December 29, 2006
[i'm moving] Get the word out peeps - Shanghai is amazing.
And I wanna live here! *giggle* @ 17:52 Shanghai
[shanghai 上海] By now, you've heard all the superlatives used to describe Shanghai, China's largest and most captalistic city. They're all true, btw. I am physically here (finally!), and I can attest to that. Shanghai is ready for primetime and her time is now.
But WTF, the lights on the Bund (the city's most scenic area) and in Pudong (skyscrapers district to rival HK) along the Huangpu River shut off at 10:30pm! Huh? Who turns off the lights at 10:30pm?! How is Shanghai supposed to rival HK and NY when they can't even keep the lights on till midnight?? And it was such a clear and brilliant night too... what a waste. Well, we missed the lights tonight coz we were at dinner but at least I have three more nights to catch the brilliant night lights of Shanghai. I hope they at least keep the lights on till midnight (or just past it) on New Year's Eve to accompany the expected fireworks display over the Huangpu River.
One last thing... it is also very cold in Shanghai (low 30s). Ugh. This'll teach me not to travel to a Northern Hemisphere country in winter!
I'm here!! And I love it! Shanghai is awesome! @ 00:06 Shanghai
December 27, 2006
[xi'an 西安] We just got back from the "Tang Dynasty Show" here in Xi'an. The show was, how shall I put it, "cultural". And since this is China we're talking about, by "cultural" I mean outfits that will make a drag queen proud and the chinkiest music I've heard in a long while. All that plus a show that was perhaps entertaining a thousand years ago during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) but not quite so relevant now, and you have a picture of just what we've been going through since we got here.
Mind you, there's nothing wrong with Xi'an. I wouldn't call it a beautiful city but it's got its plus points - a beautifully restored and upkept 7.5-mile City Wall that encircles the Old City, some architecturally significant buildings that are over 600 years old and, a spectacular setting where four of Xi'an's largest streets converge, and last but definitely not least, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses themselves which lay claim to the title "the Eight Wonder of the World".
But since we arrived, a weird combination of factors have occurred to put a bad taste in our mouths about this ancient city that was the cradle of Chinese civilization and the capital of China for over a thousand years spanning thirteen dynasties.
1. The Internet - Exactly two years to the day after the tsunami tragedy that killed 230,000 in South and South-East Asia, a magnitude 6.7 quake struck just south of Taiwan severing telecommunications cables to China. Why do I care? Those cables carry internet traffic from China (and much of Asia) to the rest of the world and since the earthquake at 8:26pm on the 26th, I have not been able to check my e-mail, post any new material to the website and/or do any research on what to eat/see/do from online travel websites. Only Chinese websites are available. Tragic. Thank God that Google - with quite a presence in China - is still accessible. Otherwise, I would feel so naked not being able to google anything! Things are so bad in Asia right now, they are calling the earthquake a "technological tsunami". I feel like I'm in the Stone Age.
2. The Weather... ranged from awful to dreadful the *entire* time we were there. First of all, it was fr-REE-zing! Low 20s and high humidity combined for a lethal dose of body-numbing coldness. What made it worse was that there are barely any indoor attractions in Xi'an - even the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are "indoor" but exposed to the elements. Everything else - Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Great Mosque, etc. - was outdoors, including the shopping streets and such. And in a complete opposite to Seoul and Kyoto, taxis in Xi'an were frigid - who-TF opens the windows in winter??
But it wasn't just the cold. Most of China was blanketed by dense fog (cold temps, high humidity and zero wind) that was so thick you couldn't see the buildings across the street from you. It was like a really cold sandstorm blew through the entire country. When we first arrived, our tour guide was shocked that our flight actually made it in and after venturing outside, I began to understood why she said that. The fog was so thick you couldn't even see the roads! It was really, really bad. THe fog lifted just in time for our flight to Shanghai (thank God coz most flights before that were cancelled) but by then, we had already missed all the good outdoor picture-taking opportunities in and around Xi'an.
The fog almost put a cringe on our plans to visit the Terracotta Army, which was the one and only thing we HAD to see in Xi'an. The fog not only cause the cancellation of hundreds of flights across China, it also shut down major expressways (yes, it was that bad) that connect Xi'an to neighboring areas - including the Terracotta Army Museum - causing monumental backups along all the major arteries as cars, trucks, buses, and every imaginable transportation mechanism on wheels waited out the fog-induced road closures. It took a lot of ingenuity, creative re-routing, a bit of bribing, and a whole lot of kwazy driving through bumpy and downright scary-looking rural dirt roads in order to get to our destination. What should've been a 30-min drive turned into a 90-min ordeal. Which leads to...
3. The Tour... was a complete disaster. The restaurants they kept bringing us to were tourist traps filled with tour buses unloading a sea of clueless caucasians to gimongous restaurants built for tourists. These "restaurant palaces" are so bad you have to navigate through a maze of overpriced souvenir vendors before you get to the food hall. And once you get there, you find that no local food is served at all. It was TRAGIC beyond belief!
We were supposed to have 2 lunches and 2 dinners but we ended up skipping all their meals after one miserable lunch in one of the aforementioned "restaurant palaces". As you have read below, we ended up doing local food ourselves, including a delicious dumpling lunch just before heading to the airport. We ventured to this local restaurant on the Islamic Street called Jiasan Guantang Baozi and ordered enough dumplings to put us on the floor. No pork, only beef and mutton. We left there paying less than $10. Fabulous!
But mostly though, the tour was tragic because of the cold weather and the killer fog. It really threw our entire tour schedule off. At the end, we made them refund about 17% (we asked for 20%, they only offered us 17%... these people love to bargain!) of our tour price.
Let's just say, lesson learnt. I'm never doing another tour package again for the rest of my life. Mark my words!
4. The Pollution - It wasn't so noticeable with the fog fogging over the presence of asthma-inducing pollution particles in the air but trust me, the air was worse in Xi'an than it was in Beijing. The pollution index never dropped below 150 the entire time we were there (again, 50 is the upper limit of "healthy air"). The air was acrid and smelt smokey. The burning sensation in my eyes and the constant sneezing/coughing definitely did not leave us with a good impression of Xi'an. Just nasty.
And so, we bid farewell to the ancient city of Xi'an. It isn't quite ready for primetime yet. But guess what is?
Our next stop - Shanghai! @ 11:33 Xi'an
[royally pigged out] OMB, two nights in a row of eating at 10pm is NOT helping my diet! I know, I know, I shouldn't bother with a diet while on a vacation but eating at 10pm is just overdoing it like only an Emperor can.
Last night, we pigged out on some Islamic food - hot pot with beef/mushrooms, and steam fish stuffed with mutton (??) - at a local restaurant, and just now we shoveled mounts of Cantonese food from the hotel restaurant into our stomachs. We had crab with ginger, garlic and spring onions, deep fried spare ribs with salt, pepper and garlic, and some mixed veges thingie that I didn't partake in.
The verdict? Canto food rules. Period.
We also have a daily breakfast buffet and, this being China, I royally pig out every morning on congee, noodles and rice.
Oink. @ 10:41 Xi'an
December 26, 2006
[one world, one dream] OMB, I almost forgot to write about our 24-hour layover in Beijing. Let's rewind three days - what I can remember of it, at least.
But first of all, lemme just say that of the 12 First Class seats on this flight today, only two are occupied - me and Tony! We were also the only two First Class passengers onboard the Beijing-Seoul flight. How cool is that? An entire cabin to ourselves. And two flight attendants just for us :-D Our lunch today consisted of beef for Tony and lobster for me together with red wine (beef) and champagne. Mushroom soup and garlic bread, plus desserts (and dessert wine) completed the ludicrously expansive lunch for a 90-min flight. The Koreans are kwazy!
OK, back to Beijing. We were only spending one night in Beijing by force. We were intending to spend Christmas in Seoul but the SFO-ICN flight was ridiculously expensive so we bought tickets to the next closest destination, Beijing, instead. We thought that by arriving at 4pm, we could find at least one connecting fight to Seoul the same evening. Wrong. The one and only flight to Seoul from Beijing after 4pm is on Air China and boy, are they stingy on those award seats. We weren't gonna pay to fly to Seoul, of course. $700+ for a 90-min flight? In coach?? No eff-ing way! And since there were no award seats to be had, that is how we ended up overnighting in Beijing. Which turned out to be a fabulous lil' layover.
