I had a nice Christmas eve gift exchange. Really. I loved 'The Rape of Nanking' (Applicable as I just returned from Shanghai and was told the lady author committed suicide after she got so depressed from researching and writing the book). I loved the bigger edition of the Bling Bling scooter/bike that Ziliang got me. Now my Navy STIKFAS figure has a bike! I loved the Barbie Wonderwoman. This means I have to get off my butt and score my own BATGIRL and SUPERGIRL Barbie too. I loved the little plush clock. Mine's always malfunctioning. I also received a lovely little pair of yellow trunks (I'll be flashing em tommorow), a iMac mouse with Mac magazine and finally, the most important present of all, $200 cash from my aunt.
God I love Christmas.
(If I left out any gift, do message me. I have a 3 second memory. Like a fish...)
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
The One with my HDB Letter
Another one...
I would like to appeal against the summon I received on 23/12/2004 @ 11:25AM. When I returned home at 12:55AM the night before the summon and was unable to find a parking lot outside, I turned into the multi-storey carpark as we did pay the additional fee which enabled us to park inside. As I proceeded down the carpark, I was dismayed to find that it was full until I chanced upon the lots at the end of the carpark. It was, as I later realized, the car wash bay. However, I was unable to tell that it was so as there was a car space between the final lot and there was another car already inside the bay and when approaching the lot in a car, I was unable to see the marking of ‘car wash bay’ as it was simply not prominent enough. The red words on the floor were quite identical to the season parking lots and there was no extra indication that it was indeed a car wash bay. As I slotted the car into the space between the 2 cars, I noticed too that there were 2 blocks of concrete present at the end of the lot as per normal with other parking lots. Hence I didn’t think for a moment that it wasn’t a parking lot. After emerging from the car, I glanced to my right and checked the markings to ensure that it was for season parking as it was a continuous red marking all the way from the other end of the carpark to my lot. Satisfied that it was fine, I locked up and left. As I had no work the next day, I only reached the carpark at noon and found the summon. Apparently the other car parked next to me had already left.
I wish that this appeal would be granted as it was not my intention to purposely park in a designated car wash bay. However, I find that there was inadequate notice given to drivers and as a result, I had unknowingly parked there. If I could suggest that the markings be of a different color or that the words ‘car wash bay’ be painted in yellow in the lots themselves, it would surely make a great difference. I also strongly suggest that the white lots on the opposite side of the season parking be painted red too so that residents have a priority in parking as sometimes I do find that there are a few overnight parking cars using coupons taking up space in the sheltered carpark. After my summon, I notice every night without fail that there would be cars parked in the car wash bay. This problem could be solved had the markings been more prominent or that the current public lots be converted to season parking. It’s not fair that residents pay for sheltered parking and yet have to park in the sun due to the carpark being too small and sheltered lots being allocated to the public as well. We understand that there is another carpark under construction, hence when it is completed there would be more sheltered lots for the residents. However, as it is still a transitional period, it would not be very fair that residents paying for sheltered lots be penalized for this mistake of unknowingly parking in the bay as we did pay extra for having the sheltered season parking car park and the error was made due to (i) unknowingly parking as there was another car in the bay and I sincerely thought that it was a lot; (ii) there was inadequate signs to illustrate the car wash bay; (iii) every single night there would be cars parked there hence my illusion that it was a lot and (iv) there are simply insufficient sheltered lots for the residents with half the lots in the carpark available for the public. As such, I sincerely wish that this appeal would be granted and the summon waived.
Thank you and Regards.
It was really my fault for being blind. But then, it doesn't hurt to try as HDB did contribute to my blindness..
This is a system generated acknowledgement.
Thank you for using our e-mail enquiry service.
We have received your e-mail and will look into it.
For clarifications, please call our Branch Office at 1800-2255432.
HDB Bedok Branch Office
bbdadmin@hdb.gov.sg
I would like to appeal against the summon I received on 23/12/2004 @ 11:25AM. When I returned home at 12:55AM the night before the summon and was unable to find a parking lot outside, I turned into the multi-storey carpark as we did pay the additional fee which enabled us to park inside. As I proceeded down the carpark, I was dismayed to find that it was full until I chanced upon the lots at the end of the carpark. It was, as I later realized, the car wash bay. However, I was unable to tell that it was so as there was a car space between the final lot and there was another car already inside the bay and when approaching the lot in a car, I was unable to see the marking of ‘car wash bay’ as it was simply not prominent enough. The red words on the floor were quite identical to the season parking lots and there was no extra indication that it was indeed a car wash bay. As I slotted the car into the space between the 2 cars, I noticed too that there were 2 blocks of concrete present at the end of the lot as per normal with other parking lots. Hence I didn’t think for a moment that it wasn’t a parking lot. After emerging from the car, I glanced to my right and checked the markings to ensure that it was for season parking as it was a continuous red marking all the way from the other end of the carpark to my lot. Satisfied that it was fine, I locked up and left. As I had no work the next day, I only reached the carpark at noon and found the summon. Apparently the other car parked next to me had already left.
I wish that this appeal would be granted as it was not my intention to purposely park in a designated car wash bay. However, I find that there was inadequate notice given to drivers and as a result, I had unknowingly parked there. If I could suggest that the markings be of a different color or that the words ‘car wash bay’ be painted in yellow in the lots themselves, it would surely make a great difference. I also strongly suggest that the white lots on the opposite side of the season parking be painted red too so that residents have a priority in parking as sometimes I do find that there are a few overnight parking cars using coupons taking up space in the sheltered carpark. After my summon, I notice every night without fail that there would be cars parked in the car wash bay. This problem could be solved had the markings been more prominent or that the current public lots be converted to season parking. It’s not fair that residents pay for sheltered parking and yet have to park in the sun due to the carpark being too small and sheltered lots being allocated to the public as well. We understand that there is another carpark under construction, hence when it is completed there would be more sheltered lots for the residents. However, as it is still a transitional period, it would not be very fair that residents paying for sheltered lots be penalized for this mistake of unknowingly parking in the bay as we did pay extra for having the sheltered season parking car park and the error was made due to (i) unknowingly parking as there was another car in the bay and I sincerely thought that it was a lot; (ii) there was inadequate signs to illustrate the car wash bay; (iii) every single night there would be cars parked there hence my illusion that it was a lot and (iv) there are simply insufficient sheltered lots for the residents with half the lots in the carpark available for the public. As such, I sincerely wish that this appeal would be granted and the summon waived.
Thank you and Regards.
It was really my fault for being blind. But then, it doesn't hurt to try as HDB did contribute to my blindness..
This is a system generated acknowledgement.
Thank you for using our e-mail enquiry service.
We have received your e-mail and will look into it.
For clarifications, please call our Branch Office at 1800-2255432.
HDB Bedok Branch Office
bbdadmin@hdb.gov.sg
The One with my DBS Letter
Since we're into the spirit of complaining... here's my complaint letter to DBS. Unreplied of course.
