. We decided to use life vest which was the best choice since it helps you float and minimize efforts. Then the guides were very excited to show us nemo, which i ended up didnt' see very well since my mask fogged up coz i couldn't stop breathing through my nose. I did manage to see something that vaguely resembled a clown fish so i'm just going to assume i saw it. I liked the fish and the corals but i really didn't like them too close to me.
We were then driven to the main area of phi phi don where we had lunch, a buffet lunch, at which point i was kinda sea sick, dehydrated, choked on sea water or whatever... so i didn't eat too much. There wasn't too much on the island except some hostels and bungalows. After that we were driven to kuai island where we spent the afternoon snorkeling with bright yellow fishes and when in deeper water more exotic fish. We were told if you go further you see better looking corals and possibly even sharks (actually they are observable, we just didn't end up going). The guides promised that sharks don't bite in warm water, but we just got too tired, heat stroke, sea sick to actually go there and look at them. This was also where toilet cost 20 thb a use, and they sell you pictures of yourself in frames as souvenir for 300 THB (i got it coz it's nice). Anyways, the guide was telling us that the secret was to the name of the island "P. P. island" so you can figure out how you can save the 20 THB. Kuai means egg and apparently the island looks like an egg so that's y, the green is the yolk and the white beaches is the egg white.
After 2 hours of frolicking in the water, we went back to phuket, and this time it only took 20 minutes. We were then driven back to our hotels. Min and i decided to go chill by the pool to wait for the pool's 1 for 1 mojitos special where some aussie guy started chatting us up. Then we went back to our room after more mosquito bite grossness and a sudden unexpected shower. And at about 8pm we went out for our adventure to find food for the night.
We ate at this place on the parallel street called dang, or something, and i had authentic pad thai which was super yummy. On the way, I also picked up a young coconut for 25 THB which was also super yummy, highly recommended.
We then went for a thai message at a place called welcome message. Thai message for 1 hour cost 200 THB which was super cheap like (6 CAD). It was so good. We've gotta go back for an oi message or something. And to think, the last time i had a thai message plus some body glow wrapped in honey thing cost 160 CAD, this was a great deal. Gotta do more tomorrow!!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Super yummy seafood at phuket at coconaot
so yummy
curry crab
garlic crayfish
fried oysters
prawns that were huge
morning glory veggie
and two coconuts
so good
all for 920 THB a person
I'm so full right now I can't write in complete sentences.. yum
curry crab
garlic crayfish
fried oysters
prawns that were huge
morning glory veggie
and two coconuts
so good
all for 920 THB a person
I'm so full right now I can't write in complete sentences.. yum
at Phuket!
We took a taxi ride from airport using taxi meter for 450 THB
The hotel that we're staying at is calledburasari hotel which is on the same road as holiday inn and beside the new mariott. It was very very close to patong beach. It was themed in purple and very cute and resort like. The pool was amazing.
We went around to look for tours and signed up for a phi phi island tour tomorrow
The hotel that we're staying at is calledburasari hotel which is on the same road as holiday inn and beside the new mariott. It was very very close to patong beach. It was themed in purple and very cute and resort like. The pool was amazing.
We went around to look for tours and signed up for a phi phi island tour tomorrow
Monday, July 21, 2008
Meeting up with the Bainees
After a day of wandering on Orchard road and the various Singaporean malls along the strip, I accomplished the following:
- had hoi nan chicken rice
- green tea mcflurry at mickey D's
- went to margaritas on dempsey hills and had margaritas (mango) and fahjitas with the bainees
- and then drinks over somewhere and i had a coconut
Met a bunch of very cool Bainies from SG ;)
- had hoi nan chicken rice
- green tea mcflurry at mickey D's
- went to margaritas on dempsey hills and had margaritas (mango) and fahjitas with the bainees
- and then drinks over somewhere and i had a coconut
Met a bunch of very cool Bainies from SG ;)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Day 1&2 in Singapore!
I got to Singapore just in time to celebrate Min's birthday.
Upon arrival, I was taken immediately to the Butter Factory (a club). It was quite cute and I met a bunch of Min's cool friends.
The next day we went to the white rabbit for lunch. It was a beautiful restaurant that was in a church like building. Ashley gave us a ride in her porshe and we took a glimpse at her dad's ferrari.
In the evening, we went to Clark's Quay's pump room for dinner (walked past that clinic like club) and ended up at indo chine lounge and then the butter factory again to continue the celebration. There was an interlude of a cardboard box incident.. it was quite interesting
Upon arrival, I was taken immediately to the Butter Factory (a club). It was quite cute and I met a bunch of Min's cool friends.
The next day we went to the white rabbit for lunch. It was a beautiful restaurant that was in a church like building. Ashley gave us a ride in her porshe and we took a glimpse at her dad's ferrari.
In the evening, we went to Clark's Quay's pump room for dinner (walked past that clinic like club) and ended up at indo chine lounge and then the butter factory again to continue the celebration. There was an interlude of a cardboard box incident.. it was quite interesting
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
blowing money at shenzhen
YEP... there seems to be a theme on blowing money when I'm in HK...
I suppose it's because things are just so much cheaper than in Canada..
But this is even more exaggerated when I went to luo wu cheng in ShenZhen...I think i bought a lot of clothes, dvd series, shoes (for like $5 cad)... and had great food (cheap and yummy)..
ShenZhen's subway system is also very modern...
I suppose it's because things are just so much cheaper than in Canada..
But this is even more exaggerated when I went to luo wu cheng in ShenZhen...I think i bought a lot of clothes, dvd series, shoes (for like $5 cad)... and had great food (cheap and yummy)..
ShenZhen's subway system is also very modern...
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Festival Walk shopping and singapore trip plan
I went to Festival walk today to do some shopping (Because it's a short minivan ride from where I was staying)..
And finally, I got my tickets booked for SG!! SG here I come!
And finally, I got my tickets booked for SG!! SG here I come!
Meeting up with old friends version 1
Saturday July 12, 2008, 11:43 am
It was my second real day in Hong kong post-Shanghai and I’ve decided to hang out with my friend from chestnut 1st year, Hayley tsang. She wanted to go to the Next stop U of T event which was for first year students who are about to start at U of T in September to network with alumni. It was supposed to happen at a restaurant called Madison at Hutchison Building. So Hayley and I decided to meet at Central station at 1:30pm. So my first alone MTR experience was pretty stupid. I first went to Price Edward station.. thought I was supposed to go on the red line and go to yau ma tei direction to transfer onto the mongkok red line to get to central. But, realistically I could just go directly on the red line and go right to central. So I waited until the train came and went to a different platform. It was kinda stupid.
So I found Hayley at the J exit, and then we found these really really cute things made by some guy named Cheapman. It was so cute and I couldn’t resist to take pictures. We got to the place and found our name tags. When I saw April’s name I gave her a call but she was actually not going to go that day. Instead she told me David woo was going, so I actually found him there. Then Hayley and I and David just stuck around talking all day since none of us wanted to meet new people really. The speech part was boring and the place was a bit stuffy. The food was really good but the games were a bit lame. They were also a bit disorganized, as the part I was waiting for didn’t happen (go into your groups to answer more specific questions). We were also really tired standing around.. sigh
Then we decided to leave and go walk around for a bit. David and Hayley walked with me to the H&M on queen’s road central, but I couldn’t really find the dress and didn’t want to bore them. Then we walked up the pedestrian escalator and got the octopus card discount. Then went back down to take the MTR to causeway bay. My feet were pretty dead by then so I requested that we find a place to sit down. So david brought us to a place called pancakes something on the 4th floor of Kimberly plaza. A drink was like 28 dollars and a meal was like 30 something plus 5 for a fancy drink so we got 2 drinks and a blueberry pancake. We were having a good time talking about random things and then went to walk around before dinner at “ban chang” sushi (itoya?). It was very yummy. Hayley’s friend “illy”? came and joined us for dinner. Then we walked around causeway bay for a bit more before we went to honeymoon at WTC (world trade center) for dessert. Then illy was very nice and decided to drive us all home.
