Question: how many people to change a, nope not light bulb but, a RMB100 note?
Answer: 4 people. One to take your money to help you make the change, one to refuse to make any change just because, one (customer himself) to tell the one with my money to get change from the restaurant, coming back empty handed with no change but my RMB100. One bellboy to finally getting the job done by going back to the grumpy not helpful receptionist to open the drawer full of 20's and 50's notes. Total episode time spent: 10 minutes.
Question: how many people needed to get some white sugar?
Answer: At least 5! One waiter from the Chinese restaurant as he thought I wanted "ming tong" aka Chinese rock sugar; then 4 more staff discussing how to give me the sugar cubes from the Western restaurant in the hotel. Finally settled in a small ziploc bag. Total episode time spent: 15 minutes.
People are friendly in the service sector as they all tried to help; but if you get them to do things outside of the 'norm', they totally freaked out and cannot accommodate. But in a small town, life is just too simple.
Monday, June 9, 2008
We were swamped!
Aghhhhh....... We were swamped! Got home around 630pm last night. Opened all the windows, turned on the lights to unpack. Not even 5 minutes, the entire living room was swamped with flying termites! Yikes. I couldn't kill them fast enough. As soon as I turned off the light, no activity; turned the light back on, they flew around the light in groups... By my estimate, there were a over 30 flying around frantically. So after a while in the killing field, we decided to burn some incents and sealed the living room. We left for supper. By the time we came back, with vacuum in hands ready to do battle with foreign invaders, they were gone! Gone! The only sigh we were being visited by these insects were the debris of body parts on the floor. Weird.... Seemed like we just came out of a parallel universe. We were worry it was the aging apartment. But...
Read tonight's Chinese newspaper online; apparently with the hot and humid weather as well all the heavy rain, these little insects multiply in the tens of thousands, flying all over our Jing'An district. They occupied ATM machine booths, people's apartment, even Hilton's swimming pool. Lots of residents in PJs (yeah, as if they don't do this during daytime anyway) went to convenient stores for sprays. Some houses were invaded so badly the entire wall was covered. An Alfred Hitchcock movie...
As quickly as they came, they left.... and died... by the next morning.
Read tonight's Chinese newspaper online; apparently with the hot and humid weather as well all the heavy rain, these little insects multiply in the tens of thousands, flying all over our Jing'An district. They occupied ATM machine booths, people's apartment, even Hilton's swimming pool. Lots of residents in PJs (yeah, as if they don't do this during daytime anyway) went to convenient stores for sprays. Some houses were invaded so badly the entire wall was covered. An Alfred Hitchcock movie...
As quickly as they came, they left.... and died... by the next morning.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
A day of spending in Shanghai
RMB30 - tuna sandwich & sparkling water at Starbucks at noon
RMB55 - Ayi to clean the 1,000 sq ft place, do dishes and laundry
RMB32 - taxi from our apartment at Nanjing Road West to Hongqiao Marriott
RMB89 - a Gin Martini at the Marriott lounge while waiting for Audrey to finish her biz meeting
RMB11 - taxi to Gubei 3911 for supper
RMB189 - supper
RMB25 - taxi back home after supper
The total comes to: RMB431 (CAD63.32); this amount is more than half of average people earn in Shanghai. Of course, I have not factored in the RMB4.50 for my late lunch. ;-)
Shanghai is another big city; you can spend the money if you are not careful.
RMB55 - Ayi to clean the 1,000 sq ft place, do dishes and laundry
RMB32 - taxi from our apartment at Nanjing Road West to Hongqiao Marriott
RMB89 - a Gin Martini at the Marriott lounge while waiting for Audrey to finish her biz meeting
RMB11 - taxi to Gubei 3911 for supper
RMB189 - supper
RMB25 - taxi back home after supper
The total comes to: RMB431 (CAD63.32); this amount is more than half of average people earn in Shanghai. Of course, I have not factored in the RMB4.50 for my late lunch. ;-)
Shanghai is another big city; you can spend the money if you are not careful.
What a diff in service
This morning was the first of the 9 MBA sessions I am attending about doing business in China. The place to for this presentation was at EF English; it is a huge place teaching Chinese to learn English. The office was huge and very funky. All wired up to the hill. Since there was no sign in the office where the Seminar Room was, I stopped by the front desk. This girl, looked at me, then kept on talking online to her friend. I stood, she looked, I stood, she looked, and kept talking to her friend online. Finally I sternly asked where the seminar room was. She finally responded only after spoke English! If I were the boss, she would have been fired on the spot.
Then this evening, after Audrey's business meeting at Hongqiao's Marriott we decided to try this new area to eat. It was called Gubei 3911. It was courtyard type area with different ethnic restaurants - Mexico, Indian, Thai. We settled for Thai. The service was exceptional every small way. Audrey ordered the Thai tea but the wrong type, the waitress just explained what she really needed and took it away; no charge, got the right type. Nice.... Food was good too.
