The WORST nightmare of my life....

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

Why United Airlines is the WORST airline...

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......

More visitors...More traveling...More work!

I am finallllly on my own again! After months of having friends visit, I am back to surviving on my own. Don't get me wrong... having friends come is amazing and it makes living overseas much easier, but I need a break. I have basically been to the Great Wall about four times now within four months. Sick of it already. Need to take at least a couple of months off before I start accepting any additional visitors.
Last week, I learned of my new promotion. I am now the new Director at Ogilvy. Kinda cool huh??? I learned that I'm the youngest Director at Ogilvy... lots of pressure... but I am very happy because I've only been here about a year and half and I was honored with this. So, that being said, I think I should get back to work and not write too much on this blog. As you can see, I went to Beijing again with a friend from high school and the weather was amazing... couldn't have asked for a better time to go. However, like I said, this is my fourth trip in like three months! That's just insane. Also attached are some Halloween pictures from our night out here in Shanghai. It was unbelievably fun! I have never had this much fun on Halloween. Everyone wanted to take our photos...it was insane. We of course went out dancing and partied till the weeee hours of the morning. What a memorable Halloween. Never thought I'd enjoy this holiday as much as I did this year...
OK what else... I went to Japan and Korea for work a couple of months ago. That was quite interesting to see the other offices and how they operate. It was quite an experience. Not sure if I could work in either of those countries, except that Tokyo is sooo damn fun. The city is amazing and people are bustling around all day and all night. I was fortunate to have had a friend there so he took me out to see the sights. Will definitely be going back soon.
Until next time... xo

Cambodia and Xi'An Trips...ahhhh... the life.

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

It's been a loooong time...

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

Why I hate flying...and Egypt stories!

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!

Another one bites the dust...

So I have not been updating this thing for a long time. Forgive me. It's been a tough couple of weeks, but I am now sitting in class attempting to pay attention, but it's not working too well. Last night, I had a big night out. A friend of mine is moving back to the States and I'm quite sad about it! I was just realizing today that Shanghai is such a transient city. I further realized that I have ONLY lived in cities where people never stay in one place! I think I need to move to Idaho or somewhere like that. We had a great time out though at this bar that we always go to...Bling. Actually, this going away was in preparation for another friend who is actually going to be attending Columbia Business School so I'm very very proud of her for attending my alma mater!
Anyhow, I'm sure everyone will meet up again (either on Facebook or in person!). It is sad to see people go but we all seem to run into one another again. That's the beauty of living overseas and meeting a whole bunch of interesting and exciting new people! Until then...

And the biggest loser award goes to... Sharon Stone

She should be committed to the nut house. Everyone who knows me knows that I'm not a political person whatsoever. However, after reading today's report on Sharon Stone and her idiotic comment about how the China earthquake is a result of the way the Chinese government treated Tibetans.

"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said Thursday during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview with Hong Kong's Cable Entertainment News. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

Sharon, you nut job, shut the hell up and think before you speak. Almost 40,000 people DIED in this horrific earthquake and this is all you have to say? We all thought Hollywood stars are stupid, but not THIS stupid. Let's just say that I will never watch another Sharon Stone movie again. Someone as stupid as Sharon should just be removed from the United States and forced to live amongst her own kind... in a zoo. Actually I am an animal lover so I would not want to subject the animals to such a low life like Stone. Sorry, had to vent. What an IDIOT!!! Whoever reads this blog, please find a way to combat stupidity....
Until next time....

It's been a while...I'm still here!