I was to meet my friend, Siao Wearn, for dinner and drinks during our one night in Beijing. I had not seen her for maybe 10 years, but ran into her again this past October at Su Ann's wedding. Knowing that I was gonna be in Beijing and that she works/lives there now, we decided to rendezvous.
We got to the hotel and were standing in the lobby waiting for my friend when I spot Rich and David from NYC. We had met them for the first time two years ago in Bangkok - just after the tsunami - on yet another trip to rendezvous with Ben/Mike. We spent New Year's Eve together there, and visited them once in NYC but had not been in touch for quite awhile, and was certainly not planning or even imagining in our wildest dreams that we would run into them in Beijing of all places. So can you imagine the coincidences when we saw them at the Peninsula Hotel in Beijing? We had to be in the same continent, in the same country, the same city, not to mention the same hotel and crossing paths in the lobby at exactly the same time!
I still can't believe we ran into them like that. What a crime of coincidences!
Anyways, we dragged them to Peking Duck dinner with us at Da Dong. Dinner was spectacular. The Peking Duck came at the end, which I thought was quite bizarre coz crispy duck skin is more of an appetizer than a dessert, IMHO. We were supposed to be joined by SW's ex from London, Ian, but he tried to board a BA flight for Beijing without a Chinese visa and was sent home from Heathrow, of course. He finally got his visa and arrived the day we were leaving for Seoul. Silly, silly boy! So instead of Ian, we got Keitha - this kwazy Canadian woman who has lived in Beijing for the past 5 years teaching English. Total white girl can speak mandarin better than my parents can!
After a decadent dinner, SW and Keitha joined us for libations at LAN (jet lag? what's that? lol). LAN is a brand new, ultra swanky, Marie Antoinette meets Philippe Starck meets MoMA, bar/lounge tucked inside a high-rise. We had a great time being serenaded by a Brazilian-born jazz singer from Basel (yes, Switzerland), go figure! Drinks were ultra-expensive (and yes, they have cranberry juice in Beijing!), but got even more so when they raised the prices on us after we had ordered our drinks. Keitha unleashed her mandarin expertise on those poor bar owners and they ended up comping us a bottle of wine for our "humiliation". Love it. It's telling that LAN was pretty empty on a Saturday night. If you're gonna charge Western prices ($8 for a cosmo), you better have stellar service, y'know?
After LAN and feeling somewhat inadequate coz of the quietness on a Saturday night, we made our way to Destination which is the premier gay club in Beijing (Mao is rolling in his grave!). Well, guess where everybody was? Heaving and sweating on the trampoline-like dance floor of Destination. This place was balls-to-ass crowded with gay Chinese boys (Tony would like to say I'm one of them... I beg to differ! Me thinks he was in Heaven). The music was awesome - Madonna, Mary J, Mariah... all the divas were in the house.
Thank God for the 8 hours of sleep on the Chicago-Beijing flight, coz we got back to the hotel at 1am!
We had grand plans the next morning to do the Forbidden City. Tony got up late so by the time we were done with the excellent breakfast buffet at the Peninsula, it was already 10am. We cabbed to the White Pagoda at Beihai Park for a view of the Forbidden City from above but pollution was so bad you could barely see the rooflines of the buildings. Plus it was so cold the entire lake was frozen over. Ugh.
We made our way to Tiananmen Square and saw all the important landmarks there, including the new "Egg" which will be the National Grand Theater when it opens next year. Tiananmen Square (880m x 500m) and the Forbidden City is one of those places you never know how big until you've actually walked the length of it. It took us all of an hour just to walk the (shorter) length of it, take some pictures, and jostle with humanity. By the time we walked through the Tiananmen Gate to get to the entrance of the Forbidden City (which, in itself, is a good 20-minute walk through massive crowds from Tiananmen Square), it was already noon and we had to make our way back to the hotel for our flight to Seoul. And I wasn't gonna fork up $5 just to peek through the doors of the Forbidden City and then have to leave without even making it through the first courtyard. FYI, the Forbidden City is HUGE.
Oh well, maybe next time.
Back at the hotel, we met up with SW and Ian who finally arrived from London. We had a fabulous dim sum lunch at the hotel before zooming to the airport for our flight to Seoul. We arrived at the airport 50 minutes before departure! Talk about cutting it close, coz we had to check-in, clear Customs (and fill out an annoying and time-consuming form), Immigration ('scuse me, China Border Control), security and make a mad dash for our gate while shopping for Beijing 2008 gifts at the same time :-D
Beijing - "One World, One Dream" - was fabulous! @ 14:35 Beijing
[ciao korea] We are fabulously seated in the Asiana First Class Lounge at Incheon International Airport. They have chicken quesadillas, chilli shrimp and chicken porridge as warm entrees, together with cold cuts, instant noodles, haagen dazs, pastries, cakes, and all sorts of other good stuff. Plus all you can drink alcohol of all flavors, juices, coffee, tea, etc. You get the picture. It's hog heaven in here :-)
After a spa-tacular session at the Park Hyatt's jaw-dropping and gravity-defying infinity pool on the 23rd floor overlooking Gangnam, we left Seoul about 3 hours before departure so that we would have ample time to get to the airport and enjoy the lounge. Getting to the airport (about 40mi from Gangnam) by bus took about an hour and cost far less (KRW13000 or $14) than a taxi. Traffic was quite bad on the Olympic Expressway. We checked our luggage in at the Korea City Air Terminal (KCAT) which was quite painless and it also meant we didn't have to lug our bags around. We also cleared immigration at the KCAT which was quite bizarre coz they stamped your passport and then you were allowed to go back into the city. I was like, what's stopping me from staying in Seoul now that they have stamped my passport? Shouldn't they dump me airside now that I have "left" the country? Weirder still was that we went through immigration again at the airport. Very weird.
Anyhoe, as you know by now, we are in First Class to Beijing. On our way here (as will happen on the way back to Beijing), we were in the nose section of a 747. It feels weird to be so far upfront because the take-off angle is really steep. The seat itself was nothing to shout about - very similar to Lufthansa's First Class, but dumpier. Service was very efficient but kinda robotic. The flight here was only 90 minutes long but we were given fluffy slippers (awesome ones at that) and served a HUGE meal. Appetizer, entree, dessert, the whole nine yeards. Amazing. I had some Korean entree thingie called Bi-Bim-Bap which I won't have again coz there are too many veges and I ain't a big fan of the green thingies. Plus, the soup that accompanied the dish had tons of bean sprouts in it. Bleagh. I know, I know, what kind of an Asian am I if I dont eat bean sprouts, right? I just think they're nasty.
Now, if they brought out some of the pork belly thingie we had last night, I would be ALL over it. Last night's dinner was one of the best non-BBQ Korean meals, ever! Anyhoe, Tony had the chilli prawn which is probably what I'll have on our flight after this. Not that I need anymore food after pigging out royally in this lounge. The lounge is kinda tiny which is surprising since Asiana is hubbed here. I ain't complaining though coz the food selection is quite large and there's free wi-fi, yay!
We have a 2 1/2 hour connection in Beijing before our flight to Xian's Xianyang Airport. Again, that airport is one of those 30+ mile airports from the city. Groan. We are on a package tour for our 3-day, 2-night stay in Xi'an. I wasn't gonna hassle with airport transportation, tour details and all that (not to mention the pollution!), so I just decided to go with a tour company. It's a private tour, thank God, so hopefully it won't be a cattle herd thingie. And I'm kinda glad I don't have to deal with the whole planning, what to see, what to do, where to eat, etc.
We're kinda relaxed now. The spa session this morning was rejuvenating. And First Class is stress-free. We're so spoilt ;-) Hopefully the transit in Beijing will be painless, though nothing ever is in the People's Republic of China.
What a short stay in Seoul... My first time in Seoul, and Korea in general. Ben's gonna be here for another 18+ months, so perhaps we'll be back!
