A Golden Week in Japan

I’ve been receiving complaints with the fact I haven’t posted this for so long. *sigh*

I must say that work has been really exhausting (but then again, when it is ever not exhausting??). Especially during this economic crisis where you’ll read everywhere in the newspaper how Detroit Big Three are in serious financial problem at this moment. And of course, being an automotive supplier, my company receives the immediate impact which obliged us to make a dozen (if not thousands!) emergency plan scenarios. The problem is, many people believe that China can help to survive this world economic crisis. Unfortunately, it is not the case! Automotive market here in China has been experiencing downward turn in the last quarter. I even spent a day browsing the internet for effect of economic crisis in China and found myself really speechless to read that there have been 67.000 factories closed in China and another 33.000 factories are expected to closed in the last quarter 2008. That is a big Problem! (with capital P!)

And not to mention that my supposed to be “retirement fund” is now down to the drain. What a life! Now I have to work twice the hard to buy that villa by the beach!! :-(

Anyway, back to the original story line, Japan.

We went to Japan to spend the October Golden Week. In the beginning, we were not too excited to go there as we thought Japan will be just one of the boring industrial countries. Also to be really honest, the only reason we decided to go there is only because the flight ticket to go back to Jakarta was really expensive. It would cost us around 25K RMB (around 2500 EUR) to go back to Jakarta for a week while, being a Finance person myself, I’ve calculated that with that money I will be able to travel to Japan for a week!

But then, to our surprise, Japan turned out to be a beautiful and relaxing trip!

There are many tips and tricks to travel smart in Japan, but the one I have to give the credit to Gutereise09, an active collaborator in Thorn Tree forum from Lonely Planet. The guy really helped us a lot to find good places to sleep, how to make the most use of our limited time and how to travel smart!

We decided to go to Japan for 8 days and we visited Hiroshima, Kyoto, Lake Kawaguchi and Tokyo. Most of the time we travelled with the Shinkansen bullet train using the Japan Rail Pass, allowing us to travel as much as possible and as fast as possible in one week.

I personally found Hiroshima is very important for me as it is one of the milestone for Indonesian Independence. If it is not for Hiroshima bombing, Indonesia will be probably under Japanese colonialism today.

Kyoto is more the old traditional Japan where you can see ladies dressed in Japanese traditional kimono on the street. In Kyoto you'll find yourself hopping from one temple to another. I found Japanese most popular temple, Kiyomizu temple is too overated! It is packed with tourists and you must pay 1000 Yen in each places you want to pray (not that I am praying but I don’t like to have to pay when I want to pray!). Our favourite was Ginkakuji Temple. It is too bad that we didn’t do the philosopher’s walk from Ginkakuji to Nyakuoji temple.

However, we were so LUCKY in Kyoto that we met the real Maiko in the back street of Gion. Again, thanks to Gutereise09!

On the way from Kyoto to Tokyo, we stayed overnight in a Japanese ryokan in Lake Kawaguchi. It was a quite funny experience for us to sleep on the floor and to sleep with Japanese Yukata which is really warm for a piece of material wrapped to your body! We were not lucky to take the sunrise photos of Mt. Fuji (we were already warned before) but we were happy when the clouds started to disappear around noon, allowing us to take as many photos as we want of the number one mountain in Japan!

The last stop for us before departing back to Shanghai was Tokyo.

The city is just a normal metropolitan city and Shanghai is much more beautiful than Tokyo. But a visit to Tsukuji Fish Market on early Saturday morning really paid off! We had sushi breakfast and ended up buying a half kilo maguro to bring back to the hotel. Jorge, who is known to be the tuna lover, was having an orgasm!!! (Ok, to be fair to Jorge, not only because of maguro but also because of the 100MB internet connection in Japan!) Jajaja…

So, stop with the story, here is the sets of pictures and of course, the famous Shibuya crossing as seen in The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift!