I would like to comment on some problems I encountered when I was on a recent trip to China; Shanghai. When I tried to pay for my purchases at 2 shopping centres there, they rejected my Mastercard which was a debit card. I was perturbed by this as after paying cash for those purchases, I was low on funds and I recalled I had not activiated my replacement card's PIN yet. Hence I wanted to call the 24hr Customer Service Line (6563272265) located behind my debit card to find out (i) was there any problem with my card as I still had to pay for some hotel bills and (ii) whether I could retrieve my PIN number to withdraw cash in the event that my card had further problems and was rejected by the hotel. I made a total of three calls on 11/12/04 alone at 7:03am, 7:05am and 11:37am totalling 17min 24sec of which the entire time I was put on hold awaiting an operator to attend to me. The blocks were 1min 17sec, 5min 29sec and 10min 38sec respectively. I was desperate as you can see on the final call as my situation was 'urgent' and required 'immediate attendance'. Of course, I was not given any service and when I received my Starhub bill after I returned from Shanghai, I was not amused that I had to pay a total of $49.3822 for this non-service. Is there any way I can claim this sum back from DBS? I can produce the necessary documents and the time of call has been stipulated as above so you can check on it to verify for yourself. I await your timely reply.
And yes DBS, I'm still waiting.
I would like to comment on some problems I encountered when I was on a recent trip to China; Shanghai. When I tried to pay for my purchases at 2 shopping centres there, they rejected my Mastercard which was a debit card. I was perturbed by this as after paying cash for those purchases, I was low on funds and I recalled I had not activiated my replacement card's PIN yet. Hence I wanted to call the 24hr Customer Service Line (6563272265) located behind my debit card to find out (i) was there any problem with my card as I still had to pay for some hotel bills and (ii) whether I could retrieve my PIN number to withdraw cash in the event that my card had further problems and was rejected by the hotel. I made a total of three calls on 11/12/04 alone at 7:03am, 7:05am and 11:37am totalling 17min 24sec of which the entire time I was put on hold awaiting an operator to attend to me. The blocks were 1min 17sec, 5min 29sec and 10min 38sec respectively. I was desperate as you can see on the final call as my situation was 'urgent' and required 'immediate attendance'. Of course, I was not given any service and when I received my Starhub bill after I returned from Shanghai, I was not amused that I had to pay a total of $49.3822 for this non-service. Is there any way I can claim this sum back from DBS? I can produce the necessary documents and the time of call has been stipulated as above so you can check on it to verify for yourself. I await your timely reply.
And yes DBS, I'm still waiting.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
The One with the Phantom of the Opera
Hmm. The film version actually made me cherish my 24K Gold Disc Manufactured in Japan PHANTOM OF THE OPERA CD which was been gathering cobwebs in my CD drawer. Otherwise, it kinda disgusted me. Don't get me wrong. You can't go wrong with Andrew Llyod Webber's music and/or Charles Hart's lyrics. I guess that fact that it was directed by Joel Schumaucher. To educate the general public, here's the lowdown of the esteemed director courtesy of Wikipedia Encyclopedia:
Schumacher's Batman & Robin offered a campy description of Batman, which many fans saw as a mockery to the Batman Legend. After Schumacher's failure, the Batman film series was suspended, until a new wave of serious comics-based films such as Spider-Man (movie) and X-Men (movie) proved to be a hugh success. That film damaged hard Schumacher's reputation as a serious director.
Destroyed Batman. Destroyed Phantom.
I dunno, he didn't have alot of vision I guess. If he didn't realise it, having two people interacting onscreen when there's so much empty space just doesn't work. I'd think shots should have been tighter when there's nothing to see in the background cause all the wide shots just makes the phantom look idiotic prancing around. Sigh. At least he didn't give him nipples.
But the product placement. So obvious. So horrendous. So Schumacher. Swarovski crystals anyone? Ugh.
And trust me when I say ignore the black and white fill ins. It just doesn't make the story any much easier to understand for a non-phantom watcher and even for one that had caught the musical live onstage. It doesn't help. It confuses. So who's the old lady standing there looking tired. Yeah, we know the old geezer's Mr R. So does that mean Christine is dead? I prefer ambiguity. Explain away everything and the magic is gone.
Case in point. The Phantom being a runaway gypsy boy.
Fuck.
How low can he go? Seriously. Screwing up the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera by explaining him away as a violent little gypsy ugly son of a bitch (literally) kinda spoils the entire mood that the story tried so hard to build up from the start doesn't it? So now our Phantom's a little stuck up snotty brat whom treats the theatre as his playground? A brat you say? Thank you very much. Magic gone. No mystery. No point. Next please.
This isn't even a film. This is a movie. And it's not gonna garner any oscars or globes this year (other than for score, but then again it's not fair is it?) ... this much I can predict.
If anybody else says otherwise, do flame me. I'm bored.
Schumacher's Batman & Robin offered a campy description of Batman, which many fans saw as a mockery to the Batman Legend. After Schumacher's failure, the Batman film series was suspended, until a new wave of serious comics-based films such as Spider-Man (movie) and X-Men (movie) proved to be a hugh success. That film damaged hard Schumacher's reputation as a serious director.
Destroyed Batman. Destroyed Phantom.
I dunno, he didn't have alot of vision I guess. If he didn't realise it, having two people interacting onscreen when there's so much empty space just doesn't work. I'd think shots should have been tighter when there's nothing to see in the background cause all the wide shots just makes the phantom look idiotic prancing around. Sigh. At least he didn't give him nipples.
But the product placement. So obvious. So horrendous. So Schumacher. Swarovski crystals anyone? Ugh.
And trust me when I say ignore the black and white fill ins. It just doesn't make the story any much easier to understand for a non-phantom watcher and even for one that had caught the musical live onstage. It doesn't help. It confuses. So who's the old lady standing there looking tired. Yeah, we know the old geezer's Mr R. So does that mean Christine is dead? I prefer ambiguity. Explain away everything and the magic is gone.
Case in point. The Phantom being a runaway gypsy boy.
Fuck.
How low can he go? Seriously. Screwing up the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera by explaining him away as a violent little gypsy ugly son of a bitch (literally) kinda spoils the entire mood that the story tried so hard to build up from the start doesn't it? So now our Phantom's a little stuck up snotty brat whom treats the theatre as his playground? A brat you say? Thank you very much. Magic gone. No mystery. No point. Next please.
This isn't even a film. This is a movie. And it's not gonna garner any oscars or globes this year (other than for score, but then again it's not fair is it?) ... this much I can predict.
If anybody else says otherwise, do flame me. I'm bored.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
The One with the Shanghai Afterthoughts II
Enough Shanghai bashing. Let's see what I liked about Shanghai..
