Green

Met up with iron-wife after her late biz lunch on Powell Street at Scala. She pull me aside excitedly. Had to show me a nice man sweater. Nice Green. Very bright. I could definitely look in my suitcase and locate it compared to my all black items. I looked at the label. Ummm.... Canali. Urrr... After an hour, I had two de-constructed blazer, two shirts and two cashmere sweaters. The owner and his assistant were so helpful. Turned out, the owner's nephew was the guy who we would need to talk to in Shanghai! What a small world.

With the new clothes, I am set now. I got an additional 10% on top of the 30%. That was because I couldn't decide which blazer to get. The owner gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. I basically got all the stuff that normally would have cost in the high 4 digits. Well, I love the stuff but never bother as the Canali brand name was way beyond my needs. With the discount, now that was an incentive.

These guys were so smooth, friendly and not pushy. They actually gave good advise. Quite good service.

MMMMM

YUMMY!  Man, we just could not say how much we enjoyed our meal in the Millennium Restaurant in San Fran.  http://www.millenniumrestaurant.com/    Found out tonight, this is a vegan restaurant so no goat cheese!  Now, that's my restaurant!  We did a walk-in as we couldn't get any reservation.  The hostess was kind enough to give us a table; we arrived at 6:30pm and the table was for 8pm.  Iron-wife had the mushroom with coconut curry.  I had that and it was good.  Tonight, I ordered the squash risotto.  Wow!!!!  The dish was creamy and had nuts on top along with a thick slice of squash.  The combination in my mouth was exquisite!  I ate half and the rest to iron-wife.  Had to share such a dish!  

Yes, anyone who visits San Fran should definitely try it.  We believe this restaurant is much better than Greens that we tried last night. 

2 G's

No 2G as in dollars.  It was the first letter of the restaurants we had our meals.  So wonderful!  Unbelievable was all I could say.  The first one was in Berkeley.  We drove over from San Fran.  The name: Gather.  Here's the link: http://www.gatherrestaurant.com/  Go there!  From San Fran, one can take the BART all the way there.  Or drive if you have a GPS and dare to drive.  It was just insane how people drive here.  I had a Corolla, should have a tank!  Anyway, this article is all about food and not driving.  

At Gather, I had a Pollenta, lentil and poach egg dish.  The flavour.  Iron-wife had a hearty tofu skin sausage with potatoes and leeks I believe.  Wonderful taste.  Did I mention enough about that?  Our dishes were about USD 13 plus taxes.  Soooo good.  It wouldn't have anything to do with the 2-hour workout we had before hand :-P

We drove around Berkeley afterward.  What a d! ve at some places!  Only pockets of cute places.  Really sliding downward. 

We drove home through the Bay Bridge with a quick stop at Treasure Island.  Nice view.  Iron-wife has the pictures, will post later.  After the hard rain last night, the view was spectacular.

In the afternoon, we walked all the way to the Fisherman Wharf from the hotel.  Took the long way.  We burned a lot of calories today.  We headed to Greens for dinner.  It is the Mecca of vegetarian food.  Apparently, the chef is very famous. Restaurant link: http://www.greensrestaurant.com/   This place was located in building A of Fort Mason, at the far end of Fisherman Wharf.  Wine was good: Pinot Noir 2007 California.  Sampler plate of appetizer: sweet potatoes, beets, brown rice with walnut.  Then the Lentil soup.  Wow... Our main courses, they were fantastic.  Iron-wife had the mushroom Shepard pie; I had the chili.  Soooo Soooo good - except mine!  It was good but there was goat cheese.  That's one of the food that I couldn't stand. Strong goat cheese would make me throw up.  Bummer as the chili was good less the goat cheese.  The mocha Iron-wife had as part of the dessert was the best I had.  Convinced her Starbucks was no where close to this calibre.  She agreed.  Not cheap though.  USD 150 later.  

With all the good food, we decided to walk home from Greens.  Almost an hour walk up hill about 1/2 of the time.  We sweated.  The cool San Fran evening weather didn't stop us.  

nice meal

Wow, what flavour! We had a superb meal tonight at the Millennium Restaurant here in San Fran. Link here: http://www.millenniumrestaurant.com/restaurant/index.html I had the flannel soup with crushed nuts. The flavour and the texture. Then I had a Portobello mushroom dish with apple salad and coconut curry. So nice. I used Opentable.com 1/2 hour before our reservation. Walked there from the hotel. Seated and the way we went. This restaurant was a vegetarian one but served alcohol. I had to say, alcohol and vegetarians just don't mix. I had a martini and 5 minutes later it went into my head. Price not that bad. Two of us: 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, 1 wonderful dessert and, 2 drinks later. The cost was USD 103.00. Not bad for downtown San Fran.

tour

We have completed the first half of our NA tour. Started from the East Coast we are moving West.

Today we woke up at 3:15am, at the airport by 4:30am, through security by 4:55am without body scanning. I have enough of a dose, thank you. 4:56am, triple-shot skim milk latte at SB. That was the best one I had from SB anywhere. Hot, foamy and strong vs the usual watery brown liquid. At the airline check-in counter, I finally realized my membership has been moved up to Silver. Wow, so exciting. NOT. I had to fly that airline in the States. Lesser of the evils out there.

Couldn't complain as we are now both a Platinum & Silver members with upgrade vouchers and all. We got auto-upgraded to Biz class for this East Coast to West Coast trip. Nice, in a sense we were not in coach cramped for hours with peanuts and filthy seats.

We did a station stop at MSP, the central hub of our American airline. Pretty much spent the day w/ iron-wife's sister family. 3 young ones. Energetic. We did brunch, a basketball game, tunnel digging in the snow, iPad demo, Xmas gift exchange, playing with kids. A full day. By 3:45pm we were on the road to the airport. 4:40pm we were on the flight to the West Coast. One Scotch, 3 glass of nice red wine and a chicken dinner and yes, free Wi-Fi on board (thanks G 00g le!), I dozed off most of the flight. The liquid intact was my "sleeping pill". I was gone....... Woke up just in time for landing. A short taxing we were at the Terminal.

Took the BART downtown. What a run-down piece of crap. I was spoiled in China, clean efficient subway and cars. Scary thought! Guess things here were a bit complacent. A $uper p0w er is becoming a 3rd world c0untry, and not knowing it!

Off the train after 45 min or so, 3 blocks of hauling bags and harassed by a bagger we arrived at our hotel. A "Green" hotel that won awards. Orchard Garden (it was such a memorable name I had to look up from my iCal). Walked into our room... Small... Smelly too. As if the guest before us forgot to change socks. The bathroom was about 1/2 the size of the room. The actual room, if my A$$ was any bigger, I could have problem walking between the bed and the desk. The free Wi-Fi... This is SF man, the free meant restricting the speed to 512K. How backward was that? I had to purchase the 1.5M speed! The provider was not the hotel. It was directly charged to my credit card from the provider. The silly part, the programmer didn't even have a drop-down box for country. A 2-alpha box for countries. "CA" or "CH" for China? I am going to cancel my reservation for our return trip next week in SF. Not worth the money. O yes, the gym. Big sign, small room. 2 bikes and 2 treadmills. That was it.

Head spinning... East Coast time, 2:25am Sunday. West Coast 11:25pm Saturday.

totally spent

my energy that is. It has been a ride the last 3 weeks. I have been to HKG, MFM, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Traveling, working, rescuing..... Just spent. Many different directions and not enough energy and sleep. No detail postings to this site until after I am in the air again next Monday. That is, I'll download my last few weeks of experience to my laptop and when I land in Boston Monday evening next week, I'll just do rapid firing one after another. Yes, I am doing an American trip, unexpected. BOS->MSP->SFO->SMF->....->SFO->SEA->NRT->PVG. All in 2 weeks. It all started with a 2 1/2 days of work meeting on 19th to 21st. Wild imagination huh?