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December Travel Plan - Status Confirmed!

These confirmed our travel plan in December!

U.N. resolution urges U.S. to lift Cuba embargo

How Cuba's Oil Find Could Change the US Embargo

Kuala Lumpur - a weekend gateway

This is a retroactive post.

We stopped by in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on our way to Maldives in August.

We have a friend who is currently working in Kuala Lumpur, so she took us around to see as much as possible of the city and also Batu Cave. But I must say, for us, Kuala Lumpur is not so much different to Jakarta, Indonesia except that they have more better infrastructure than Jakarta. Nevertheless, it was ok for just a 3-days-visit.


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Maldives - A Paradise on earth!

I believe you'd agree that pictures speak more than word can describe! Maldive islands are definitely the must go holiday place if you aim for total relaxation! You'll feel like reborn when you are in there!

We stayed for a week in Kuramathi island, which is located about 1.5 hrs with speed boat from the capital city Male. The island has a beautiful and long sandbank, beautiful nature, beautiful white sandy and clear water beach. From the shore, you can even see baby sharks hunting a school of small fishes.

Unfortunately, Maldives is one of the place that feared to vanish due to the global warming!

More information about Maldives can be found here.


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Finally!

So it's officially started!

The fireworks and the lighting of the Olympic torch was incredible! But then again, the Chinese did invent the fireworks and they would like to make sure we know it.

We celebrated the evening in a bar next door. I would like to post a short clip to show the atmosphere and enthusiasm but haven't managed to edit it so far. So it has to come later!

Meanwhile, we are now off to our one week vacation. This time: Maldives!

Photos and many other beautiful photos from the ceremony can be seen in The Boston Globe.

D-2

In two days the most awaited sport event of the year will be happening in Beijing.

The event will be taken place mostly in Beijing, which is around 1300km from Shanghai or about 2 hrs with plane or 9 hrs driving but you won't believe all the security measures they have implemented for this event here in Shanghai.

1. No liquid allowed for air travel has been implemented since min. 3 months ago (see this post)
2. X-ray machines and dogs check all luggage going in and out of China
3. The government has imported millions of "explosive residue detection kits" from US to swab all incoming and outgoing passengers in order to see if they have been recently in contact with explosive materials
4. All bags must pass security control in the subway stations
5. All shops and vending machines located in subway stations are closed for a month without government compensation to shop owners (imagine if they try to implement this in a capitalist country!)
6. The government removes the business license of many small Chinese manufactures if they don't meet certain environmental standard (resulting unfortunately major price increase in China)
7. The government enforced "no free plastic bag" regulation when shopping in any store in China, also in spirit to be more environmental friendly (in Germany is only applicable for shopping in supermarket, but not when you shop for clothes in the mall!)
8. Gasoline stations are only open before 9 am and after 7 pm at night because the government banned trucks traffic into the city during the day time (imagine the long queue every night!)
9. And last, yesterday my friend told me that the government will ground all Chinese airlines traveling any places on earth for a period of 5 hours before and after the opening ceremony! (Thank God I am flying on Saturday!!!)

Another blogger wrote, and I must agree to his words, "Almost all of the action is taking place in Beijing, hundreds of miles from here, but from the frantic security tightening around town, you’d think Osama Bin Laden was coming to officially open a new Mosque here in Shanghai."

I'll be glad when it's all over!!

Summer has arrived!

We went for a walk around the French Concession yesterday and soon realized that it was a wrong decision! Summer has arrived in Shanghai and temperature raised up to 38 degree on day time and around 35 degree at 8 pm last night. It will be like this for the next 3 months so you might want to reconsider your travel to Shanghai!!

We have a temperature measure in our apartment window and it records 40 degree at the moment. So definitely we will stay inside!! We are lucky that we have planned to travel to Germany this week where the temperature will be 10 degree lower! Yay!!!