1) The Low Value of the RMB. Yeah I know. Like damn cheapo right. Budden it makes alot of difference when your SGD $1 = their RMB $5. Especially so when like a bowl of shui jiao is like RMB $3 which makes it like SGD $0.60? Or when we ate at restaurants with the bill totalling RMB $50 for 3 people, it means we spent less than SGD $10 combined for 3 people. Making out to $3.3333333333333 for a feast fit for a king! Amazing stuff. CDs (original) cost RMB $25 which transalates to SGD $5. A metro ride RMB $2 = SGD $0.40. A box set of DVDs which I was eyeing in SG cost me RMB $50 = SGD $10 and they were selling the exact same thing here for SGD $60. Taxis start at RMB $10 in Shanghai, RMB $7 in Nanjing, and we rarely exceed RMB $20 for a 1/2hr ride.. which makes out to SGD $5! Whew. I think you get the idea. Same pricing but divided by 5. Lower value of money, I like.
2) The Food. Food in Shanghai is awesome. I don't understand why people complain its too oily. It isn't! It's magnificant. Heh. We spent quite a tidy sum on food alone as my travelling companion refuses to eat at roadside stalls which I really wanted to try. Oh well. I'll get another time to try it. Maybe next year. But the food's really traditional. Cannot ever find such food in Singapore! I've never had a vegetarian meal so sedap.. using mushrooms in replace of squid. Deep fried. Mmm. Perfection. I've never eaten before many of the dishes we ordered. Everything just tastes different. Tastes better. I even put on 2kg and gained a tummy from 8 days of non-stop gourmet food. But I don't regret a single bite. Damn I miss the food.
3) The Taxis. There's an abundance of taxis in Shanghai. It's damn easy to get a cab, and some even make an illegal U-turn in the middle of the road just to get your business! Plus, you can also NOT pay the driver if you encounter such scenarios (really!): (1) If the driver fails to greet you, (2) If the driver smokes in the car, (3) If the driver refuses to accept your travel card (It's sorta like an ez link card for transport!), (4) If the driver is unable to print a receipt for you, and (5) If the driver spits out of the car. Plus, they all wear formal suits! Zai. Now what do Singapore taxi drivers wear? Hmm.
4) The Eye-Candy. I don't know why. But the Shanghainese are just so damn chio. A majority la. There are of course some ugly ones. But majority are chio. Especially the female police and the female army people. All so ladylike. But in uniform. Chio chio! I guess it's attributed to how they dress. They do dress very fashionably. Envious sia. Look at them. Then look at how we dress. I should have packed a suit to Shanghai. Instead, I wore a polo t-shirt and jeans. Once I take off my jacket, damn obiang. Sadz. Singapore lacks eye-candy and good fashion sense. We should wake up. Haiz.
5) The DVDs. I bought so many DVDs. Original and non-original. Original Japanese anime ones are really hard to get by in Singapore. And those found in Singapore are seriously marked up in price. Hence getting them direct from China is really a bargain. Like 5 times cheaper. Where else can I find the entire set of Samurai X, Naruto or Shaman King? Best of all, these are expensive items (luxury goods!) in China and nobody buys them.. so they're all sitting in the shopping centres waiting for me to buy them! Happy happy joy joy. Pirated ones lagi best. No pirated Japanese anime, but plenty of TV series. Especially the ang moh ones. I was particulary happy to obtain my copy of SPACED, a british comedy by the guy in SHUAN OF THE DEAD. Good stuff and amazingly available in pirated format. Just cost me SGD $1.25 each! Malaysia still costs SGD $5 each! So obviously the cheapo greedy pig in me bought plenty. Which I will give away after I'm done with em. Got stuff like CSI seasons 3 & 4, The Family Guy, Garfield & Friends, Powerpuff Girls and some award winning documentaries just to name a few. Love my DVDs.
6) The People. Yeah. Despite them being loudmouthed and sometimes scary, they're actually pretty friendly when I stopped them and asked for directions. I was even stopped by others to ask for directions twice. Of course, I had to say I didn't know where the place they wanted to go was.. but I could have been a bastard and given wrong directions. Could have. Heh. Anyway, as I said, they're darn friendly when you actually talk to them. I guess we've approached at least 2 people everyday just to ask for directions. That's the penalty for not bringing a map around with us. Amazing eh? No map still can survive. Ask people lah! Sometimes we even engage in little small talk, like when we stopped a guy on a scooter (yes! on a scooter!) and asked for directions to a certain pub, he actually recommended us other pubs. Ha! See, friendly people. Nice nice.
7) The Weather. Nice and cool. 24/7 air con. I like. But at night, I prefer to be warm, which can be achieved by the heating in the hotel room. So basically I loved the weather every minute I was there. Afterall, I was adequately prepared for it. Gloves, thermal underwear and a nice snow jacket. Abit overkill actually but it's damn comfy. And rarely do I sweat. Actually I didn't even need to bathe everyday. Budden. Formality sake. And also to keep myself clean. Heh. The weather helped my pimples much. Many of them went away! But I suspect they'll be back soon. Grrr.
8) The Buildings. Shanghai has an amazing mix of traditional shophouses, colonial buildings, modern skyscrapers and also buildings with such far-fetched designs that one would think .. is that real? Heh. Obviously the traditional shophouses take the cake for me. I love the original antique design of such shophouses. The more worn down the better. Reflects the history of the place I'd say. And they haven't been restored! Government no money la. So basically what you see is 100% authentic! I like. We wandered around some back alleys too to take pictures. Very interesting contrast between the modern buildings which are just like next door. Though some may think their urban planning screw up, I think it's nice. You see the development of the city right there. Through their buildings. The colonial buildings include the famous PEACE HOTEL. That entire stretch (The Bundt) is simply fabulous. Reminds me of London. I also like. Finally, they have the Pearl. Which is like an observatory thingy. However, it just seems like another phallic symbol to me. Got 2 balls summore. I couldn't believe my eyes at the ridiculous design. But the Government liked it. I prefer the other phallic symbol (Eiffiel Tower) so I got nothing to say.
9) The Communist. The main attractions in Shanghai for me weren't the museum nor the boat ride up and down the river. I preferred the free Young Communist Party Museum to the National Museum of which I fell asleep amongst the jade and bronze statutes. Too tired la. Anyway, the CCP museum is damn zai. Propaganda has never been so interesting. I'm sure PAP has a tiny museum locked up somewhere too, and schools will one day be forced to send their students there on compulsary outings (we met a group of schoolkids there). We also had the priviledge of visiting the HQ of the CCP near Xing Tian Di. Where Mao Zhedong held his first CCP meeting. Damn shiok reading their history. But they blatently left out the cultural revolution. Hmm. Oh well. But they're very updated. Got Yao Ming and recently the China guy that got shot up into space. Plus, I loved the way they write about their members. Eg. Our hot-blooded (direct translation) young man died valiantly at the war front in battle against the evil conqurers. Something to that extent. Think you guys get the gist? Communists. Interesting read. For modern day CCP parties, look no further than our very own PAP. I actually wanted to get a Mao Zhedong bust and statute. But no money! Had to buy stuff for you people first. SIGH.