But it was really fun, we decided that we should meet up again. Hayley and I want to go shopping and not bore the guys next time. I want to bring Hayley to the bag store since she’s interested in the bags. Then David said he’d take me out to play, so that’s cool. We also want to go sing K.. and he said he might be interested in Taiwan or Thailand. So yay travel buddy.
I need to go figure out my Singapore flights and then book them book them and then figure out vietnam too. Busy busy.. Need to also figure out the gifts situation and probably call my uncles tomorrow (uncle Leon and uncle keith)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Day 19: Last day in Shanghai
lunch at bi feng tang
and then bookstore
and then dinner at overrated italian place
mao
and babyface
drunkinesss
and then bookstore
and then dinner at overrated italian place
mao
and babyface
drunkinesss
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Day 15, 16- In Hangzhou
On Sunday, we took the morning train from Shanghai to Hangzhou. It takes only about 1 hr and 20 min on the express train to get there. Apparently the speed of the train hovers about 140 and can go up to 180 km/h. We unfortunately missed our train in the morning since they open the gate 15 minutes before departure and close the gates 5 minutes to and we had no clue. So we had to switch our tickets for a later train and hang out the shanghai south railway station, which was luckily not too crappy. (Although i had some guy blowing gross cigarette my way which sucked ass)
Anyways, upon arrival at hangzhou we went to the frommer's recommended hotel and it was a bit sketched. Not only that, the service lady was very aggressive, we didn't like it so we went to a diff one that we looked up on the internet (westlake spring something or other) and decided to stay the night for 198 RMB.
Then we headed across the street for a bit of food since the both of us were starving. It was sorta sketched but they were really nice so we just stayed and ate a bit of stuff. We then took a cab to the westlake and went to the linying temple to check out the feilaifeng (giant rock) and the temple itself. There were a lot of tourists but it was definitely worth a visit.
Then we headed up to the village where they sell long ching tealeaves called long ching wen cha (long ching ask tea) and bought a bunch of long ching tea. Apparently the name of this tea was coined by one of the emperors of the qing dynasty.
西湖十景
曲院風荷
三潭印月
花港觀魚
南屏晚鐘
蘇堤春曉
雙峰插雲
斷橋殘雪
柳浪聞鶯
雷峰夕照
新十景
龍井問茶 在獅峰翁家山
翁小鈺老闆娘
Anyways, upon arrival at hangzhou we went to the frommer's recommended hotel and it was a bit sketched. Not only that, the service lady was very aggressive, we didn't like it so we went to a diff one that we looked up on the internet (westlake spring something or other) and decided to stay the night for 198 RMB.
Then we headed across the street for a bit of food since the both of us were starving. It was sorta sketched but they were really nice so we just stayed and ate a bit of stuff. We then took a cab to the westlake and went to the linying temple to check out the feilaifeng (giant rock) and the temple itself. There were a lot of tourists but it was definitely worth a visit.
Then we headed up to the village where they sell long ching tealeaves called long ching wen cha (long ching ask tea) and bought a bunch of long ching tea. Apparently the name of this tea was coined by one of the emperors of the qing dynasty.
西湖十景
曲院風荷
三潭印月
花港觀魚
南屏晚鐘
蘇堤春曉
雙峰插雲
斷橋殘雪
柳浪聞鶯
雷峰夕照
新十景
龍井問茶 在獅峰翁家山
翁小鈺老闆娘
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Day 14: French Concession + Ding Tai Feng
Today was the hottest day we've experienced in Shanghai so far. It was so hot that we really didn't want to do anything at all.
We ended up walking around French Concession on Rui Jin Road and Mao Ming Road.
Then we had dinner at ding tai feng where they had caricatures of hong kong and taiwan stars so I took lots of pictures
we topped dinner off with 2 scoops of Hagandaaz ice cream. It was yummy
Hangzhou tomorrow. It should be exciting
We ended up walking around French Concession on Rui Jin Road and Mao Ming Road.
Then we had dinner at ding tai feng where they had caricatures of hong kong and taiwan stars so I took lots of pictures
we topped dinner off with 2 scoops of Hagandaaz ice cream. It was yummy
Hangzhou tomorrow. It should be exciting
Friday, July 4, 2008
Day 13: Bain Office tour + more shopping
Kun Hsu, a consultant at the Bain Shanghai office was nice enough to take some time out of his busy day to meet up with me. We were to meet up at noon at the Bain office which was located on the 31st floor of the 2nd tower at plaza 66 on Nanjing West Road. It was actually just down the street from the school and where we live. So we ended class at 11:30 and took the afternoon off. So then, I walked over and the Bain office was located in such a beautiful and upscale building. The office itself also had a great view around where the partners offices were. Apparently they only recently moved into the new office a year ago, and i think it's great.
Kun took me to the restaurant across the street called Paul. I had a salmon sandwich and he had a croque monsieur. It was very yummy. We had a very good conversation about many different things, his background (grew up in Toronto, U penn, Insyed for MBA, and then shanghai to learn mandarin.. his parents used to live in taiwan). He was a very cool guy so hopefully we'll keep in touch and he can come visit the Toronto office.
After lunch, I walked home and it was so hot today. I was all sweaty by the time i got home so i ended up taking a shower before i went to meet up with the girls. We met up at "tao bo" mall which was at 580 Nanjing West Road (at chengdu road). It was a mall filled with fake bags and it was quite exhausting going through them. We ended up buying a bunch of longchamp bags for 40 RMB each (~ 6 CAD), then we kept going around trying to find this purplish red colour in the medium size for ashley. It was very exhausting as every single lady asked if you want to go in and look and if you want to buy bags, it was noisy and annoying...
Then we headed over to the fabric market where min showed me her satin shirt store and I ended up getting 5 shirts. It was crazy cheap as they were 110 RMB each (~<20 CAD). So then I went and got fitted for my jacket (which looked great on ashley, since she got the same one) and my grey suit which also looked awesome. Then I decided to make a pinstripe back with a fishtail skirt one (another suit). Then we walked over to the chinese-y bag store and bought more little things as Ashley know the guy. It was very cheap which ended up being about 25 RMB each. I still have to look for a magnetic clutch for mel mel though. We'll try again on Tuesday when i go back to pick up our tailored clothing.
We want to take it easy tonight in case we want to go out clubbing since stupid clubs here close at 4-5am... anywho i should see what the girls want to do. There's also class tomorrow... i also want to skype home
Kun took me to the restaurant across the street called Paul. I had a salmon sandwich and he had a croque monsieur. It was very yummy. We had a very good conversation about many different things, his background (grew up in Toronto, U penn, Insyed for MBA, and then shanghai to learn mandarin.. his parents used to live in taiwan). He was a very cool guy so hopefully we'll keep in touch and he can come visit the Toronto office.
After lunch, I walked home and it was so hot today. I was all sweaty by the time i got home so i ended up taking a shower before i went to meet up with the girls. We met up at "tao bo" mall which was at 580 Nanjing West Road (at chengdu road). It was a mall filled with fake bags and it was quite exhausting going through them. We ended up buying a bunch of longchamp bags for 40 RMB each (~ 6 CAD), then we kept going around trying to find this purplish red colour in the medium size for ashley. It was very exhausting as every single lady asked if you want to go in and look and if you want to buy bags, it was noisy and annoying...
