ripoff

That is why I don't like flying in bloody NA anymore! I had just paid
360 per tix to rebook my parents flight back to Asia. That's 360 per
tix on top of the 100 per tix last year to leave it open after the
surgery. And the tix are in Biz First class. Outrage! I am not
going pay a dime more for my own tix heading back to them. I am
sitting at the back of the plane. According to the website, there are
some prime seats opened for me. Let see ... It was my fault not
packing my upgrade vouchers.... I was too too busy the day before I
left. Completely forgot about them. O... I just notice, if I want to
use the voucher, I need to pay over 3,078 plus taxes. The lowest fare
biz class tix is 4,955 plus taxes. Ouch....

And to cut cost, this airline has changed the daily flight time, 2am
daily!! 2am!!! Beside the landing fee will be cheaper and less food
to serve at that god aweful time, I don't see any reasons.

wsj

This is very ridiculous!  Despite my CC info is not up to date (incorrect expiry date) in WSJ profile, I was charged the annual subscription fee of USD 155.  1) there was nowhere in the WSJ profile to stop the auto renewal!  I had to email the WSJ online support to turn it OFF! and 2) why the heck the bank put the charge thru when the expiry date was incorrect in WSJ and it was expired by two years?  And this bank is giving me grief trying to get a corporate credit card for myself?  Totally shitty!

clark

Not Ken Clark. But Clark, Colorado. What a beautiful place to 3 1/2
hours North West of Denver just past Steamboat Spring. The air was
very fresh. This past week there was exciting: learning to ride a
horse, herding cattle, learning to communicate with others effectively
and for the first time in 8 years, I felt focus! Working at S@$ KT el
made me realized how $ tre$$ed and much multi-tasking I was doing.
There are three components to this program, Clark was the first:
Credibility, Influence and Impact.

The reason we were at a ranch "playing" with horses was to learn to
get credible with the horses. Horses do not care if we are rich,
poor, friendly or an "ass". We need to learn to establish a trust
with the horse and be connected with it. Otherwise, I couldn't have
been typing here right now. (side fact: your inner things should not
be rubbed raw from riding. I was perfectly fine after my first ride
and the subsequent 4 days of riding in the field and herding cattle.)
Very neat. This first part taught about not having a "bioreaction" to
comments. In short, "put yourself into someone's shoes and walk a
little".

This is not just walk away until August's second phase. Between now
and August, there are work to be done. It's a six-month of work....

sampling

What a sampling meal tonight we had!!!! For those who enjoy food and
wine, this meal was sooooooooooooo impressive! The Chefs, used very
intrigued ingredients to compose a 5-course sampling menu pairing with
different wines.

First course, seared halibut. Second course, grilled shrimps with
chili, vanilla chocolate and polenta sauce; the flavour of the
sauce! Wow.... Third course, Elk capacio with oyster (French
style). O my! Fourth course, a venison with clear beef broth and red
berry. No fat, no grease! Last but not least, the desert: big pepper
chili stuffed with goat cheese cheese cake with chocolate. I don't
like goat cheese but I could not taste it. This desert was paired
with a riesling. Wow! The wine washed away the heaviness of the
cheese cake.

I am so impressed with the quality of food. At the end of the night,
the chef came by with one of his collection and pop-opened a bottle of
Spanish red. Sat down and just talked wine. O... The depth of
knowledge! Scary!!!! Being hidden away in Clark, CO. Just amazing.

I have asked him to write up his wine pairing with the food. So
wonderful!

ride

Horse ride. We spent a total of 4 hours riding horses making them to
do what we want them to do. Wow! I had the horse going left and
right circles, trotting, making it move forward and backward at my
command. Doing drills. Pretty cool..... Of course, here being in
the mountain, the weather is like Saskatchewan. It changes suddenly.
It was sunny this aft and then turned ugly. Thunderstorm, snow, sleet
and sun shine, in that order. But the fun part was the horse riding.
These wranglers and the people in charge were so professional. They
want you to play with the horses. We had such a big place to "play".
That was, practice what we learned.

The food here is so amazing. Have not had a bad meal at all.
Everything is prepared fresh here all the way to the hamburger buns.
Every night has a different theme and wine parings. And unique wine!
We always got educated on what wine it was we were drinking and the
origin of it. O yeah, this morning's special for b'fast was Tuscan
egg - poached egg with polenta. O my! Wonder what will be tomorrow.
The staff knows everyone's name by heart! We have 19 people here.
This place is worth a vacation! The Home Ranch at Clark, CO.