10) The Gardens. Amazingly, they have some kick-ass gardens there with some virtually flawless scenaries. No bluff. They're so beautiful that I think I took over 50 photos there. Unfortunately, many had other people inside as there were TOO MANY BLOODY TOURISTS in the garden. Cannot get a picture without any outsiders. Damn. Such is the problem when visiting tourist locations. Sigh. But they were beautiful. And once my photos are up, I'm sure you'll all agree.
11) The Toilets. Apparently the rumor that China has the worst toilets are unfounded. The shopping centre toilets, tourist attraction toilets and even small toilets in mini restaurants were pretty ok. They actually fared better than the local coffeeshop toilet downstairs of my house. Speaks volumes eh? Oddly enough, the worst toilet goes to Pu Dong University. The best local university in Shanghai. Their male toilet cubicles consisted of nothing but an open pipe. You shit into the pipe, flush at the end of the cubicle and your shit travels past everyone else and goes into a bigger pipe. Whoopee. And they have no toilet paper. Acck.
12) The History. Nothing beats Chinese History. I mean, afterall, we're chinese. It's like our roots. (I even picked up a phamplet for 1 RMB explaining the origins of my surname!) But nothing touched me more than the Nanjing Massacre Museum at (where else) Nanjing. That alone made the 6hr to and fro ride from Shanghai to Nanjing worth it. At the museum, we got to see pictures of the atrocities the Japanese did (Fucking Japs!) to our humble ancestors. It's really not for the faint hearted. And really really heart wrenching. There were bodies there. Real actual skeletal remains of the victims which illustrated the cruelty of the japanese. A bullet hole in the head of a middle aged woman. A baby's head found severed in his own lap. A man with steel spikes attached to his skull. Another one with no legs. The list of torture just goes on and on. Which brings me now to a story one of the local students told me regarding their visit to the museum. Apparently when they were there, there was a Singaporean tour group present. And in this group, there was this fat (plump, fat, what's the difference) girl whom was standing looking at this wall inscribed with the names of some of the victims of the massacre. I think they said she was about 18-19? And she looked at every single name one by one, before turning to her mother and asked loudly, "How come don't have my name arh?" Heh. Later lagi worse. When she went to visit the tomb with the remains of the victims (Which I took pictures of and will post up) her first remark was "Wah! All these bones look like dog bones!" I don't care if she's chinese. Or if she's Singaporeans. She has no respect. She has to die. (For more details on Respect, look to "Shark Tale" specifically to the 2 hilarious jellyfishes) I feel for the poor victims. If given a chance, I would do something about it. But I'm just a lousy student tourist. Maybe next time can start a pentition to make the Japanese Government to own up to Nanjing. Apparently there was a victim whom was pregnant and a Japanese soldier tried to rape her. She bit his hand and he cut open her belly. He child dropped out. He then killed the child (duh) and slashed her over 20 times. Amazingly she survived. And gave anti-Japanese speeches since the war ended and tried to make Japan own up to their wrongs in Nanjing (you guys know they actually had killing competitions? The fuckers.). Unfortunately for her, the Japanese government didn't. And she died just 3 days prior to my visit to the museum. I respect the survivors. I for one am interested to find out how my grand-uncles survived during the war now (I know my granddad ran to Singapore and subsequently into the rural villages in Malaysia). Maybe all of you should ask how your grandparents survived the war. My companion's grand-uncles were all killed by the Japanese (Granddad also came to Singapore). It's time to know your roots ask. I'm sure your parents will be willing to tell you.
That's about all for now. I'm quite beat. If I recall anything else I shall just add on to the post.. Afterwhich it'll be a new post.
1) The Low Value of the RMB. Yeah I know. Like damn cheapo right. Budden it makes alot of difference when your SGD $1 = their RMB $5. Especially so when like a bowl of shui jiao is like RMB $3 which makes it like SGD $0.60? Or when we ate at restaurants with the bill totalling RMB $50 for 3 people, it means we spent less than SGD $10 combined for 3 people. Making out to $3.3333333333333 for a feast fit for a king! Amazing stuff. CDs (original) cost RMB $25 which transalates to SGD $5. A metro ride RMB $2 = SGD $0.40. A box set of DVDs which I was eyeing in SG cost me RMB $50 = SGD $10 and they were selling the exact same thing here for SGD $60. Taxis start at RMB $10 in Shanghai, RMB $7 in Nanjing, and we rarely exceed RMB $20 for a 1/2hr ride.. which makes out to SGD $5! Whew. I think you get the idea. Same pricing but divided by 5. Lower value of money, I like.
2) The Food. Food in Shanghai is awesome. I don't understand why people complain its too oily. It isn't! It's magnificant. Heh. We spent quite a tidy sum on food alone as my travelling companion refuses to eat at roadside stalls which I really wanted to try. Oh well. I'll get another time to try it. Maybe next year. But the food's really traditional. Cannot ever find such food in Singapore! I've never had a vegetarian meal so sedap.. using mushrooms in replace of squid. Deep fried. Mmm. Perfection. I've never eaten before many of the dishes we ordered. Everything just tastes different. Tastes better. I even put on 2kg and gained a tummy from 8 days of non-stop gourmet food. But I don't regret a single bite. Damn I miss the food.
3) The Taxis. There's an abundance of taxis in Shanghai. It's damn easy to get a cab, and some even make an illegal U-turn in the middle of the road just to get your business! Plus, you can also NOT pay the driver if you encounter such scenarios (really!): (1) If the driver fails to greet you, (2) If the driver smokes in the car, (3) If the driver refuses to accept your travel card (It's sorta like an ez link card for transport!), (4) If the driver is unable to print a receipt for you, and (5) If the driver spits out of the car. Plus, they all wear formal suits! Zai. Now what do Singapore taxi drivers wear? Hmm.
4) The Eye-Candy. I don't know why. But the Shanghainese are just so damn chio. A majority la. There are of course some ugly ones. But majority are chio. Especially the female police and the female army people. All so ladylike. But in uniform. Chio chio! I guess it's attributed to how they dress. They do dress very fashionably. Envious sia. Look at them. Then look at how we dress. I should have packed a suit to Shanghai. Instead, I wore a polo t-shirt and jeans. Once I take off my jacket, damn obiang. Sadz. Singapore lacks eye-candy and good fashion sense. We should wake up. Haiz.
5) The DVDs. I bought so many DVDs. Original and non-original. Original Japanese anime ones are really hard to get by in Singapore. And those found in Singapore are seriously marked up in price. Hence getting them direct from China is really a bargain. Like 5 times cheaper. Where else can I find the entire set of Samurai X, Naruto or Shaman King? Best of all, these are expensive items (luxury goods!) in China and nobody buys them.. so they're all sitting in the shopping centres waiting for me to buy them! Happy happy joy joy. Pirated ones lagi best. No pirated Japanese anime, but plenty of TV series. Especially the ang moh ones. I was particulary happy to obtain my copy of SPACED, a british comedy by the guy in SHUAN OF THE DEAD. Good stuff and amazingly available in pirated format. Just cost me SGD $1.25 each! Malaysia still costs SGD $5 each! So obviously the cheapo greedy pig in me bought plenty. Which I will give away after I'm done with em. Got stuff like CSI seasons 3 & 4, The Family Guy, Garfield & Friends, Powerpuff Girls and some award winning documentaries just to name a few. Love my DVDs.