Then we headed over to the fabric market where min showed me her satin shirt store and I ended up getting 5 shirts. It was crazy cheap as they were 110 RMB each (~<20 CAD). So then I went and got fitted for my jacket (which looked great on ashley, since she got the same one) and my grey suit which also looked awesome. Then I decided to make a pinstripe back with a fishtail skirt one (another suit). Then we walked over to the chinese-y bag store and bought more little things as Ashley know the guy. It was very cheap which ended up being about 25 RMB each. I still have to look for a magnetic clutch for mel mel though. We'll try again on Tuesday when i go back to pick up our tailored clothing.
We want to take it easy tonight in case we want to go out clubbing since stupid clubs here close at 4-5am... anywho i should see what the girls want to do. There's also class tomorrow... i also want to skype home
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Day 12: Meeting up
We went to laris again tonight and now i'm super exhausted.. going to blog tomorrow
******************************************
(At a later date)
So today I was finally able to locate Miss Dong (my dad's colleague's daughter) during break time. Apparently she opens a small hair dresser in a place where it is 1 hour by bus to where we are. She was out with a friend for a couple of days (out of town) and that's likely why i wasn't able to locate her earlier.
Anyways so she came out to meet me for lunch and we had lunch at "bi feng tang", a hong kong chain store. It's pepper fried chicken soft bone was super awesome and so was it pumpkin dessert. I absolutely loved them. She treated me to lunch and said it'd be cool to meet up next week and take me to try out harpin food as she's originally from there. Pretty exciting. She also told me that the north eastern food of China's most famous dishes is the sour preserved veggie pot that my family loves and a mushroom chicken dish. She was a very nice girl and apparently she's had her business for about 5-6 years. Very impressive.
Min wanted to head to the fabric market again so she left class early. So i took the opportunity to ask xiao xu lao shi to help me out with words that i always get confused with and get some individual attention to fixing the problems.
After class i went to the starbucks at xin tian di (new heaven) to meet up with the girls and some of ashley's friends (david, park and joseph) when she was on exchange here. We headed over to shanghai uncle again and had another awesome meal there. Then headed over to laris again since it was 2-for-1 martini thursdays. Min found her bar tender again who apparently's name is cross and has funky dark rimmed glasses. He also remembered her so he gave us much more alcohol in their second drinks. Then some of joseph's friends came by (charlie, jon from NY and uda from morroco) they were really cool too. But at that point i already had my 1 martini (another lychee one which was much stronger than last week) and was not a very social person. We played a bit of 5-10 in french, mandarin and english and then called it a night.
I realize that the shanghai sun is giving me so much tanning even when i'm not even doing much.. anywho i should start working on today's post.
******************************************
(At a later date)
So today I was finally able to locate Miss Dong (my dad's colleague's daughter) during break time. Apparently she opens a small hair dresser in a place where it is 1 hour by bus to where we are. She was out with a friend for a couple of days (out of town) and that's likely why i wasn't able to locate her earlier.
Anyways so she came out to meet me for lunch and we had lunch at "bi feng tang", a hong kong chain store. It's pepper fried chicken soft bone was super awesome and so was it pumpkin dessert. I absolutely loved them. She treated me to lunch and said it'd be cool to meet up next week and take me to try out harpin food as she's originally from there. Pretty exciting. She also told me that the north eastern food of China's most famous dishes is the sour preserved veggie pot that my family loves and a mushroom chicken dish. She was a very nice girl and apparently she's had her business for about 5-6 years. Very impressive.
Min wanted to head to the fabric market again so she left class early. So i took the opportunity to ask xiao xu lao shi to help me out with words that i always get confused with and get some individual attention to fixing the problems.
After class i went to the starbucks at xin tian di (new heaven) to meet up with the girls and some of ashley's friends (david, park and joseph) when she was on exchange here. We headed over to shanghai uncle again and had another awesome meal there. Then headed over to laris again since it was 2-for-1 martini thursdays. Min found her bar tender again who apparently's name is cross and has funky dark rimmed glasses. He also remembered her so he gave us much more alcohol in their second drinks. Then some of joseph's friends came by (charlie, jon from NY and uda from morroco) they were really cool too. But at that point i already had my 1 martini (another lychee one which was much stronger than last week) and was not a very social person. We played a bit of 5-10 in french, mandarin and english and then called it a night.
I realize that the shanghai sun is giving me so much tanning even when i'm not even doing much.. anywho i should start working on today's post.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Day 11: yuyuan+ urban planning museum+ lots of shopping
the ambitious plan was to wake up at 9am today and explore shanghai.
However, we ended up sleeping in till about noon and then headed straight out to yu yuan where we lined up for nan xiang xiao lung bao (soup-filled dumpling). This store always has a queue and it's located in the center of the yu garden. We finally had our share of soup filled dumplings and it was absolutely delicious.
Yu garden was also beautiful. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go in and check out all the different parts of it and all the different buildings with really touristy names like : "The corridor for appraoching the best scenery", " The pavillion of Ten thousand flowers", " the pavillion of viewing frolicking fishes" etc. But we managed to take some pictures of really cool and traditional looking chinese architecture around the area. It was gorgeous and I think if i have time another time i'd definitely go inside yu garden. I've also made two seals for me and my brother with our chinese characters on it and bought postcards of Shanghai. Tea leaves was also part of my purchase as I bought some lichee black tea originating from guang dong.
Anyways, at about 3, we headed over to the Shanghai Architecture and Urban Planning Museum. It's actually the really cool shaped building inside people's square. There was a very beautiful golden revolving display in the main floor of all the special architecture of shanghai. It was beautiful. The best display, though, was on the third floor where they had built a model of every building of the area of shanghai. It was super impressive and definitley breathtaking. The amount of detail was insane. It was so lovely that I couldn't stop taking photos of it.
Then Shanghai decided to rain while we were inside the museum so we had to make plans accordingly. Good thing was Raffle city (a shopping center) was right across the street. We dashed across the scary crosswalk in the rain and settled ourselves in a place called "breakin" It was a great dessert place and I paid 36 RMB (~5 CAD) for a dessert special and got 2 tropas (a strawberry cheesecake with vanilla ice cream, and a lychee with ginger jelly) plus a lychee tea. Min and Ashley got the 56 RMB special (~8 CAD) for a Souffle and a super yummy molten lava chocolate cake with vanilla bean on top and a cool coffee. I fell in love with my dessert and that store for sure.
We then went to min's new favourite store JNBY and everything was on sale for 40% off. I got a really nice black dress (unfortunately not on sale for ~ 435 RMB) and a pair of white heels (580ish plus 40% off) and a belt at (160 40% off). The dress was beautiful. Then we headed over to huai hai lu to check out the pedderred there but it was rather disappointing. Instead we ended up at H&M where all of us got Andrea's pretty dress. It was so cheap and i ended up getting a shirt and a belt with it. i want to see if my cousin can help me get that dress in black in hong kong as there were no sizes at that store anymore in black.
Dinner was randomly selected at the mall we hit up next where there happened to be an all you can eat japanese buffet for 150 RMB a person including unlimited drinks (alcoholic too). It was super yummy and Min and Ashley kept getting plum wine. They had wanted to go check out a bar/club called Sugar (which is decorated like Alice in Wonderland) but decided we were too tired to do that tonight.
Anywho, i really should finish up my photos upload and head to bed so that I won't zombie up for school tomorrow. Overall today was fun.. but I spent a lot of money... the good news was both H&M and JNBY took credit card, otherwise i'd really be in trouble.
However, we ended up sleeping in till about noon and then headed straight out to yu yuan where we lined up for nan xiang xiao lung bao (soup-filled dumpling). This store always has a queue and it's located in the center of the yu garden. We finally had our share of soup filled dumplings and it was absolutely delicious.