As I procrastinate a bit more with my schoolwork, I thought I'd write a little something about what I've been up to. I think the photos will speak for themselves but I'll write a little narrative to go along...
So much has happened for the past month or so. There was a whole FOUR days of partying because the class before mine graduated and we had to party. The theme, courtesy of ME, was called "Golf pros and tennis hos!" Man was that a hit. It was fantastic. We had the party at a bar and the night was GORGEOUS. As you can see, I had a few more drinks than I needed... I love these guys...we have so much fun wherever we go. I had a few compliments from my "Venus Williams" adapted clothing line :)
The night before, we went to "quiz night" at this bar called Malones. I seriously was pissed off because I could not name FOUR movies that Wynona Ryder has been in since 1991. The movie I was thinking of was Girl Interrupted but it never came out. Our team came in LAST! haha. Had a blast though. I think the beers killed my brain cells... or at least that's the excuse I use all the time. The following week, a friend had a BBQ on his killer patio! It was fantastic. Tons of people came and brought drinks and lots of food. Now that I have turned into somewhat of a vegetarian, I had to eat lots and lots of salad in order to keep something in my stomach for all the alcohol that was there. I swear I am never going to lose any weight if I keep drinking like a fish. We danced the entire night and I met some "interesting" guys... that will be a private email to people who wish to know. It was good to feel "liked" amongst all of these crazy skinny Chinese girls! woo hoo!!!
Right now, just went looking around Shanghai at some new rentals. I am thinking of moving but haven't found anything that is even remotely as nice as what I have right now. My roomie is moving out so I get to have my place to myself. I am excited about that because as you all know, I have not had a roommate since I stopped living with that terrible ex of mine. I had been great having my current roomie around, but it's time for me to live alone again. Can't wait! I've already started creeping my things to other rooms :) haha!
Just two weeks before I leave for my trip to Egypt! Woo hoo! I'll be sure to write more about that when I get back. However, that may take another three to four weeks! :) It's getting to be hot outside so I'm never home now. It's amazing when the weather changes and everyone starts creeping out of the houses! Can't wait till summer (not the heat though...) and my buds are all coming for a visit to Shanghai!!!! YIPPIEEEEE...
Also, keep supporting the Red Cross in its efforts to help the earthquake victims. I have been to a million charity events and PLEASE trust that the devastation IS that big and there is a DIRE need to help these people. It's very very sad how many children are orphaned and how many lives destroyed. I have done a lot but can always do more...we're very fortunate people. Donating is a good thing...no matter what amount.
Until the next time, miss you all very much!

May holidays... don't try this at home

So each year during the first week of May, China closes shop for a couple of days for Labor Day. I decided to venture out of Shanghai to check out the surrounding cities with a couple of friends and my sister. Since our friend has a nice car, we decided to take a road trip. I haven't done a road trip in a looonnnng time so I was really looking forward to it. However, I have to admit that I did hear from other people that this would be the worst time to go traveling around China because everyone has this time off and everyone wants to be outdoors. The weather has been extremely nice and people tend to come out of the woodworks. I didn't want to believe this so I wanted to see for myself. I also thought that because this year, May 1st fell on a Thursday and most companies only give you that day off whereas our company gave us the entire four days off, not many people would be out and about. That was definitely not the case. There were loads and loads and loads of people roaming around the streets in ALL the towns we stopped at. To make it worse, the weather was SO hot... I almost fainted. Our first stop was at this town called YiWu, a place where you're supposed to go and buy a bunch of "things" such as jewelry, pottery, etc. We got there and didn't realize that this place was for people who owned stores and wanted to buy in large quantity. I attempted to bargain with them but the sellers refused to talk to me. I really wanted to buy this nice tea holder set and they asked that I had to buy a minimum of 36 sets!!! Needless to say, we left this town in about two hours. Next stop was Shaoxing, the town famous for its production of yellow wine. We stayed there and had some really yummy food. It was off to Hangzhou, the most beautiful place in China that I have seen so far. From these photos, you can see that there are actual TREES and a gorgeous lake (called West Lake). We were able to take the boat around the lake, hike some small mountains and have some good food (there is always good food in China). I actually got sunburned that day! Shocking!
The trip was a good getaway but I will not do it again during May holidays. There are just sooooo many Chinese people and it drives me insane. I know most of you are laughing about it, but I tell ya, it is tough tough tough to get around here. 1.3 BILLION people and that is not even counting the number of expats that live here!
Until then... xo

I really DO study...