BTW, one last thought before we leave Seoul. If I didn't think I looked pan-Asian before, I do now. Why do all these Asians insist on speaking to me in their native language?? @ 13:07 Seoul
[too eff-ing far] Incheon International Airport (ICN) opened in 2001 as Seoul's gateway to the world. While not as far as Narita and Kansai from Tokyo and Osaka respectively, ICN is still a good 31 miles from downtown Seoul but more annoyingly, it was 48 miles (!!) from the W. And guess what? No express rail, not even normal rail to the city! Grrr... At least there is a train from Narita and Kansai. No rail whatsoever from Incheon. Ridiculous.
The cab cost us almost $100 to get from the airport to the W, and it still took us an hour to get there. I was livid. A bus would've taken much longer and we didn't have the luxury of time. I know it was China, but the cab from the airport in Beijing to the city center cost less than $10. $100 was quite a shock indeed.
I know, right? It's been FIVE eff-ing years, and they haven't figured out a way to solve the distance problem yet?? WTF? Who builds an airport out in the middle of the nowhere (the Yellow Sea, in fact) and not connect it to the city by some form of public transportation?
Tragic!
And my final gripe about Incheon: It is so eff-ing far away my phone doesn't work out here!
What is up with rich and prosperous North Asian cities and their inability to connect their downtown cores to their international airports quickly and efficiently? It should be their #1 priority and in their best interest to do so!
Yay, the sun is up! Happy Boxing Day! @ 08:04 Seoul
[splendid seoul] Annyong haseyo! I know, it's WAY early in the morning but we went to bed last night at 10:30pm so I'm super-perky right now, waiting for the sun to rise in about an hour or so. We've been pretty much on-the-go, partying and living the high life ever since we arrived in Beijing 3 days ago. Exhaustion set in last night and an early night was definitely much appreciated by my tired lil' yellow body!
Seoul has been quite a super fun but much too short detour from our Tour of China. Ben/Mike have been phenomenal hosts. They took us out to dinner again last night at The Gaon which served a 9-course (salad, pancakes, dumplings, chicken, pork, fish, rice, soup, dessert), traditional Korean extravaganza - kinda like Korean kaiseki. Delicious.
The one thing that will stick in my head about Seoul are the two jaw-dropping hotels we've stayed at here (don't ask why we've stayed at two different hotels on our two nights here *grin*). The W Walkherhill was super-hip and avant garde, whereas the Park Hyatt (where we are now) is ultra-contemporary and uber-chic. Description will not do it justice. You just have to see the pics later. The only problem with these two hotels is that they are not that great for first-timers to Seoul - both are located very far from the downtown core where all the tourist attractions are.
Seoul itself is sprawling. Everything is 30 minutes away from everything. The city is built around some challenging geography. The downtown core is on the north-end of the city (unusually, not in the center but towards North Korea) and is split from the rest of the city by some mountains. The rest of the city is also split into north and south by a huge river (Han). Expressways are everywhere but very congested. The subway system is extensive but has to work around (and travel around) the geographical limitations. The downtown core has narrow(-ish) streets and can get gridlocked. The Gangnam area is built on a grid, but the blocks are far too-big (almost Vegas strip-like) and buildings are separated by 16-lane roads that can be slow-moving especially at 4-way intersections. Getting from place to place is time-consuming, to say the least.
Not that their locations are bad. The W is located at the edge of Seoul, perched on a hill overlooking the Han River. Gorgeous. They even had an outdoor sun deck with a hot tub that overlooked the river. Spectacular. The Park Hyatt, on the other hand, is located in Gangnam (translates to "South of the River") which is the high-end district of Seoul. Everything about the Park Hyatt is sensational, from the 24th floor lobby with jaw-dropping views to the spectacular bathrooms with bathtubs set against floor-to-ceiling glass windows to the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in.
Amazing hotels!
The other thing I will remember about Seoul is the fantastic warm Christmas they had this year: 12°C! After breakfast and the ultra-decadent outdoor tub suntanning in the middle of winter at the W, we switched hotels and met up with Ben/Mike again in the downtown core for some sightseeing. We walked around for hours, soaking up the city life and the sights and sounds of one of Asia's most modern cities. The Christmas spirit and decor were out in force, and people were everywhere due to the amazing weather. Insadong - the touristy but not tacky shopping street - was mobbed by waves of humanity. Kwazy!
All in all, we've had a great time in Seoul. Compared to much of Asia, Seoul is far more expensive but not ridiculously so. I wouldn't mind returning, but they *really* have to sort out the airport transportation issue first... oh wait, you haven't heard about that yet. Trust me, you will!
Next stop, Xi'an and the famous Terracotta Warriors! @ 07:16 Seoul
December 25, 2006
[seoul 汉城] Merry Christmas (again, not for you guys in the States yet) from the W Walkerhill in Seoul, South Korea! And I am elated that high speed internet in Korea is what it means, as opposed to the moderately slow "high speed" internet connection in Beijing. Plus, no censorship!
OMB, it's eff-ing cold in Seoul as well! -4°C (25°F) this morning. I froze my ass off last night wandering around the streets of Itaewon.
So here we are, Seoul. Noticed I used the old Chinese name for Seoul above (Han-cheng) and Ben's gonna kill me for not using the new name elected by the Koreans (首尔) but whatev. The Han river still flows through Seoul and calling it "City on the Han" is completely appropriate, regardless of what the Koreans think, nyah.
Compared to Beijing, Seoul is equally big but far less polluted and much cleaner. Definitely more like a city in a developed country. Seoul's metro area is home to fully 1 out of every 2 South Koreans. Amazing! The city is gigantic.
We partied *hard* last night. Moments after checking in to the hotel, Ben and his itchy butt dragged us all out to Christmas Eve dinner at Bulgogi Brothers. The name might conjure up images of bad burritos but it was actually quite a delicious and pretty little restaurant with delicious beef (beef last night, and peking duck on the night before... my doctor is gonna have a cow!). After dinner, we cabbed to Itaewon (i.e. GI Town coz of the US military base nearby) and trudged up and down "Homo Hill" to sample a lil' bit of the city's nightlife.
Drinks were relatively cheap. Before long, we were dancing to chart-topping hits at Why Not? and pounding vodka-crans. It felt like AnyGayBar, USA except for the fact that it was swarming with Koreans. Tony got hit on by this Korean skank who asked him if he was a GI, ROTFL!!! Whatever. Some other Korean skank asked me if I was Korean, and when I said no, he was like, "oh too bad", smiled and walked off. I was like, WTF? *First* of all... do I look Korean to you?? I mean, WTF?? Gee-sus eff-ing Kwist (oops, OK.. no swearing in his name on Christmas Day).
I think I drank way too much. We got home at 3am. I am currently operating on 5 hours of sleep. Not fetch at all! @ 08:55 Seoul
December 24, 2006
[beijing 北京] Good morning from the Peninsula Palace Hotel in the Olympic city of Beijing on this wonderful Christmas Eve 2006! (well, it is Christmas Eve here... you guys are 13 hours behind so nyah) The Olympic slogan for the 2008 Olmypics - One World, One Dream - are emblazoned on every surface, reminding visitors that Beijing will not only host the Olympics in 2008, it will host *the* most spectacular Olympics in history.
Assuming they can get the noxious pollution problem under control.
And thank God they're having the Olympics in the summer coz it's fuckin' fr-REE-zin' this morning here in Beijing; 23°F (-5°C)! I know it's a balmy 56°F in DC right now so I'm jealous :-p
Nothing says Welcome to China like the fact that the BBC News website is not just censored from where I'm connecting right now, it is banned! I can't get to it. Period. Insane, huh? I can get to CNN, NYT, WaPo, etc. Just not BBC News. Trust me when I say the news site is not down - I can connect to it by proxying through my home server i.e. connecting from the US (yea, I'm smart *GRIN*). Hmm, I wonder what BBC did to piss the Chinese off. It looks like Wiki is banned too, double hmm.
Anyhoe, we arrived early into Beijing's Capital Airpot yesterday afternoon and cleared immigration/customs in about 30 minutes, which I considered not bad at all considering that it could've been pandemonium at immigration. Well, we are in China after all and the queueing system is a foreign concept here. We arrived at the same time with a whole bunch of Iranians which was quite interesting since the UN Security Council imposed sanctions against Iran on the same day.