Yu garden was also beautiful. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go in and check out all the different parts of it and all the different buildings with really touristy names like : "The corridor for appraoching the best scenery", " The pavillion of Ten thousand flowers", " the pavillion of viewing frolicking fishes" etc. But we managed to take some pictures of really cool and traditional looking chinese architecture around the area. It was gorgeous and I think if i have time another time i'd definitely go inside yu garden. I've also made two seals for me and my brother with our chinese characters on it and bought postcards of Shanghai. Tea leaves was also part of my purchase as I bought some lichee black tea originating from guang dong.
Anyways, at about 3, we headed over to the Shanghai Architecture and Urban Planning Museum. It's actually the really cool shaped building inside people's square. There was a very beautiful golden revolving display in the main floor of all the special architecture of shanghai. It was beautiful. The best display, though, was on the third floor where they had built a model of every building of the area of shanghai. It was super impressive and definitley breathtaking. The amount of detail was insane. It was so lovely that I couldn't stop taking photos of it.
Then Shanghai decided to rain while we were inside the museum so we had to make plans accordingly. Good thing was Raffle city (a shopping center) was right across the street. We dashed across the scary crosswalk in the rain and settled ourselves in a place called "breakin" It was a great dessert place and I paid 36 RMB (~5 CAD) for a dessert special and got 2 tropas (a strawberry cheesecake with vanilla ice cream, and a lychee with ginger jelly) plus a lychee tea. Min and Ashley got the 56 RMB special (~8 CAD) for a Souffle and a super yummy molten lava chocolate cake with vanilla bean on top and a cool coffee. I fell in love with my dessert and that store for sure.
We then went to min's new favourite store JNBY and everything was on sale for 40% off. I got a really nice black dress (unfortunately not on sale for ~ 435 RMB) and a pair of white heels (580ish plus 40% off) and a belt at (160 40% off). The dress was beautiful. Then we headed over to huai hai lu to check out the pedderred there but it was rather disappointing. Instead we ended up at H&M where all of us got Andrea's pretty dress. It was so cheap and i ended up getting a shirt and a belt with it. i want to see if my cousin can help me get that dress in black in hong kong as there were no sizes at that store anymore in black.
Dinner was randomly selected at the mall we hit up next where there happened to be an all you can eat japanese buffet for 150 RMB a person including unlimited drinks (alcoholic too). It was super yummy and Min and Ashley kept getting plum wine. They had wanted to go check out a bar/club called Sugar (which is decorated like Alice in Wonderland) but decided we were too tired to do that tonight.
Anywho, i really should finish up my photos upload and head to bed so that I won't zombie up for school tomorrow. Overall today was fun.. but I spent a lot of money... the good news was both H&M and JNBY took credit card, otherwise i'd really be in trouble.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Day 10: Taking it easy day
We were really tired in class today, but we thought we'd take advantage of classes with our pin yin teacher and take classes until 4. Lunch was nothing special as we went to yoshinoya for jap fast food and went home quickly to say bye to Andrea.
After class, we were originally going to hit up the Duo lun Cultural street but then decided it was a bit far away and to postpone the trip when we go back to qi pu street. So instead we went to get dinner at Westgate mall again in their food court where I had an awesome hot pot something or other. It was very yummy as it wasn't too saucy or oily. Then we went up to show Ashley the shoes that Min fell in love with at ped red. They have a huge sale on right now and things were from 10% to 70% off with an additional discount if you buy multiple items. So we all bought a pair of shoes: mine were 939 with a 60% off discount plus another 15% so it added up to 307 RMB which is about 45 CAD - a pair of super cute black kitty heels that I can totally wear for work.
Then we went over to the bund again in the attempt to catch the cruise. We got there at 9:15 and bought our tickets at what we thought was hp river cruise. They told us to come back to the ticket counter at 9:40 so that we can catch the bus to where the boat leaves the shore. So when we got back, we saw a bunch of people waiting at the side of the road. We were like it'd be really bad if this was a bus tour of the bund and not a boat cruise, it'll be our 3rd rip off of the trip. Luckily, after taking us through one of the most sketchiest street in shanghai, the bus dropped us off in an alleyway that led to the dock. We boarded the boat, and it took them forever to leave the docks. In fact, the bank side, so the west side of the bund had their lights off even before our boat started moving. Then after awhile, the TV tower (Pearl of the Orient) also went off *grrr*... oh well Min and I still had a good time just enjoying the breeze and looking at the buildings, which looked very out of place and a bit creepy with their futuristic design and foggy surroundings. we can finally see the jin mao building, the tallest building, and a bunch of very empty residences along the huangpu and the unlit colonial style bank side of puxi (west side).
Even though our river cruise experience wasnt the best, it only cost about 98 RMB per person which is about 14 dollars. It was still a must do and I definitely enjoy breezes.
Tomorrow we took a day off school and was supposed to head to suzhou to check it out. But we've decided to stay in town, in shanghai to do the touristy stuff. The day should begin with lining up for xiao lung bao at nan xiang and then yu yuan. Followed by the urban planning museum, possibly the shanghai museum. Some walk around in the french concession, possibly heading back to huai hai zhong lu... and I really need to call that person. Maybe i should call her in the morning and see if I can plan to meet her on thursday.
Anyways, happy Canada Day to those at home!~
After class, we were originally going to hit up the Duo lun Cultural street but then decided it was a bit far away and to postpone the trip when we go back to qi pu street. So instead we went to get dinner at Westgate mall again in their food court where I had an awesome hot pot something or other. It was very yummy as it wasn't too saucy or oily. Then we went up to show Ashley the shoes that Min fell in love with at ped red. They have a huge sale on right now and things were from 10% to 70% off with an additional discount if you buy multiple items. So we all bought a pair of shoes: mine were 939 with a 60% off discount plus another 15% so it added up to 307 RMB which is about 45 CAD - a pair of super cute black kitty heels that I can totally wear for work.
Then we went over to the bund again in the attempt to catch the cruise. We got there at 9:15 and bought our tickets at what we thought was hp river cruise. They told us to come back to the ticket counter at 9:40 so that we can catch the bus to where the boat leaves the shore. So when we got back, we saw a bunch of people waiting at the side of the road. We were like it'd be really bad if this was a bus tour of the bund and not a boat cruise, it'll be our 3rd rip off of the trip. Luckily, after taking us through one of the most sketchiest street in shanghai, the bus dropped us off in an alleyway that led to the dock. We boarded the boat, and it took them forever to leave the docks. In fact, the bank side, so the west side of the bund had their lights off even before our boat started moving. Then after awhile, the TV tower (Pearl of the Orient) also went off *grrr*... oh well Min and I still had a good time just enjoying the breeze and looking at the buildings, which looked very out of place and a bit creepy with their futuristic design and foggy surroundings. we can finally see the jin mao building, the tallest building, and a bunch of very empty residences along the huangpu and the unlit colonial style bank side of puxi (west side).
Even though our river cruise experience wasnt the best, it only cost about 98 RMB per person which is about 14 dollars. It was still a must do and I definitely enjoy breezes.
Tomorrow we took a day off school and was supposed to head to suzhou to check it out. But we've decided to stay in town, in shanghai to do the touristy stuff. The day should begin with lining up for xiao lung bao at nan xiang and then yu yuan. Followed by the urban planning museum, possibly the shanghai museum. Some walk around in the french concession, possibly heading back to huai hai zhong lu... and I really need to call that person. Maybe i should call her in the morning and see if I can plan to meet her on thursday.
Anyways, happy Canada Day to those at home!~
Monday, June 30, 2008
Day 9: South Bund Soft-Spinning Material Market
We were woken up by the office early this morning since they really want to know if we want to switch to the big room as they had someone else coming in today. So after some considerations, we had decided to pay the difference (420 RMB to 560 RMB) to increase our room size so that there is sort of a division or a "room". This meant that we had to run home during lunch time and quickly pack all our stuff and dump it into the leasing office. We finished packing in due time and grabbed a quick bite at KFC -> again it was the super yummy beijing style chicken wrap.