News from Shanghai Daily here

May Holiday Part 3 - on the way home

I guess I must post this before it is too long overdue! :-(

Ha Long is located about 3 hours drive from Hanoi. The road and traffic is not so friendly (more small road than highways) but the scenaries along the road are beautiful.

Ha Long is very beautiful and natural and I would strongly recommend to take the 2 days/1 night boat trip. Many people are worry about the boat but it turned out to be a stable boat.

Our boat name was Santa Maria cruiser arranged by the hotel in Hanoi. The food served was very good but the room is just ok for a one night sleep. It's clean but not that sophisticated. Anyway you will not stay in the room the whole day. The boat has a nice sundeck where we hanged out most of the time. My dad was so connected to the nature that he always went to sundeck whenever he had the chances.

The travel agent has a program set for us. They will arrange when you have to have breakfast/lunch/dinner and they also took us to kayak trip. In the beginning I was not that sure about kayaking but ended up enjoying it alot. There is also a designated place where you can swim in the bay which is good after some hours kayaking. The next day we went to the caves to see many stone formations but for us it is not that interesting as this is very normal tourist places that you'll find in China.

The only downpoint was the night. They parked the boat in a quite bay together with many other junk boats. However 2 junk boats decided to make a karaoke contest night and that was just hillarious but yet terrible to hear that loud music and (many times!) not synchronize lyrics. I must strongly suggest that they forbid karaoke to better enjoy the nature. It's not very often we can sit under the sky and enjoying nothing but the sounds of wilderness!

But all in all, I still vote for Halong bay to be one of the 7th Wonder of Natural World!

I will also not post extra about Hong Kong and Macau. It's heaven for shoppers and gamblers as everyone knows it, but just in case you want to see other side of Hong Kong then just take a train ride to Lantau Island (about 30 minutes train ride) and you can see the giant Tian Tan buddha. It was a nice city break especially for the men and they can worry less about their credit card bill for a day! :-)

Enjoy the photos;


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May Holiday Part 2 - Hanoi, Vietnam

After Siem Reap we flew to Hanoi where the hotel’s driver had waited for us at the airport. We read traveler’s reviews prior to the trip and a lot of travelers have suggested us to use the available airport transfer from the hotel as there were many cases where the taxi driver took them to a different hotel (belong to the driver’s friend) and after an hour long drive from the airport to the city, you ended up staying at that hotel and paying more expensive hotel rate.

Our hotel is located directly in the old quarter which gave us easy access to the tourists’ areas. I met some other tourists and they all have heard about our hotel and the professional service that the hotel staffs provided to the tourists. If you plan to visit Hanoi, I will recommend you to stay at Hanoi Elegance Hotel. They have 3 locations and we stayed at their second hotel.

The downside of the hotel is because of the location in the old quarter, it can be very noisy at night. But the truth, the city is very noisy! There are thousands of motorbikes running around the city everyday and they sure know how to use the honk. I grew up in Jakarta where the traffic is also very bad. Currently I live also in Shanghai where it is also not the perfect example, but never have I heard louder traffic noise as it is in Hanoi. Sometimes I think they just make it as a competition on who is the loudest!

Hanoi is recommended for a day walking tour. Start your trip early to visit the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum (last admission is at 10 am) where you can see the embalmed body of the famous liberation hero of Viet Nam. From there you can continue walking through the presidential palace garden, the two ex-houses of Ho Chi Minh and finish in the one-pillar Pagoda.

As the story of Vietnam War fascinates us a lot, we decided to continue the trip to Hoa Lo Prison or also well known as the “Hanoi Hilton” where the Vietnamese kept the American war prisoners. Among them is the US Senator John McCain (currently running for President from Republican party). McCain was captured and held as Prisoner of War when his plane was shot down by the Vietnamese.

However, the history of Hoa Lo Prison is actually due back to the time of French invasion in Viet Nam. The prison was called as Maison Centrale and used to prison and torture many of Vietnamese political leaders. I went to the prison and I can still see the French Guillotine where they used to behead the Vietnamese prisoners.