The airport is far better than I remember it to be. First off, my first and only time in China 10+ years ago, my family and I were greeted with a sign at immigration that said "Frontier Defense Control". Today, Terminal 2 (international) is quite a nice facility, albeit quite crowded considering that Beijing is now the busiest airport in China (busier than Hong Kong even), and the 10th busiest airport in the world. The existing terminals are straining to handle 40+mn passengers a year and growing at 20% or so. We did sneak a peek at the startlingly huge Lord Norman Foster-designed Terminal 3 under construction and to be opened some time next year (the pictures are beautiful aren't they?). Just how huge? Terminal 3 will be a mind-boggling 8-level, 9.7 million sq ft (larger than all of Heathrow's 5 terminals combined) monster terminal stretching 2 1/2 miles (!!!) from end-to-end. A staggering 120 gates will be available upon completion. Everything is bigger in China!
The other thing that's better is the availability of ATM machines before you exit into the Arrival Hall. We bought some domestic air tickets (PEK-XIY-PVG, SHA-PEK) and had to pay by cash so we basically maxed out our ATM daily limits at the Citibank cash machine in the baggage claim area (Tony managed to get CNY4000/$511 but it only gave me CNY3000/$384, go figure). Very convenient! Finally, and only in China, they were selling pre-paid SIM cards at the gates and at baggage claim! How eff-ing cool is that. I love how the Chinese (i.e. me!) are so industrious and any opportunity is snapped up in the name of making money. Yup, money flows through our veins ;-)
We zoomed in relatively traffic-free highways into the heart of the city, cutting through the 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd Ring Roads before entering the 2nd Ring Road area where our hotel is (the 1st Ring Road is basically the Forbidden City). FYI: Beijing is ringed by concentric orbital expressways much like Houston is. The 6th Ring Road encircles the city about 10-12 miles from the city center (yes, Beijing is HUGE).
The pollution is bearable so far, although I could feel the onset of a headache and some scratchy throat, burning eyes and sniffles. Nothing too serious. The cold, on the other hand, is slightly less than manageable. I'm gonna be SO bitchy as we venture out into Tiananmen Square this morning... that is if Tony ever wakes up *giggle* (poor baby is SO jet-lagged). @ 08:57 Beijing
December 23, 2006
[addicted to status] I am. Very much so. I am a 1K whore.
The FAs on this flight asked everyone in the 26-seat Business Class section in the upper deck what they wanted for an entree, and to please supply their first and second choices in case they run out of their preferred choice for some reason. Which really just means that they want to make sure their top-tier fliers get their first choice and everyone else comes after and scraps for the crumbs.
And you know me, I totally get off on being treated special and getting ahead of others. Totally. Instant hard-on. :-D
When the FA came to us, she thanked us for being loyal customers (Yay! Lick my feet, bitches, and worship the ground that I walk on...). And then she asked us for our first and only choice for entrees.
I had a momentary superiority giggling spasm inside me that was quite hard to contain.
They love us, they *really* love us!
I'm sooooo happy that I made 1K again next year. Yay, me! @ 13:16 Beijing
[face mask?] I am contemplating getting a face mask for our time in China. Check this out. The only thing stopping me is that those masks clash so violently with anything in my wardrobe (well, the parts of it that I lugged along for the trip anyway) that I couldn't possibly pull it off, even if it was distinctive Burberry (the Asians *love* their Burberry). Face masks only look sexy in Grey's Anatomy or ER. Period. For everyone else, it just looks silly.
Anyhoe, back to the matter at hand. Everyone knows by now how awful the air quality is in Chinese cities. I guess I wasn't prepared for "how bad". An index of under 50 is considered healthy. My respiratory system starts to react when levels reach above 100 (remember the haze in KL this past Oct?). 150 is the level when doctors tell you to stay home. So, 500+ sounds absolutely nauseous (fyi: and index of 300+ is considered "heavily polluted" or Grade 5). Beijing has recorded 300+ polluted days this year so far. Just plain nasty.
Xi'an is apparently worse than Beijing. Shanghai is a little bit better, but not by much.
I'm praying for under 100 pollution index the whole time I'm there so that I can at least go outdoors. I don't want my eyes to burn, my chest to hurt or my nose running and sneezing uncontrollably. Otherwise, well, it's gonna be eat (room service) and sleep all day.
Now that I've gotten so used to the clean(-er) air in the US, perhaps I can't go back and live in a Third World country anymore... *sigh*
You can check out how I'm breathing on a daily basis at the State Environmental Protection Administration of China's website :-) @ 13:04 Beijing
[lofty at 35,000ft] I am hoping we don't have to land for any reason, coz we're just over the bleak arctic landscape of Siberia and it doesn't look too warm down thee, brrr.
Just under 4 hours to go, and I must say I haven't slept enough ('bout six hours) but I am in no mood to sleep anymore. Dunno why. I've taken all the sleeping pills that I can handle. So I'm just gonna sit here and type and listen to music :-D
The flight is going smoothly so far. Well, as smooth as weather will allow. The first few hours out of Chicago were bumpy to the point that flight attendants had to get strapped on midway through the lunch service due to intense turbulence. My seat on this plane has been OK - nothing out of the ordinary, standard Business Class seat with oodles of extra legroom. *And* a back that doesn't lock on the way up i.e. if I recline it and lay on it, it stays still. As soon as I get up, it pops back up to the upright position. Mildly annoying, actually. Sleeping was fine since my body weight is completely on it in an almost flat position keeping it down.
The food was pretty good actually. Appetizers were a yawn, as usual, though prosciutto is a nice touch. Tony had the shrimp fried rice entree, and I had the orange chicken with noodles. They were both delicious; mine more so, me thinks. And the chococlate cheesecake is always decadent and to-die-for as far as inflight desserts go. All in all, I'm pretty stuffed. But after my 6-hour nap, I was hungry again (what? I can't go without food for more than 6-hour stretches at a time :-p) so the flight attendant made me instant noodles. Yay me! Another round of food (light lunch) will be served in about 2 hours' time.
The entertainment has been decidedly lacking. I have already seen all the movies on this flight. Grr. I did catch Invincible (Marky Mark auditioning for a spot in the Philadelphia Eagles) and it was OK. I really wanted to watch Litte Miss Sunshine but that's on the return, but since we return on January 1st, there may already be a whole new selection of movies by then. Bah humbug.
I know. Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch. What can I say, I have lofty standards. @ 11:52 Saturday in Beijing or Friday 22:52 in DC
December 22, 2006
[made it!] Well, we made it. Just barely, though. The aircraft pulled off the gate from DCA on-time, but the weather in Chicago kicked in and we were put on a ground hold for about 45 minutes. We made it into Chicago at 12:20 - after an awfully bumpy flight - which gave us all of 18 minutes to sprint to our onward gate. Actually, we only had 8 since airlines close airplane doors 10 minutes before departure nowadays.
Well, lemme tell ya, Chicago ain't the second busiest airport in the world for nothing. O'Hare is HUGE. Even connecting on the same carrier in the same terminal is a long distance haul a Kenyan would love to tackle. We had to run from B1 to C16, and we did it in THREE minutes. If you've been to ORD, you will know that that's damn near impossible. You should've seen Tony running through the terminal. Together, we shoved our way through the terminal and knocked quite a few ppl over. Fun! I was *so* not about to miss my flight to Beijing. Nuh-uh, no sir-ree... especially since we have Business Class upgrades that will be impossible to come by had we missed the flight.
So here we are! UA851, 12h 30m flight from Chicago to Beijing in our favorite upper-deck seats - 17A/B - in a 747. We love these seats so much we had to evict a nasty couple who had planted themselves in our seats and offered us theirs - 17C/D. I was having none of it so I solicited the help of the flight attendants to boot them across the aisle *giggle*. They deserved it! No one takes my assigned seats. And bitches, don't give us attitude about not wanting your stinking seats when the seats you have settled so comfortably in are *MY* pre-assigned seats! Didn't yo' momma teach you not to take things that aren't yours?