All I am saying is doesn't matter how many adjust and review and align conversations I had with these owners of the Shanghai business, they are screwed due to their "I am better than everyone of you guys, do as I say, and everything will be perfect". Right... We just WASTED 2 months of nothing because of that! My adjust conversation finally went to the employees instead; in 2 weeks, we had what we needed to make things happen; too late. We are pulling out. We put in 100% and they didn't believe in our thinkings. "We are still the best!". Refused to use email, no reply, "If I have time, I will call you because I think you are worthy at the moment"; otherwise, I'll yell at you because I think you are stupid. Wow... found out the "English" writing was not even Grade 5 and couldn't even type Chinese! I lost money in this deal. More later.

On my 4th bottle of red wine in 2 weeks. Or was it 5th bottle now?

T'is the season

November and December much anticipated hairy crab season.  Time to consume!  The Queen of Macau just love her food.  The delicacy.  She allotted 4 hairy crabs for me.  Really appreciated.  These were the pricy ones.  In one sitting, Queen of Macau can have about 7.  Wow...  Best to consume w/ vinegar as well as the 12 to 20 years old Chinese yellow wine to break the richness from the roes.

great views

We were invited to a US Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday night over at Pudong.  The complex was just next to the Citi building across the HuangPu by the Bund.  Friend of ours and his family rented this top floor (3 levels) apartment.  The photos were the night views from around the apartment, from different balconies on each floor.  I gathered, from the current rental rate, this 250 sq meters space probably costs him about RMB 42,000 per month in rent.  

The place is not that far from a #2 line subway stop.  Cool.  And it is also just next to the newly opened tunnel connected Puxi.  No traffic!  Quick get away from Pudong, the financial district.  

locate

I finally have everything Apple updated including my trusty side-kick - the iPad. It's 4.2.1 now. First two days I tried downloading, I had to stop as the estimated time kept jumping up to 24 hours after 30 seconds. Needless to say, lots of people wanted the update. Anyway, I finally did it this morning here in the Motherland in less than 30 minutes. Must be the U$ holiday.

I tried the "Find my device" feature on the Pad. The result was very accurate. Scary. I thought the location would be where the CO for my ADSL line originated from. No. This was not the case. Take a look at this picture from the Find feature. Wow... People that had visited Shanghai may recall the big construction site on ShiMen Yi Lu. The blue dot was exactly where my apartment building was on Nanjing road.

O yeah, after the 4.2.1 update my combination lock disappeared. Need to redo the combo lock from Settings.

impression

Further to the rescue action, when I said "UNKNOWN" about the other owner, it was from the non-communication action. One-way in and no way back. And when WE received finally received an email from this owner, the English language skill was so poor that we were taken aback. Now, that wasn't a good form of Credibility. And first impression was: "Wow, what was that?"

Good thing I had my Boulder training under my belt. Ha! Otherwise, my Schtick would have said "not worth my while". End of business. This time, I actually reminded myself that email is so "cold" and "can be expressionless". Evaluating a person using only email does not work. Email "content" may impress people to continue dialog due to the nature of doing business these days. I had to explain to my "OTHER HALF OF RESCUER" to give it a try. I was very glad my "OTHER HALF" was so good in aligning together. His "Respect others first & being humble" really makes things run smoothly and easy to work with.

In short, email impression should not be the only tool to evaluate a situation.

Rev

The rescue mission. Learning by listening. I have done lots in the past week. "Align" and "Adjust" talks a plenty. Enough to drive me into drinking my 3rd bottle of Tasmina Pinot Noir Red. I think I am led to believe the Pinot Noir bottle is my 500mL water bottle. Ha! The non-recyclable kind. At least I walk to and from the "office". A hike considered by the locals. Only about 3.4K one way or is that 4.5K. Distance, doesn't really matter anymore.

The rescue, yes. After listening.... The true purpose was known to US ("us" refers to the two rescuers of the biz). I did all the "talking" to draw out the "purpose". Talk about "Presence". In the end up till this Monday, WE have concluded that there is a major "communication" issue with one of the owners. Panic stricken. "visionary" to the point of self doubt and bouts after bouts of "Panic attacks". One good thing staying to OUR TRUE Purpose - the survival of the company, we got the message through that acknowledgement of staff's communication is very important. If "you" cannot express yourself, at least acknowledge the staff. WE were surprise to see on Monday morning with emails arriving to OUR mail boxes. Wow, responds. Even though it wasn't in Chinese as we were hoping for, but the act of "replying" was a good start. Good thing the staff emailed US knew enough English.

Listening, back to that. Our conversation on Monday shifted based on a "What is time for now" theme (Hence the Pinot Noir ;-) ) We shifted from topic to topic, "drilling", "probing", "illicit", "re-confirming we are here to help and to align". Finally, "Bingo"! We truly discovered two big pieces of information: 1) The "artistic" owner had finally realized that he had a communication problem. A very humble experience yet a very good "emotional discharge" as a Canadian coach from CLI would say and 2) we arrived at true Purpose of why a piece of "bundle" was so important to him and his biz partner. We aligned. Phew, it took over a week of "probing". This "Artist" owner said he had to think before expressing himself when we had our continuing "Rev's interviews". Well, that was by design. To invoke his inner thoughts rather than acting on emotion impulse. WE achieved a major alignment talk. There were so much "stuff" in his head that he believe "telepathy" was a form of communication. He was so "used" to just issuing commands that treating people in equal footing would go a long way.

And no, I did not use Rev's paper napkin approach.

This "Interview" was a break-thru. Thought provoking to the "Artist". We were ready to cut a big piece of "investment" from his portfolio due to "lack of funds". But in fact, that piece turned out to be very important to his "strategic" thinking. WE "might" be able to work with that. The word is "might". Artist and the reality of "situation" may still be far apart. WE will give it a go.

Yesterday, we had yet again an "Alignment" interview with the other half of the business owner. This one was a BIG PIECE OF THE UNKNOWN to US. This one would be the "make or break" or "go or no go" for US. The second owner was more "grounding" when talking to us. Let's just say with yesterday's talk, WE established "credibility" with her. Influence comes next. Perhaps "Impact" follows after. ;-) Will see about that. We spent almost 2 hours on the phone (You are welcome Ch in@ Tele com for blocking $kype and other "talking" IMs). Understanding the current company situation and hear what the two owners aligned and what not aligned. Not much news there. Basically, she aligned with us with "what WE wanted to hear".

WE are currently digesting the information. Moving forward, can WE "save" the company? We'll see. A major issue to resolve is putting the "Artist" communication in proper "channel" and "footing". Channel means not "what flows into his mind at the moment and starts dialing to the office to issue commands". Footing means "learn to speak properly". 15 years plus in this country and couldn't speak the Official dialect to the point of people understand, that would be bad.

blocked

Since last week every time we did the attempted to use Skype to all out to a landline overseas or Skype to Skype talk, magically our "Motherland" ISP router reset us after several minutes. Coincident? I think NOT.

Two reasons I could speculate: 1) boost the LD revenue, 2) "security" reason", 3) we are big and piss on you guys attitude.

This really pissing me off .

digging deeper

Two things...