After spending some time in the Prison, we headed back to our hotel and on the way we made a stop at the Cathedral and the beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of Hanoi. Then we walked around the old quarter, did some souvenirs shopping and just relax for the night as we had to wake up early to catch the bus to Ha Long Bay.


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May Holiday Part 1 – Angkor, Cambodia

Now that we are living in Asia, we’ve promised ourselves to intensify our knowledge of Asia, especially Indochina. Being an Indonesian (and I haven't travelled much in Indonesia either!!), I am quite ashamed of myself as I have been to a lot of places in Europe and US and only to some cities in Asia.

Before I live in Shanghai, I have only visited some major cities in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Guilin), Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which everyone who have been to the last 2 cities can confirm that they are not really typical Asian city.

Therefore, we’ve made our first step to Asia by travelling to Hong Kong, Macau, Siem Reap, Hanoi and Ha Long bay last May holiday. It seems to be a lot of cities to be done in 10 days but we are not so much into shopping so we can skip the trip to the mall in HK.

My parents joined us this time as they were visiting me for the surgery. I will only post about Siem Reap this time and continue with others in the next posts.

First thing we’ve learnt is that travelling in Asia is more complicated with the inter-city connection. Not all places are wel connected by train service and cheap flights are not always available. However I found a very helpful and reliable internet site, Tourism Cambodia, which helps for tickets and hotel bookings and they give detail information about Cambodia. Their price is also cheaper compare to other sites too.

I believe almost all nationalities require visa to visit Cambodia. However they provided an e-visa service which makes it easier. If you prefer not to use their e-visa service, just make sure you have your passport photograph with you when you enter the country.

Also, you don’t have to bother exchanging your money to local currency in Cambodia. Most people trades in USD and they give change in USD as well. You can use it to pay for tuk tuk, bars, restaurants, hotels and water everywhere.

Siem Reap is the city you have to go if you want to visit Angkor. One hint to visit Angkor, it is a huge complex consisting of about 100 temples. It will take you between 3 days to a week to visit all the temples so depending on your crave for archeology, make sure you’ll plan your visit wisely as the price of the entrance ticket is cheaper if you buy for more days. The last time we only spend only a day in Angkor and paid for 25 USD each. The best way to explore the temples is by bicycles or by tuk tuk, a motorcycle powered cart. The area is very peace and serene but be prepared for the hot and humid weather also. Take your time to explore the temples and make sure you have your water and camera handy at all time!

In Angkor we only had the chance to visit the 3 main and must see temples. Those are Angkor Wat itself, Bayon temple and Ta Prohm. The last one is really popular as the temple has been almost outgrown by the trees. You’ll find everywhere trees growing on top of the temple building. Really amazing!

And after you’ve finished exploring the temples, don’t forget to stop at the night market in town or just spoiling yourself with the famous Cambodian massage!



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The Pins are out!

Finally! After 11 months attached to my shoulder, they are finally out! And the truth, they look scary also! Good thing I didn't bother to see how they look before the doctor put them in my shoulder otherwise I will never agree to have the surgery a year ago!

I was very nervous when they prepared me for surgery but the anesthesia doctor was a friendly and efficient german lady and she checked me very thorough and ensured that she will take care of me during the surgery. It was quite a relieved and before I realized, she put me to sleep already.

The recovery (post surgery) went very well also. I stayed one night in the hospital and the nurses were very surprised that I didn't request for any pain killer at all. I also insisted to got back home on the second day as I don't like hospital and its atmosphere in general.

One thing happened on the night at the hospital though. I was half-sleeping when I heard loud noise outside of my room (which is very near to the nurse station). One german lady was talking on the phone in german and she was trying to explain about somebody who had an accident and had a fracture in the bone (she didn't mentioned specifically in which bone). She insisted that an operation needed to be done ASAP and she wanted to have the person in the other side of the line to call her back to the hospital, to the bed number 1210 to be exact! Guess what, THAT WAS MY BED NUMBER!