I have been a slacker...I know. It has been a while since my last post, but I have been insane these few months. I have taken two classes per month for the past two months and that is just a killer schedule. I am attempting to take as many courses as I can in order to finish the MBA program faster, but I think starting in May, I'm cutting back to one per month again. I didn't realize how much work was involved in each class and then having to sit through four consecutive days of class from 8am till around 7pm!
Anyhow, what can I share...I have been flying up and down from Shanghai to Beijing quite a lot for work. The weather in Beijing is way better than Shanghai, but you have no idea if that is the government's ability to "control" the weather... I'm sure you've heard of all the new technology that the country has been investing in to control the smog. They can shoot this "thing" up in the air and clear the skies and make it rain and then the sun comes out. It is insane! One minute it is smog, the next it is clear with sunny skies! China is just crazy!
I have also been partying a bit much. The MBA students are just insane. I go out at least every night when we're in session, but I can barely wake up for class the next day. As I write, I am IN class right now. I should be paying attention...but those of you who have gone to school with me know that if I'm not playing Solitare or Mindsweeper, then there is something wrong with me. HA! So today I decided to mix things up a bit and write my blog. Some of the photos you see posted here are from my MBA class having a bbq during our day off for Tomb Sweeping Day. I know you all must be thinking why are they bbq'ing on Tomb Sweeping Day? I can't answer that...We had such a blast. The party started at 1pm and we didn't finish partying until around 3am that next day... boy was that crazy. Those MBA guys really can party! There are a couple of us who are really good friends now and we tend to go out a bit toooo much :) I swear I'm back in college when we all go out... even though all of us are over the hill a bit! hahah
I'm actually heading to Egypt in a couple of weeks for a mini vacation. Very much looking forward to that. I need a little break...from work and school... the bad thing is that I'll be taking some work and school with me because while I do get to escape China, I don't get to escape the reality :( Nothing else new except for the upcoming trip and the crazy school friends. I am starting to like China a bit more cuz the weather is getting better and better. Can't wait till the summer weather, but I also don't want the summer months to roll around because of how crazy the city will be from all the damn tourists. Right now, the clubs and bars already started charging cover! That never happens here. I yell at them and say "this ain't no Manhattan." Of course, the people at the door don't care... they just say "sorry, we started charging." A bunch of crap...this city is going to be sh*t come Olympics. So please, for those of you actually coming to China, just refuse to pay anything at the door, otherwise, you'll be subjecting everyone else to do so... Also, DON'T TIP... it's just not worth it. The service here is either crap or overboard. They either don't even look at you or they are leeches and can't leave you alone even when you go and take a crapper. Anyhow, that's just some advice.
Until then.....

Story of the day...quite amusing

So what a way to start a Tuesday morning. I have to say this is when I really want to hurt someone in China. Like really hurt someone...I get up every morning and walk to work. Each morning, I have a lady who makes me this scallion pancake for my walk to work and she's such a delightful person! Trust me, it is really rare to find people who are in the service industry who are actually nice to you! She always makes sure she has my soy milk ready as I'm always in a rush. Today, I decided to take things easy and just relax. I get to "my lady" and there was this idiot man standing above her asking whether or not the pancake was for him. She replied, no it is not but I will make you one right now. He asked how much it was and she replied, 2.20RMB. That again is like 30 cents to us. Anyhow, I'm standing there patiently and I see that the man only left her 2RMB. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to get involved. I know some of you are laughing right now because you know that I ALWAYS get involved somehow. The lady was busy with other customers but I'm sure she saw from the corner of her eyes. When it came time to give the idiot guy his pancake, she said, I'm sorry sir, but I need to ask for another 20 cents. He was livid! He said "are you accusing me of not paying? I left you money!" She replied, no you didn't and then the argument begins. This whole time, I'm just standing there and thinking I WILL GIVE THE DAMN 20 cents if this would just end and I can get my food and go. However, I always stick with my principles....I immediately took off my ipod headphones and said to the man, I saw you...you cheap bastard. Just give her the money. He was SO beyond shocked. He went to open his mouth and I literally said in English "zip it" (Bri, this was for you). I guess he understood, pulled out the 20 cents, mumbled some Shanghainese curse words I'm sure, and then left.
What a good start to my morning...
xo

Back to being a human again...