One. People were digging deep into the contracting for the insulation work for that burned out building here. Last count 58 people died. And the culprits were arrested. Case closed. Took only 2 days. Fast and efficient huh? The Mounties should copy this fast resolved methodology? NOT. The culprits actually were not the "culprits". They were just farmers looking for work and got S H1t on. There was a bl og po$t couple days ago saying: " The gov't couldn't be touched. The real crook$ are gone, the "culprits" were arrested, and the people ended up paying for all the bill$". True. There was a news article online questioning how a contractor that has been "banned" from bidding on local contracts still got them. And got them by the lots! And... yes, and... last year this company reported an income of over 100million RMB but only had a profit of 400K RMB. Wow. Everyone was shock. The local gov't departments were keeping very quiet. VERY QUIET. Seems, the contractor sub-contract each floor to different companies and those companies each sub-contract off different tasks. In the end, the actual workers were temps from out of province farmers. Now, these workers could not even collect any wages. Interesting huh? This same contractor were the same that was cited of unsafe supervision, it was after another building caught fire just across the street from the Jing' axxx temple. That was during the "make is safe" pre-expo time. There were citations and "edicts" saying that company could not bid on any local gov't contracts. Then why, it made over 100M? Interesting.

Two. That biz rescue. We dug deep... The owners were actually digging themselves too many holes to get out of. No plans, grandeur of their capabilities, lack of communications, total slavery treatment to employees. Let see..... That's pretty summed it up. Tonight, I asked one of the owners to write up his "vision" on why a $ draining shop is worthwhile to keep. We want to align with his vision. He was stuttering. Let see how it goes tomorrow. WE, the rescuers, are reading to walk by tomorrow evening if the "vision" was basically a grandeur seeing of things. WE do not want to waste our time doing non-sounding business strategy, to implement someone's grandeur plan that leads to nowhere.

Doomed rescue

Haven't post for a while. Seems my blog postings are far and few these days. It was due to the fact that I have no energy writing much at the end of the day. I took on a rescue mission. A business one. To rescue a friend in dire need of a business turnaround. Iron-wife had been hinted for the last 2 years I should w/ my background. My internal firewall rejected this notion based on gust instinct. After the Conversant course in August - that Schtick and Purpose conference, I "saw" maybe I should help. It was my "purpose". And the timing was right. That friend's "big brother" with banking background also agreed to help. Now, that sounded doable. Or... Sh!t began to hit the fan.

As both of us dug deeper, there were some major problems. Despite the fact that I used all my Conversant training w/ Conversation Meter, "What's a time for now", Schtick and Purpose, Intersection model, in the end, a business is a business. The numbers spoke louder than any word. First off, there was no balance sheet of any sort. No actual or projected income and expense statements. No cash flow projection. The only time a cash flow projection went south was "This month is a little tight because our business partner's payment is late by 2 weeks, can you loan me RMB 25,000 to pay for the staff?". Maybe I am talking a Sincere Conversation. That was my view and not able to Intersect yet. I digress. Back to the numbers. I finally got some spreadsheets with numbers. What a load of cr***p! There was no break down of itemized expenses. Everything was lumped in. And all the numbers were "projected" based on previous years. Wow.. we made pretty good money. Should be afloat. Not so fast.... After I pull out all the numbers and put in some other numbers from another spreadsheets. Wow... Holly cow Stage 4 Cancer Batman! This things is going down. First off, all loans were moved off the balance sheet and made them as Shareholder injection. In the end, who has the cash to pay for the loans? Second, can't use projected income numbers to pay for actual expense numbers considering I just hired a group of 3 sales rep to push for a product which this business has distribution right. And, I couldn't see any actual numbers from previous quarters.

The two owners have major communication problem. I think I can write a book "Communication Catalyst 2, the self absorbing SOBs". One couldn't speak proper Chinese. I threw in 4 lessons with a Chinese teacher for him. For years, the main staffer has been conditioned that all emails were never replied by the owners. It's only one-way communication. The responds were top-down I know everything and you are my slave. The other owner, couldn't even type English properly on promotional items. And couldn't even type Chinese on a computer! Everything had to be by fax, by hand and by phone. OMG. This second owner worked thru her "agents" in the office.

The numbers from the promotions were so convoluted that we couldn't make heads or tails about them. What were our bottom lines for the promotions, no one knew as the discounts and quota discounts on the discounts were "directed" by this verbal expressive owner.

Contracts. WE (the two of the rescuers) had just discovered that the product distribution contract was so one sided with holds that we would not sign. Basically, you are screwed. Then the new shop that is causing the most grief right now, even the Accountant agreed, the contract was very dictatorship like no marketing could be done. And it's draining good cash away. To get out now, have to do the U$ gov t approach of $ printing scheme, RMB 510,000 in change. Impossible. That was one of the contract I asked to see before signing. I turned around, it was signed.

I couldn't market the product online based on agreement as the web purchase can only limited to Shanghai. Let see. 18Million in population. Out of that, may 15million has online presence. And out of that, people that need that type of product is about 5million. And out of that 5million willing to pay.... After, this is China... Cheapskates.

This morning, I have discovered that the web has spread negative comments about the shop. All truth. Then of course, one was the most damaging because name was mentioned and accusatory tone was left. Damage was done. Hence no business for the last month... And these guys still don't understand and think they knew the "industry". What a sincere conversation they kept having with us!

Staff. One of the most damaging one was the "protégé" of the female owner. That caused major problem. I had to employ the $lackTel human monitoring approach to get things done. Today, None! No email respond. No anything. I am not surprise tomorrow things will be implement because his "boss" said so. The one that kept avoiding and ignoring us. The high supreme commander.

Tomorrow, last ditch effort and last straw, last pitch, last intersection attempt or whatever other terms .... If we don't get our business-like way to start implementing changes, the hole eventually will be so deep that the wall will collapse inward and bury the one in there.

O yeah, WE (the rescuers) wasted RMB 150 of good $ to do taxi rides and coffee to the Bund yesterday afternoon. To meet with this "developer" to look at a new location as the 3rd location for this failing business. Come on now! The location? Right behind the Waldolf hotel at the Bund. It is building a new wing. And in between is a new development supposedly to be another comprehensive development of high end restaurants and in need of a hair salon. Sorry, tapped out. New business application denied. That developer after quickly showing us around, 5 minutes top, jump into the back seat of a black 4-door latest model Bentley and left. No plan. No extra information. No cost analyst to provide. Where are these people come from? Planet of the iNept? (O maybe I should capitalize the "i" so that I don't get any lawsuits.)

Let see, RMB 800,000 had gone to a place that should not be. Now need to come up with another RMB 520,000 for the next 20 months.... Ummm... If this guy is so smart, he's already a millionaire. Compounded by my back-year projection, he should have about 12M RMB in assets. Of course, that was only my projection just like the figures I got from the spreadsheet today.

fire

Here are some pics from the local online newspaper xinmin.cn.  This building is not far from our apt, about 20-min walk.  Scary.  Very flammable new insulation.  Good thing the next building going thru the same renovation was not affected.  Take a look to your left.  Same setup.

big

We are in this 1500 sq feet space in the middle of the Makati City. Client put us up at Fraser Place which is an Expat service apartment complex. Not bad. We got upgraded from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom place with kitchen and a huge laundry area. O yeah, large living room with two bathrooms w/ shower. A furnished place with everything! And I mean everything!