I was half-asleep and felt already quite annoyed with her loud voice but I tell you now..I was almost jumped out of my bed when she said my bed number loud and clear in german! 1210! I immediately thought that my anesthesia doctor (remember she was also a german lady!) found something in my medical record, came back to arrange another surgery for me for that night!

I immediately thought for the worse to come and I was panic that I started to look for an escape way. Of course I cannot do too much with an I.V. and heart beat monitor attached to my arm. The fact that the room was located on the 12th Floor also didn't give me much option either. So I gave up and I woke Jorge up, hoping he could clarify all the discussions going on outside at that time. I jumped into glory when Jorge came back and said that the lady meant bed number 1310 instead! *Big relieved sigh*

So anyway, the wound is so far healing up good also. The doctor told me that he will remove the stitches on Monday but I have to wear my arm sling for another week and should not carry heavy items for about a month. Other than that, I am good to go back to the office and also to go for holiday! Yay!!!

Friday, 18.04.2008

About three and a half months ago I received a good news from my orthopedic doctor. It looks like that my clavicle bone has grown back together and I should be able to remove the metal pin whenever I want to.

I should be happy, and I am really happy, except that I am no fans of any kind of surgeries. I have cold feet just imagining the sterile surgery room with doctors holding scalpel and trying to cut me open.

To add to my misery, Jorge mistakenly played one movie called “Awake” which tells about a man who suffers “anesthetic awareness” and finds himself awake and aware, but paralyzed, during heart surgery. Trust me, that brings me hundreds steps away from the surgery room!

Anyway, after putting the surgery into on hold for quite sometimes, I have finally given up and have managed to persuade myself into scheduling an appointment for this coming Friday. That was for sure not an easy job. In fact, I choose this Friday on purpose as I have an important deadline to meet at work on the Tuesday before and I intentionally plan for a holiday in the beginning of May (just two weeks after Friday). If you don’t believe me, you can try to meet your work deadline and arranging for your vacation (including places to see, hotels, tickets, visas, etc) and arranging for blood test, x-ray and doctor’s appointments at the same time. You surely don’t have too much time to think about the “what if” anymore.

And to really add to the burden, I have arranged for my parents to come and accompany me during the recovery week. They will arrive just one day before the “D-day” and we will go on holiday together.

It is funny how they both agreed to come but both have different agendas in their minds;

My mom wants to make sure that I really walk into that hospital and not trying to escape from the back door (trust me, it crosses my mind the last time!)

My dad on the other hand, well now I have to be careful writing this, his “official” task is to guard the back door (apparently I have the “surgery-blood-cold-feet” gen from him so he prefers to keep reasonable distance from the “room”). But most important, his main intention to visit me here is for the vacation (yup, I also inherit the “I-love-to-travel” gen from him). It is obvious that he is more interested to ask about where we are going and what we will see there rather than how the procedure for this Friday will be. (For the record, no complaint recorded here as it really helps me also!).

So I guess, to the rest of you, wish me luck please (and don't put a hidden camera on the back door!).

PS: If you wonder what Jorge’s task at the moment is, well, I have asked him to stay away from any movies but the "Cinderella-and-the-prince-live-happily-ever-after" Hollywood-kind of movies.

Tibet development

We have been planning to go to Tibet in beginning of May but now we have to cancel due to the recent development in Tibet. We are quite disappointed as we now have to find another location to go. The time is already fixed, it will be on the labour day week.

Nevertheles, we are quite astonished with the local media publication about Tibet. The story about the Great Firewall of China is not an urban legend, it is true indeed. In fact, after living in China for almost a year (yes, that long already!), we are quite used to the firewall. Most of the time, sites like wikipedia, bbc, blogspot are closed in China. From time to time, the Government also closed Flickr and Youtube. It's just depending on the current events going on about China in the international world.