People are so eff-ing annoying.
And THEN, they took all our pillows, blankets, airline-supplied toiletries, etc. with them and left a mess in our seats. Oh, no they diin't. I threw a big enough stink that I ended up with enough pillows to build a Great Pillow Wall in the aisle between us and them. To keep the heathens out, of course.
Our bootays are so used to these seats, even the flight attendant on this flight recognized us in these seats from a previous flight. Now, *that's* what I call a frequent-flier :-D @ 13:17 CST
[one last hurrah] Here we go again, our *final* trip for 2006 (it better be since there's only 9 days left to the year!):
Three days before Christmas and it's one of the busiest travel days of the year. DCA was pretty quiet this morning, thankfully. Flights all over the US are still fucked up by the Denver blizzard which caused 2,000+ flights to be cancelled at DEN - the nation's fifth-busiest airport - over the past 48 hours, wrecking travel plans all over the country.
The ripple effects extend to Chicago and Dulles where United has routed most of its Denver-bound passengers through. Flights leaving IAD/DCA to ORD this morning are completely packed. Fearing the worst of the Chicago winter weather, we decided to arrive early enough at DCA this morning to standby for two other Chicago-bound flights (which means I got up at 7am, and that makes me sleepy and super-grumpy). We are both in the top-tier status with United and still we couldn't get a seat on any flight this a.m. It's shocking.
So, we're stuck with our original 10:45 flight which leaves us only 40 minutes in Chicago (if we arrive on-time at all) to sprint from B1 to C10. UGH. If you've been to O'Hare, that is NOT a trivial distance to cover. Thankfully, both the 8:45 and 9:45 flights have so far left on-time and are scheduled to arrive on-time so I'm keeping all my 11 toes crossed.
I *am* a little anxious, though, coz it's the 10:45 flight or nothing. I even bought an egg-cheese-sausage sandwich from Fuddruckers for breakfast and devoured it to ease my anxiety, LOL. If nothing else, at least I feel fat and happy now! *giggle* In any case, I am *so* thankful for the new IAD-NRT non-stop (which we are taking in June for Ann's wedding) because that means no more connections in Chicago!
I am *elated* that we are not spending Christmas or New Year's in the States this year. I cannot wait to get to Beijing. And Seoul (for Christmas). And Xi'an. And Shanghai, where we will ring in 2007.
Safe travels everybody! @ 10:05
December 21, 2006
[winter solstice] Tomorrow marks the winter solstice, (un-)affectionately known as the shortest day of the year aka the day I like the least. The sun will rise at 7:24am (I won't see it) and set at 4:50pm (I won't see it either coz I'll be on a plane to Beijing!) i.e. 9h 26m of sunlight. It's not too shabby considering I used to slog through the misery of winter in London where the shortest day had 97 minutes less sunlight (8am-4pm).
Check out the short days I will be encountering in the northern cities I will be visiting over the next 10 days:
Beijing:: 9h 20m | 7:34am - 4:54pm
Seoul:: 9h 34m | 7:44am - 5:18pm (Christmas)
Xi'an:: 9h 52m | 7:49am - 5:42pm
Shanghai:: 10h 08m | 6:53am - 5:02pm (New Year's Eve)
I don't so much care how much sunlight there is where I'm visiting as I do about what time the sun sets. The short days are quite annoying coz you can't see much when it's dark. Hopefully there'll be lots of shopping opportunities after dark in China.
The northernmost capital in the world, Reykjavik (Iceland), gets 4h 06m of sunlight on the shortest day of the year! The sun rises at 11:23am (:-o) and sets at 3:30pm. Kwazy! The world's southernmost capital - Wellington (NZ) - which is also the first capital to greet the new year gets about the same amount of sunlight as we do here in DC, although theirs occurs on June 22.
And in KL, the sun never rises before 6:57am or after 7:28am, and never sets before 6:57pm or after 7:28pm. In fact, the difference in the number of hours of sunlight during the longest and shortest days of the year is only 21 minutes. Twelve hours of sunshine, every day, 365 days of the year. How fabulously boring. @ 18:07
December 20, 2006
[not too bad] I'm quite glad that it won't be that cold in Beijing and Seoul when we're there - low of mid-20s to 30s and highs in the 40s. OK, that's still eff-ing cold but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. 20s/30s/40s is average DC weather in the winter. Shanghai, our final stop, will be nice and mild (40s/50s). I'm most surprised that landlocked and continental climate Xi'an is gonna be in the mid-50s, but I guess that's consistent with the fact that it's on the same latitude as Atlanta.
Gotta remember my scarf, gloves, ear muffs, sweaters, etc. Not to mention multiple winter jackets... Packing winter clothes to go on vacation is such a bitch. @ 18:07
[rant mode on] Check this out.
Mmm-hmm, alls I can say is the other 5% are lying.
But lying is better than the Bush Administration insisting on funding abstinence-only-until-marriage programs while refusing to teach young kids about safe sex and AIDS and all that jazz, when virtually every kid is gonna have pre-marital sex anyway. Same goes for the Pope. How stupid can people get? I hold them (indirectly) responsible for the spread of AIDS worldwide and indirectly causing millions of deaths.
OK, rant mode off :-) @ 10:15
December 19, 2006
[december to remember] OMB. I am a little depressed this morning coz I'm mourning the loss... of my liver! *giggle*
Christmas/Holiday/Birthday parties galore... It's been one big fetch booze-a-thon since December began. Not that I am complaining about that... or the cold this morning coz it's been exceedingly beautiful for the past 8 days of partying. Indeed, the partying would not have been half as fun if I had had to trudge around the streets of Dupont in Arctic weather. So yes, I am accusing Mother Nature of being an enabler *giggle*. Definitely a December to remember!
Highlights:
1. Last Monday (when it all began with Peter's birthday), I got carded at JR's. Not at the door but, like, at the bar!! Shocking. The regular bartenders were at their boss' Christmas party, so the replacement crew did not know who I was and one of the newbies actually asked for my ID when I ordered a drink. I wasn't the least bit offended!
2. The JR's Christmas Party on Tuesday night was RIOTOUS. It was warm outside which meant the bar was crotch-to-butt packed with people. The bar was overflowing with free booze and food, and nothing brings out the boys like warm weather and free booze. Mr and Mrs Claus were there. And a drag queen MC who led us all to Christmas carols. Lemme tell ya... you ain't heard nothin' yet until you've heard a bunch of drunk queens at a bar singing in stereo. We were in the "3 French Hens" section for the 12 Days of Christmas, but all of us screamed out "3 French Whores" instead. Glorious. And insane.
3. Yummy birthday dinner for Rob at Montsouris on Wednesday night with Rob (der), Chris/Dave, John/Simon... followed by more drunken antics at (skanky) Omega after. I didn't think I would live to see Thursday. But come Thursday, Happy Hour at JR's called and I had had such a horrendous day at work that day that we answered her calling. Twice. You know it's one of those nights when you go to JR's, leave for another party, and then come back to JR's for more. I was pretty much obliterated by the end of the night.
4. Partying from 7pm-2am on Friday, 6pm-4am on Saturday and 1pm-10pm on Sunday was certifiably insane. And super-fetch!
5. Friday was Rick's Champagne & Truffles Holiday Party aka Jose's Welcome Home From Jo'burg" Party aka Martha Stewart Abducted My Friend Rick's Party. She has never boiled water in her life, and yet she threw a party with enough booze, food, sweets and decorations that I swear she could've gotten her own brand at K-Mart if she had asked. After the party, I closed down JR's with Brett, LOL!
6. Saturday - Gary's birthday party, then Roger/David's Holiday Party, then Blowoff! Gary's birthday was at JR's, complete with balloons and birthday cake (awww). Roger/David's party was insanely liquored up and filled with str8 women with their twins hanging out to play. Fetch.
7. Saturday night at Blowoff (monthly gay dance party at the 9:30 Club):
Me:: (after getting stamped) Where is the coatcheck?
Door Bitch:: Your car
Me:: (stunned) Huh? Isn't there one in the back?