When we arrived on Wednesday in Manila, we were greeted by the Sale Manager of Fraser Place. As our client is one of his biggest account, he took personal care of us. Very nice. And the guy was young and energetic. Very fitting for the job. Since the check-in time was at 3pm and we arrived by noon, he took "pitty" on us and took us for lunch. We were in this sustainable food restaurant next door called LeXXXXVert (the X's because I cannot remember the name! That memorable. Was there 3 times!). Not bad food. But here in Philippines, eating habit is bad. Greasy meat everywhere. We had to eat at the Mandarin Oriental's Cantonese restaurant last night so we could have some greens! Good thing w/ the exchange rate, costed us only USD 45.00 for two people; that was 4 dishes and a dessert later.

Here are pics from inside the apt as well as the view. Today is the first day of clear sky in the afternoon. No pollution to speak of due to the rain from the last two days. But if you were to walk along the street, it's worst than Shanghai. I am pretty much apt bounded because of that. Me and the Internet to catch up on things. The wine was for a dinner tonight, 1 1/2 hour drive to another town! Actually, it's the traffic not really the distance. Hotel car is booked for the trip. It's USD 20.00 each way. Being Friday night tonight, not recommend to take a chance hailing a cab.

handy little thing

I am truly moving to the mobile workforce. Ha! With an iPhone and the DocScanner App, I turn my mobile phone into a document scanner. Now, I can do our invoicing on the run. Quick and handy. The image was sharp too. I can download from my iPhone wirelessly either as a PDF or as a JPG. What option!

The second pic is a sample of the scanned dinner bill from last night.

Absent

Yes, I was absent from my blog for a while. A bit busy wrapping up the last week of our Credibility, Influence and Impact conference. 3 times to Boulder/Denver this year. Weather was perfect. This latest trip to Boulder was Niiiiccceeee... Weather was so warm, we overpacked with warm clothing. 24C, blue sky and dry. The hotel we stayed at was one of the oldest hotel in Boulder called Boulderado. We splurged a bit. Took a deluxe suite. Still about 1/3 of what we paid in May. And food cost, much less. We did our own dinner and lunch. Healthier. Jill's at St Julien Hotel & Spa offered 1/2 portion and light heather appetizers such as Apple, Cheese, raisins and dates. Price was right too. USD 60.00 for two included appetizers, 1/2 portion entrees and desserts. O yes, my Martini and a coffee. Not a bad price. Then there was this Middle Eastern lunch place called Arabraques. Friendly, all home-made hummus, bread, grape leaves, lentil soup. For once, I didn't feel bloated or "greased" up.

One night we went to Brasiere Ten Ten. It was a pub. So so.... Not my type of food I guess; but the Scotch, now that was a full selection to choose from. McCallen 12 years. Wednesday night we went to The Kitchen. Good flare but food wasn't a lot to choose from. 4 entrees. However, all ingredients were from local farms. Support the local economy, why not.

The closing dinner on Thursday night was at a place called 4285. A pub/restaurant. Cool food. I had Buffalo steak. Nice... Finger food. I couldn't remember as I was too busy engaging people to talk. This was the kicker. I went out for a drink back at the hotel afterward, I had to get a chicken sandwich. Did I not eat enough during the week?

I had to say, I was happy w/ my Martini and Scotch there. No complain or disappointment!

The only disappointment was when we picked up our bags at Seattle Friday night after our Denver flight. All our locks were busted or lost or worst, I had to get a new suitcase in Seattle because some idiots decided to bust all my locks as well as zippers. I did have TSA approved locks! There were no paper in the suitcases saying we opened your bags. Ridiculous.

O yes, Seattle.... It was like Vancouver we visited at the beginning of the week. Friendly, warm and sunny! We got upgraded when we arrived. The Fairmont Olympic was overbooked. Wow... Economy downturn? Where?

The flight back from YVR to HKG was brutal. Packed. People didn't know how to "aim" in the bathroom or flush! When I went in there, I had to flush first before any little air turbulence spill the bodily discharged bubbling liquid to the floor. Seriously people. Not that I am generalizing, a plane load of our motherland population. The seat were so uncomfortable, I had maybe 2 hours out of the 13 hours. Iron-wife was beaten down too. She was so tired, her body started rejecting all the nutrient after lunch in Macau. Still was as I was typing this up. Yeah, that sliding seat went nowhere with me. 90% of the flight I did not incline more than 3 degrees worrying my ass would have been in the space between the seat cushion and the flat metal area. O yeah, the non-adjustable headrest. Now, that's the diff between USD 950 econo one way vs USD 4,200 Biz class one way. Sorry, I would suffer rather than paying that much. At least I have something to write about. Ha!

Now, I am sitting in the W Hotel in Hong Kong. High price due to the fact that the Climate Change meeting had taken all the hotel rooms from Central to Causeway Bay! This room rate hurt. Hurt alot but no choice. A very excellent Starwood hotel. A must stay actually.

wake up

While we were at HKIA waiting for our flight crossing the Pacific for YVR, we used the newly opened CX lounge. We were flying coach. I flew so much now I am Gold.. Member that is. This was a space age lounge completed w/ bar tenders & chefs. Not bad. Then came to power plugs. Geee..... Is this only HK people travel? Look at the plugs. Couldn't fit anything else, and CX calls itself an International airline? Even PVG was smart enough to provide multiple-adapter power plugs in all the lounges and public power charging units. And you? Get some sense.... It's the little thing that really frustrate me seeing stuff like this. Forward thinking? Not.

paper

See this wrapped up scroll at the corner by the door?  I had a silly experience at the Hong Kong airport.  Where else, the supposedly friendly, free and forward thinking society... Right.... Since the Brits left... 

As I was ready to get through pre-screen before actual security screening and immigration, this girl stopped us.  "You cannot take this onto the plane, it's too big!".  Excuse me?  Too big?  How so?  "This is longer than 21" she spoke snarlingly.  Typical power trip.  In her hands, I noticed a stack of orange paper wondering what that was.  So iron-wife and I trooped back to the CX counter.  "It's a paper scroll, we need to hand carrying this.".  The ticket agent said "Ok, wait a minute".  She came back with on orange slip, typed it on the scroll and said "You are good to go".  What?  All this fussing for a piece of orange paper?  

I walked thru the pre-screening.  That say snarly girl came over and said "I need to tear one side of the paper off".  That was it.  We walked through. So what the hell was that all about?  Whose sick idea of "process".  It's worst than the pre-red commie days.  The only thing I can think of: job creation.  And we are wasting paper for this?  A rubber stamp may do the trick.  Literally.

 

news reporting

I was on the elliptical machine this morning and caught a BB C news about the launching of Shanghai-Hangzhou high speed rail. I laughed when the reporter said: "The cost is 20 dollars for first class and 13 dollars for second class which is a lot for most people.... ". His tone was like people here cannot afford to pay for the tickets. I beg to differ. The Chinese will spend on big expensive items to "show off". Sitting on a train cannot show it off to the world or their peers. How come this reporter did not do a piece on "how many LV, Channel, Gucci bags running around in China?".

The price for a first class seat is RMB 245 and 2nd class seat is RMB 149 and standing room ticket is RMB 80.00...(he forgot to report on the standing room ticket) One way. The time from station to station is 45 minutes. It's not that people cannot afford it. When comparing prices, we always convert an amount to our own country's and justify. That's ethnocentric. Has nothing to do with if the price is just. I always stress to visitors that when visiting a place do the local do and see from the local's eyes. RMB 245 one-way, I would think twice about it! Not that I can't afford it. I live here so I am compare price based on what I have been spending to this new price. The answer: it's more than double. And what does it buy me? A whomping 30 minutes saving in travel time from one station to another. Does it worth it? Specially when I have to take either a taxi to the new Hongqiao train station at a cost of RMB 70.00 through major grid lock on the elevated road (this means to leave home early!), or to take the number 2 subway line at a cost of RMB 4.00 and spend an hour to get there. Now, what kind of savings do I have?