After class, we hopped on a taxi and got ourself over to the soft spinning market near the south side of the bund. We met up with the girls there while Ashley quickly found her usual stores. She got a few cotton tube dresses made for 100 RMB each and the rest of us then headed over to the suit store.
The suits were really cheap so I gave in to the trap and decided to make a grey set. It was a suit jacket, pants and skirt for 500 RMB (~70 CAD) and we also picked up a trench jacket (a nice dark blue) for 420 RMB ( ~60 CAD). Min picked up 3 suits and the jacket in dark green and Ashley also got a jacket. We also bought a little clutch in the bag store and I got one in gold and red flowers on it for 100 RMB. I wanted to see if there's another one that I can pick up for mel but they didnt' really have any decent ones left. I should try to pick one up for her the next time i go back there.
We're considering the River cruise on the Huangpu tonight, so we looked it up on the internet and it's about 100 RMB per person. So we'll see how that's going to turn out :) I need to figure out waht to wear ;)
Note: We ended up missing the cruise, so we took some pictures and headed over to ruijin bin guan to a bar called faces. Min had the most awesome drink ever there called japoneise : kiwi puree, sake and honey. It was awesome
After class, we hopped on a taxi and got ourself over to the soft spinning market near the south side of the bund. We met up with the girls there while Ashley quickly found her usual stores. She got a few cotton tube dresses made for 100 RMB each and the rest of us then headed over to the suit store.
The suits were really cheap so I gave in to the trap and decided to make a grey set. It was a suit jacket, pants and skirt for 500 RMB (~70 CAD) and we also picked up a trench jacket (a nice dark blue) for 420 RMB ( ~60 CAD). Min picked up 3 suits and the jacket in dark green and Ashley also got a jacket. We also bought a little clutch in the bag store and I got one in gold and red flowers on it for 100 RMB. I wanted to see if there's another one that I can pick up for mel but they didnt' really have any decent ones left. I should try to pick one up for her the next time i go back there.
We're considering the River cruise on the Huangpu tonight, so we looked it up on the internet and it's about 100 RMB per person. So we'll see how that's going to turn out :) I need to figure out waht to wear ;)
Note: We ended up missing the cruise, so we took some pictures and headed over to ruijin bin guan to a bar called faces. Min had the most awesome drink ever there called japoneise : kiwi puree, sake and honey. It was awesome
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Day 8: Sunday Brunch @ Azul + Tourist wanders
The day started off rather late as we were all exhausted from our partying the night before. We went to a little boutique restaurants in the French Concession called Azul for Sunday brunch. Since we did not have a reservation, we had to wait for about 10-15 minutes in hopes that someone will get the bill and get out of there. We were very lucky to be sitting in 15 minutes time in a very nicely decorated but crowded restaurant.
The crowd was mainly French but with some local and tourists mixed in. A brunch combo can either include 2 courses for $120 RMB or 3 courses for $150 RMB. There is a starter, a main and a dessert, plus a drink which can be either alcoholic (like sangrias, champagne mixtures, etc), a smoothie (very exotic combos like lime-mango, pineapple-coconuts, passionfruit-mango, mixed berries), or a freshly squeezed juice (watermelon, grapefruit, pineapple, etc), plus a tea or a coffee.
Most of us went for the 3 course meal and the table was filled with pancake starters (min's pancakes were super thick and yummy), baby spinach salad with feta and pine nuts (yummy) and my smoked salmon on top of a crepe thing. Then we were served our drinks - Ashley got a sangria, min a white sangria, Andrea got a passionfruit-mango smoothie and my pineapple-coconut smoothie turned into a pineapple juice which was ok as I was getting full by that time. We were also served scones, and very cute muffins. Then the main was served and Ashley's egg's benedict and Min's grilled monkfish came out first. They were great but Ashley's benedict was a bit overcooked. Then my open-faced omlette came with a very yummy hashbrown underneath it. Andrea's monkfish took forever to come, but it was still very good in the end. Our final course was the dessert and unfortunately by that time the passionfruit and citrus salad option was sold out. So instead we got the kahlua chocolate creme brulee which ended up awesome. Andrea got a flan and it was also very very yummy.
By the time we finished brunch, we all felt like going back home to nap again. But because of our ambitions and desire to do at least something touristy, we dragged ourselves over to sun zhong shans or sun yatshen's old residence in the fuxing park area. We dropped Ashley off to shop and then headed to the residence. Entrance cost was 20 RMB, and to rent a audio guide was 30 RMB. You had to pay a deposit of $200 RMB + passport to rent or $400 without a passport. The museum was very big and very cold but it was very thorough with different collections and display of things that documented his life. It ended with closing words written about him by his wife song qing ling, it was very nice. The third floor was a changing exhibit and the one that we ended up walking through quickly (as the place was closing) were a bunch of pictures about his life and the museum itself.
The whole visit ended up with a tour of his actual old house where you enter into the kitchen and have to put on plastic shoe socks. We then toured his dining area, living area and upstairs into his study room, bedroom etc. The place was lined with very nice wood and decorated very comfortably. Also he has drawers and shelves of books divided into the different dynasty and different time periods of chinese history. It was all very impressive.
Then we went home and took naps until dinner time and had dinner at a restaurant named Simply Thai. I quite enjoyed my meal especially the sesame seed sauce on the leaf wrapped chicken. We then headed over to the pudong area and went to the JinMao tower where the Grand Hyatt is located starting on the 54th floor. The bar, Cloud 9, was actually on the 87th floor, and the highest bar in the world in the tallest building in Shanghai as part of the tallest hotels in the world. We took the express elevator from the bottom of the building to floor 54 which is where the hotel Grand Hyatt starts. Then, we took another elevator up to floor 85 which leads to people's rooms and the jin mao conference rooms and Cloud 9 restaurant. A third elevator was required to get to the 87 floor as there's probably a choice to head out to the observation deck instead. The deck closed at 9pm and originally would have costed 50 RMB just to get up there anyways ( a cover thing like the Panorama in Toronto). Instead, we had a 120 RMB + 15 % minimum charge per person to cover. So we ordered expensive drinks (my tea cost 60 so i ordered long ching) and some desserts ( a dessert platter that looked better than it taste), some champagne, coffee and wine to cover the cost. The desserts were a bit disappointing but my tea was good. Nonetheless, the view of the huangpugong (although a lot of the lights are off, we found out later that they turn off at 11pm) was still breathtaking to a point that we wished we were lower.
class again tomoro... i think we're also heading to the circus.... should be quite fun
we are also checking out the fabric market.. i might not end up buying or making clothes here as i want to keep a bit more cash handy.. we'll see what happens
The crowd was mainly French but with some local and tourists mixed in. A brunch combo can either include 2 courses for $120 RMB or 3 courses for $150 RMB. There is a starter, a main and a dessert, plus a drink which can be either alcoholic (like sangrias, champagne mixtures, etc), a smoothie (very exotic combos like lime-mango, pineapple-coconuts, passionfruit-mango, mixed berries), or a freshly squeezed juice (watermelon, grapefruit, pineapple, etc), plus a tea or a coffee.
Most of us went for the 3 course meal and the table was filled with pancake starters (min's pancakes were super thick and yummy), baby spinach salad with feta and pine nuts (yummy) and my smoked salmon on top of a crepe thing. Then we were served our drinks - Ashley got a sangria, min a white sangria, Andrea got a passionfruit-mango smoothie and my pineapple-coconut smoothie turned into a pineapple juice which was ok as I was getting full by that time. We were also served scones, and very cute muffins. Then the main was served and Ashley's egg's benedict and Min's grilled monkfish came out first. They were great but Ashley's benedict was a bit overcooked. Then my open-faced omlette came with a very yummy hashbrown underneath it. Andrea's monkfish took forever to come, but it was still very good in the end. Our final course was the dessert and unfortunately by that time the passionfruit and citrus salad option was sold out. So instead we got the kahlua chocolate creme brulee which ended up awesome. Andrea got a flan and it was also very very yummy.