I am so excited to report that I am FINALLY over this damn illness (knock on wood of course!) It was the worst experience I think I have ever been through (besides the whole Bali sickness in 2005). For two whole weeks, I think I must have been to the toilet about 100 times. I don't even believe that is an exaggeration! Anyhow, I will spare you the details and just say that I am going to watch what I eat now. Then again, the doc did say, "you are in China Hsiao so you can't avoid these things." Great...
Anyhow, for the past few weeks, I've just been struggling to get by and get my work done (both work-work and schoolwork). I of course am procrastinating right now and decided to put up a little update on what's happening here. Shanghai is finally getting warmer! I'm so excited about that. The only bad thing is when the weather gets warmer, the streets get more crowded and the city becomes a bit "smellier." I don't care... the sun is out and that's all I care about. Past week, I went out to a friend's birthday dinner at this really nice restaurant (where I will be taking my visitors of course!) called Face and we had a fab time. It's just nice to catch up and have dinner and a couple of drinks. It was a weekday so I was good and went straight home. However, last night, that's a WHOLE other story. Last time, I went out with some of my girlfriends and partied a bit too much. Got home around 5 am (then again, I'm sure some of you guys are like "wait, that's nothing new for Hsiao." Had to get up this morning for a conference call with my school classmates, and boy, was I out of it. I deliberately set my alarm for 5 minutes before I had to take this call. I think everyone on the phone knew I had just rolled out of bed. :) Last night, we went to the place called "The Shelter" and it's an old bomb shelter in Shanghai that is now an underground bar. Totally cool, with a great DJ so for those of you coming to visit, I'll def take you guys there. A bit smoky but then again, IT IS CHINA! I sometimes think that I should start smoking JUST because I'm in China...ha.
Outside of my house right now is the sound of freaking machines drilling holes in the ground because they are building this massive mall thing in the middle of summer. I might have to look for another place to live cuz it is RIDICULOUSLY loud. And trust me, they do this ALLLL night long too. Cheap labor... that's why houses go up in like 5 days.
OK I'm rambling now. I thought I'd just post something here to let you know that I've survived this giardiais parasite. I think that's how you spell it. Not fun I tell ya...not fun at all. Anyhow, I'll try to post some photos when I do get a chance to take some. Right now, I have been a lazy bum. I'm planning my next trip to Kyoto for some fun in Japan. In May, I'm off to some remote part of China with some friends from work so that should be fun! I can't wait! I need to take advantage of these travel deals :)
Until then... miss you guys. xoxo

Terrible sickness....

Nice title for a posting, I know. I have been out of commission for the past week sick as a dog. Ever since I got back from my trip to USA, I really have not had time to rest at all. I immediately started a class the very next day upon returning and then after four intense days of that, I had to travel to Beijing for work. I think my body was completely operating on adrenaline and then it just crashed! It has been a while since I had to take antibiotics! I thought I could beat it, but one night, I got up in the middle of the night and realized that my ears were killing because I had an infection in my throat. I went to my own refrigerator and started self-medicating...thank god I had some amoxicillian in there to numb the pain. I know, some of you might be like, what the hell is she doing medicating herself. However, the pain of living in China is the lack of doctors and there was NO way I was going to go to a local hospital at that hour. I don't even want to go to the doctor during the day here in China. I have never taken that much time off of work ever, but really couldn't get out of bed to go to work. I of course had to work though so just sat at home and worked in bed. After one day, I was starting to suffer from cabin fever! I knew that it would be wrong to go out, but of course, I went out with some friends and had some drinks. I didn't rage though so I was being somewhat good :)
I posted some photos from our China Summit meeting last week in Beijing. The entire PR office was sent to Beijing for a two day meeting to discuss the current China business market. It was THE WORST trip I have been on... I was bored out of my mind. Granted, the trip was a good way for me to meet a bunch of the staff in the Beijing office and I was totally moved by the speech given by the President of the company, but it really did not require TWO days. To make it worse, we were pretty much quarantined in a very remote part of town so that we were prevented from going downtown to party. We were pretty much staying in a "Chinese country club." It is sooooo far removed from what you'd think of what a country club is. In China, it is pretty much cramming as much crap in one area as possible and there is NO upkeep of the place. This place where we stayed in had a horse stable, bowling, karaoke, etc. However, everything, including the horses, were old, dirty, and smelly. Thank goodness I had some of my fellow colleagues who were able to be "bad" with me and sneak out of the meeting and went for a nice walk. We actually decided to steal a golf cart and drove it off the lot! How crazy are we! We walked around the property and attempted to go and ride a horse. However, after seeing these horses, I realized immediately that none of them were "fixed!" These horses would have thrown me off in a second cuz they are mean mutherf*ckers. We all decided that we were not going to ride because we were all scared of possibly ending up in the hospital. We decided to go chase geese instead...that was a mistake too. We almost got bitten! Anyhow, we had a great time just getting outside and walking around. It's amazing how China can control the weather...we had blue skies for the entire day even though it poured in the morning. Can't wait for the Olympics...clear skies everyday! whooooooo hooooooooo.
What I learned in class today: DAMN (drunks against mad mothers) - a new acronym that is used to combat MADD... guess I'm just tired out of my mind. :) I'm actually writing this while I'm in class pretending to pay attention. For those of you who know me, you know that I'm a crazy student!
Until then...xo