What I am getting at is to take the report with a "pile" of salt not a "grain" of salt.

The reporter also failed to mention that, by launching of the new highspeed train, the normal fast train schedule has been "adjusted". "Adjusted" as in less frequent so people have to take the much more expansive highspeed train. That affects people's net income in the end. Also, the highspeed train stops at some far flung stations along the way. This means people are traveling more and more for the "high speed" to save what 30 minutes? Make senses?

Seems this reporting I saw on TV is not much in depth and just plain "thick head".

For a quick reference on train numbers, it always starts with "G", "D" or "K". G is the first letter in Pinyin for "Gao Tie". That's the highspeed train in Chinese. "D" is "Dong Che" in Pinyin that means electric powered. "K" is the good old train speed "Kuai" means fast. In scale, you always want to get on at least a "D" number train.

dirty

Yikes. This is a pre-filter for our ionizer aka water purification system. After six months of use, the filters were changed out as a schedule maintenance. Look at the one lying in the basin. It's yellow. When we installed it six months ago, it was pure white!

Just hope next Summer we are not going to have "salty" water. :-(

recent tours

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here they go.  

We did two tours so far in Shanghai.  Tuesday, we did Expo.  Today, we did an ancient water town.

http://web.me.com/damiaolo/expo2010/page_1.html

http://web.me.com/damiaolo/zhujiajiao/page_1.html

lowered

Or dud.... Not sure what this self-perceived super dud power wants the motherland'$ $ to raise. The upri$ing of the Red was long over back in the 1970'$. It's so pathetic as the ri$e of the mother"load" would not help the dud's economy anyway. In fact, it has the opposite effect. Our in c0m e BA SIC A LLY D ROPP ED BEc@ USE OF THAT. In turn, we will be forced to raise our fee to compensate the 15% depreciation (seems like 15% to me). This asking will in turn force the dud companies that do business here w/ us feeling the pinch. I still see a lot of foreigners on expense account here spending $. If the dud exchange rate continue$ to slide, wouldn't the spending stop? And no one will be sent over here. Or the Big dud companies are that stupid?

Just 4 months ago, 1 dud dollar gets me 7.2 mother"load". 10 thousand times that and we get to pay rent and other business expenses from working w/ the dud companies. Today, 1 dud dollars gets me only 6.66 mother"load". My rent has gone up by 10%, food prices here are up again.... And the people back in the dud land won't get more j o b$ as big dud corporations will look for the next cheap labour pool here in thi$ part of the world. So what doe$ it prove? Ignorant? Stupid? Probably.

Going to bed.... Heading out tomorrow to clear my head of all the stupidities. After 130KM ride, I am sure I have somethings else to distract me from this mother"load" appreciation !$$ue. I don't even read the N Y x anymore... Useless news....

bubble?

Normally, a real estate investment is expected to have about 10+% return a year. Unless my math is off, buying investment property here in motherland just doesn't make sense.

The first image is a list of apartment units for sale at a complex not far north from our apartment. It's service apartment style with management. To the right are the price. 4,900,000, 1,900,000, 2,300,000 etc... Most are one-bedroom suits. The first one on the list shown here is 101 sq meters. The second one was 43.33 sq meters, the third one was 50.9 sq meters... you get the hang of the reading from the image. Then you see 48515, 43850, 45187.. those are "per sql meter" pricing. Tonight, I saw a unit from the same complex was asking 2.5million. An expected monthly income (net) of 6,000 was stated. OK, for one year the return is about 2.88%. Ummm....

Now the second image is the "official" gov't-control published mortgage rates. The first table lists mortgage rates for individuals. 5 year rate is about 5.94%. Alright, if I only get 2.88% return and have to pay 5.94% mortgage rate. Am I having a negative rate of return?

The second table, from this same image, provides a list of mortgage rates for those who use their pension fund $ to purchase. Rates listed are about 2 points lower. Still.... I am running a negative rate of return right?

Don't forget, the "Official" down payment is 30% of the price. If one cannot afford, he/she will have to borrow from parents, relatives and friends. So those have to be pay back. Now, what math will I be running then?

Panic

Yes, major panic this aft. I did a sync of my Apple's Contacts and iCal data to the "cloud". The .Me cloud. After uploading it, I notice not only my contact's numbers and address but the content of the notes section as well. Well, that's not good. With the cloud, who else can read all my personal information that can start hacking... I wiped them from the .Me. Several hours later, I tried ooking up some information on my computer. O no, the data that I wiped from the cloud were also mirrored to my computer! Holy! I had it set to only sync one-way: from my computer to the cloud. What the hack! There must be some bugs some where.... I synced both of my phones prior too. So, I couldn't "recover".

Thank goodness for Google. I knew a copy of the backup before the sync must be on my harddrive somewhere. Buried. For security sake from Steve. I ended up restore one of my phones like I had just bought it and recovered from backup, all thru iTune. My universe was balance once again after 15 minutes of shortness of breath. It worked! I recovered all my data.

I immediately backup the recovered Contact and iCal data in six different ways! Both of my phones are synced again. And yes, I disabled the "behind the scene" cloud syncing that it should have never happened as I had it on manual.

Welcome to the cloud computing 101. Back up data somewhere as cloud can have a problem too. Don't rely on it to save the day.

Speedy

Yes, very speedy zipping to Pudong airport. I have successfully in two airports in Shanghai all in one day. In the morning, sent off iron-wife for Beijing. In the afternoon, me to Pudong Airport. My trip though was so unplanned and sudden.

Talking to dad at around 2pm on Skype after a late morning of North American travel bookings, we realized we needed to get some things attended to. So a quick chat on Skype w/ iron-wife to ensure all the stars were aligned, I booked CX. Actually, Xmas shopping for kids ;-) The earliest flight was 630pm. Done. Thank God for Be tter C!ty B ett er L! FE. My Internet had been fast the last week. In less than 5 minutes, I got my e-Ticket. Flight info downloaded to my iPhone. Ah... so civilized compared to the chaotic and ever money sucking North American airlines would not provide. Next they probably want to charge me by the minute to use the Website purchase. Enough ranting....

Good thing I traveled light. I already had my biz casual work clothes on. So I did a 10-minute house cleaning and unplugged all the unnecessary power tools, o yes, garbage and spray of "firewall" to stop bugs from coming in. I was off. LIterally with the shirt on my back.

Yes, thank you for Be tter C!ty B ett er L! FE. I took the subway and Maglev. Got to the airport shortly after 4pm. I knew I could take an earlier flight just because the web purchase did not offer. 5:30pm. Sure! Wow, a 747 too.

Now, CX proud itself to the seat comfort next to Singapore Airline. Not sure who designed the economy seats. Maybe a very proportioned 6" ramrod person that would only sit straight up. The seat sucked! So uncomfortable to site. When I reclined, my ass had to sit on the space between the seat back and the end of the seat cushion in order to have my back set nicely to the seat back. O yeah, I could not have my legs spread wide; otherwise, I might get out of alignment. Then the head rest. What the f^(()k! When the seat recline, the head rest couldn't. So I got this big lump on my head that my neck would need a neck specialist to fix after a 12-hour flight. O dear... I am flying econo to North America and on the return too. O... red-eye as well. Both ways. And the seat cushion, slowly creating this carpet burning feeling on my ass as I slowly sliding toward the bottom. My bloody Macau/Hong Kong Ferry seat has more cushioning. Yes, I got my own entertainment system and a power plug.