6) The People. Yeah. Despite them being loudmouthed and sometimes scary, they're actually pretty friendly when I stopped them and asked for directions. I was even stopped by others to ask for directions twice. Of course, I had to say I didn't know where the place they wanted to go was.. but I could have been a bastard and given wrong directions. Could have. Heh. Anyway, as I said, they're darn friendly when you actually talk to them. I guess we've approached at least 2 people everyday just to ask for directions. That's the penalty for not bringing a map around with us. Amazing eh? No map still can survive. Ask people lah! Sometimes we even engage in little small talk, like when we stopped a guy on a scooter (yes! on a scooter!) and asked for directions to a certain pub, he actually recommended us other pubs. Ha! See, friendly people. Nice nice.
7) The Weather. Nice and cool. 24/7 air con. I like. But at night, I prefer to be warm, which can be achieved by the heating in the hotel room. So basically I loved the weather every minute I was there. Afterall, I was adequately prepared for it. Gloves, thermal underwear and a nice snow jacket. Abit overkill actually but it's damn comfy. And rarely do I sweat. Actually I didn't even need to bathe everyday. Budden. Formality sake. And also to keep myself clean. Heh. The weather helped my pimples much. Many of them went away! But I suspect they'll be back soon. Grrr.
8) The Buildings. Shanghai has an amazing mix of traditional shophouses, colonial buildings, modern skyscrapers and also buildings with such far-fetched designs that one would think .. is that real? Heh. Obviously the traditional shophouses take the cake for me. I love the original antique design of such shophouses. The more worn down the better. Reflects the history of the place I'd say. And they haven't been restored! Government no money la. So basically what you see is 100% authentic! I like. We wandered around some back alleys too to take pictures. Very interesting contrast between the modern buildings which are just like next door. Though some may think their urban planning screw up, I think it's nice. You see the development of the city right there. Through their buildings. The colonial buildings include the famous PEACE HOTEL. That entire stretch (The Bundt) is simply fabulous. Reminds me of London. I also like. Finally, they have the Pearl. Which is like an observatory thingy. However, it just seems like another phallic symbol to me. Got 2 balls summore. I couldn't believe my eyes at the ridiculous design. But the Government liked it. I prefer the other phallic symbol (Eiffiel Tower) so I got nothing to say.
9) The Communist. The main attractions in Shanghai for me weren't the museum nor the boat ride up and down the river. I preferred the free Young Communist Party Museum to the National Museum of which I fell asleep amongst the jade and bronze statutes. Too tired la. Anyway, the CCP museum is damn zai. Propaganda has never been so interesting. I'm sure PAP has a tiny museum locked up somewhere too, and schools will one day be forced to send their students there on compulsary outings (we met a group of schoolkids there). We also had the priviledge of visiting the HQ of the CCP near Xing Tian Di. Where Mao Zhedong held his first CCP meeting. Damn shiok reading their history. But they blatently left out the cultural revolution. Hmm. Oh well. But they're very updated. Got Yao Ming and recently the China guy that got shot up into space. Plus, I loved the way they write about their members. Eg. Our hot-blooded (direct translation) young man died valiantly at the war front in battle against the evil conqurers. Something to that extent. Think you guys get the gist? Communists. Interesting read. For modern day CCP parties, look no further than our very own PAP. I actually wanted to get a Mao Zhedong bust and statute. But no money! Had to buy stuff for you people first. SIGH.
10) The Gardens. Amazingly, they have some kick-ass gardens there with some virtually flawless scenaries. No bluff. They're so beautiful that I think I took over 50 photos there. Unfortunately, many had other people inside as there were TOO MANY BLOODY TOURISTS in the garden. Cannot get a picture without any outsiders. Damn. Such is the problem when visiting tourist locations. Sigh. But they were beautiful. And once my photos are up, I'm sure you'll all agree.
11) The Toilets. Apparently the rumor that China has the worst toilets are unfounded. The shopping centre toilets, tourist attraction toilets and even small toilets in mini restaurants were pretty ok. They actually fared better than the local coffeeshop toilet downstairs of my house. Speaks volumes eh? Oddly enough, the worst toilet goes to Pu Dong University. The best local university in Shanghai. Their male toilet cubicles consisted of nothing but an open pipe. You shit into the pipe, flush at the end of the cubicle and your shit travels past everyone else and goes into a bigger pipe. Whoopee. And they have no toilet paper. Acck.
12) The History. Nothing beats Chinese History. I mean, afterall, we're chinese. It's like our roots. (I even picked up a phamplet for 1 RMB explaining the origins of my surname!) But nothing touched me more than the Nanjing Massacre Museum at (where else) Nanjing. That alone made the 6hr to and fro ride from Shanghai to Nanjing worth it. At the museum, we got to see pictures of the atrocities the Japanese did (Fucking Japs!) to our humble ancestors. It's really not for the faint hearted. And really really heart wrenching. There were bodies there. Real actual skeletal remains of the victims which illustrated the cruelty of the japanese. A bullet hole in the head of a middle aged woman. A baby's head found severed in his own lap. A man with steel spikes attached to his skull. Another one with no legs. The list of torture just goes on and on. Which brings me now to a story one of the local students told me regarding their visit to the museum. Apparently when they were there, there was a Singaporean tour group present. And in this group, there was this fat (plump, fat, what's the difference) girl whom was standing looking at this wall inscribed with the names of some of the victims of the massacre. I think they said she was about 18-19? And she looked at every single name one by one, before turning to her mother and asked loudly, "How come don't have my name arh?" Heh. Later lagi worse. When she went to visit the tomb with the remains of the victims (Which I took pictures of and will post up) her first remark was "Wah! All these bones look like dog bones!" I don't care if she's chinese. Or if she's Singaporeans. She has no respect. She has to die. (For more details on Respect, look to "Shark Tale" specifically to the 2 hilarious jellyfishes) I feel for the poor victims. If given a chance, I would do something about it. But I'm just a lousy student tourist. Maybe next time can start a pentition to make the Japanese Government to own up to Nanjing. Apparently there was a victim whom was pregnant and a Japanese soldier tried to rape her. She bit his hand and he cut open her belly. He child dropped out. He then killed the child (duh) and slashed her over 20 times. Amazingly she survived. And gave anti-Japanese speeches since the war ended and tried to make Japan own up to their wrongs in Nanjing (you guys know they actually had killing competitions? The fuckers.). Unfortunately for her, the Japanese government didn't. And she died just 3 days prior to my visit to the museum. I respect the survivors. I for one am interested to find out how my grand-uncles survived during the war now (I know my granddad ran to Singapore and subsequently into the rural villages in Malaysia). Maybe all of you should ask how your grandparents survived the war. My companion's grand-uncles were all killed by the Japanese (Granddad also came to Singapore). It's time to know your roots ask. I'm sure your parents will be willing to tell you.