Craziest trip back HOME to NYC and DC

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Can't believe that my 20 days back home are over. The days went by so quickly and I'm very very sad that I was not able to see everyone, but for those of you that I was lucky enough to see, WHAT A GREAT TIME!!! I am back in Shanghai now suffering from massive jet lag. This jet lag thing sucks. It is 4 am and I have class in 4 hours. Boy am I going to pass out in class.
Well, let's start with how I got to the other side of the hemisphere. It took a total of TWENTY hours to get just from Shanghai to Chicago which normally takes about 13 hours. It was a nightmare. The plane had mechanical problems, then there was no de-ice thing for the plane, it was just miserable I got to Chicago and had to spend the night cuz of missed connections. Finally got to NY a day late. Waiting for me in my home in NYC were my girls (and Brian! haha). It was soooo amazing to be back and seeing that nothing much has changed. So here is what I did:
1. Went out to lunches and dinners with friends, colleagues, and previous bosses.
2. The girls had a party for me at my fav place Galway Hooker and it was fantastic seeing everyone (see pics above).
3. Went shopping...always could have done more of that.
4. Did my taxes (terrible, but had to get them over with)
5. And of course, watched the Superbowl (go GIANTS!) and went out and partied in the streets of NYC with the madness. It was fantastic...

After NYC, I was off to DC/MD to see the rents. They actually flew home on Feb 2nd as well from Shanghai. They will now be in MD for the next six months until they are ready to come to Shanghai again. So in MD, I pretty much did the same thing except that my girls from NYC drove down to see me for my last weekend in the States and of course, we went to party in DC. Woo hoo. Man, DC has changed a lot. Bars are opening left and right and we went to Local 16 and for dinner we were at Pizza Paradisio (which I have always loved). The next morning we had to get our as*es up and go to brunch and this place Creme was really really really good. I would highly recommend it. Anyhow, the trip was too short as always and now, I have to get back into the swing of things. I will promise to write more if I have any more adventures. Right now,I have to focus on my studies and really getting back to work. Although, I know for a fact that the next week, I will be the most unproductive person in the world :)
Until then...miss you all and look forward to seeing some of you real soon. xoxo

My first experience being a TERP!

It has been a very very very tough four days! I started my first MBA class this Thursday and it just ended about three hours ago! I am very excited to report that although it was quite tough (the class is Thurs to Sun, from 8am till 7pm!), it was amazingly rewarding. I had such a blast with the students in the classroom as well as learning new material. The professor was this kind and gentle guy (who resembled Santa Clause) from the University of Maryland who flew here to teach this course. The class was actually quite large, about 30 students. The reason is because a few of the Beijing students flew down to take this course for a couple of days and so they combined the two cohorts. For those of you who think that I am a "lifetime student," you have got it all wrong. On the first day, we had to go around the room and do a brief intro of ourselves. There were two doctor's in the room, one lawyer, three Ph.D.'s and many many more. I'm just little ol' me...two Master's means NOTHING compared to these people. However, they were kind of impressed that I did go to Columbia...they just don't know that I'm way more dumb than probably about 90% of the students that go to Columbia. Anyhow, we had tons of teamwork and group exercises and this was a great way to get to know one another. The only sad thing is that most of my classmates are married or have kids. Guess it's not good for the dating scene. HA. However, I won't give up hope...I'm sure they have friends! Most of my classmates are from England, Belgium, US, Australia and Hong Kong. The diversity is amazing. There are some top notch and VIPs in this class...those who work for Microsoft, IBM, General Motors, etc. It's really nice to be associated with people outside of work and not just at social scenes like bars. Although it is a long-ass day for each class, after completing my first class today, I felt so damn good. I was actually very excited about getting my books and pre work for my next upcoming class. I know... I know... most of you reading this think I am nuts, but it really is amazing to go back to school and keep on learning. I know it's not for everyone but just maybe, it is the thing for me. I think I'm going to medical school next... just kidding...
Now, on to accounting... I am sooo not looking forward to that one. We just received two texts and one huge course reading packet to be completed within the next three weeks. In the meantime, we still have post work to complete from this class that we just finished. I know some of you guys are thinking...why the hell is she doing this? Honestly, I do love it...so wish me luck. Hope I do survive this craziness. I am going to be coming back to the States in about two and a half weeks! Yippie. I just changed my itinerary because I have to come back to Shanghai early for class and also for work (I think some of you might think that I quit my job...nope, I'm as neurotic as you think I am... going to school and working again!). So, I'll be in NYC starting Feb 1st and then to DC Feb 12th, then back to Shanghai on the 20th of Feb. I really really do hope that I can see everyone during my short time, but if not, then you all know where to come and visit!
Until then... xoxo