But still took me over 4 hours to get to Hong Kong from the time I sat on the plane. Yeah, Air Traffic Control. 1 1/2 hour behind schedule. I thought by arresting this vice chairman of civil aviation should stop the congestion or even cancel some of the ill gained routings to relief congestion. Guess not.

Speedy? Yeah... the booking online and the decision to make the trip; not so speedy w/ the flight.

familiar

Notice the logo on the top left corner. Familiar? Even the website name, so similar to a company named "Ver xxxx on". This site is for tracking flight status in the motherland.

Ca$h

Ha$ anyone heard? A small group of mine owners from Mainland C h!n@ got robbed in $weden couple days ago. The robbery was not the new$, it wa$ the @mount $tolen! 1, 600 000 .00 motherland C@$H. Yep... C@$ H. They left the amount in a touri$t bu$ while having dinner one night. Apparently, thi$ group wa$ $uch a $howoff when walking into the re$taurant. Attracted a bit too much attention.

I am $ure they are now attracting more than just the local cri min al$. Now, I $uppo$e they will have to ju$tify the C@ $H to the motherland. Where the amount came from? Had thi$ amount been obtained through un l@w ful Mi ning ....

disgusted

Wow, never thought I would have seen this in my regular "kitchen". The vegetarian restaurant we frequented so much that it was like our own kitchen. It was early. We said down and in my field of vision was this 50-ish guy with one leg pant pull up, he was scratching and rubbing it like it some sort of mammal ready to shed its skin for the upcoming season. He wasn't particularly outfitted well. Reminded me of the 70's commie era personality. Then clicking noise, I looked. There was this 55-ish woman clipping her finger nails at the table. Come on! And of course, she was dressed in expensive clothing and a Burberry handbag. Then she was complaining some of the food delivered to her table.

Gee... People must be coming back into town after the holiday. All sorts are back.

130K ass sitting

Yes, we did 130KM cycling trip today.  Beautiful day.  Best was NO people and car on the road!  Yes! Well, at 530am we left the house and there wasn't a single soul out.  By 830am, still no one.  We went to the Shanghai Yacht club at QingPu district about 60K away from our downtown apartment.   The location of the club is here: http://www.shanghaibyc.org/locations.php

It was at one end of a lake that was nice.  Water is so nice after all those concrete forests in downtown and around Shanghai.  As I was cycling along, my eyes were like a camera snapping images left and right. Too bad I could just stop here and there to take pictures.  The pics wouldn't be sceneries but more a human documentation.  People in bags boarding buses to town, getting ready for the start of first work day after Oct 1 holiday.  You could tell they were all from out of town, from villages.  Then I passed two men, suspect the faces were molded by working under harsh conditions (could be only 47 years old) but they looked over 55s.  Each of them wore Chinese made leather shoes, worn out.  A suit that was oversized and it was a trademark of villages.  Then on their shoulders, each carry their work tool - a pick made of steel, the one that used to break a wall down.  Then at one end of pick, dangling, swinging was a small bag (probably some belongings) and a thick jacket.  They were walking heading to the direction of Shanghai.  Out of country visitors definitely need to do a cycling trip in order to people watch and think a bit deeper about this country. 

The ride to the Yacht club was uneventful.  We got there, had our so call b'fast.  I was expecting a local noodle shop that I craved at rides toward this direction.  Nope, we at there.  Good thing I brought $.  Well... Western you know, Yacht, so more expensive.  How expensive?  RMB 250 for 3 of us.  2 hamburgers, two orders of scramble eggs w/ croissants, one latte and one coffee.  Ummm... I wasn't expecting to eat at the club there.  Iron wife made the decision; ha!  Well, after 2 and half hour ride one would be hungry too!  We headed back in the direction of Shanghai around 9:45am.  We didn't arrive at the bike shop until 2:00pm.  Long huh?  Not the distance, we were clipping along until I had a flat!  Couldn't avoid big bum on the road.  15 seconds after I crossed it, my back tire was flat.  

Couldn't patch it w/ our patching kit.  Finally we made a decision to ride and pump.  Good thing we were not far from town.  Every 2KM, I stopped and pumped the back tire.  Got to the designated bike shop at 2pm, by then we were all tired and hungry.  Didn't have anything to eat since 930am!  We had a bowl of noodle while we waited for the fix.  The guy at the shop asked: "Do you want light-weight or durable?"  Durable as the inner tube weight would not make that much of a diff to my already feather-light bike.  O yeah, we did bring a second inner tube, but that too was faulty with a hole.  

Well, at least now I know how to change a tire and how to take it off the back!  

All in all, a good day's ride.  There were some roads we will not take in the future, not safe, crowded and dusty.  Hey, if we didn't try today we would never know.  I have my iron-wife/GPS (valid only in China only, does not work in Australia, NZ and any countries in the Southern Hemisphere, some US cities) .

i Pho ne 4

It's finally officially here at the Apple's non-Ch!n@ M0b!Le partner. Not to steal the show, Ch!n@ M0b!Le announces that it too can accommodate this new phone. From Sep 28 to Oct 15 or so, us the also want to be hipped Ch!n@ M0b!Le customers can get a free microS!M if we get this new Apple phone from somewhere. Slight problem, can't use the 3G on Ch!n@ M0b!Le as this company has its own standard thinking that everyone has to follow. Well, this is one time the world has won. So why would I spend lots of money on a phone on your network while it's the 3G that I want to use?

closed

This is a picture of the subway stop that was closed every afternoon from Sep 29 to Oct 3.  Why?  Too many people using this station.  What? Due to the October holiday, this station was overwhelmed with tourists.  So, it was closed at 3:15pm until the line was close.  Smart or Stupid?  By having this subway station closed, everyone must exit the train at People's Park and then walk to the Bund.  O right...  People's Park has about 3 lines intersecting.  And it's alway swamped with people.  Now, closing this subway stop to "ease congestion".  Guess what?  Massive people at People's Park.  Make sense?  I don't know.  I am not crowd control expert but there were lots and lots of people on the platform at People's park. 

*Note: Photo was taken from Sin a . c om 

painting

This older gentleman was a painter. In the early morning while a group of older ladies doing fan dancing as exercise, he drew them in action WITH WATER. There was a paint brush wrapped at the end of a long stick, he stroke the action figure out. Quite nice. And when the water dried up, no harm to the side walk.

Sorry "Iq" you didn't see this when you were in Shanghai. Missed it by a week.

wild

We must have been very sheltered living in Shanghai.  Last night, I got a chance having dinner & drinks w/ a Shanghainese friend and her visiting BF.  He was being "interviewed" by me.  She wants input.  Funny both of us were speaking in Cantonese while he wasn't around.  Ha!   

We went to this restaurant called Lost Heaven (http://www.lostheaven.com.cn/).  Sorry boys who came to Shanghai before last night.  It was a high-end posh Yunnan food restaurant located by the Bund just doors down from the ferry wharf toward the Expo site.  The restaurant was decorative.  Apparently there are two Lost Heaven in town.  The lighting was a bit dark to my liking.  I was worry I might twist my ankle or fall flat on my face with the not so well marked steps.  Food was excellent.  I did not suffer any ill effect of MSG the morning after.  I liked the wild vegetable cake and the steamed cod fish.  We had noodles and chicken.  These latter two were a bit bland and salty.  3 of us w/ a bottle of wine came to RMB 780.  Pretty much on par w/ a night out in North America.  O yeah, had a drink before dinner on the roof deck.  3 drinks, RMB 220.00 Not bad for the price IF one CONVERTED back to Canadian dollars.  Yesterday, the conversion rate was CAD 1: RMB 6.52.  