That's about all for now. I'm quite beat. If I recall anything else I shall just add on to the post.. Afterwhich it'll be a new post.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
The One with the Shanghai Afterthoughts I
Some things about Shanghai I disliked:
1) The Air. I love the cold weather. But the air. It's really bad. Atrocious even. Every night I'll just dig through my nostrils and discover they're like black, Really black. Like soot black. Pollution is really bad there.. though others swear Beijing is worse (I'm gonna bring a gas mask there) and Hongkong isn't that swell, but I still think currently Shanghai's air is bleargh. Amazingly though I read in Times that some Beijing people moved from Beijing to Shanghai on the account of the better air quality. Go figure. We've taken our clean air for granted all this while. It's really great to be able to breathe in deep without choking. The air pollution can be attributed by a few factors some of which will be covered below..
2) The Smokers. It's really scary where they can smoke. There are like no limits. People smoke everywhere. Hotel lobbies, shopping centres, lifts, on the streets (duh) and worst. In restaurants. Nothing like having 2nd hand smoke for like 15hrs of your day. Everywhere we went it was smoke, smoke and more smoke. Except the metro. But once they got off the train and onto the platform, it's smoke smoke and more smoke. You're enjoying your wonderful traditional chinese food, and you smell smoke. You're in the lift with nowhere else to go, and you kenna smoke. You're jostling to get into the Train station and you smell smoke. You're happily shopping in the store and you smell smoke. In this aspect, I'd have to thank Singapore for being so FINE.
3) The Construction Works. Shanghai today is like a giant construction site. Everywhere is underconstruction in the city. Which is weird coz I thought the Games in 2008 were in Beijing. Maybe they're finally building giant air filters? But basically every single place we went was under construction. Which accounted for much for the dust flying around in the air. That coupled with my sinus problem basically gave me a hell of a cold and a whooping cough.
4) The Spitters. Shanghainese love to spit. Everywhere. But this time limited to out in the public places and not in buildings. Thank God. It's like walking on the street, and you'll hear someone clearing their throats and going KA-PUI. It's not just the old foggys doing it. I personally saw a pretty 20+ year old girl dressed rather fashionably walking along the road, when suddenly she gave out a loud KAAAAAAA.. and PUI'd right infront of me. I would like to believe it wasn't intentionally aimed at me though. I attribute the spits to the air. I felt compelled to clear my throat all the time too.. but I limit myself to the toilet.
5) The Lack of Dustbins. They have zilch dustbins on the streets. Maybe they have some. But so well concealed that I was unable to find them and sometimes even spent up to 1/2hr holding onto my rubbish. Sad. Due to this lack of dustbins, people threw stuff everywhere. They can be peeling oranges, then the next minute, just dumping it on the street.. the skin of course. If you think MRTs removing dustbins on the platforms and from the stations were bad, you'll hate having to search high and low for a dustbin.
6) The Crowds. Oh I hate crowds. I hate rush hour traffic in Singapore. I hate being stuck in a jam. I hate countdowns where I'm stuck in a mass of 1,000s of people. I hate squeezing onto a cramped MRT train with other commuters and being unable to get a seat. I hate squeezing onto a crowded bus. Basically. I hate crowds. Which is why I detested taking the metro, train and bus in Shanghai. (Ok, bus not so bad) But the metro and train were like FWAH. It's hard to describe how it's like to get into a metro station, on the train, then out and back onto the street. It's also hard to describe how I get onto a train to get to other provinces. But I will try. Imagine this. Imagine the Christmas shopping crowd at orchard roads this past weekend. Got it? Now. Imagine the same amount of space, yet multiply the people by 4x. That's the crowd you'll get at the metro station. 24/7. (Until they close at 10pm that is) Every single time I took a train at different times of the day, I kenna this giant mass of people. You don't get much space and people are frequently shut out of the train due to lack of space. Worse. Before the train doors open, you'll have to position yourself strategically or you'll be left out. The train station for travel to other provinces is slightly worse. You do get assigned seats. So seats aren't a problem. But as my photos will attest, the crowd is similar in size, if not, more than those in the metro stations. When entering the station to get to Shuzhou, we weren't walking along. We were pushed along and shoved along through the entrance and through the gates before being able to walk to our designated carriage. Scary. But coming back, I love being able to walk with so much space. I love space. Oh yes.
7) The Shoving and Cutting of Queues. A traditional aspect of the Shanghainese is to shove and cut. Shove people to get where they want. And in the process, cut the queue. There is also the peaceful option of just cutting the queue without shoving. I shall illustrate my point. They love to shove each other to get to the trains (metro and train) first. At the metro station, they'll shove each other rather violently to rush in and get seats. And the train stations, they'll shove the entire crowd along until they get into the gates. It's really shoving due to the entire mass of people, and it's justified shoving. To them anyway. This isn't the shoving you get in zouk from horny guys trying to get fresh with the girls trying to justify that there's a crowd behind them (which there isn't) but in china, there are people everywhere. So it's kinda justified. But the shoving for the train seat abit extreme. There's another way of cutting the queue. And that's pretending not to see the person infront. Like for example, we were waiting outside a cab for the passenger to alight after he was done paying the fare. Once the person stepped out, a middle aged auntie promptly came out of nowhere and opened the door infront of me and basically shoved her big ass into the cab and ordered the driver to drive off. It left me screaming fuck! fuck! fuck! after her but I think she didn't recognise english. She also didn't understand hokkien hence my barrage of hokkien was useless. I was extremely pissed. But I let it pass. It's their culture to cut. So, give in la.
8) The Shouting. When Shanghainese talk, they shout. And when you bargain, they shout. Basically I don't like to be shouted at. And all of them remind me of my dad. So I don't really like it. I'm not deaf, don't shout at me. Simple as that. It's kinda annoying when people keep shouting at you. Another reason they shout is because they're kinda open in the aspect that they will speak their mind. Case in point: An american was walking along the street with his arm around a china girl. A guy goes up and offers to sell watches. The girl tells him in chinese to bugger off. He practically shouted after her "Chou por niang! You think this road is yours? And let loose lotsa chinese verbal abuse" It's cool that they speak their mind. But just don't shout so much. Even on the cell phone. Argh. Shout shout shout. So much noise. So many people. So cannot take it.
9) The Traffic. Their traffic lights are kinda useless. Even when the green man is on my side, I'm still obligated to let cars pass. It's an unwritten rule. And apparently after consulting one of the locals there, they have no such traffic rule that the cars can't pass when the green man is on the favour of the pedestrian. Then what's the bloody light for? It's really quite dangerous siaming traffic. But one gets used to it after a few times. Heh. And we like to cross with locals. Use them as shields. Kenna knock also they buffer for us. Evil!