DB:: It's full, so you'll have to put your jacket in your car
Me:: (WTF??) But I walked here
DB:: Too bad
I, of course, marched right up to coat check and sure enough, there was a line of ppl waiting to check their coats... except that the line was only moving after a patron who was leaving had collected his coat to make space for the peeps who just got there. How silly is it to run out of coat check space in winter!! The organizers need to be fired.
8. After Saturday night at Blowoff, I have danced off all my turkey fat for the year. Not to mention the crowds; imagine squeezing everyone (well, only the cute ones that is *grin*) at Nation into a space a quarter the size of Nation. It almost felt like a Cherry event!
9. Sunday was the apex of drunkenness. All-you-can-drink Drunk Brunch (yes, it's such an event that it has to be capitalized) for 18-20 peeps at Beacon. Like, we drank so much they had to go get champagne from the cellar. I started off the day in a really foul mood though coz I was massively hungover from the night before (Note to self: Don't make brunch ressies at 1pm when you've gone to bed at 4 that morning!). But as the saying goes, everything is better with champagne and I perked up in no time. It was staggeringly gorgeous (for mid-Dec) outside so a bunch of us hung out at Fox & Hounds, drinking outside for FOUR hours. That was followed by a 2-hour, 2-dollar drinking session at JR's. OK, count that - SIX nights at JR's in one week. I have issues *giggle*.
10. OMB, I took the bus for the second time in my life last night! Well, as I was the only non-white rider on the DC Circulator, I would say that it wasn't really *the bus*, ja know what ahm sayin'? The Circulator is great if you're not in a hurry and you don't want to walk (coz it's far, cold, hot, whatever) and you're feeling cheap. It took 15 mins to go 10 blocks on K St which was quite silly, but it was only $1 and it took SmarTrip! I actually quite like it. Again, if you're not in a hurry. BTW, we went to Acadiana again last night - with Roger/David, Brad/David/Eric - and it was FAB-U-LOUS. I had the gumbo (one of the best yet) and the jambalaya. Stunning. The chocolate bread pudding dessert (I know, how white trash) was orgasmic. You must go!
I have no idea how I'm gonna do two more nights of partying. But I shall survive! @ 15:09
December 15, 2006
[unlock 'em all] I can't believe I missed the ruling by the US Copyright Office last week that will basically allow cellphones to be legally unlocked for free and very easily. Yay! Finally, now that you can take both your number AND your phone with you when you switch carriers, Americans are no longer tethered to the wireless carrier cartel through the monopoly-like behavior of locked phones.
I remember the first time that I had to unlock my phone as it was quite a chore to navigate through the additional widgets you had to buy to get the phone unlocked (or you pay someone to do it for you). My most recent experiences with T-Mobile have been super-positive. T-Mobile basically allows you to unlock any phone you buy through them after 90 days. Contrast that with Cingular's "we'll only unlock your phone after your contract expires" nonsense.
Anyhoe, this ruling does not affect me much anymore because I have stopped buying phones directly from wireless carriers simply because their phones suck. The best phones out there are sold in Europe and Asia and the wireless carriers here will never dream of selling them, much less subsidizing their cost! My last three phones (all Sony Ericssons) have been purchased full-priced and unlocked from a third party vendor, and they are fab-u-lous.
Check this out:
"More unlocked phones means more advanced phones, too. Right now, carriers have Americans snowed into thinking that they're the only places you can buy phones. They only carry a limited set of phones, and they keep consumers coming to their stores through the crack cocaine of subsidies. But if unlocked phones become commonplace, independent cell phone shops will be more comfortable selling the advanced phones that carriers didn't decide to pick up. That means consumers, not carriers, will decide which phones we get to see, buy, and use."
Unlocking makes sense if you want to use your GSM phone outside the country with another wireless provider i.e. Virgin Mobile in the UK whereby you will have the advantage of having a local phone number and you only pay local rates when calling domestically there as opposed to the extortionist roaming charges that T-Mobile and, worst of all, Cingular charges.
But unlocking only makes sense if you have a GSM phone i.e. T-Mobile and Cingular. If you're with Verizon or Sprint, you're SOL. And you should migrate to GSM. Immediately.
I mean, why bother having a cellphone if it doesn't roam internationally?? @ 16:51
[oink] I'm feeling like a pig, all bloated and shit.
No, not from the copious amount of vodka, though I do feel bloated (and burp a lot) after drinking lots of vodka. I wonder why.
Anyhoe... I have had beef twice in the span of three days! I just could NOT turn down the Kobe Beef steak entree choice at Montsouris (a little bistro with French waiters serving simple but yummy French food). It jumped right out of the menu and started calling out my name. So, I responded :-D I did not regret ordering it at all. So eff-ing delicious till the last melt-in-your-mouth drop. I can't even remember the last time I ate a whole steak for dinner.
And to add to the cholesterolvaganza, I had a gimongous bowl of french fries to go with the steak, OMB!
And then I had Pho for lunch today.
Positively pig-ish, oink. All in the name of Christmas. Love it. @ 16:12
[yay, winter!] The weather could not have been nicer over the past week. And after the past weekend's crazy frigid temps, highs of high 50s (even hitting 63° on Monday!) and lows of low 40s all this week is just perfect. The mild weather is expected to continue till next Wednesday, possibly even hitting 68° (!) on Tuesday. Woohoo!! I ain't complainin' at all. In fact, I'm lovin' it!
The wonderful winter weather coincided with my 10-day holiday-induced drink-a-thon that started on Monday with Peter's birthday at JR's, followed by the JR's Christmas Party on Tuesday, and then Rob's birthday at Montsouris. Last night was all-you-can-drink-for-$9 Happy Hour at JR's followed by Peter's "spa party". We have parties to go to tonight, Saturday, and more drinking opportunities through to Wednesday of next week. Two days later, we fly off to Beijing!
Between the intense (leisure) travel schedule and the boozin', I don't know which part of me is gonna crap out first before my 30th birthday - my brains (from jet lag) or my liver! @ 15:55
[ohmibeyonce] Another contender for best text message of the holiday season; this one from Gary:
Weekend agenda: xmas tree, laundry, go see dreamgirls starring, oh my, beyonce. You?
ROTFL!!!
I hate to say it but my crazy holiday-induced party schedule (see above) will probably prevent me from seeing Dreamgirls until next year :-o
Oh my Beyonce, indeed! @ 15:46
December 14, 2006
[fierce black chick] I was sooo grumpy this morning. I "only" had 7 hours of sleep and I had, in my infinite stupidity, made a dental appointment for 8:30am. Who-TF wants to go see a dentist that early in the morning??
It totally did not help that it was so miserably London-like this morning (i.e. cold and damp) and so foggy I couldn't even see across the street.
Add to that three consecutive nights of partying (with the prospect of seven more to go, some of which I am considering skipping!) plus a slight hangover (more on that later), and you have a recipe for chronic grumpiness.
That is unless you have a fierce black chick named Jamie as your dental assistant, lusting after your orange faux-suede Mandarina Duck manbag.
Jamie:: Gurrrl, I lurrrv your bag. It goes so well with my skin color!
Kiat:: (tilts head sideways and gives her the once over) I'll get you one next time I go to Italy (flips hair and looks away)
Jamie:: Oh no you diin't
Kiat:: You love it
Jamie:: You did *not* just give me 'tude
Kiat:: Mmm-hmm, suh-nap!
Jamie:: (bursts into laughter) You're fabulous, com'ere and give mama some su-gah!
And just like that, my day perked up :-D
Of course, Jamie later asked me what she was gonna get for Christmas since she's been so nice all year and I was like, "Bitch, please... you've been so bad this year you redefined 'naughty'. Merry Christmas!" *giggle*
Oh btw, my dentist is fabulous coz he uses a high-pressured water jet thingie to clean my teeth instead of that annoying metal scraper. I was in and out of there in less than 15. He said that I was his gold star patient of the day with perfect teeth.
*beams*
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I love my dentist! @ 09:35
December 12, 2006
[friday night pix] Pictures of my kwazy co-workers trying on my wig, and in my bed (yes all 5 of us at the same time!) from Friday night...
