So Philip... I am writing this for you :) I am very thankful that you are my one big fan so I'm going to update you on what I've been doing for the past few weeks...
China usually closes for about a week to celebrate Chinese New Year. I of course have to take full advantage of this time off so our entire family decided to take a trip to Sri Lanka. We originally planned to go to Israel but due to war going on, it was not safe enough for us to go. I wanted to definitely go somewhere warm and our family has traveled to so many places in the world that we only came up with Sri Lanka as the one place where we have all not gone before. I was super excited because I heard many great things about the place from my friends here in Shanghai. It's very interesting how my friends here have traveled a lot and my friends back home always think that I have traveled a lot!
The flight to Sri Lanka took foreverrrrrr... It was extremely tiring to have to transfer in Singapore to get there but it was worth it. When we arrived, I was just excited to take off my layers of winter clothes! We could not have asked for better weather. Sunshine every day! We were in Colombo for just a day and we set off to the north to a place that starts with a "G"... damn I already forgot. I guess I should just say some of the activities that we participated in... we rode elephants (I was able to sit on the elephant's head... what a great experience), we ate a lot of seafood, fed some wild monkeys, we saw lots of tea factories, and I was able to walk a lot. we hiked up one of the most beautiful old "rocks" where the king lived. It was FANTASTIC. I will attempt to load some photos of this as well. All in all my family had a great time. It was interesting to take a trip with the entire fam after a long long time. It was quite a challenge of course... we fought about a lot of stuff, but when we're on vacation, the anger seems to go away a lot faster :) My parents are now on their way to Thailand before heading back to the good ol' USA. Can't believe that they've been out of the country for 6 months now! Time flies.
For me, I'm back in Shanghai for another week because I have a class that I must finish. I will then take off until Feb 28th to go back to the States!!! I can't wait. I have not been home in over a year now and it's killing me. No matter what, home is where one grows up. I am super attached to the states even though I have been living overseas for almost two years now! I said to myself that I just need to last one year... now I'm going on my second! I am not sure if I will come home soon because of the terrible economy and I'm just happy to have a job right now. I am hoping to get some idea of where I'd like to be situated some mid 2009. Looking at somewhere on the west coast... I realized how much I love the sun and the warm weather... I will trade in any big city just for the warmth!
I'm planning my May holiday trip to go somewhere too. China gives us a few days off in May for labor day so I'm going to hopefully jump on a plane and go to Laos. I have never been to this country and if the price is right, I'm there! I am also considering Mongolia or Nepal, but don't know about the cost. I will definitely keep you updated (Phil).
Until next time... Ayubowan (in Sri Lankan this means "to good health") I will be seeing the rest of you all in NYC and DC/MD very very soon. xoxo
happened today....l just returned from a 12 day vacation to Hong Kong and Taiwan to celebrate the new year as well as go and fix up our new condo in Taiwan. It was such a great time cuz I was able to see my entire family and spend some quality time. It was also crazy cuz we had to get everything done for this condo within such a short period of time. It has worn me out! Today, I was quite excited to get back to my own place here in Shanghai. Long story short... I had to fly to Hong Kong first to transfer to my flight to Shanghai. My sister left me in Hong Kong since she lives there and I wandered around the airport myself. I was excited that the flight was taking off on time and there were no weather delays. I even ignored the fact that I was sitting next to a nasty smelling Chinese dude who smelled like he had not washed for the past several months. He kept poking me and stealing the armrest. I put on my ipod and decided to doze off or attempt to close my eyes at least. Those of you that know me well know that I HATE flying and can't sleep at all on planes. Well, if I was able to pass out on this flight, it means that I am EXTREMELY tired. When the plane landed, I was starting to fill out my arrival card so I can enter China. Digging and digging in my purse, I found NO PASSPORT! Sweating profusely and cursing like a sailor, I keep looking and nothing! I called the flight attendant and she said she can't get up cuz we were about two seconds from landing. After everyone departed, still no passport. The plane was torn apart and nothing! I can't enter China without a passport! I can't fly back to Hong Kong because I don't have permission to enter that country either! I seriously was about to cry! The customs people started calling Hong Kong airport and within 5 minutes called back and said they found my passport and that I was very very very lucky. So now I just have to sit here for the next THREE hours for the next plane to arrive from Hong Kong to bring it to me. I can't believe this... how stupid can I be? The customs people said that I am so lucky cuz if they did not find it, I would have to go back to the States tomorrow in order to get me out of the country and back home. Come to think of it, that isn't soooo bad as I can get a free flight home! Honestly, I'm just sooooooo tired. I just want to go home and sleep. Just my luck... start off the new year learning a terrrrrible lesson. I think that we need to start having the option of implanting a chip in our hand where they can scan it and we don't have to bring any documents with us in the future. It is terrible losing crap!! Passport has to be by far the WORST! So kids... never ever ever lose your passport. EVER!
So I got a complaint the other day from my friend Bryce who said that I'm lazy and have not been updating my blog... so here is one for you Brycie! Thanks for being my one and only fan...haha
Until next time... xo
I know we complain about airlines, especially US carriers but I have to say after dedicating my entire travel plans to flying with United so I can use my mileage on Star Alliance flights, I am swearing off that airline for good. I do hope that United reads this blog and understands why they should go into bankruptcy.