10) The Horning. Amazingly in Shanghai, there's another traffic rule. Unspoken. Unwritten. And that's the bigger your vehicles is, the more you have the right of way. Hence here, bus drivers reign supreme. The very first day I took a shuttle bus service from the airport to the city and the blaring of horns along the way by the bus driver alone far exceeded the number of times I horned the car in Singapore for one year combined! Everything also horn. Horn horn horn. The horning is so bad that they even put up "no horning" signs on certain streets. Crazy but true. Every other second confirm can hear horn one. I don't like. I prefer the peaceful way of letting the guy pass and that's it. Prior to Shanghai, one stupid china woman tried to cycle and cut my car when I'm turning. I dunno why she thought she could pedal faster than me pressing the gas pedal, but i had to e-break to avoid hitting her. Yet I didn't horn. But the car behind me did. horned her like 10 times when I swerved into the other lane and he was stuck with her infront of him. Heh.
11) The Traffic Lights on the Expressway. I mean. It's the expressway. Can't they build a flyover? We were held up more than 6 times along the way back to the airport on the last day due to the red lights on the expressway. And we were almost late for our flight! It's crazy, I mean, suddenly from 120km/h break. Wait for 2mins or more, queue accumulates, and later kenna stop again. They should wake up their idea and make the expressway a true blue expressway with no lights. Silly people.
12) The Credit Cards. They rejected my Mastercard. Ouch. The department stores actually rejected my Mastercard. Boy did they lose out. I spent 800RMB combined in two stores and if I could use my card, it'll easily have been 2,000RMB. Silly silly people. Amazingly they prefer cash to credit cards. So you'll actually see people using thick wads of cash instead of cards. Those that do accept cards, only accept local credit cards. It's quite dumb. We take for granted that any Giordano in Singapore accepts credit cards. But not there. Similarly, a damn posh high class restaurant NOT in the tourist district also doesn't accept credit cards. These guys are really losing out and making my pocket thin out. I could have spent so much more. But then. Sigh. Silly silly department store.
13) The Touters. It's not that bad really. Which is why I mention them last. At Xiang Yang Night Market, we were bombarded by touters. Damn scary, they'll chase after you and attempt to sell you that LV bag or PRADA wallet from an authentic catalog. Very persistant buggers but I choose to decline them politely instead of telling them to bugger off. I mean, must give them credit for "working" instead of sitting on their bums and begging. Will be easier to illustrate all my points with pictures which are coming soon!
Shanghai isn't that bad. It's quite nice actually. Next post will be about nice stuff in Shanghai! 24hrs later that is..
1) The Air. I love the cold weather. But the air. It's really bad. Atrocious even. Every night I'll just dig through my nostrils and discover they're like black, Really black. Like soot black. Pollution is really bad there.. though others swear Beijing is worse (I'm gonna bring a gas mask there) and Hongkong isn't that swell, but I still think currently Shanghai's air is bleargh. Amazingly though I read in Times that some Beijing people moved from Beijing to Shanghai on the account of the better air quality. Go figure. We've taken our clean air for granted all this while. It's really great to be able to breathe in deep without choking. The air pollution can be attributed by a few factors some of which will be covered below..
2) The Smokers. It's really scary where they can smoke. There are like no limits. People smoke everywhere. Hotel lobbies, shopping centres, lifts, on the streets (duh) and worst. In restaurants. Nothing like having 2nd hand smoke for like 15hrs of your day. Everywhere we went it was smoke, smoke and more smoke. Except the metro. But once they got off the train and onto the platform, it's smoke smoke and more smoke. You're enjoying your wonderful traditional chinese food, and you smell smoke. You're in the lift with nowhere else to go, and you kenna smoke. You're jostling to get into the Train station and you smell smoke. You're happily shopping in the store and you smell smoke. In this aspect, I'd have to thank Singapore for being so FINE.
3) The Construction Works. Shanghai today is like a giant construction site. Everywhere is underconstruction in the city. Which is weird coz I thought the Games in 2008 were in Beijing. Maybe they're finally building giant air filters? But basically every single place we went was under construction. Which accounted for much for the dust flying around in the air. That coupled with my sinus problem basically gave me a hell of a cold and a whooping cough.
4) The Spitters. Shanghainese love to spit. Everywhere. But this time limited to out in the public places and not in buildings. Thank God. It's like walking on the street, and you'll hear someone clearing their throats and going KA-PUI. It's not just the old foggys doing it. I personally saw a pretty 20+ year old girl dressed rather fashionably walking along the road, when suddenly she gave out a loud KAAAAAAA.. and PUI'd right infront of me. I would like to believe it wasn't intentionally aimed at me though. I attribute the spits to the air. I felt compelled to clear my throat all the time too.. but I limit myself to the toilet.
5) The Lack of Dustbins. They have zilch dustbins on the streets. Maybe they have some. But so well concealed that I was unable to find them and sometimes even spent up to 1/2hr holding onto my rubbish. Sad. Due to this lack of dustbins, people threw stuff everywhere. They can be peeling oranges, then the next minute, just dumping it on the street.. the skin of course. If you think MRTs removing dustbins on the platforms and from the stations were bad, you'll hate having to search high and low for a dustbin.
6) The Crowds. Oh I hate crowds. I hate rush hour traffic in Singapore. I hate being stuck in a jam. I hate countdowns where I'm stuck in a mass of 1,000s of people. I hate squeezing onto a cramped MRT train with other commuters and being unable to get a seat. I hate squeezing onto a crowded bus. Basically. I hate crowds. Which is why I detested taking the metro, train and bus in Shanghai. (Ok, bus not so bad) But the metro and train were like FWAH. It's hard to describe how it's like to get into a metro station, on the train, then out and back onto the street. It's also hard to describe how I get onto a train to get to other provinces. But I will try. Imagine this. Imagine the Christmas shopping crowd at orchard roads this past weekend. Got it? Now. Imagine the same amount of space, yet multiply the people by 4x. That's the crowd you'll get at the metro station. 24/7. (Until they close at 10pm that is) Every single time I took a train at different times of the day, I kenna this giant mass of people. You don't get much space and people are frequently shut out of the train due to lack of space. Worse. Before the train doors open, you'll have to position yourself strategically or you'll be left out. The train station for travel to other provinces is slightly worse. You do get assigned seats. So seats aren't a problem. But as my photos will attest, the crowd is similar in size, if not, more than those in the metro stations. When entering the station to get to Shuzhou, we weren't walking along. We were pushed along and shoved along through the entrance and through the gates before being able to walk to our designated carriage. Scary. But coming back, I love being able to walk with so much space. I love space. Oh yes.
