pudong airport - total stranger

saw a gal in lounge 77 in shanghai pudong airport, terminal 2.

looked like somebody he knew long time ago, but looked much younger. wanted to go over to talk to her, but she did not even raise her eye-brows, just very much into reading her mag. he tried to gaze at her to catch her attention. she did not bite, like any total stranger.

this gal must be a total stranger, after all. else, she should have noticed him, and paid attention to his sizing her up, or also showed the same curiosity as he had shown her.

he wanted to solve the riddle; go and ask her whether she's the gal he knew. but he held his horse, it could not be her, alone, in a very fashionable attire, super-high-heel boots, a branded hand-bag, in her twenties, or oldest, her thirties....

he's not in a dream, else he would have approached her and asked her. only in dreams all inhibitions break free, there's no stranger!

shanghai at nite - eat, play and be happy

peace hotel, just renovated. but you wouldn't find any signage of its name outside the almost 100-yr old building. 8th floor was where the restaurant situated.

overlooking the huang-pu river and the bund, and the pearl of the orient, the setting was typical chinese imperial. the food was a mixed of different chinese dishes, local cold-dishes, peeking duck, sichuan dried-chilly fried meat, singapore hk-style-steamed soon-hock fish, hongkong fried crystal prawns.....

nancy, the local customer service was as helpful as ever, ordering two bottles of red wine. the taiwanese boss looked not impressed with the food, when he was asked, "have you found your favorite food in shanghai yet?" he shook his head. he's obviously not an easy boss to work with.

nancy smiled.

they said shanghai ladies were not as tender and understanding as those from taiwan. they said, the shanghainese men would fall head over heels to the taiwanese lads. the way the taiwanese ladies talk would definitely softens the hardest bone, and hardens the softest hose of a man.

alpha, the taiwanese lad said, "boss, how about the the tan-tan noodle, that they served tonite?"

he said, "well, all the way from taiwan to shanghai to eat tan-tan noodle? you must be joking! might as well bring my wife to cook me dinners!"

夜上海 ye shanghai

morning - cold

the radison hotel in yinchoon road, is a 4-yr old hotel.

it was 6 minutes past 7 in the morning. daylight had already creeped into this part of the world and he got a good view of it from the hotel room window.

it was a very unique morning. the colours were not so colourful but brilliant, diffusely brilliant, so expected of the Shanghai sky which used to be smoky.

but under the cold and dense air, the colours also reflected the air temperature - cold.

supposed to be -2 deg c tomorrow.

today - 10 deg c.

dinner - make money

the boss entered 10 minutes after everybody was seated. the assistant took off his jacket and handed it to the waiter. he adjusted the chair for him to sit down. then dinner started. everything was like the movie of old-time shanghai; where the bund was the stage for all the rich and powerful to show off their prowess.

only tonite, nobody brought any armed body guard.

it was a dinner meeting. talked about whether to set up the bumping line within the company or worked with others to set it up.

"i brot a bottle of red-wine." ann said.

"nowadays a lot of wines are fake; just sugar water plus coloring." jay said.

"i know. but this was bought in the italian airport when i had my vacation there."

"why must we work so hard, at a loss for so many years? might as well be doing what the maotai people doing - make some rice wine. look, the price of a bottle of maotai increases many folds in 5 years. and people still going after it. and we are in the opposite side of the coin, the more we put into our chips, the less we sell it for..... why?" before seeping any wine, jay started to grumble.

the boss said, "who said our business cannot make money. look at the world number 1 fab, in taiwan, they are making tons of money. there's money to be made, only WE did not know how to make it."

everybody kept quiet.

last year,surprising was one of the best years in the industry, if you could not make money out of it, how are you going to make money this year?

then ah lian said, "food is here, let start the dinner."

- when things come to a head, start eating.

changi terminal 1 - life is in the air

Thank God for arriving safe and sound in changi airport, this afternoon.

22000 european flights were cancelled, australia had its Summer snow in victoria, california had a big snow storm, the weather is wreaking havoc to the world.

life is in the air - cold air, hot air, dry air, wet air, clean air, polluted air. once stepping into the changi airport, the whole being got renewed, to the old and familiar sense of being me..... after almost 2 weeks in those bone-chilling places, the dry and cold air sickened the lungs, wrinkled and bruised the skin, bled the nose, and loaded the brain.

somehow, he had to put up a lot of effort to survive in this kind of air - the air sucked out the life from him, he did not know how long he could put up with it.

anyway holiday is like work - because effort has to be spent, many a times, more than when you are in the office, or out in the field.

east berlin - the walls

hycou, the guide


east berlin - the city


east berlin - a park


east berlin - green effort changes color


in the bus


east berlin - where most of the relics are


east berlin - yellow apartment


berlin wall - the hands that fell it


berlin wall - the EAST SIDE story


berlin wall - the date it fell


berlin wall - bloody past


berlin wall - the kiss


berlin wall - the exodus


brandenburg gate


resting


parliament


sunset


sunset

Hycou was a friendly guide. He spoke good english. Did a city tour of berlin in the coach and stopped at three photo taking stops; the berlin wall, the Brandenburg Gate and the parliament.

ah burt, the 10-year-old asked him, " why there's a wall in the middle of berlin?"

he said, "young man, you see your house has walls to protect the family. china had a great wall to protect the country..... berlin had a wall to kill its people."

the kid, "why kill people?"

"when they tried to escape from east to west berlin, they would be shot at."

"oh... just like my papa said, u.s.a. has a wall street, that people make lots of money but once in a while they loose their pants and their lives when they try to escape the crash."

berlin nite - cheap

Ullrich supermarket sells hanuta and giotto chocolate wafers and balls very cheaply, 2 and 3 euro for a pack of 12 wafers and 9 bars of choco ball respectively. The guide said she wld be loading up her empty travelling case with the wafers and balls.

The shops in berlin on sunday normally close but one month before Christmas, they open from 1pm to 6pm. Kadewe, the largest dept store in continental europe was full of shoppers. Who said europe was in a economic downturn? The christmas market, the shopping belt were full of people also.

There was a Christmas float parade along Kurfurstendamm, the main avenue in the shopping belt.

The soles of both of his shoes came out and he had to buy another pair. He got them from Adidas, for 50 Euro.

They went to look for a special effect electric guitar paddler, following the direction given by the HardRock cafe shopkeeper. they arrived at the shop, but it was closed.

They had yellow noodle from an Asian food stall in the Christmas market..... looked and tasted like the one at home.

The group met up at KFC, and all got themselves bagfuls of hanuta and giotto except mr kang.

they asked him why.

he said, "i don't like choco, my family also don't...... but i bot a lot of sausages. they were cheap."

- people go for cheap things - there's nothings wrong about it. but the world is no more cheap..... not going 6000 miles to get choco or sausages.

dressen to berlin - star war snow

After departing from Dressen at 9.30am, an hour later, the snow pours face-on against the bus, big fluffy flakes, and very densely spaced. This is big-time snowing. And after 15 minutes, the condition turns better.

1 hour later, they pull over for toilet stop, big snow again.

Then 5 minutes later, the sky clears up and shows shades of blue. The road is also cleared of snow.

They arrive in berlin at 11.30am, ready for lunch in a chinese restaurant, china city. The owner of the restaurant is a taiwanese, indulging himself in decorating the place lavishly with chinese traditional decors like partitions, wall-mounted drawings, panel ceiling with chinese decorative paintings, porcelain displays...

they had the chinese pork-knuckles, and the normal chinese dishes which taste very good, not surprising, after so many days of the typical euro 3-course meals(soup, main course of chicken or meat, dessert).

they are ready to do the berlin city tour.