That wasn't the wild part.  I was stunned w/ the amazing food and how pack the place was!  Guess we never go out at night hanging at a "Western" establishment.  All I am saying is that, with the amount we spent last night, we could have about 10 healthy meals at our favourite vegetarian restaurants.  Or pretty much hire an Ayi for a month as our housekeeper full time.  I felt like since Friday, I was spending ridiculously amount of $.  A distortion of my normal day to day living.  I walked on the wild side?  ;-) 

Alright, the real wild part.  After dinner we went to a bar called Bar Rouge on the 7th floor at #18 The Bund.  http://www.bund18.com/en/entertainment006_en.html   5-min walk toward Peace Hotel.  It offered an excellent view at night at the sore sight of the Pearl Tower and Pudong area.  Mostly tourists out on the deck having a drink.  We said inside.  Music was loud. Considering last night was still a working night, it was busy.  Or was it just starting to fill.  When we left close to mid-night, more "low cut" dressed Western women appeared.  Why bother wearing anything then?  The scene and the atmosphere would have make Mao calling his students for a 2nd uprising.  Alcohol burns faster than books and artifacts ;-)  I had to remind myself that I was inside the biggest commie countries in the WORLD.  While we were sitting down talking facing the dance floor, there was a blond woman, fully dressed in black, started dancing by herself.  Then she basically turned around and faced us.  Started dancing closer and closer to our table, making the flexible bodily movement.  Phew, good thing we were on a platform.  My friend didn't like that nor did I, so we all called it a night.  Couldn't talk that much anyway from the loud music.  

Now I know where all the taxis went late at night.  They all knew where to get a good fare.  Unfortunately, most waiting were the independent red taxis.  They were scary drivers.  The one us three in were driving thru red lights away from the Bund.  And on the wrong lane at times!   Good thing it was late at night.  

I poked my head out last night.  And now, I am even more "sheltered".  Ha!  

The only way to frequent these establishments like last night's: the bars, the high-end restaurants, etc, is either get an expat package (well, it doesn't worth much these days), an expense account, or just filthy rich....

Panerai

Well, I can't justify a HKD 150,000.00 watch.  I did the next best thing.  Get if for free.  Free as in download an iPhone App simulating having the real thing.  It's a bit clunky wearing it on my wrist vs the real thing of only 44mm.  ;-)

Yummy

It has been pouring all day from the effect of the fading tropical storm. We had a very light lunch so by 4:00pm, time for snack. Mom and I went to our regular Macau coffee shop just up the street from the apartment. Afternoon tea special: Hong Kong-style milk tea and Cambodian curry short beef noodle soup. All for MOP 26.00 (CAD 3.50). What a deal! The milk tea was not a traditional just milk and Lipton tea bag. It was a combo of Chinese pu-er tea leaves and Lipton tea leaves mixed together. Strong and smooth. And the curry beef noodle was so hot and spicy, it reminded me of the old days when I was in school in Macau. O yummy. That was one of the reasons why I took mom to the new Macau luxury mall for a walk. Had to walk the food off.

back of the bus

When we left for Hong Kong from Shanghai on Tuesday morning, we sat at the back of the bus. Once in a while, got to "remind" ourselves how fortunate we could do the Biz Class. Our seats were cramp and tight. Good to make sure we have a fit body though. People were bumping with big luggage passing by. Extreme morning bad breath that literally attacked your nostrils when that Chinese passenger open his mouth to speak or exhale. The women talking for 2 1/2 non-stop in Shanghainese, loud, about the upcoming shopping trip. And they were so self-absorbed that blocking the isle for other passengers to sit. Totally, chaotic.

But this flight we took departed early! Yes, early! Thanks to the typhoon cutting across Southern Taiwan and then into the ever so busy air corridor between Shanghai and Hong Kong. Our flight pushed off at 7:35am!!! Yes, 7:35am on a scheduled departure of 7:40am. I guess the pilots did not want to lose the slot. The typhoon affected a lot of domestic flights using the same air corridor. Or all the domestic pilots were afraid of flying in bad weather due to fake flight resumes. We landed at 10am. 20 minutes ahead of schedule! I liked it! But the China Eastern (MU) flight trying to land an hour later wasn't so lucky with 200 passengers aboard.

What happened was, our pilot said, before landing, "in an hour, wind will be very strong". As a matter fact, our landing was a bit harder than normal. The pilot had to accelerate a bit to keep the plane straight so wind would not knock us off the path. Anyway, the 11:00am MU flight tried to land in Hong Kong had to divert to Hainan Island (45 minutes) away due to "rough" weather. After sitting on the tarmac for about 2 hours, the MU flight tried again to land in Hong Kong. No luck due to "rough weather" announced the pilot. So he divert the flight to Xiaman about an hour north of Hong Kong. On the way to Xiaman, the flight had a sudden drop of altitude. Scared the living day lights out of the passengers. When the MU flight finally landed in Xiaman, the flight attendants could not contact the pilot in the cockpit. He cut the communication off! The plane was sitting on the tarmac for many more hours, I meant many hours. Finally the passengers were let off with compensation of a cup of noodle soup. No arrangement of forward flight schedules. No compensation. The flight ended in Xiaman and that was it. Welcome to flying here in the Motherland. Airline refused to compensate "due to weather". The flight attendants told some of the passengers quietly that the pilot might had a little "psyc" problem during the flight. More like, not equipped to fly. There were so many flights landed during the time that the MU pilot decided not to land due to "rough" weather.

empty

There is this new extreme high-end shopping mall in Macau now just in front of the old Hotel Lisboa.  The place is part of the huge complex connected to MGM Grand, Mandarin Oriental and its adjoining Residence.  All I had to say was "This is NOT Macau I used to lived".   

When I walked inside the mall, it was empty.  Visitor to store employee ratio is about 1: 10.  The place mall was empty.  Guess because it was the middle of the week.  The only busy store was LV.  The rest like Tod's, Panerai, Ferragamo, Boss, Z Zegna, Zegna and the like, had no one in there.  I roamed thru the LV store just because I could and said "I have done it".  The store had 3 floors!!!!  I walked into Tod's to check out some loafers as I in need a replacement pair.  Ummm...  Not the price but I just didn't feel I should shop here.  Felt a little bit too "luxurious" compared to the "Real" world out there.

Here is the mall link: http://www.onecentral.com.mo/en/shopping/overview.asp

news around here

I can't give away my Expo tickets!  We have 4 left and I asked couple people already and they just said no. Everyone went already didn't want to go again.  Who would want queuing up 3-4 hours just see one pavilion.  This fair pretty much is for mainlanders who could not get out of the countries a chance to see the world.  Later this week is mid-Autumn festival, a 3-day holiday.  Then people start working on Sunday as if Monday, because Oct National Day holiday starts on Oct 1 and last for 10 days.  What a country huh?  If you want to play you have to put in the work.  Not like back in the good N.A.  Holiday days are more than actual work days.  If the Motherland rules of holidays apply, there would be a revolt.  Guess, that is why here something new and tall comes up so quickly vs in NA. 

-----

Friend visited from Canada this weekend. Stayed at Jia just across the street from our apartment.  A very neat boutique hotel.  It has everything to offer, drinks, unlimited Internet access, b'fast, kitchenette in room, plug-in for your iPod and iPad.  All a guest needs is the RFID pass to get thru the front door; after that, it's like home.  O right, even have a washer/dryer apparently.  Price was right too.  RMB 1,500 per night plus taxes.  With that price, you get all those mentioned included.  This owns by a Singaporean-based designer.  I am going to try the Jia in HKG sometime.  