7) The Shoving and Cutting of Queues. A traditional aspect of the Shanghainese is to shove and cut. Shove people to get where they want. And in the process, cut the queue. There is also the peaceful option of just cutting the queue without shoving. I shall illustrate my point. They love to shove each other to get to the trains (metro and train) first. At the metro station, they'll shove each other rather violently to rush in and get seats. And the train stations, they'll shove the entire crowd along until they get into the gates. It's really shoving due to the entire mass of people, and it's justified shoving. To them anyway. This isn't the shoving you get in zouk from horny guys trying to get fresh with the girls trying to justify that there's a crowd behind them (which there isn't) but in china, there are people everywhere. So it's kinda justified. But the shoving for the train seat abit extreme. There's another way of cutting the queue. And that's pretending not to see the person infront. Like for example, we were waiting outside a cab for the passenger to alight after he was done paying the fare. Once the person stepped out, a middle aged auntie promptly came out of nowhere and opened the door infront of me and basically shoved her big ass into the cab and ordered the driver to drive off. It left me screaming fuck! fuck! fuck! after her but I think she didn't recognise english. She also didn't understand hokkien hence my barrage of hokkien was useless. I was extremely pissed. But I let it pass. It's their culture to cut. So, give in la.
8) The Shouting. When Shanghainese talk, they shout. And when you bargain, they shout. Basically I don't like to be shouted at. And all of them remind me of my dad. So I don't really like it. I'm not deaf, don't shout at me. Simple as that. It's kinda annoying when people keep shouting at you. Another reason they shout is because they're kinda open in the aspect that they will speak their mind. Case in point: An american was walking along the street with his arm around a china girl. A guy goes up and offers to sell watches. The girl tells him in chinese to bugger off. He practically shouted after her "Chou por niang! You think this road is yours? And let loose lotsa chinese verbal abuse" It's cool that they speak their mind. But just don't shout so much. Even on the cell phone. Argh. Shout shout shout. So much noise. So many people. So cannot take it.
9) The Traffic. Their traffic lights are kinda useless. Even when the green man is on my side, I'm still obligated to let cars pass. It's an unwritten rule. And apparently after consulting one of the locals there, they have no such traffic rule that the cars can't pass when the green man is on the favour of the pedestrian. Then what's the bloody light for? It's really quite dangerous siaming traffic. But one gets used to it after a few times. Heh. And we like to cross with locals. Use them as shields. Kenna knock also they buffer for us. Evil!
10) The Horning. Amazingly in Shanghai, there's another traffic rule. Unspoken. Unwritten. And that's the bigger your vehicles is, the more you have the right of way. Hence here, bus drivers reign supreme. The very first day I took a shuttle bus service from the airport to the city and the blaring of horns along the way by the bus driver alone far exceeded the number of times I horned the car in Singapore for one year combined! Everything also horn. Horn horn horn. The horning is so bad that they even put up "no horning" signs on certain streets. Crazy but true. Every other second confirm can hear horn one. I don't like. I prefer the peaceful way of letting the guy pass and that's it. Prior to Shanghai, one stupid china woman tried to cycle and cut my car when I'm turning. I dunno why she thought she could pedal faster than me pressing the gas pedal, but i had to e-break to avoid hitting her. Yet I didn't horn. But the car behind me did. horned her like 10 times when I swerved into the other lane and he was stuck with her infront of him. Heh.
11) The Traffic Lights on the Expressway. I mean. It's the expressway. Can't they build a flyover? We were held up more than 6 times along the way back to the airport on the last day due to the red lights on the expressway. And we were almost late for our flight! It's crazy, I mean, suddenly from 120km/h break. Wait for 2mins or more, queue accumulates, and later kenna stop again. They should wake up their idea and make the expressway a true blue expressway with no lights. Silly people.
12) The Credit Cards. They rejected my Mastercard. Ouch. The department stores actually rejected my Mastercard. Boy did they lose out. I spent 800RMB combined in two stores and if I could use my card, it'll easily have been 2,000RMB. Silly silly people. Amazingly they prefer cash to credit cards. So you'll actually see people using thick wads of cash instead of cards. Those that do accept cards, only accept local credit cards. It's quite dumb. We take for granted that any Giordano in Singapore accepts credit cards. But not there. Similarly, a damn posh high class restaurant NOT in the tourist district also doesn't accept credit cards. These guys are really losing out and making my pocket thin out. I could have spent so much more. But then. Sigh. Silly silly department store.
13) The Touters. It's not that bad really. Which is why I mention them last. At Xiang Yang Night Market, we were bombarded by touters. Damn scary, they'll chase after you and attempt to sell you that LV bag or PRADA wallet from an authentic catalog. Very persistant buggers but I choose to decline them politely instead of telling them to bugger off. I mean, must give them credit for "working" instead of sitting on their bums and begging. Will be easier to illustrate all my points with pictures which are coming soon!
Shanghai isn't that bad. It's quite nice actually. Next post will be about nice stuff in Shanghai! 24hrs later that is..
Sunday, December 05, 2004
The One with the Wireless Post
I'm posting this whilst lying on my bed using my newly set up wireless connection. It just rocks to be able to use the net anywhere in my house especially the toilet (don't ask). It was kinda hellish trying to get all the settings correct and finally after calling singnet to secure some vital numbers, it actually worked. (I don't know why it worked prior in the morning, but it didn't really work because it was lan based when my brother used it, but now it's WIRELESS BABY!)
Yes. Wireless.
And I can't enjoy it to the max until I'm back on the 13th from Shanghai. Oh darn. Anyway, I will be as stated going on a trip to Shanghai. It's too late to receive want lists and I will try to remember as much as I can from those that actually wanted stuff. To tell the truth, I have an extremely bad memory and I can vaguely recall.. almost nothing of what anyone said. Von Dutch Bag? Cap? Mont Blanc Pen? DVDs? Handbag? Wallet? That's about it. But who wants what? Can't remember. Nevermind.
Going to pack now. 5hours later I'm leaving and I still haven't packed. I have like 5hrs on the flight between BBK and PVG (It's supposed to be some china airport) and I only brought a mac mag. Looks like I'll have to dig up some trashy entertaining novel to bring. Damn.
Seeya all in 8 days.
Yes. Wireless.
And I can't enjoy it to the max until I'm back on the 13th from Shanghai. Oh darn. Anyway, I will be as stated going on a trip to Shanghai. It's too late to receive want lists and I will try to remember as much as I can from those that actually wanted stuff. To tell the truth, I have an extremely bad memory and I can vaguely recall.. almost nothing of what anyone said. Von Dutch Bag? Cap? Mont Blanc Pen? DVDs? Handbag? Wallet? That's about it. But who wants what? Can't remember. Nevermind.
Going to pack now. 5hours later I'm leaving and I still haven't packed. I have like 5hrs on the flight between BBK and PVG (It's supposed to be some china airport) and I only brought a mac mag. Looks like I'll have to dig up some trashy entertaining novel to bring. Damn.
Seeya all in 8 days.
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