The Fun(d) Girls! - [L to R] Serra, Julee, Carmen, Diep and Me
Aren't they the sweetest, most demure bunch of girls you've ever met?
Pfffttt... They are fierce, fearless, and will walk all up and down your back if you cross them. Trust me, don't get on their bad sides!
I say all that with love... of course ;-) @ 15:21
[capris in winter] OK, I don't want to be judgemental... (stop laughing!)
But seriously ladies, do you really think it's OK to wear capris in 40° weather... AND a knee-length winter coat over it??
Have you not read the Fashion section in the Geneva Conventions??
Crimes against humanity, I tell ya! @ 10:05
December 11, 2006
[*giggle*] The best SMS of the holiday season (to send to your loved one):
If a fat guy grabs you and puts you in a large bag... don't worry, I told Santa I wanted you for Christmas!
I love it! @ 18:08
[turkey dinner] One weekend of holiday parties down, one more to go! And then, off to China/S. Korea!
Friday night featured a turkey dinner at our house with some co-workers, followed by my company's Christmas... 'scuse me, Holiday Party the next night with yet more co-workers. One could say I OD-ed on my co-workers this past weekend.
Tony made a kick-ass turkey dinner! As y'all know, I won't be celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Well, turkey sushi did not sound appetizing for Thanksgiving... Christmas in Seoul could be interesting - Korean BBQ for Christmas! Yum. Anyhoe, I am a turkey-once-a-year kind person so I *had* to have some and it's impossible to eat a 12-pound bird by ourselves so we enlisted the help of some fine ladies from my workplace.
Here's "Le Menu" :-)
Starters:
Cheeses (including a 3 yo gouda w/ 25 yo balsamic vinegar) and crackers
Olives stuffed with sundried tomatoes
Marinated anchovies
Veuve ClicquotDinner:
Roasted Turkey
Turkey gravy
Dressing w/ carmelized onions, bacon, apples, and sage
Mashed red potatoes
Mixed rices
Maple glazed sweet potatoes
Green beans with champagne-shallot vinaigrette
Sauted red chard with garlic
Cranberry sauce with clementines
Anadama bread and butterDessert:
Individual chocolate souffles
Panettone with zabaglioneDrinks:
Coffee, Tea, Lemonade, Orangeade, Champagne, Wines (Red, White and Dessert)
I know, what's up with all the vegetables?? Couldn't serve ham or porky bacon coz one of my co-workers is a Muslim, so Tony piled on the veges (yuck). The turkey was a-MA-zing as usual. I must've eaten half the turkey i.e. almost all of the dark meat. And the desserts were to-die-for (zabaglione is addictive!). I got a little blitzed (yup, in front of the co-workers.. smart move, Kiat!) on Veuve and this crazy-yummy dessert wine we hand-carried from Sydney three years ago, and somehow or rather we all ended up in my bed! :-o Trying on my wig from Halloween, no less.
ROTFL.
Pictures will follow, mais oui.
Saturday night is another story altogether. Will write more later.
I'm telling ya, there is no such thing as a relaxing weekend in December. @ 12:16
December 8, 2006
[how cold?] I have no idea how cold it is outside today (windchill is 21° right now) coz I got chauffeur-driven to work this morning and I will get chauffeur-driven back home later tonight by one of my co-workers coz they'll all be coming over for a "Christmas dinner" (read: turkey, turkey, gobble, gobble, yum, yum).
I'm gonna be safely cocooned in warmth all day.
Toldcha I'm gonna be a whiney lil' bitch when winter comes :-D @ 11:55
December 5, 2006
[durian] The King of Fruits! If you've never had a durian before, well, try it. If you have, try it again! It's not that bad. It's just like blue cheese - smells like hell but tastes like heaven! I haven't had a durian in forever. I used to eat it a lot as a little kid, and watching my dad slice open a durian with a cleaver was unnerving and entertaining at the same time. I don't really crave it nor do I miss it. I definitely don't miss the lingering smell on your fingers for days after!
But this is about Super Typhoon Durian, which tore through the Eastern Philippines and Manila with Category 5-like 165mph winds last week, triggering massive mudslides that have killed up to a thousand people (or more). Entire villages disappeared under tons of mud and volcanic debris. Very sad. Sadder still is that this is the third typhoon in a row to hit the Philippines (the previous two were Cats 4 and 3 respectively). Typhoon Durian also hit South Vietnam today, skirting around Saigon killing at least 50 people and destroying tens of thousands of homes. Very sad.
Durian was named by the Tokyo Typhoon Center of the Japan Meteorological Agency based on a name submitted by Thailand (yes, the Pacific Typhoon naming system is very democratic whereby every Asian country gets to each submit a name), and gained Typhoon status exactly a week ago. On the same day, it was named Typhoon Reming by the Philippines (which uses an alphabetical system like the US for hurricanes). Typhoon Durian made landfall again today in Vietnam just off of Saigon and has now emerged into the Gulf of Thailand as a weak tropical depression.
Durian is now headed for Southern Thailand but because it has dissipated to a tropical depression, it has lost its "Durian" name and has fallen off the JMA radar. At its peak, it will be about 200mi from Malaysia.
And yet, Malaysia has issued its highest alert (Cat 3) for strong winds and rough seas for East Malaysia (the Borneo part) - 600 miles away! - and the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia. You know what Cat 3 - again, the *highest* alert - means in Malaysia? 30-40mph winds and swells of up to 18ft. The Malaysian authorities label Cat 3 as "most serious - dangerous to all marine activities".
LOL! Sorry, not funny. But that gives you an indication of how safe Malaysia is from typhoons. Even the highest alert in Malaysia is not even a blip on Japan's typhoon tracking system. @ 15:37
December 4, 2006
[kyoto jingle] OK, before I get back to Vegas, you gotta check this little jingle out I recorded from the Kyoto subway (you might have to turn up the volume):
That's their version of "ding dong, doors closing". And you heard it at every single stop, not on the train but on the platform.
Isn't that the cutest, most chinkiest subway jingle you've ever heard?? I loved it!! @ 15:21
[mgm grand lv] Not to be confused with MGM Grand Macau, which is fast becoming Las Vegas East.
So, what can I say about the MGM Grand that hasn't already been said.
First of all, the MGM Mirage group owns half of Vegas. Literally. Like the entire west side of the Strip (only Caesars Palace eludes them), from The Mirage and Treasure Island ('scuse me, "TI") and Bellagio, down to NY-NY, Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. PLUS the new $7 *billion* CityCenter spanning the entire 1/4-mile between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo. Check this out - 18 million sq ft of space comprising of a 60-story, 4000-room hotel-casino designed by Cesar Pelli (world-renown architect of the Petronas Twin Towers), plus 500,000 sq ft of retail space, 2800 residential condo units including The Residences at Mandarin Oriental LV, and two 400-room boutique hotels. It sounds sensational.
Secondly, the MGM Grand is ginormously HUGE. Like monstrous. It is the second largest hotel in the world with 5,690 rooms. The largest is the First World Hotel in Genting Highlands, Malaysia with 6,118 rooms. Incidentally, Genting is also a resort-casino "town".
The hotel is almost far too big. It's almost a city unto itself - and probably is considering that at full capacity, the hotel has about 12,000 guests. Plus the 17,000-seat Garden Arena (where oh-so-yummy Justin Timberlake is performing in January!). The size of this hotel is mind-boggling. It is also large and crowded and impossible to navigate without a map (no amount of signs will do this place justice). But that said, once you figure it all out, it wasn't quite as bad as it seems.
We stayed in the new "West Wing" which was actually quite cool. The rooms were very design-conscious and, thus, kinda small-ish ("only" about 350 sq ft, which is below average in Vegas). The beds were "W"-esque and very comfy. Flat screen TVs, DVD players, Bose Wave radios and TVs in the bathroom mirror complete the whole design experience. But the star of these rooms is the bathroom - super contemporary, ultra modern and, in a twist, open i.e. only a partition separates the bedroom from the bathroom. No wonder the check-in girl at the airport (yup, they are so big they have a check-in counter at McCarran Airport!) specifically mentioned that the West Wing had king beds *only* and that the max occupancy is two. Well, you'd have to be chummy to share a room like that!
