Back in oily land (aka shanghai)

I survived Jiuzhaigou, it was really beautiful. Only problem was that there were too many people. So much so that we had to queue to take pictures. And somehow people love cutting queue. At the Chengdu airport, I literally asked the guy cutting my queue "你在插队吗？". He had the cheek to ask "什么叫插队？". I basically told him off (in chinese of cos) n made sure he was behind me.

One thing I learnt in Jiuzhaigou was the hatred China chinese has for japanese. They really hate them to the bone. They told me it's in the blood and genes. It's not the simplistic kind of dislike between singaporeans n malaysians (we have a love-hate relationship after all? Heh.). Yet, I made friends with the 2 japanese who invited me to stay with them in Kyoto when I go tokyo in October. We'll see.

Oh, I took their magnetic train (maglev) which was going at 431 km/h. Faster than the speed I drive! Woo-hoo!! Within a matter of 7 minutes, I reached Shanghai inner circle from the airport. Going back to Singapore finally. Another couple more days. Then i'll have 24 hours to turn around before I fly to NZ for almost another month. I definitely need to plan my time properly such that I get to clear my letters, pay my credit card bills (my credit card limits are all blown n i had to call them to increase my limits), return to office, visit my kids, repack for luggage due to weather change (shanghai's hotter than singapore, NZ's 12 degrees), etc. Does it feel that I don't have much time?

Spicy land

I'm stuck in spicy land now. Even the "mild spicy" is super spicy for me. And I started eating things I have never eaten before. For example, rabbit's head. Apart from having to eat the tender face meat, I had to rip the jaws apart so that I can eat the rabbit's brain. And I stared at the pig's brain in its raw form before I started eating it. And they literally served a frog with 2 huge eyes staring at me. So much for the hotpot.

Now for the best part. Apparently Chengdu is the land of 3 kingdoms as well! I simply love zhuge kongming. Even took a picture with the place where the 3 brothers got sworn. For the sake of 3 kingdoms, i decided not to see the pandas.

Tomorrow morning after my status meeting, I'm flying to Jiuzhaigou. Everyone has warned me about the climb up the 4,000m mountain. They think I need an oxygen tank, but surely i'm not that weak rite?? Then again.. i hope i make it to the top.

Hangzhou

The secret to Hangzhou's beauty is that they kept half of the place scenic. The other half is occupied by industrial and commercial developments. So when you're in the scenic half, you can't help but be mersmerised by the whole place. Everywhere u go is beautiful. Saw the sunset at one of the pagodas n took picture of the whole process.

Anyway, the best part of Hangzhou I remember is not the scenery but the happenings:
1) I bought all their speciality commodities (i.e. silk quilt, pearl powder and longjing tea). I can't believe i'm carrying all these back to singapore..
2) I tried their speciality dishes. The beggar's chicken is SO GOOD. Even the dongpo meat is nicer than anywhere else i've tried. But really, the chicken is something that's difficult to forget.
3) We caught the train to Hangzhou by 3 minutes, but we missed the train back to SH from Hangzhou by 3 minutes. Can you tell that i was rushing the whole time??

Now is to start planning for my next destination. Flying to Chengdu tomorrow morning, then going to Jiuzhaigou this weekend. Heard that its beauty is somewhat unmatched in the world. So beautiful that it looks fake. The food is supposedly not very nice though. Such a pity..

How do you know you're staying too long in a hotel?

1) All breakfast waitresses know you.
2) Everyone knows the room you stay in.
3) They do not need to ask if you want tea or coffee. They know.
4) Waitresses suddenly become interested in visiting Singapore.
5) Chocolates are delivered to your room because they know u love them.

Stopping here, cos my fav number is 5. Westin, what can I say.

RMB or SGD

I just had my most expensive meal in shanghai that costs almost SGD350. Yes, it's in SGD and not RMB. And there're just the 2 of us. I paid, of course. Or rather, i should say it was uncle louis.. (aka UTC). The scenery from the top of shangri-la was beautiful. The food was also nicely decorated with a fanciful bit placed in the centre of a huge plate. Or a whole champagne glass filled with 80% bubbles. But they were nice to give us a slice of choc cake each at the end of the meal. After all, we paid 1700RMB for tiny food.