The one and only reason why I will fly sh*tty United Airlines is to accumulate points to fly with the Star Alliance airlines. I subject myself to crappy seats, horrible flight attendants that yell at you, ramen noodles for dinner,and missed connections. However, like I said, I will pay a ridiculous amount to sit on a dirty, old (no individual TVs on these transpacific flights... can you believe it?), sh*tty planes just to accumulate these points. I even go so far as to put all of my points from flying star alliance airlines such as Air China just to get measly 500 points for the flight from Shanghai to Beijing. I could easily be a gold member on Air China but instead I just keep adding to stupid United mileage to keep my status up. When it comes time to use the points, this is when I get pissed off. I normally give these points to my parents so they can fly on Singapore Air or ANA because they are wayyyy better airlines and they are on star alliance. Trust me people, if you want quality, you have to fly asian airlines....
This time, I booked my parents on Thai Airlines so they can have the wonderful experience of flying from Thailand straight to DC and of course, it would not work out the way we want it... it never does with United. They said they called me to inform us that the flight was cancelled so they were going to take United back to the states. There was NO WAY IN HE*L that they were going to fly United after I spent painful hours on their crappy planes in order to accumulate these miles. They didn't even give me the opportunity to change to something I wanted.... now that I have found out and called them, they just said "pay $150 for change fee." WTF is that? No wonder these airlines need a bit of an a*s kick and let them know that they will go bankrupt because loyal customers like me will not take this crap anymore. My entire family slaves to fly these ridiculous planes, even with their reputation as probably the worst US carrier but not anymore. This is the last straw. I'm using my final miles and after that, I'm telling everyone I know to never fly with them again. It is just insane......
So it's been a while since I have been on this thing. I have been going non stop lately. I don't believe that I have had one minute to just sit down and start writing. I'm actually in class right now being a very very bad student and not paying one lick of attention. I will summarize my life in three paragraphs.
First I have been traveling to Korea and Japan for work. It has been a great experience leading a regional project but it is also tiring. It is tough working across cultures, for example, in Japan, people travel in "packs" and I can barely get the staff to break away from one another to go and do something that I have asked. It just puzzles me how it takes three people to go and check out a venue site! Anyhow, Japan is an amazing place. I absolutely love it. Granted it is just tooooo damn expensive, but I was on the company's dime. People there are way more civilized than the Chinese. Korea however STINKS. No fun whatsoever. It is boring, the people are just as bad, and to top it off, it is damn expensive as well. Not worth the money..but again, it is good I went on the company's dime.
Next my friend Jonathan came to visit from NYC. I know... I have had visitors since August so I was already tired from being the tour guide. However I had time off at that time which was good. October is when China closes down for a week. I took advantage of this and went to Cambodia. Because this was a last minute thing, we decided to sign up for a tour...Yes, it was a BAD idea to go with a tour but I really had no more energy to be searching for places to stay and how to get around. I think it was a good thing we went with the tour because the country is kind of hard to get around. We went to see the lovely temples at Angkor wat and then went to Phnom Phen. That city is just disgusting... but interesting enough... But, back to being on the tour... here are just a few things that were wrong with the Chinese:
- going to a tourist trap place called "ricky gem" where they sold the tackiest jewlery and the Chinese basically bought out the entire store... they think they are rich
- people stepping on sacred land when there is clearly a rope to tell you to stay off!
- the usual sneezing and pushing behaviors... disgusting
- people snorting their food in without chewing...again disgusting
- a man slapping a woman in the face on the bus, very interesting
- asking my friend Jonathan what part of Africa he is from when he has clearly stated that he's American!
- getting in a fight with an idiot on the plane because he said that I could not lean my seat back... who has the nerve to tell ME to not do anything...clearly he got his lashing
- a guy basically thinking that I'm a whore because I was sharing a room with a male friend
- and FINALLY, a child beggar who asked Jonathan for money and he said he didn't have any money and she replied "why you lie to children?"... HAHAHAHA... i died laughing!
So that is the highlight of my trip to Cambodia.
Next, I was in Xi'An for a business trip and took that time to go and see the famous Terracotta Soldiers. These were discovered in the late 50's and date back to the Qing dynasty... many many years ago. I was a bit disappointed in the beginning because a lot of the soldiers have not been preserved but then I took a step back and realized that I was looking at history that dates back SOOOO many years. It was so exciting to see that my people were that creative (and scary too...read the story about the Qing emperor). Anyhow, the visit was short but sweet. I have posted a few photos.
Have to run now...class professor looks annoyed with me. Next trip... Taiwan! Until then... xo
Man it has been a long time since I have had the "time" to sit down and write in this thing... So much has happened within the past few months and I don't even know where to begin. Again, I'll just go backwards so this story might not make too much sense unless you read it from the bottom up. I just recently returned from my trip to Korea...it was for work so not many party stories to tell except that I decided that I will never live in Seoul. What a boring town! I really covered most of the sights within two hours and I was done! I thought to myself man thank god I live in Shanghai. Tokyo will be next for me... Oh did I mention that I'm now in charge of all of Asia Pacific for a client?? I'm very excited about that since it gives me the opportunity to travel more (although you know me and my fear of flying!!)