By the time we finished brunch, we all felt like going back home to nap again. But because of our ambitions and desire to do at least something touristy, we dragged ourselves over to sun zhong shans or sun yatshen's old residence in the fuxing park area. We dropped Ashley off to shop and then headed to the residence. Entrance cost was 20 RMB, and to rent a audio guide was 30 RMB. You had to pay a deposit of $200 RMB + passport to rent or $400 without a passport. The museum was very big and very cold but it was very thorough with different collections and display of things that documented his life. It ended with closing words written about him by his wife song qing ling, it was very nice. The third floor was a changing exhibit and the one that we ended up walking through quickly (as the place was closing) were a bunch of pictures about his life and the museum itself.
The whole visit ended up with a tour of his actual old house where you enter into the kitchen and have to put on plastic shoe socks. We then toured his dining area, living area and upstairs into his study room, bedroom etc. The place was lined with very nice wood and decorated very comfortably. Also he has drawers and shelves of books divided into the different dynasty and different time periods of chinese history. It was all very impressive.
Then we went home and took naps until dinner time and had dinner at a restaurant named Simply Thai. I quite enjoyed my meal especially the sesame seed sauce on the leaf wrapped chicken. We then headed over to the pudong area and went to the JinMao tower where the Grand Hyatt is located starting on the 54th floor. The bar, Cloud 9, was actually on the 87th floor, and the highest bar in the world in the tallest building in Shanghai as part of the tallest hotels in the world. We took the express elevator from the bottom of the building to floor 54 which is where the hotel Grand Hyatt starts. Then, we took another elevator up to floor 85 which leads to people's rooms and the jin mao conference rooms and Cloud 9 restaurant. A third elevator was required to get to the 87 floor as there's probably a choice to head out to the observation deck instead. The deck closed at 9pm and originally would have costed 50 RMB just to get up there anyways ( a cover thing like the Panorama in Toronto). Instead, we had a 120 RMB + 15 % minimum charge per person to cover. So we ordered expensive drinks (my tea cost 60 so i ordered long ching) and some desserts ( a dessert platter that looked better than it taste), some champagne, coffee and wine to cover the cost. The desserts were a bit disappointing but my tea was good. Nonetheless, the view of the huangpugong (although a lot of the lights are off, we found out later that they turn off at 11pm) was still breathtaking to a point that we wished we were lower.
class again tomoro... i think we're also heading to the circus.... should be quite fun
we are also checking out the fabric market.. i might not end up buying or making clothes here as i want to keep a bit more cash handy.. we'll see what happens
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Day 7.5 : 1st Taste of Shanghai Night Life: Barbarossa + Guan Dii
After dinner at di shui dong (a famous hunnan style restaurant) and having the most amazing malted fried bananas ever.. we went home to take a look at our shoppings.
Then we headed out to Barbarossa which Min`s friend Ashley really liked when she was on exchange here in Shanghai last year. It was supposed to be a lounge but it`s situated in the People`s park. We got dropped off outside people`s park and had to walk through a path of uneven cobblestones on heels to the center where Barbarossa was surrounded by a pond. Barbarossa was 3 levels with different music playing in all 3. We bought a drink and went up to the rooftop patio to enjoy the evening view of shanghai`s main buildings.
After that drink, we decided to hit up a club and picked Guan Dii. Again Guan Dii was located in some random park (why Shanghai people like to build lounges and clubs in the middle of parks I do not know). It was pretty packed when we got there just after midnight. The crowd was mainly Shanghaiese, with some International students and perhaps some expats. There were dancers who put on a show for certain songs, 3 girls and 1 guy in costumes. Waiters walking through crowds and pushing their way through it to serve people drinks. Seats and couches for people who are there to lounge and play dice. We mainly danced and it was quite fun as the DJ was quite good with his song selection. The only thing that was a bit strange was that the DJ sang to parts of the song...
Also, there were some creepy people that were attracted by the cute singaporean girls in my group. I was the alert one to look out for creepiness... There were a few instances of really old guys patting hands, old guys telling them they were pretty.. random guys trying to dance with them.. andrea`s shirt getting stuck on some guy`s zipper who we were trying to say no to... random guy trying to talk to me.. whom i gave a blank look to and kept shaking my hand at him.... Overall it was quite an interesting experience and quite fun :)
I`m really awake right now and reak of smoke (since you can still smoke in most places indoors in shanghai).. but i know that if i don`t sleep soon we wouldn`t be able to accomplish much tomorrow.
Monday should be buying fabric and tailoring day. New updates tomorrow ;)
Then we headed out to Barbarossa which Min`s friend Ashley really liked when she was on exchange here in Shanghai last year. It was supposed to be a lounge but it`s situated in the People`s park. We got dropped off outside people`s park and had to walk through a path of uneven cobblestones on heels to the center where Barbarossa was surrounded by a pond. Barbarossa was 3 levels with different music playing in all 3. We bought a drink and went up to the rooftop patio to enjoy the evening view of shanghai`s main buildings.
After that drink, we decided to hit up a club and picked Guan Dii. Again Guan Dii was located in some random park (why Shanghai people like to build lounges and clubs in the middle of parks I do not know). It was pretty packed when we got there just after midnight. The crowd was mainly Shanghaiese, with some International students and perhaps some expats. There were dancers who put on a show for certain songs, 3 girls and 1 guy in costumes. Waiters walking through crowds and pushing their way through it to serve people drinks. Seats and couches for people who are there to lounge and play dice. We mainly danced and it was quite fun as the DJ was quite good with his song selection. The only thing that was a bit strange was that the DJ sang to parts of the song...
Also, there were some creepy people that were attracted by the cute singaporean girls in my group. I was the alert one to look out for creepiness... There were a few instances of really old guys patting hands, old guys telling them they were pretty.. random guys trying to dance with them.. andrea`s shirt getting stuck on some guy`s zipper who we were trying to say no to... random guy trying to talk to me.. whom i gave a blank look to and kept shaking my hand at him.... Overall it was quite an interesting experience and quite fun :)
I`m really awake right now and reak of smoke (since you can still smoke in most places indoors in shanghai).. but i know that if i don`t sleep soon we wouldn`t be able to accomplish much tomorrow.
Monday should be buying fabric and tailoring day. New updates tomorrow ;)
Day 7: Qi Pu Lu shopping CRAZE!
so we went to the long waited for Qi pu lu to shop. Min had really wanted to go market shopping since forever and we finally made it there today. The shops opens from 5am to 5:30pm since they do wholesale activity in the mornings and then individual retails (or to rip off tourists after about 9am).
We got dropped off at this weird looking place which was kinda sketchy looking. Apparently, we started off at the newer place, where there were less store but still the same amount of sketchy people asking if you want fake bags.
The `personal shoppers`or whatever were saying they recently got searched so they are being a bit more careful right now. We were able to hit up some places and bought some fun stuff and our first try at bargaining also succeeded quite well. The skillful haggler is to be prepared to walk away from anything that you`re not willing to pay for and start much lower than where you want to end up.
We got dropped off at this weird looking place which was kinda sketchy looking. Apparently, we started off at the newer place, where there were less store but still the same amount of sketchy people asking if you want fake bags.
The `personal shoppers`or whatever were saying they recently got searched so they are being a bit more careful right now. We were able to hit up some places and bought some fun stuff and our first try at bargaining also succeeded quite well. The skillful haggler is to be prepared to walk away from anything that you`re not willing to pay for and start much lower than where you want to end up.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Day 6: pouring rain and rainboots
We had another taste of how bad asian rain can get today. It was quite scary as the sky turned all white (it was still rather bright) but you can no longer see the buildings in the distance.