Visited suzhou last couple of days n it was freaking hot! But of cos the town was anciently beautiful. I like the administrator's garden n the lake 太湖. And of cos my sheraton suzhou hotel. It's built to look like 1 of the ancient buildings, so it would seem like u're staying in some small palace. Will be going hangzhou this weekend with a colleague. I think it's nicer than suzhou. I just hope the typhoon won't head that way..

I've been eating too much. A couple of japanese buffets (the 4 seasons hotel one is over-priced but not as bad as shangri-la..) will just add more pounds to my weight. Still, i'm going strong with my gym regime with only a break yesterday n a shorter workout today since i couldn't wake up. I'm still contemplating tomorrow's gym session since i've got a morning conference call. But i guess tonite is overloading my stomach, so i might just need to do something abt it..

Ooh, there's a china actress staying in the same hotel as me. The cab driver was exclaiming to me, that's y i knew. I dunno who she is but we took the same lift. Oh well. As long as she leaves me in peace.. :)

Morning workout

Guess what? I've been waking up at 7am or earlier for the past 3 days to go gym! Was very inspired by a fellow singaporean client in shanghai who told me how effective it can be. And this means that i can continue stuffing my face with food and still lose weight at the same time. How wonderful! But then, i didn't realise that my body is aching terribly from head to toe. Will look for full body massage later..

I'll be going suzhou tomorrow. It might be a bad idea since the typhoon's heading this way. Still, i need to try out the sheraton there which everyone raves about. N i'm planning to go hangzhou next weekend. Booked my hotel with hyatt. Think 1 of my shanghai colleagues is volunteering to keep me company there as they know the best food around! YAY!!! Of cos, i'll still keep to my gym regime.. n to reward myself for perservering the last 3 days, maybe i shld skip tomorrow... heh.

In memory of Steven aka Ross

Last Thursday, I was walking along suntec city after my seminar. When passing by the duck tours booth, i was reminded of steven tay. There was a time, probably a couple of years ago, when i met him sitting there. Now when i pass by the booth, i feel the sadness from within me. Despite not knowing him very well, I feel a sense of bonding with him. And I don't know why. The fact that I didn't go there before he passed away made me feel worse.

Steven, although we had few interactions, they were sufficient to create a positive impression of you. You'll definitely be missed by many.

1st impression

I'm totally impressed! Yup, with Westin Shanghai. I'm not staying in a huge room, but the layout's really good. Makes the room looks much bigger than it really is. It's normal for them to have an area for the sofa set, n the fruits, n the DVD player... (damn, i really shld hv brought my DVDs! Now i need to buy more..). But to exaggerate matters, they had to put a fax machine in my room too! Then their breakfast is damn impressive. Ok, on top of bread, they've got ALL kinds of doughnuts, big and small. On top of the normal dim sum, they serve different types of dumplings (including xiao long bao). And on top of normal fruit juice, they have someone literally stationed there squeezing fruit juice non-stop FRESH. And did i say that the gym here is 24 hours??

Ok, the client is chasing us away now. Update again later!

The past and passing

When i got the urgent call from Peiqi on Sunday night, I had a huge shock. Steven Tay (or Ross) from Team Spectrum was in ICU. As i just got home, I promised to visit him the next day while peiqi continued updating me. On monday morning, he passed away. He is definitely one of the few good men in TKD, always so cheerful n fun-loving. And all becos of an operation that went wrong.

I got back to Singapore on saturday night after hovering Singapore for almost an hour due to closure of runway for NDP preview. Went straight to elias class as darren overheard my conversation with peiqi tt i was back. Despite being tired n the late nite supper, i woke up early the next morning for referee seminar. Whole afternoon was spent doing national registration n weigh-in. Good news for myself is that i won't be around throughout the ENTIRE nationals! As i share the good news with darren, he found another arrow for me.. (apart from imparting my knowledge to peiqi).. he wants me to teach theory for referee seminar this saturday morning??? OMG! I've just quickly gone to fix a health screening appointment for this saturday morning. Can you tell how much i love tkd?

Flying off to shanghai this sunday morning. I really have the intention of losing weight from awful shanghai food. But it seems like the china team has taken up on themselves to draw up a schedule such that someone accompanies me to dinner EVERY night at some fancy place where the food is fantastic. Did i say i'm heading to gym every night and only eating a banana a day? ARGH!! People around me simply love dashing my hopes of turning skinnier. I mean, i know they feel the need to fatten me up since i'm skinny, but can't i be skinnier?? Sighz...