-----

O while this friend was visiting, we had afternoon tea in the newly opened Peninsula Hotel by the Bund.  Wow.  3 years ago when I ran thru the area, it was just crap!  The area was like a 3rd world slum, with 1/2 torn down buildings and people sleeping on the street.  Now, it was totally redeveloped to a posh area.  The hotel has a very exclusive high end shopping arcade.  Canali, Prada, etc...  I saw some photos of new Canali stuff on a website just two days ago; they were on displayed already.  My friend was wearing a pair of runners and the male store staff kept looking at his feet.  Very funny.  Maybe he just had skinny legs ;-)  or just big feet.  I wasn't sure.  Ha!   The afternoon tea at the lobby was nice.  A live quintet and a pianist were playing on the second floor.  Price though, 1/3 of a normal entry level employee makes in a month.  Did it once, no need to do it again.  

------

Just saw these articles from the Shanghai Business Review:

Expats may have to accept scaled-down packages
China is a top spot for expatriate workers, but transplants may have to start settling for smaller relocation packages amid increasing competition for postings, according to a survey released by the Economic Intelligence Unit. It was considered one of the top three global destinations for expatriate workers by 35% of survey respondents. India was chosen by 16% and Japan by 7%. While the survey showed that just 13% of companies had added to their expatriate staff over the past two years, 39% of them planned to do so over the next five years.

China UnionPay, MasterCard in cooperation
China UnionPay and MasterCard Worldwide announced that they had signed an MOU for future business development. The agreement seeks to set up a cooperation mechanism for both sides and the two companies plan to form working groups to discuss and implement development plans for online payments and other business opportunities. {my comment: yeah, Visa got screwed and now MC wants to try getting screwed? Hello? Have you heard of the story?  Visa had a joint venture in motherland; but got pushed aside because local shopkeepers were not using the actual Visa machine but the Union P@y's one for cheaper cost.  Visa threatened to cut the shopkeepers off.  So.... No one cared about Visa. }

access what?

I just heard from CBC's nightly news podcast. One of the articles said the maple leave wants to access the motherland's people database to cross reference potential brides marrying CDNs. Right. Hello? Have these maple le@ve people know how to read Chine$e? Do you think the motherland wants you to gain acce$$ to its people database? Get serious. And from what underwater cable will this access coming from? What encryption to employ? BTW, the motherland requires all algorithms of super secret encryption technology to be submitted for security concern.

Really, acce$$ing the "motherLoad"? Good luck. Wonder how many wonderful dinners and drinks we will pay out. The G un
Re g!st ry.... Ring a bell?

silent retreat

Not me.  I am not in the right frame of mind to do a 10-day silent retreat with meditation everyday from sun up to sun down.  But Iron-wife is doing it with the good fortune of this year's mid-Autumn festival is 3-day long next week.  The week after that, people just don't work hard because of October 1 holiday, our motherland's birthday.  So there goes 2 more weeks of "celebration".  With that, she'll be doing this everyday!   It's also like camping, have to bring everything and I mean everything!  The fee?  Since this is her first time, it is in the form of a donation amount at her choosing.  

4:00 a.m.---------------------Morning wake-up bell 4:30-6:30 a.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room  6:30-8:00 a.m.----------------Breakfast break 8:00-9:00 a.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall 9:00-11:00 a.m.---------------Meditate in the hall or in your room                                 according to the teacher's instructions 11:00-12:00 noon--------------Lunch break 12noon-1:00 p.m.--------------Rest, and interviews with the teacher 1:00-2:30 p.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room  2:30-3:30 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall 3:30-5:00 p.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room                                 according to the teacher's instructions 5:00-6:00 p.m.----------------Tea break 6:00-7:00 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall 7:00-8:15 p.m.----------------Teacher's Discourse in the hall 8:15-9:00 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall 9:00-9:30 p.m.----------------Question time in the hall 9:30 p.m.---------------------Retire to your room; lights out

Before we send her off to the mountain, she'll visit with our good friend's parents first.  They happen to be at the same area, at Tai Zhong.  Not bad.  To make Iron-wife's travel arrangement and all, thanks to the Internet, Instant Messaging and cheap LD via VOIP, our friend and I were able to make this travel arrangement in an hour.  I was in Shanghai, he was in San Fran, his parents sitting at home in Tai Zhong.  We had her overnight hotel booked and transport picked up done, very smoothly.  What I am getting at is the convenient the Internet technology provided for us these days.  We took it for granted.  My Taiwanese friend showed me the hotel, actually a home-stay, instantly along with the vegetarian restaurant.  Here are the links: http://www.romancehouse.com.tw/room.htm     http://www.bodhi-aranya.com/beginning.htm.

The first one is the home-stay and the second is the restaurant.  I would have gone along just for the visit while Iron-wife does her retreat.  There are two groups of Canadian friends visiting spanning the two weekends.  So no go.  Next time I guess. 

typical translation

So here you go. The Motherland has been trying to curb "poor" English translation for everything like street signs, instruction signs, restaurant menus, etc.... This one, kinda missed by the editing department. I am not sure I want this dessert IF I were to read it in English! But in Chinese, it is quite tasty. Basically it is a combo of rock sugar, lily bob and rice simmer together for a long time. Quite a wonderful dish. I would eat it. If the English translation is that bad; wonder what the Japanese translation would be. ;-)

news flash

We just checked into our hotel here in Hong Kong. Funny we got an upgrade. I already had an Executive floor room from the web. I couldn't get it cheaper. Then as the receptionist handed me the room key, he said "I have upgraded you. It is on the 20th floor. The Presidential Suite." I thought I heard it wrong as we were a bit tired from the day and flying and late hours.

We got to the 20th floor, look for the sign to 2005. Couldn't find it. 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010. Huh? What the heck! I slid my room key to the Presidential Suite. Green light. O.... Lovely view and big room. But really, we were really flattered. Too bad we have 1/2 day meeting out of hotel and then head over to Macau.

Pictures to follow when we have more natural sunlight coming into the windows. All windows overlook the Victoria Harbour to Kowloon from the Hong Kong to Kowloon underwater tunnel.

scary flying

Don't fly the kingdom's domestic regional or discount airlines. Over 200 pilots presented themselves w/ falsified flying records. Half of these pilots were from $henzhen Airline. Yikes. Due to the recent crash up north killing almost everyone and the recent landing problem of a discount airline flight (the wings touched the runway), there is now a call to ensure domestic flying safety.

Yeah right., this is you know where. If the rich guy$ are flying their own planes all over the map ignoring civil aviation rules, you think the discount airlines will?

Really, how the heck can one falsify one's flying record and then sit in the pilot seat? Taxiing and taking off and landing. Smart people I guess.

M@de-by

You know who these days where everything comes from. Bloody hell, almost caught an electrical fire if I didn't check.

We had a new water heater now. I was away so only iron-wife supervised the installation. Well, the installer left without plugging it in! And I found out why! The plug was "slightly" larger than the Commie standard size. This one just slightly larger!!! How the f^*(U(k a company like Haier makes this kind of product? No quality assurance? Or just contract the plug to the cheapest guy out there? Take a look at the picture.

So to resolve the "oversize" problem, I got my Ayi to get an adapter. She got one. I tried it today. First try, the on/off switch was toasted. The adapter was hot to touch. I immediately pull everything out. It smelled. The on/off switch did not work anymore. Something was jiggling in there! Gee...