We have a one-bedroom cabin. All modernly furnished. No kitchen;
food is included. In our room, we had cheese, crackers, cookies and
nuts all refill daily at no extra charge. 3 square meals a day
inclusive. Tomorrow night, the chef will use very unique ingredients
to make our dinner. This will be fun to see. Let's hope we won't be
getting 4 inches of snow like in the higher elevation tomorrow. We
all want to see the pro to tame a wild horse in 45 minutes! Live!

my my

What a day at The Home Ranch! We were matched up to a horse and had
to make it do tricks. It was all part of the Communication course we
are taking. Quite interesting, the guy that wrote the book on it is
part of teaching team. He had done things that could not really be
talked about. Communication Catalyst is the name of the book.

The view here at 7,000 ft up is spectacular. We still see snow
everywhere! There was a snow storm apparently couple days before we
arrived. Food, wow! Forget about the highend most expensive
restaurants around the world. Here, the chef is worth at least two
Michielent (spelling?) Stars. This guy is amazing!!! Apparently,
most top end NYC restaurants had wanted him to be the main chef for
their "feature" restaurants. He refused; raise the family at Clark,
CO at this range! For Pete Sake, this guy serves us the last couple
days just like another helper around the ranch. You would not know
he's the master chef! And the wine pairing.....

tired

No wonder I am tired, sore feet and low in energy. I walked a total
of 15K today since 730am! And I only had a coffee and a scone for
b'fast after 3.5K into the walk. And after 12K, I had my lunch w/ a
big bowl of fresh noodle soup. Second last day of errands before
flying to Colorado for the first of three part course we are talking.
I still have about 20 hours of pre-course work to do but have not have
time.... Too tired now. It's only 8:59pm here but felt like 10pm;
that's what happened when I woke up at 450am. Aghhhh......

No wonder I was so tired.... I felt asleep on the chair while my hair
was being washed after a cut. Didn't help when part of the service
was to massage my scalp. I hope I didn't snore or made any weird
noise in the chair.

milkman

Head of milkman delivering and leave the milk by your door. We don't
do that in Sh@ ngh@i here. We have milk boxes. Every morning at the
crack of dawn, milk will be delivered to the milk box similar to the
one shown. It has a little pad lock. Empty bottles got replaced with
full ones. On my apartment floor, there are couple of these boxes. I
know exactly what time it is when I hear the little boxes are opened
and closed. 5:45am. Every day.

nice houses

Nice houses huh? They are in the district of QingPu in the "bE tt e r
c! ty.... ". But guess what? None of the houses have foundation set
when they were built. The real estate project manager said "yes, a
little bit of seriousness with this problem". No kidding! How the
heck can one not have foundations with these houses? These are
townhouses. Good thing it was similar to that 20 story high one that
collapsed.....

expo tixs

I got six one-day Gumby passes. Anyone games? They are all free.
Got these tixs from doing a seminar for about 70 MBA students from
Boston. Explained to them how Chinese business work and the pitfalls
if still use North American thinking mode here. The room was packed.
The seminar was based from real life experiences. And I provided an
overall view of the difference between local company formation and
WOFE formation as well as how to structure company properly to protect
your biz. Some fell asleep. Ha! Not that I was boring. Right. ;-)
But the room was too warm, it was after lunch and some just arrived
couple days ago from Boston. It was quite comical to see some of
these people's eye lids got heavier and heavier.

I got invited to speak to the students because a good friend of mine
is the Assistant Dean to the Boston's MBA school. Every year, he
likes to get the students expose to real life situations.

views

Some shots from Tian An plaza just across the street from Marriott.
The large green park is the People's Park. It's the largest China
first subway interchange underneath it. I try to avoid it for this
obvious claim. Far away in the background of the park is the Pudong
side where all those famous Shanghainese landmarks are located.
Pudong means "River's East side". Pu is River, Dong is East. We live
in Puxi means River's west side. Xi is West. The Pu refers to
HuangPu river.

In another picture, the old building with a tower is the old Shanghai
Race Track building. Believe it or not, in front for this building
used to be a horse race track. Just north to the right of this old
building is the performance art centre. And to the left that tall
block building is the Tax Revenue building.

