Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Nightlife

I had no idea that the party scene in Shanghai would be so massive. The clubs, bars, lounges...whether it was catered to foreigners or locals, all of the places we scoped out was different in so many ways. There are plenty of places that allow you to just relax in a hip lounge and catch up with your friends over some cocktails.

People 7 was my favorite lounge. It was such a swanky place that you'd forget that you were in China. Upon entry, you'd have to figure out the code to get in. You place your hands in a series of holes in the wall and the right combination will open the door. 3rd time was a charm! We were let in after that. It had the spa effect when you first enter. One can hear the water trickling down the illuminated wall and the fully stocked bar added color to the pearly white area. There were tables and cozy couches all over the place with tea lights on each table. It's such a chic place to be. The cocktails were delicious too and unique. Quirkiness was the common theme for this lounge...like reversed doors in the bathrooms. What I love about places like this in Shanghai is that there isn't any cover charge and there is always some place to sit down.


Club 88 was so much fun. It was a local's club, but they played top 40s and hip hop all night long. The theme here was a burlesque/prohibition theme. Old chandeliers and big wooden furniture where girls can get on top of dance the night away. The locals were so friendly and I think they were especially interested in the fact that we were Asian-American. Even though there was a huge language barrier, we all had a great time and the guys here aren't creepy at all. No one has the audacity to come up from behind you and hump you like dog would.

Yes, that is a jacuzzi inside Cloud 9 sky lounge. You can hop in if you'd like!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Shanghai day something...


(Bar/lounge at Lost Heaven).

The next few days in shanghai passed by too fast. Routine: Shop and site see by day, party by night. It's a lively city and I'm starting to really like it. To be honest, when I first got here, I was expecting old China with all sorts of underdeveloped neighborhoods and vendors filling up the streets with their food stands and trinkets. I was wrong. It's a very modern city with a lot of expats, predominately from UK. People flock here for jobs and considerably cheap living. At the same time, they can enjoy a completely different culture!




Anyway, I'm exhausted! We walked to so many different places today, an antique street, Old shanghai buildings, and more parks. My favorite was an imperial garden called Yu Yuan Garden. It had bridges over the rich green water and huge Koi ponds with cute little turtles. It was nice to be in a peaceful place for once. Beyond its walls was chaos: A huge marketplace with endless stalls and stores of tourists. It was one of those places where you had to hang on tight to your belongings.



Saturday, March 27, 2010

helloooo shanghai



Amazing! I just found out that I can access facebook, youtube and blogger! All the sites that this country's government has restricted. It only works on my blackberry though. Or I'd like to think that I outsmarted those mofos. Anyway, we got here late Saturday night! It was a long 15 hour flight that went by fast, surprisingly. It's so much better to sit on an overseas flight with someone you know, that's for sure.


Last night:
After arriving, we dropped off our things at jen's place and went straight to dinner and a club called Mint. It was a crazy club with huge shark tanks and all things fancy. Downside- the strobe lights and jungle house music practically made me lose consciousness! Was it the plum mojito and strange henny? Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, food, water, and jet lag that did it, but it was one of those nights when I woke up thinking WTF. Way to start off the trip.

Today was spent bargaining at the markets, eating fine Chinese food and strolling along the streets. Everyone on the road made me nervous as they don't abide by the rules. Anyway, today the 4 of u went to some markets. We wore ourselves out by bargaining for all sorts of goodies. I walked away with some Chinese commodities, earrings, scarves, gloves, and souvenirs. It's unbelievable how much these people jack up the prices. They'll tell you that an item is 300 yuan, but you can easily walk away with it for just 30 yuan ($5).




By afternoon we were on a rooftop restaurant called Kathleen 5, sipping on drinks. We were truly blessed with the warm sunny weather. It's cold at night though! The rooftop cafe overlooked People's square and gave us a panoramic view of the skyscrapers. After, we went to People's Square where parents gather to display profiles of their children in hopes that they will find a match for their kids. It's like online dating! But at the park. Basically, parents come here to post bios and sometimes pictures of their children in hopes of finding them a perfect match! Their ages for these prospective are usually 20-30 years old. It's an odd thing for us to see, but totally appropriate for the people in Shanghai. Parents or even grandparents would gather together to talk to each other about their children and who would be most suitable for them. I'd be so angry if my mom did this! or incredibly sad if I had to resort to this.


By night time we went to the very top of a hotel and took in gorgeous views of "The Bund"- shanghai's lit up skyline. Dinner was Yunnan food at Lost Heaven and then headed up to a swanky lounge. Oi. Clubs and bars here open 7 days a week until 4am! Good night.

Monday, March 22, 2010

I can't sleep

It's 12:50am and I should be asleep by now but there's too much on my mind. On top of the list is this China trip. I planned this trip months ago, maybe in December? Not realizing that I'd be working by now and with all of these other commitments. I didn't think my life would be this "serious" when leaving the country for weeks at a time would have a major effect. Really, I had just planned on roaming the earth and doing whatever pleased me until I spent every last penny in my pocket. Instead, that crazy thought of mine became a far fetched dream as I chickened out and took the safe route. Anyway, here I am starting off in a fairly new job and still trying to travel at the same time. There is no such thing as vacation in the working world. Because when you are gone, you still get those emails piled up in your inbox and when you return, the work will still be there, only you are behind schedule. I think I'd feel better if I were more prepared. My goal this weekend was to start packing. I didn't even start... My only attempt at preparing for China was a quick trip to Target.

I got these:
1. Baby wipes
2. Travel make up wipes
3. Travel size lotion

At least I'll be clean and moisturized while abroad.

Hmmm...weekend recap.