New Years in Thailand...Who Would Have Thought...

Just sitting down now in my freeezing cold room here in Shanghai writing about my latest adventure to Thailand for New Years! I had such a blast. To tell you the truth, I can have a blast wherever there is nice hot weather, but Thailand is just so darn nice.
Let's start from day one of course...I have to tell the funny parts of the trip as well as some scary moments I had. The first scary moment was the minute I stepped off the plane. My flight was delayed (of course, I always run into scary flight moments too, but I will not talk about that) and I didn't arrive in Bangkok until around 11pm. I arrived and went straight for the taxi line because I was told to not take any of the sketchy offers from drivers inside the terminal. When I got in the taxi, the guy pulls away from the airport and starts telling me "ok, 500 Baht for ride." I of course replied "no way, turn on the meter." He says "how much you give me" and I said "100 Baht" and he got mad! I of course didn't show any signs of letting my guard down so I screamed back in Chinese "turn on the damn meter before I call the police" and of course, he had no idea what I was saying since I don't speak Thai! So the entire time while he is driving like a madman, I am screaming at him in Chinese and he finally turned on the meter. The whole thing didn't stop there though...he continued to speak in Thai about something to do with "paying some toll." We pull up to the toll booth and I instructed him to pull up so that I can hand the lady my money. I would not give him a dime of my cash. I was soooo happy to see my hotel when we arrived and I yelled at him one more time to tell him that he was a "bad man" to try to rip me off and that the meter was only 250 Baht! He just smiled... gross.
OK, so for the next couple of days, we went touring around Bangkok. Went to all the Buddha temples (Wat Po, Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Golden Mountain) and saw some lovely scenery. Bangkok is an interesting city. Can't really figure it out because it is hard to get around! We were lost a lot and the taxis would take us in circles. I was also able to get around in some tuk tuks (these tricycles things... quite dangerous but goes very very fast and sooo much fun) and had to bargain each and every time. I swear, being a tourist is quite hard sometimes. You know you have to mentally prepare yourself to be ripped off, but I just couldn't handle it! In the end, we really had to do the math conversion and say "ok, they overcharged us by only one dollar!"
New Years Eve, we partied with a friend of mine from junior high school who now is a co-owner of a club in Bangkok. We did a "bit" of drinking (well, you know me...) and danced the night away. It was soooo much fun to ring in the new year in a different country. I think I have done that every year so far since graduating college. I plan on doing this each year in the future.
The next day was not so pretty. We had to get up early to go catch our flight to Phuket. We were flying on AIR ASIA... a plane that I have never heard of before and I am a nervous wreck. The plane had peeling paint!! I almost fainted because you all know that I really hate flying. We were lucky that we arrived in one piece and we went to Khao Lak directly from the airport. A few friends of ours ended up staying in some dump on Patong and they were not happy. I was quite pleased with our location and our nice resort at Le Meridien. We booked all kinds of trips such as elephant rides, treks through the Khao Sok National Park, kayaking on the Andaman Sea into caves filled with bats, canoing etc etc. I was also able to get my sun bathing in as well. All in all, it was fantastic. I hope that I can get away like this quite often because I want to be able to take advantage of the fact that I am here in Asia and the flights are no longer than 5 hours.
I am off to Malaysia next in two weeks. Although I am going for work, I hope to build in some time to see Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas. Then back to good ol' US of A!!!
Until then... hope everyone had a great New Years!! xo