Speaking of check-in experiences... We never had - and usually never have - any trouble getting a king bed when checking-in to hotels. But on our first night of the Japan trip - in San Francisco of all places - I assumed the Four Points Sheraton (yes, we were being cheap) by the airport would just give us the king bed we had reserved without asking. But much to my shock and annoyance, we were given a room with two *double* beds! I was ready to throw a fit if it weren't for the fact that we were in a huge hurry to get to Tom/Gen's. I think the front desk guy (obviously a novice and a total newbie) took one look at us - two guys checking-in - and decided to give us two beds instead of the one we had reserved. What an idiot.
Anyhoe, back to Vegas. I probably wouldn't stay at the MGM Grand again (and would not have if it weren't for my boss recommending the Cirque show to us). It was much too big and just wasn't high-end enough - like the Bellagio or the Venetian or the Mandalay Bay - and, consequently, there was *way* too much white trash around. There were also some fine ppl, but I think the MGM Grand is wannabe-luxury but not quite there yet.
Although, you wouldn't know it by the prices they were charging for the food at their restaurants! (see next post above) @ 15:12
[ka-tastrophe] Cirque du Soleil's KÀ was a ka-tastrophe.
A monumental waste of money - both to MGM Grand and the audience - if ever there was one.
Don't get me wrong, this show was all Vegas in terms of style, glitz, badabings, badabooms, zip-boom-bahs and a huge wow factor. The ($165mn!) theater was beautiful, as well, and the stage (or lack thereof - it's a series of floating platforms) is jaw-droppingly amazing. I can't even describe it to you, but it's nothing like you've ever seen. I'd say, "go see it for yourself", but it really wasn't worth the money.
So what was wrong? The show was all theatrics and very little acrobatics. All Vegas, and no Cirque. What is the point of going to a "circus of the sun" if there were no acrobatics?? I don't need pyrotechnics, automation, and amazing lighting if there are no circus acts!
If you're a major fan of Cirque's jaw-dropping acrobatic feats, skip KÀ and head straight to "O" instead. If you're a Cirque fan because you like (and ONLY like) the costumes, the set, the music, etc. - and acrobatics is not a highlight for you - then go see KÀ.
My advice? Don't waste your money. Is it entertaining? Yes. Is it worth $165/pp? (!!!) Hell no.
What a huge disappointment. @ 11:32
[famous] I'm famous!
Well, as famous as any DC resident can be without actually being famous... or notable... or significant... or... you get the point :-p
I made it into the Washington Post!
Well, OK... the back of my head did. Yes, as hard as it is for you to believe, that *is* me. Tony can tell you. He sees that part of me all the ti... um... yea, TMI ;-)
But this totally beats getting into Metro Weekly, which I have done countless times *eyes rolling and nose pointed to the ceiling*
I'm famous!! *giggle*
No, I'm not bored at work this morning... I'm just trying to warm up my fingers by typing coz they are frozen solid! @ 10:23
[33°F] WHAT THE F...???
If you saw a crazy Asian running down 21st St Phoebe-style (arms and legs flailing), that was me trying to get to work in record time in order to escape turning into an ice block. Just for the record, I had FOUR layers of clothing on plus gloves, a scarf, ear muffs, etc. I looked like a bloated penguin sliding across the icy streets of DC. And I twas still cold!!
It is 33° now. The biting winds make it feel like 21°. The high will only be 37°!
UGH.
That's it. I've had enough. I'm moving out of the wretched East Coast before winter hits next year (promises, promises).
I deserve an award for walking to work this morning!
Where's my eff-ing parade?? @ 10:11
December 2, 2006
[mornin' from lax] Good morning! Gosh, waking up at 6:30am is *so* bizarre.
Anyhoe, we're at LAX now on our layover before heading to Vegas in an hour or so. The mileage run is going well so far. We had a long 5-1/2 hour trans-continental flight today due to massive headwinds (leftover from the crazy winter storm that blew into the East Coast yesterday). We were both so tired that we slept most of the flight; not missing breakfast of cheese and asparagus quiche (yuck), ham and sausage (yes, just one), plus lots of croissants. Who knew that we would get over our jet lag from Japan by flying across the country. They were playing The Da Vinci Code, *again*, on the plane. You know you've flown too much when you've seen all the movies on offer at least once.
Flying into LA is always so interesting. First, there's the Grand Canyon (which I slept through, der). Then, it's all desert until you get to the San Gabriel mountains. And once you fly over the mountains, LA literally sprawls before you. It's like the mountains are a barrier keeping LA from spreading out into the inhospitable and otherwise uninhabitable desert southwest. The houses start appearing en masse like an army of brick ants marching towards the ocean. It's nothing but concrete from the mountains to the ocean.
And then you fly past downtown LA, the Hollywood sign, Mike/Gary's house (*grin*) before you get a glimpse of the Pacific, and then you land. It's great.
Our next flight is a Ted flight. Yup, that means *all* coach (groan). Thank God it's less than an hour in the air. Anything more and I would just have to protest the inhumane conditions.
To Tony, of course :-D @ 12:00 LAX
December 1, 2006
[crazies anonymous] Don't laugh. We haven't done a mileage run in a year and a half so we're not certifiably crazy or anything (we're getting close though).
See... If I make 1K (Tony already has), I get 3 free round-trip Business Class upgrades ANYwhere in the world United flies to. Three! FREE!! One Business Class upgrade alone could be worth about $5k. How could I resist??
So... we're headed to Vegas. For the weekend. Correction. For one night.
Not so crazy, right? You really don't have to answer that :-p
We're going via LA coz, well, I refuse to fly Ted (aka cattle class) to Vegas non-stop. I can stomach Business Class to LA then a short 30-minute hop in Ted to Vegas, but not Ted the entire way. And similarly on the return, we're connecting via LA.
And it's gonna be a fun little 15-hour stay in Vegas. We have big plans (and tickets) to go see Cirque du Soleil's Ka at the MGM Grand, then dine at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (the same place we went to in Tokyo a few years back), and finally crash for the night at the MGM Grand.
Oh, and BTW, we have to get up at 4am on Sunday coz our return flight is at 6am.
:-o
I mean, 4am Pacific is like 7am Eastern so I can make that happen, right?
Plus, all told (with this trip plus fees and all that) it's costing me about $700 to make 1K so that I can get my 3 free system-wide upgrades.
OK, I admit it. Hi, my name is Kiat and I'm crazy. Altogether now, "Hi, Kiaaaaat". @ 17:43
[december!] OMB, it's the FINAL month of 2006 already! Good Lord, where has this year gone??
Check this out:
That weather map is ominous; cold weather is upon on us. As if on cue, harsh winter weather will be slamming into the East Coast later today. Temps are expected to drop from a high of 70° at 2pm to 50° by 10pm and 39° tomorrow morning when we fly off to Vegas! (Yes, I know what you're thinking... "Kiat is flying again???" More on that later).
November (or what was left of it) was so beautiful. It's been in the 60s since we got back from Japan. Just gorgeous. I am so not liking the weather forecast for December so far. 30s to low 40s for all of next week??
STANK!! Winter sucks. @ 11:47
29 :: i'm moving
29 :: shanghai 上海
27 :: xi'an 西安
27 :: royally pigged out
27 :: one world, one dream
26 :: ciao korea
26 :: too eff-ing far
26 :: splendid seoul
25 :: seoul 汉城
24 :: beijing 北京
23 :: addicted to status
23 :: face mask?
23 :: lofty at 35,000ft
22 :: made it!
22 :: one last hurrah
21 :: winter solstice
20 :: not too bad
20 :: rant mode on
19 :: 8 down, 2 to go
15 :: unlock 'em all
15 :: oink
15 :: yay, winter!
15 :: ohmibeyonce
14 :: fierce black chick
12 :: friday night pix
12 :: capris in winter
11 :: *giggle*
11 :: turkey dinner
08 :: how cold?
05 :: durian
04 :: kyoto jingle
04 :: mgm grand lv
04 :: ka-tastrophe
04 :: famous
04 :: 33°F
02 :: mornin' from lax
01 :: crazies anonymous
01 :: december!