Then this evening, after Audrey's business meeting at Hongqiao's Marriott we decided to try this new area to eat. It was called Gubei 3911. It was courtyard type area with different ethnic restaurants - Mexico, Indian, Thai. We settled for Thai. The service was exceptional every small way. Audrey ordered the Thai tea but the wrong type, the waitress just explained what she really needed and took it away; no charge, got the right type. Nice.... Food was good too.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Can you read Chinese?
The 57 ru!e$ for the 0LYmp!c$ are published today. Interesting though, you need to learn the native language in order to understand them. The English website does not have the equivalent; I guess someone has forgotten that only less than 1 billion people can read this hieroglyphics. Maybe there will be a translation tomorrow; but this publication with one-language only really makes foreign newspaper having fun to yet another blunder of the commies. I am reading this hieroglyphics, very interesting rules. These rules at times are in a Q & A form. For example: Can foreigner hire a Chinese lawyer? Answer: yes, a foreigner can hire a Chinese lawyer. OK, so where do I find one? Another one is, Which group of people are not allowed into China? Answer: (the website has provided a list, an example is:) People that has mental illness, leprosy, TB or STD. Ummm... since everyone needs to apply for a visa, wouldn't applicants be screened out during the Visa application process at the consulates around the world? Another one: If your passport is lost, you must first go to the area's police station to report the lost, then to the Immigration office or the city's resident monitoring office to do a second report. You have to provide the time, location, how you lost it, passport number, expiry date. Well, if I lost it, do you think I know how I lost it and the location? Better have your passport number and expiry date memorized! Most rules listed are pretty much the same as existing rules anyway. So, no big deals.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Heard around Shanghai
Read this headline, what do you think? "FOREIGN visitors suspected of working in the sex trade, of smuggling drugs or belonging to a terrorist organization will not be allowed to enter China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, organizers of the Games said..." Does this mean these groups of visitors were allowed in before? Ummm....
Manufacturing companies in Shanghai area has been asked to change their work hours and shutdown for a month in order to conserve powder consumption. Friend's of ours, her company has been told to shutdown in a month; no output at all. And change the weekend from the normal Saturday and Sunday to Tuesday and Wednesday. And for an additional month, her company will use its own generator(s) to manufacturing the products. Go figure huh? Do you think there is a power shortage somewhere?
Securities around major hotels have been beefed up for the upcoming Olympics. All hotel staff around the cities have been briefed that non-friendly groups or individuals will attack established locations. Stay away ....
Heard that inside the Olympics venues, you are not allow to bring any bags or snack or anything, just money. This is to protect the Olympic sponsors. Or an excuse to deter potential game disrupter?
Manufacturing companies in Shanghai area has been asked to change their work hours and shutdown for a month in order to conserve powder consumption. Friend's of ours, her company has been told to shutdown in a month; no output at all. And change the weekend from the normal Saturday and Sunday to Tuesday and Wednesday. And for an additional month, her company will use its own generator(s) to manufacturing the products. Go figure huh? Do you think there is a power shortage somewhere?
Securities around major hotels have been beefed up for the upcoming Olympics. All hotel staff around the cities have been briefed that non-friendly groups or individuals will attack established locations. Stay away ....
Heard that inside the Olympics venues, you are not allow to bring any bags or snack or anything, just money. This is to protect the Olympic sponsors. Or an excuse to deter potential game disrupter?
Sunday, June 1, 2008
A Hongzhou visit
I have not been back to Hongzhou for over 25 years; what a change! It used to be a nice sleepy vacation spot. Now, it is over one million in population. The well known lake, West Lake (Xi Hu 西湖), is so crowded now. And the shore line has been renovated to accommodate the "commercial" side of tourism. It used to take 4 hours on a train from Shanghai to Hongzhou and required a special pass to travel; now anyone can with a highspeed train. It has cut the travel time down to 2 hours. With the travel restriction lifted years ago, people just swamp to Hongzhou in groups. Traffic becomes terrible; forget about traffic rules; there is no such thing anymore! I thought Shanghai is bad, Hongzhou is worst! This little sleepy city has built a tunnel linking one side of the lake to the other. Wow....
As mentioned earlier, we stayed at Shangri-La because of the good pricing; it was good; turned out this hotel used to be call Hongzhou Hotel (Fan Dian 饭店); it was where I stayed 25 years ago. We stayed at the old villa wind. Didn't like it; musty, the air cond was like 25 years ago - regulated by the hotel. O yeah, Microsoft's sale office is located in villa #3. We were in villa #4. No, not the entire villa, just a room but you need to use security key code to get in. Apparently, there is lots of foreign business people do long term rent there. The buffet b'fast and the a la cart was good price. Lots of food too for the price; we didn't get ripped off.