For some strange reasons, since the Expo has started the air is
cleaner, the sky is bluer and the traffic is thinner. I don't think
it has anything to do with: factory shutdowns during the Expo period
and the new security rule in place for out of town vehicles are
subject to searches individually at the highway entrance to Shanghai.

roof top

This is the swimming pool at Marriott where we spent time for iron-
wife's swimming practice. Part of our gym.

The background is a large area of old Shanghainese residential low
rise buildings. Wonder when these buildings will be teared down for
more modern hotels, commercial and residential buildings. The
elevated road is the one we take all the time heading to Pudong
airport. It cuts thru the Expo site by the river.

old buildings

Something you will not able to see anymore soon. These old houses are
pretty much what old Shanghai used to be looked like. This is only
the front, it extends fairly deep inside. Rows and rows of these two-
level housing.

Couple doors were opened as I walked by, and I saw how small they
were. Less than 9ft x 9ft. There were bed and desk and computer...
Not surprise if the bathrooms and kitchens are communal.

I was in the area because I had to register "again" of my residential
address in Shanghai. Yeah, as if the gov't does not know. I was
there on April 23rd with iron-wife. Yes, everyone MUST register. Had
hers done; when we tried to do mine, we were told no need. Then on
Saturday, we got a call. I MUST re-register again. O well... Got
down to the police station. A nice walk north of our apartment for
about 15 minutes. The police was puzzled that I need to re-register.
5 minutes punching on the keyboard, I was done. And my new
registration paper was printed and stamped. Funny... It wasn't the
paper that was important. It was the stamp. Mine registration paper
was printed on some recycled paper that had something else on the
other side. Ha!

name sake

Just notice this new supermarket springing up across the street from our gym.  Wondering if  Prez O knows that his name is being used.  And if he will get a fee for the name use.  The owner is smart by playing with the Chinese words of Prez O's name.  Officially in Chinese he was know as 奥巴马 (I have put an image of the Chinese characters as an image so the English rendering computers can see them).  In the picture, the Chinese characters are different, at least the first and last.  (read them from left to right).  All these Chinese characters have the same pinyin but can be of different characters.  Registrations of a company here is more important in Chinese.  I guess it passes the "mustard".  

Falling

Wow... This was part of a rain draining tube hung underneath an
elevated highway about two subway stops away from us. An 8-meter
section fell. Portion of the fallen smacked on the hood of a passer-
by vehicle, damaged the front pretty good. Passengers were not harm.
According to the initial report, the cause of the fall was due to the
weight of mud and dirt accumulated inside the drain over the years.
There was no plan on cleaning out the drain or inspection of the
braces holding the drains. But hey, there were lots of pretty neon
lights hanging next to those drainage tubes celebrating " B et t eR C1
ty, bET t r l! fE" though. I particular like the purple-ish ones ...
Factories were told to do rotating closure to ensure "we" have enough
power to see the little xtra neon lights as we walk underneath an
elevated highway to cross the road.

BTW, see the drain on the road in the picture, half was painted over
(left side); that was the side painted over in preparation of a "good
looking clean" city.

subway map

Look at this spider web! This is the "B ett er C! ty bEt ter L! fe"
for us! 11 subway lines now and counting I think. It's massive.
Just to give you an idea. From our apt stop to HongQiao airport is
about 17Km or so, to Pudong airport is about 40Km. From the apt to
SheShan which we normally cycle pass is about 35Km. The north-east
corner's final stop is actually in another city in another province!
Ha! So who needs privately own vehicles?

Summer is upon us. I took the subway yesterday, indications of Summer
is upon us: 1) moisture on tiled floor, slippery, 2) heavy humid air
in subway carts, and yes 3) smelly people in carts! Why did I always
just want to walk, even when iron-wife suggests buses... all because
of the second and third reasons of Summer is coming.

workers

These are a series of pictures posted by a local blogger. He went to
survey the worker's living condition while making the W0rL d E X p0$
a success. Notice the mattresses, they are just styrofoam. No
insulation in the tent and it was bloody cold in Shanghai in February
and March. According to the workers, the most important thing needed
for them was drinking water. There was never enough to provided.
They had to ask nearby neighbour for water supply. How many billions
on this? I bet these guys get paid less than RMB 200 a month; if
more, that would still not enough.

