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. 

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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.  

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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.  

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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...

SIN shopping

Despite the fact that people go to Singapore to shop, I just browse if that. I only shop if there was a requirement. Like this time. I had to get something to attend a wedding next Sunday in HKG. The Ion on Orchard just opened with such a big fan-fare. I decided to bypassed all the other shops/malls. Hopped on the subway getting to the the Orchard Road subway station. Signage in the mall was less than helpful. Maybe perhaps I did not understand the new architectural design form factor. I believed it was designed to confused and "locked" up people in there to buy. Anyway, Ion on Orchard was suppose to have every major brand names in there. Even Singapore Airline has moved there. What anchor. Or while one shops, he/she can do check-in for the flight next day.

Anyway, brand names like Gucci, Ferragamo, Z Zegna, Zegna, Prada, LV, Mui Mui to name a few. All there. Being me, I only do my loafers w/ Ferragamo and clothes from Zegna. Well, I did not get any help in Z Zegna, the two boyish looking staff totally just ignored me, as if I did not exist. Suited me fine as I was looking for Summer stuff, and this place was selling all Winter gear. Then I headed to Zegna, more pleasant. Came out and greeted me. Unfortunately, there was nothing Summery. All Winter gear again. The salesman tried selling me a thick Cord jacket. He didn't even hear my requirement when I talked to him. I was looking for the Zegna's Cool effect sports jacket. Non-lined with wicked away moisture wool that keeps the body temperature down. He didn't even know what I was talking about. Ummm.... I took the subway back to my hotel, Swissotel on Stamford, the City Hall stop. Raffle City Mall was adjacent.

I finally settled on a Brooks Brother non-iron slim fit shirt. Man, it was great; nice comfortable thick cotton! I am in the mist of replacing my oversized shirts from the "old" days. Service at Brooks Brother was great. The lady was ready to make some alteration for the shirt after I tried it on; but I didn't need any. Guess I have to work on keeping my existing figure. Ha! I should have bought a few more; but hey, there is always another time.

O yeah, I need a watch that can go to town with; aka meetings, delivery courses, etc. My 3 years old Tissot could do the trick but the Titanium metal somehow react to my sweat. Make the watch very stinky as well as my wrist. I figure, hey, might as well try something nice. Saw one at the Montblanc store. i had my eyes on the latest Timewriter. Pretty cool. Well, it was an automatic which means it is a self-winding one. All expansive watches are. I might have to look at buying a self-winding box for the watch too. Another Ummm..... I'll think about it. All the new watches are over 42mm. That's bloody big face. I don't want to be that "show-off". The hunt continues.

gimmick

This airline has made the first A380 maiden voyage from Frankfurt to Beijing.  And to make this more significant, this aircraft is name "Beijing".  And of course, with this name it was landed on the #1 runway at the capital of the kingdom.  Seriously... very cheeky.  Economy round trip between the two cities is RMB 23,346, Business class is RMB 56,356 and First class is RMB 74,676.  The exchange rate is USD1 = RMB 6.8; you can do the math.

SIN taxi

Interesting. I did not realize it before but seems to be more and more. Singapore taxi drivers are selecting their routings. If on the "desired" route, the taxi driver would have the potential passenger hopped in and drove off. Wow. I didn't expect this type of behaviour from Singapore. Yes, it is here whether one likes it or not. Get use to it. There are times taxi drivers refuse people waiting but accept "bookings". This adds extra to the fare as booking fee. Fees, fees, fees.... That's the name of the game.