So instead of being very ambitious and going out to do all the things we want to do, i decided that i needed a nap. So i napped for about 3 hours while the others went out to do stuff (which is still not much since the rain and the flood makes it very difficult to go anywhere)
We were then deciding between an upscale japanese all you can eat versus having hot pot. We ended up going to a place called hot pot king (lai fu liu), it's at huai hai zhong lu... it wasn't all you can eat but still pretty good. The service was excellent as they are very friendly and helpful. We ate a lot and was so full.
We really didn't want to go anywhere so we ended up just coming home, wanting to watch a movie. Another one of min's friend is going to come for a visit tomorrow and we're thinking of heading out to qipu lu and the market tomorrow.
I wore my rainboots out so it was quite fun to run around in the puddle, not having to worry that anything's going to happen to my feet and keeping them super dry. The only bad thing is that the plastic is rather cheap (as I bought it for only 128 HKD) and so it smells a bit :P I think i'll use it during my stay in shanghai and in HK, then buy a better pair with mariann to bring back to canada.
I finally found ah to at a good time, so we skyped so that I can talk to mommy and daddy :) So it seems people are having a long weekend this weekend. quite exciting.
I hope I'll find something really cool tomorrow and some good buys ;)
So instead of being very ambitious and going out to do all the things we want to do, i decided that i needed a nap. So i napped for about 3 hours while the others went out to do stuff (which is still not much since the rain and the flood makes it very difficult to go anywhere)
We were then deciding between an upscale japanese all you can eat versus having hot pot. We ended up going to a place called hot pot king (lai fu liu), it's at huai hai zhong lu... it wasn't all you can eat but still pretty good. The service was excellent as they are very friendly and helpful. We ate a lot and was so full.
We really didn't want to go anywhere so we ended up just coming home, wanting to watch a movie. Another one of min's friend is going to come for a visit tomorrow and we're thinking of heading out to qipu lu and the market tomorrow.
I wore my rainboots out so it was quite fun to run around in the puddle, not having to worry that anything's going to happen to my feet and keeping them super dry. The only bad thing is that the plastic is rather cheap (as I bought it for only 128 HKD) and so it smells a bit :P I think i'll use it during my stay in shanghai and in HK, then buy a better pair with mariann to bring back to canada.
I finally found ah to at a good time, so we skyped so that I can talk to mommy and daddy :) So it seems people are having a long weekend this weekend. quite exciting.
I hope I'll find something really cool tomorrow and some good buys ;)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Day 5: Raffle City, Shanghai Uncle and 3 on the Bund
We had KFC congee for breakfast, it was arlight but just a bit salty
after class we checked out wagas and then went to huai hai lu, but can't find anything good there so just walked over to raffle city again and shopped. Didn't end up getting anything but it was a very trendy mall and our kind of places to shop. Still a bit skeptical in getting things since i can get the same stuff for possibly cheaper in HK.
Then we cabbed over to the wai tang chong xin, bund center to have dinner at uncle shanghai and meet up with Rob from Bain.
The food was so good and it was very very cheap. We had our first real shanghai xiao lung bao experience and it was quite yummy.
Rob ended up taking the bill and the rest of us headed down guang dong lu to 3 on a bund
apparenlty 3 on the bund and 5 on the bund are very popular places for expats (ex patriots) and so it was filled with those people and since it was thursday, martinis were 2 for 1. Min got me a lychee martini and because they were being cheap, it was watered down to the right level for me. Even their apple ones tasted pretty good. She tipped the guy 10 bucks so the next time she went back, she actually ended up getting something stronger
We headed back home at about midnight and now i'm all ready for bed..
tomorrow is going to rain, so i need to dig out my rainboots! woot excited to use them!
I think the plan for the weekend is shop, club, then sunday brunch.. exciting!
after class we checked out wagas and then went to huai hai lu, but can't find anything good there so just walked over to raffle city again and shopped. Didn't end up getting anything but it was a very trendy mall and our kind of places to shop. Still a bit skeptical in getting things since i can get the same stuff for possibly cheaper in HK.
Then we cabbed over to the wai tang chong xin, bund center to have dinner at uncle shanghai and meet up with Rob from Bain.
The food was so good and it was very very cheap. We had our first real shanghai xiao lung bao experience and it was quite yummy.
Rob ended up taking the bill and the rest of us headed down guang dong lu to 3 on a bund
apparenlty 3 on the bund and 5 on the bund are very popular places for expats (ex patriots) and so it was filled with those people and since it was thursday, martinis were 2 for 1. Min got me a lychee martini and because they were being cheap, it was watered down to the right level for me. Even their apple ones tasted pretty good. She tipped the guy 10 bucks so the next time she went back, she actually ended up getting something stronger
We headed back home at about midnight and now i'm all ready for bed..
tomorrow is going to rain, so i need to dig out my rainboots! woot excited to use them!
I think the plan for the weekend is shop, club, then sunday brunch.. exciting!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Day 4 - Nanjing Xi Lu and the Bund
The bund, it was absolutely beautiful!!
although the day started out rather crappy with my alarm clock not working at and stopped at 6am. So min and I kept thinking it was 6 am and refused to wake up. The lady at the place we stayed at had to knock on our door to let us know and we thought they were knocking at the wrong door at such an early time.
When she finally used the key to open the door, she told us it was because the school called to figure out what has happened to us. We then asked them what time it was and they told us it was 10am. We were like oh shit and got out of the door at lightning speed.
We felt so bad because the teacher, helen, had been waiting for us all morning since 9am. So we want to take her out to lunch one day.
We went to yoshinoya for lunch and it was also quite cheap compared to HK. The one here is more of a fast food type store. A meal was about 30 RMB with a rice dish and as fruit cup.
Anywho, i'm looking forward to tomorrow and a quiet night tonight so just going to watch some of the shows that i've been d/ling and catch up! :D
;) also got someone to talk to now...:D hehe
although the day started out rather crappy with my alarm clock not working at and stopped at 6am. So min and I kept thinking it was 6 am and refused to wake up. The lady at the place we stayed at had to knock on our door to let us know and we thought they were knocking at the wrong door at such an early time.
When she finally used the key to open the door, she told us it was because the school called to figure out what has happened to us. We then asked them what time it was and they told us it was 10am. We were like oh shit and got out of the door at lightning speed.
We felt so bad because the teacher, helen, had been waiting for us all morning since 9am. So we want to take her out to lunch one day.
We went to yoshinoya for lunch and it was also quite cheap compared to HK. The one here is more of a fast food type store. A meal was about 30 RMB with a rice dish and as fruit cup.