Housing

This long weekend is the traditional 2010 residential real estate
fair. Also a gauge on the "shopping" intensity to come. Not many
people are "shopping". There was a developer using luxury yacht and
Western models with Bikini wear to entice shoppers. Not much
happening. At least the models are getting a good tan with blue sky
and 30C weather right now. Me, I had enough sun from yesterday riding
for 9 hours.

The fair is happening now 15-minute walk from our apartment. Just
across the street from the Ritz Carlton hotel. Like I said, lots of
happening within walking distance here.

Perhaps no people because of a 5-day holiday in Shanghai, Expo is
taking people away from the fair and the restricted rule on housing
mortgages.

accident

We heard a loud bang.  A distinct metal to metal bumping.  Sure enough, two taxies collided in front of a very busy intersection 20 paces in front of our apartment.  This was the immediate aftermath of the accident.  Cars going all different ways.  Notice the yellow line and the vehicles coming and going?  Most of the time, drivers play chickens with each other when turning left.  Right turning, there is no yielding; car just flies out and it is the responsibility of the on-coming traffic to "yield".  

Yes, lots of stuff happens in front of our apartment.  We just cannot get as central as our place in Shanghai that is for sure!

 

 

NYT article

There was a New Y ork Times article about Shanghai's redevelop on
WuJiang Road. Unfortunately, that was not really WuJiang Road;
close. The WuJiang Road redevelopment is slated just north of it.
Here's a map of the perspective. The building is more on WeiHai
Road. It is just across the street from the Four Seasons Hotel. The
entire blue patch is the redevelopment area. Just north of WuJiang
Road or north of this big patch of redevelopment is the WuJiang road
redevelopment of 5 commercial buildings including 2 hotels. Scary.

The red line I drew is the new WuJiang Road food street that every
vendor was forced from across the road to. If the vendor couldn't
afford the move, too bad. No more business. Done. Hence this new
WuJiang Road section has lots of empty blocked up stores. The only
ones seem to invaded this new strip are a two-storey high Krispy Kreme
and coming soon Carl Jr burger store. Talk about heavy duty heart
stopping stores. Literally. Yes, forgot to mention "DD" is here as
well; though it is just 50 meters north of the Four Seasons Hotel.

O that old building featured in the Ne w Y o rK Time s article,
apparently it will not be moved. Staying as it is "historical" and
belongs to some gov't department. Would be nice if the city planner
going to make a nice park area out of it. But probably not. We this
city needs more 50-storey high commercial buildings and shopping malls
and 5-star hotels....

!pad huh

No need to wait; this !p@d look alike is coming out in June. It runs
"Win dow$ 7". Two USB ports, speakers, supports wireless and 3G, 10.1-
inch screen, rotating screen, Solid State Harddrive of 8G, 16G or 32G,
6 hours of battery life. Thickness is between 8mm to 17mm. Weight is
900g.

Check out more in www.shanzhaiben.com... Chinese reading is required.

168 part 2

Here's the map of our route from yesterday's bike ride. What a loop
we did. Started from top right corner of the map to the lower left
corner. We were pretty much at the edge of Shanghai administrative
zone.

On the left side that said "Sun Island". It is a golf resort. Along
the way toward the resort, we said golf shops and club rental places.
Ha! The place just south of Sun Island called MaoKou (泖口）it was
the experimental organic farming community. I wouldn't mind heading
back out that way. It looked nice. Maybe we'll stay at Sun Island
overnight and puddle around that area. This is the Sun Island
website: http://english.sunisland.asia/

168

That's 168KM of bike riding today! We did our usual route to the South
West corner toward SheShan where PGA golf tournament was held in the
past. When we got close, we decided to take a detour more south to
see what was there. Wow... We were in a different century.
Villages, waterways, fresh air, no traffic, and an experimental
village that grows its own organic food for sustainability! The
village was called MaoKou (泖口). 200 families. What a peaceful
place.

My thighs could power much one the way back. Needed a Gel every 20K
or so on the last 50. Now my butt and my knees are sore.

We had vegetarian hot pot tonight for dinner. Then walked home.
Almost all the way, took subway from one stop away. The walk was
about 35minutes. My feet are toasted now too.

Will post map of the ride later this week.