LUCY!! turned 25. Yes, we celebrated another one hitting quarter century. I don't feel so sad now that it's everyone else's turn. Friday, we took her out to dinner at Boiling Crab, which was a 3 hour wait. Are you kidding me?! We went over to Crawdaddy instead and that was a 45 minute wait. Yay! Filled ourselves up with all sorts of finger licking goodness and at about 11pm we managed to get out on the road for some major partying. My girl only turns 25 once right? Zen lounge must have had wayyyyy too much testosterone in there, because I had never seen so many free drinks get passed around. Big ups to mama Lucy for handling her's. As for me...well let's just say that crawfish is just as spicy coming up as it is going down. Birthday round 2 with Lucy occured this morning with brunch in downtown SJ and then The Legally Blonde musical. It was a fun loving show and the songs are still stuck in my head. Go see it! Anyway, Happy Birthday Lucy...my kindergarten buddy.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Blurts

Another week ends and March has passed me by. Exactly a week from today, I'll be boarding a plane to China. I'm nervous because I haven't had the slightest idea of how to pack. I believe it's cold there and I can only bring what I can carry through airports, trains, and on foot. Figuring out the luggage situation will be my goal this weekend.

Besides finalizing plans for China, I managed to find a wonderful fancy smancy hotel in the center of Beijing without burning a hole in our wallets. The Park Plaza Wangfujing it is! On top of this I booked two more vacations...San Diego on April 16 and Vegas on July 22 =) Oh yes...the weather is warming up and I'm loading up on sunblock and heading to the hot spots. I'm thinking Hawaii too...if anyone is interested?! It's the only to keep my sanity while I crank away in a cube.

One huge disappointment of the week is my failure to find Gaga tickets. I tried getting presales for the 1st show the past two days. No success. So I hear there was a 2nd concert the very next day! Yay! But of course, it doesn't have the tickets I want. After devoting a good hour of my morning today on doing this, I gave up...only to realize that they were sold out. Damnn that Gaga.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Double you tea eff

I'm finding it extremely difficult to focus in this class right now. ITIL is the course title- IT Infrastructure Library, an IT service management foundation course.

I'll have to say that the instructure's British/Scottish accent is very pleasant to the ear. If he had an ordinary American accent, I'd be fast asleep by now. He's good at what he does. He travels to different companies, all over the world, and teaches this 3 day class in hopes that his students will be ITIL certified, by passing an exam. I'm so screwed.

It just shows that my listening skills are only adequate to the information of my liking. Otherwise, it's extremely difficult for me to catch on, even if I closed my laptop and rided myself of all distraction. I'm helpless if you're going to lecture me on techie management stuff. Is it lunch time yet?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Light Blue

The world works in bizarre ways. Things just fall into place. Call it coincidence if you want, but I'm just going to say that things happen for a reason. Maybe I'm taking it for more than what it is, but there has been a common theme going on thus far. Being at the right time at the right place. Do it right then and there and not a split second later. A series of events will lead to another and somehow they just tie in and make sense. What if I didn't hit the submit button that day? What if I had just walked in the restaurant 5 minutes earlier? What if the neighbor didn't return my mail? What if I had taken another route back home tonight? Keep in mind that when you have faith and confidence, things occur in a favorable manner.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Grandpapa




He here is on Tet, sipping on Remy. Oh how he loves his cognac, red wine, and Heineken. He's so cute. I love his beer belly...it's proportional to a 8 month preggo. I love wrapping my arms around his huge waist and hugging him. I love that he's so hip that he wears Adidas track suits with stunner shades. I love that he's so crafty that he puts masking tape around a picture and calls it a frame. I loved the fact that he came into my room when he was visiting and asked me about every single thing he found peculiar.

Grandpa: "What's this?"
Me: It's a coaster, so you can put your cup on it.
Grandpa: "What's this?"
Me: It's a netbook...like a mini laptop used for traveling.
Grandpa: "What's this for?"
Me: It's called a Pez depencer...spits out candy =)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Happy Monday

It's a quiet Monday afternoon! Tooooooo quiet and since no one is in the office, I'm going to make use of this time to update. I created a new station on Pandora this morning and I'm loving it. Started off with SWV and it's been spitting out jams from the early 90s such as classic Mariah, Soul for Real, Blackstreet, and Xcape. I'm smiling on the inside right now, because smiling on the outside would clearly be out of the question for the work I'm supposed to be doing.

Anyway...It's been fine and dandy lately. I'm dying to watch Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D! I've always loved this story. It's so quirky and a true escape from reality. This past weekend was out of control. Something I haven't done since the college years...partied Thurs-Fri-Sat. It just shows that I'm not as old as I think I am because I can still hang with the youngings. hahah.


Thurs night was sister's night + Suzan =) VIP never disappoints. Have you ever seen anyone down a water glass full of Soju? I can now say that I have. hahaha.
Fri night was an '02 reunion at Motiff. Saw A LOT of old friends and made some new friends. I got my dancing grooves back and was stoked for Sat night. Gotta love that.


Round 3 was Girl's night! Woooooo. We started off with Sangria, wine coolers, and a 6 layer bean dip. Keepin' it classy =) Tram's brilliant suggestion for a make-up party was a success! Sooo much fun. With no idea of what the night had in store for us, we got dolled up anyway. We had thoughts of going to the City, downtown SJ, or just downing sangria, blasting up the stereo and dancing in the room. Poor Tram was stuck with me!! I was pretty tipsy while doing her hair and make up, but she was such a good sport about it. Hey! It all turned out fine. Unless everyone was just lying to me =P We danced the night away in good ol' dtsj and ended up at THE BEST TACO STAND everrrrr.




Sunday was the Lord's day...when I go to church in the AM and pray for the sins I have committed the nights prior. Har har. Laundry...brunch with my momma and a work out session with the BFF.

Weekends go by tooo fast.