When we arrived Saturday morning just before 10am. Had b'fast then head out to the hill for a hike. What a hike; we climbed up and down, up and down for over 5 hours. The weather was perfect! Sunny. 28C. It was really good as we were away from the traffic and just clear out our lungs from the day to day breathing in Shanghai. Hongzhou has lots of hiking trails marked off in the hill. We used a running trail marked off by this guy who has been organizing the Sun up to Sun down Mongolia marathon (yes, my iron-wife did it one year, don't ask). So, we climb up and down following markings planted by this guy years ago. The original route was 44Km. We decided to do only 22Km. Took a short cut; but the short cut was pretty stepp going down hill. Pretty much straight drop. With my bad ankles, I felt the initial shock after the first few twists and turns with my feet. O well. After 20 minutes going down the hill, we found civilization again! Accidentally stumble across a newly built temple and village. Interesting. In the middle of no where. But then again, with the over development, not entirely "in the middle of no where". By the time we headed back to the hotel, it was pretty much 5pm. We started at 11:30am. Non-stop; only to have 2 water breaks. It was great! All the fresh air, no honking, no people (well, some... this is China after all). By the time we arrived back to the hotel, my ankles were toasted. Too bad I could not float all the way back. If it weren't for my ankles, I could easily going for a 5K or 8K run, no trouble.
For supper that night, we went to a place on the other side of the lake called the Xi Hu Tian Di (西湖天地）; it was/is a place where you get all the restaurants and dessert places overlooking the lake. I swear, nothing like that before in 1982 when I was there! Starbucks; huge! It wrapped around at least 3,500 sq ft easily. Then our famous Canadian ice cream brand name - same! More than 3,500 sq ft of space and packed! We settled for a Cantonese restaurant; it had great food. We had: tofu with century eggs, bean curds, steamed veggie buns, pork dumplings, a plate of stir-fried veggie I didn't have since I was a child, and to top off, we had a steam fish with eggs. The fish was sliced up into butterflied shape and the eggs were pour around. Wow, it was good and was the most expensive one: RMB$168. Over 1/4 of the total cost of our meal. Ok, we had two more people that came with us. Both were Audrey's friends.
The train to and from Hongzhou was really clean; it was superb! Even the toilets. Back in the old days, I remember, it was a hole in the floor looking down on the track. One can actually make a day trip. More on the train stations later. Got to do some house work.
As mentioned earlier, we stayed at Shangri-La because of the good pricing; it was good; turned out this hotel used to be call Hongzhou Hotel (Fan Dian 饭店); it was where I stayed 25 years ago. We stayed at the old villa wind. Didn't like it; musty, the air cond was like 25 years ago - regulated by the hotel. O yeah, Microsoft's sale office is located in villa #3. We were in villa #4. No, not the entire villa, just a room but you need to use security key code to get in. Apparently, there is lots of foreign business people do long term rent there. The buffet b'fast and the a la cart was good price. Lots of food too for the price; we didn't get ripped off.
When we arrived Saturday morning just before 10am. Had b'fast then head out to the hill for a hike. What a hike; we climbed up and down, up and down for over 5 hours. The weather was perfect! Sunny. 28C. It was really good as we were away from the traffic and just clear out our lungs from the day to day breathing in Shanghai. Hongzhou has lots of hiking trails marked off in the hill. We used a running trail marked off by this guy who has been organizing the Sun up to Sun down Mongolia marathon (yes, my iron-wife did it one year, don't ask). So, we climb up and down following markings planted by this guy years ago. The original route was 44Km. We decided to do only 22Km. Took a short cut; but the short cut was pretty stepp going down hill. Pretty much straight drop. With my bad ankles, I felt the initial shock after the first few twists and turns with my feet. O well. After 20 minutes going down the hill, we found civilization again! Accidentally stumble across a newly built temple and village. Interesting. In the middle of no where. But then again, with the over development, not entirely "in the middle of no where". By the time we headed back to the hotel, it was pretty much 5pm. We started at 11:30am. Non-stop; only to have 2 water breaks. It was great! All the fresh air, no honking, no people (well, some... this is China after all). By the time we arrived back to the hotel, my ankles were toasted. Too bad I could not float all the way back. If it weren't for my ankles, I could easily going for a 5K or 8K run, no trouble.
For supper that night, we went to a place on the other side of the lake called the Xi Hu Tian Di (西湖天地）; it was/is a place where you get all the restaurants and dessert places overlooking the lake. I swear, nothing like that before in 1982 when I was there! Starbucks; huge! It wrapped around at least 3,500 sq ft easily. Then our famous Canadian ice cream brand name - same! More than 3,500 sq ft of space and packed! We settled for a Cantonese restaurant; it had great food. We had: tofu with century eggs, bean curds, steamed veggie buns, pork dumplings, a plate of stir-fried veggie I didn't have since I was a child, and to top off, we had a steam fish with eggs. The fish was sliced up into butterflied shape and the eggs were pour around. Wow, it was good and was the most expensive one: RMB$168. Over 1/4 of the total cost of our meal. Ok, we had two more people that came with us. Both were Audrey's friends.
The train to and from Hongzhou was really clean; it was superb! Even the toilets. Back in the old days, I remember, it was a hole in the floor looking down on the track. One can actually make a day trip. More on the train stations later. Got to do some house work.
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