OK, tracing back now... Gucci party... now that was hot. I was invited to a very exclusive Gucci runway show in Shanghai where they launched the new fall line. It was the most hilarious thing I have been to. The reason is because there were soooo many paparazzi around and they were flashing all these cameras at us. Bet they had no idea that we were nobodies!!! Doesn't matter. I was able to get my "glam" on and my friend Anastasia did my make up which was fantastic of course. I actually went out and got my hair done for the first time in my life! It was quite cheap but she did a great job. We went out afterwards for a late night party and um, yea, I don't remember quite much from that night. I know some of you got some interesting calls from me though :)
Friends from NYC came and left. We were together for a total of 16 days!!! Now just imagine 16 days with FIVE people in one home. I think I can survive anything now! They arrived and toured around Shanghai and then we went to Hong Kong, Macau, and then finally Beijing. We were able to catch some of the (see photos on Facebook!) We had such a great time and it was sad to see everyone go. Especially thinking about how I won't be home till next May, but never know... I might be home for work now since my client is based in Philly.
My parents are now here in Shanghai! Can't believe that another 6 months have passed and they have once again arrived back here. It is so weird to think that I live in Asia (still!) to this day. I remember when my parents just left Shanghai to go back to MD and now they're here again. This time, they're staying till February and then they will go to Thailand for holidays. I am hoping that I can take them somewhere while they are here as well, but with my schedule the way it is right now... man I don't time for anything...times flies these days... getting kind of scary....
OK that was the shortest update that I can provide but right now, I have to run again... going to dinner with a bunch of my friends in Shanghai who I have neglected since I have been away and also hanging out with my NYC peeps... until next time xoxo
Man I have not written a blog in a long time. I just posted one from a while ago so forgive me. The news is old. There is a lot to write about now and I just can't seem to get my mind straight to start...
I'd like to start from yesterday and work my way back. I went to Beijing for a quick meeting and came back a new person. The weather has been awful here and I knew for some reason that it was not going to be a pretty flight for me. I always get stuck on these terrible flights for some reason. I think it's supposed to make me get over the fear of flying, but it has just made it worse. Basically there was a hurricane coming this way and for some odd reason, we still boarded the flight in Beijing. We sat on the runway for over 2 hours and they even served us a meal! Finally we were cleared for take off but when we were in the air, it was just horrific. The lightening and thunder just made me want to pass out completely in my seat. The lightening was so bad that we were told to put down our shades so that we didn't suffer from blindness (I'm not kidding here!) After 45 minutes of turbulence, which included dropping in altitude, lights flashing on and off, we descended so quickly that I thought we were dropping out of the sky. We made this sharp turn and everyone started screaming. Finally, the pilot said that we had to make an emergency landing at some nearby city because we were unable to land in our destination. We had to refuel and wait a little longer before we attempted this route again! I was so livid! I started screaming at people on the plane and asking to get off the plane. I had no idea where we were but I didn't care. I would rather sleep in the lounge than get back in the air. The pilot said they HAD to get the plane to Shanghai that night. I seriously started crying. Actually, everyone started crying because we were all frightened to death. We eventually made it to Shanghai after 7 hours of flying and waiting...man that was terrible.
Now onto better things, I was in Egypt and Qatar a couple of weeks ago for our company trip. Each year, the company offers us a trip to go somewhere and this year, I chose Africa! Never touched that continent but now I have! It was fantastic. A bit dirty, but fantastic. The country is just as dry as they say it is. The temps were around 100 everyday but it was nice because there was not one drop of humidity. Unlike Shanghai which is like 85 but with humidity of 100%, Egypt had some nice nights and we were able to go out and do a bit of night shopping, drinking, sheesha smoking, etc. Of course,during the day, we did all the touristy things, but it was still a great experience. The group of us that went had a great time because we were mostly all expats from different countries and also had traveled a lot. 7 days flew by and I was back in Shanghai again.
What else? School is going. I have just finished my 9th class. Still have 1/2 way to go but I do see a little light at the end of the tunnel. I have been playing Cranium like a mad woman! We have this great group of people who end up every week playing this game at someone's house. We are going to be finished with the entire deck in like a month. We're all so damn competitive but it's just so much fun. Otherwise, the Olympics are coming up. I have tickets to the Men's Semi for soccer!!! Soooo excited. The crew from NYC and DC are flying in and staying at Casa Hsiao in less than 4 weeks!
I don't have too many Shanghai stories right now to tell...nothing funny at the moment. Just the usual Hsiao yelling at whoever gets in her way or acts like a dummy. The usual "want to hurt someone" days is a daily ritual. I do miss NYC sometimes, but that's just normal. I'm looking at housing again because next year, Hsiao is coming home!!! That's news...I've made up my mind... after this one stint for one more year, I have to go back to my US of A. No matter what people say, the States is just where I want to live. I love to travel, but home is where my heart is. So look out people... I'm coming back!
Until next time... miss you all!