Anywho, i'm looking forward to tomorrow and a quiet night tonight so just going to watch some of the shows that i've been d/ling and catch up! :D
;) also got someone to talk to now...:D hehe
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Day 3: Shanghai - WE Moved!!! June 24, 08
moved into skiiline hotel which is right beside the school, super convenient and free internet! woot~~
Lunch was KFC today which i haven't had for like forever... because they have a very chinese-sized menu here. I had a peking duck like chicken wrap and papaya egg tart. The wrap was great and the meal was only 20 bucks
(11:36pm)
After classes ended at 3 today, Min and I decided to go home and enjoy the internet for a bit and take a break. Then we headed out at about 5ish to hit up some of the shopping areas in the Jing An area. We visited the jiou gong bai ke (city mall), the 66 plaza, the shanghai center and also the west gate mall. not to mention shopping along nanjing xi lu. The shopping centers have upscale shops but things arent too too cheap. I managed to still spend about 1725 on 8 piece of clothing.... I decided to stupidly pay in cash because i didn't want to carry the money around... but what i really should've done is to put it on credit card.. oiy... i'm such an idiot... i really just have to watch what i spend from now on and not buy as much. I still have ye to find postcards... and a way to mail them... i guess that will come as we visit more places...
going to catch up on my shows through streaming now... i'll write more tomorrow~
Lunch was KFC today which i haven't had for like forever... because they have a very chinese-sized menu here. I had a peking duck like chicken wrap and papaya egg tart. The wrap was great and the meal was only 20 bucks
(11:36pm)
After classes ended at 3 today, Min and I decided to go home and enjoy the internet for a bit and take a break. Then we headed out at about 5ish to hit up some of the shopping areas in the Jing An area. We visited the jiou gong bai ke (city mall), the 66 plaza, the shanghai center and also the west gate mall. not to mention shopping along nanjing xi lu. The shopping centers have upscale shops but things arent too too cheap. I managed to still spend about 1725 on 8 piece of clothing.... I decided to stupidly pay in cash because i didn't want to carry the money around... but what i really should've done is to put it on credit card.. oiy... i'm such an idiot... i really just have to watch what i spend from now on and not buy as much. I still have ye to find postcards... and a way to mail them... i guess that will come as we visit more places...
going to catch up on my shows through streaming now... i'll write more tomorrow~
Day 2 in Shanghai: June 23, 2008
Monday June 23, 11:41pm
It’s been a long day today, definitely one of the longest I’ve had in a while.
I started the day at about 5am when my body decides to give in to jet lag and would not let me fall asleep again. Since Min and I slept on the couches in the living area, I didn’t want to disturb her too much with too much movements. So instead I went and read my shanghai guidebook and played a bit of Pheonix Wright. At about 8-9am took a shower, went down for breakfast and then headed over to school.
David from Red carpet mandarin sat down with us with a teacher and went through what we wanted to achieve in the course. At our meeting, we established how we wanted to take the course, chose course textbooks and determined course focus. We had to read a passage and it seemed that we’ll also need to work on our pinyin since we both have our own “accents”.
Our business teacher was a girl named Helen who studied international business in Scotland. She was pretty cool and very nice. We learned a bit about org structure in Chinese, the terms and such and then learned about office supplies. I think tomorrow we’ll go right into a Business in China case study book which looked extremely interesting. This will definitely be a great learning experience especially if it ever comes up for work in the future. They were also very eager in incorporating importing and exporting things into our course but we think that might be a bit too much. I wouldn’t mind learning about how to do business here though, but we’ll see what we can cover in such a short period of time.
We had lunch at the cheapest Italian restaurant in town. A set lunch, a pasta of some sort plus a salad and a soup cost only 15 RMB which is about 2-3 dollars Canadian. The food was alright but filling. Min then really needed her coffee so we stumbled upon a posh little joint that is apparently Taiwanese on the 4th floor of a building.
We also got a bit of opportunity to see the city better and took a better look at jing an temple. I still cant believe such a landmark have a shopping center on its ground floor. Our afternoon teacher’s last name is xu and she also thinks that I have extreme problems with sheng diao (tones). I will need to basically memorize in order to improve.. and she says practice is key. So hopefully I’ll practice enough in the next 3 weeks to be understandable… not even aiming for the standard :P
It then started pouring at about 4pm just when we were about to get off class. Min and I were both not very happy with it as we were wearing sandals. Note to self, just wear rain boots for no reason or have them with me. At least I had my umbrella.
WE also went to check out another place that we’re hoping to move to. IF all goes well we should be able to get our money back from here and move in tomorrow. I’m excited already.. because we’ll actually have internet included this time and the place is much closer to the school (2 minutes walk) vs. ??? walk.
Min and I still need to plan out what we want to do in shanghai and whether or not we want to take day trips to Suzhou and hang zhou. I think those are musts, it’s just a matter of when. I should probably end this post now and pack to be ready for moving tomorrow and some awesome shopping ;)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
HKG -> PVG June 22, 2008
Sunday June 22, 11:30 pm
Arrival in Shanghai
The trip to Shanghai was surprisingly eventful. We headed out from Kowloon city after I went to get some last minute essentials from the 10-dollar store (equivalent of a dollar store in the N.A. but a touch more expensive since exchange rate is about 1 HKD :7.66 CAD). There was this really cool game at Terminal Two with a ghost and some wand thing at the arcade. After some explorations of the Hong Kong International airport, I went to the departure area in Terminal 2 (where there was absolutely no line-up) and through to my gate.
Flying China Eastern Airline was a new experience for me (and apparently for many). This is one of the less common carriers in Hong kong and much more popular in the mainlands. (It was cheap! *shrug* I’m sure it was going to be better than ryan last year, at least I get an assigned seat. While checking in, the counter guy already informed me that the plane was going to be delayed for 10 minutes. The good news was he was very lenient with my overweight baggage.
I had a quick dinner inside and time to spare waiting at the gate (which changed last minute). Surprisingly, the plane was pretty big, with 6 across in a 2-4-2 configuration. I got seat number 3 so it was an aisle one. The only problem with that seat was the chair was broken so it doesn’t stay in the upright position if you lean on it. There were multiple times when people used the back of my seat as anchor point and it got really frustrating for me when I’m caught by surprise.
The flight was an hour and a half long and I totally didn’t expect them to serve us dinner. It was either noodles (looked like the shanghai fried ones) or a spicy meat rice dish (which I got stuck with and didn’t touch because of the spice and to avoid upsetting my stomach). It was served with fruits – a piece of dragon fruit, a piece of watermelon and 2 pieces of cantaloupe. Some salad that didn’t look TOO appetizing.. and a small water thing. They also served warm dinner roll and haagan-daaz ice cream afterwards.
The highlight of the flight came when the steward walked around with immigration cards to china. I wasn’t sure if I was considered foreign and my curiosity spoke out so I grabbed one. As seen in the picture, I lost control of myself and bursted out laughing when I folded across the guided line and read the disclaimer on the back. As you noticed, apparently foreigners are not called foreigners in china, they are worse, much worse and known as “Aliens”… Point number 3 deserves a notable mention as it states “Aliens shall not be employed in China without permission of the competent authorities of the Chinese Government”.. so yes I get that Aliens should not be employed.. but you mean there are incompetent authorities too? :p that’s just way too funny.
So luggage claim at Shanghai Pudong airport was also rather interesting. I was able to spot min and David from the mandarin school waiting outside for me, so I waved at them before heading over to the luggage belt. So after you pick up your luggage you’re then supposed to go through customs. Not only is there one custom scanning machine, a very wide line up way, and lots of people pushing and shoving… you have to stick your luggage onto the belt through the crowd and then pick it up on the other side.. Its not only inefficient but also very ineffective. I could’ve totally slipped through.
Because my flight was so late, we actually missed the opportunity to take the high lift onto the subway. Instead we had to take a taxi which ended up costing 219RMB and took about an hour. Where we’re living is kinda not close to a subway line and a bit far from our school. The good news is, we can sign up for how ever many days we want (right now we are signed up until Friday), so if things don’t work out we can move. It’s a loft style with a super tiny kitchen and super tiny bathroom (as seen in pictures) a 2 story high living area with a small tv, dining table with 4 chairs, a desk with internet that’s going to cost (20RMB a day on cable) and 2 bedrooms (one that looks awesome and 1 that looks sketched without ventilations.
So we’re considering to see if they have other rooms that we can look at and switch to… if not then we can move a bed down to the ground floor and sleep there. Otherwise we can also seriously consider moving out from here and to another place.
So far the trip is full of surprises and with the exception of some of the problems, I’m happy with the place we are living in since it could definitely be a lot worse. Morning class at nine tomorrow and apparently we’re expecting some visitors this week!! Woot! I’m excited already!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
pre-trip
Just finished packing for my Asia trip this year and thought i'd put in an entry before the trip...
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