But it is quite surprising that the Shanghai Daily and China Daily have been following up closely about the development of Tibet crisis. Of course as Tibet is at the moment closed for foreigners, we can only rely on the official reports given by the government.

I have found some pictures released in SINA.com, a local news similar like CNN. More photos of current Tibet situation can be found here.













UPDATE 29.03.2008: China has recently opened to foreign newspapers to send their representatives to Tibet to do close cover-up of the current situation after the riot. Also China Daily annouces today that 15 foreign diplomats are scheduled to visit Tibet in short term.

Happy Chinese New Year 2008

We are off to Indonesia to celebrate the arrival of the year of rat with my family. To those who celebrate the chinese new year, we wish you all the best for the new year and enjoy the holiday with your family!

新年快乐!
万事如意..
鼠年大吉,身体健康,万事如意,心想事成 !

I found a very nice song about the chinese new year. They've been playing for the whole month in every department stores. Enjoy!!!

Bad Weather in Asia

This is something that you don't expect to have when you are about to travel somewhere.
Shanghai continues to receive heavy snowfall since yesterday and it causes delay and flight cancelation in both of Shanghai airports.

At the same time, my mom has been sending me text messages to give some updates about the rain and flood in Jakarta which also cause flight cancelation/reroute as the runway is covered with 50cm high of water and visibiliy is only about 300m.

The weather outlook for both cities for the next week are not very promising. Rain and snow are still expected in both cities. In China especially, the Chinese New Year holiday is coming next week and they expect heavy travellers traffic trying to reach home to spend the holiday with their families.

So either we are stucked in Shanghai airport or somewhere between Singapore and Jakarta. We actually plan to spend the Chinese New Year golden week with my family in Jakarta. We will have to see if that will be possible.

* Photo is taken from Shanghai Daily showing hundreds of thousands of people waiting for train home in Guangzhou train station.

Rio de Janeiro – It’s all about caipirinha and beaches

After some flight rerouting confusion in Iguazu, we finally arrived in Rio by 6 pm (originally scheduled at midday). Some other couples we met in Iguazu didn’t arrive until 8 pm. The weather in Rio was raining and heavy thunderstorm, but the next days were no longer raining but with lots of clouds. We stayed for 5 days and only starting from the third day that it turned to be sunny and blue sky. As for the temperature goes, Rio de Janeiro is located in the southern hemisphere so it was around 31 degree. Warm enough to be at the beach in January.

Our hotel was located in Ipanema beach, which we like a lot better than the Copacabana. But if you are into partying days and nights then the Copacabana beach is the one you want to go to.

The beach was good in terms of waves and sands. The only problem is that there are too many street sellers in the beach area which I found quite annoying if you just aim to have a nice relaxing nap. Perhaps this is also the reason why you are advised not to bring expensive items to the beach areas and of course, topless sunbathing.

We stayed mostly at the beach. We spent only one day touring the city of Rio, mainly to the two biggest tourist attractions, Corcovado Mountain where the Cristo Redentor is located and the Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) where you can take good panoramic picture of Rio. We were not very lucky in the Corcovado Mountain as it is always covered with clouds. Oh well...

The city center of Rio is not really interesting (sorry to say). Perhaps the only two things worth to see is the Sambódromo where they hold the annual Carnival (we were surprised to find out that the size of the Carnival street was only 700m long, it sure looks longer than this in the TV!) and the Favelas, the place where the poor community people live in Brazil. They are located also in the city, just side by side with the skyscrapers and it is strongly advised to the tourists not to go near these areas!


PS: Cristo Redentor is recently named as one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Pictures from the trip.

Adventure Iguazu (part 2)

If you haven’t read part 1, please read it first.

We stayed one full day in Iguazu. Our hotel was located in the Brazilian side but we landed in the Argentinean airport. We took a taxi to the hotel and we paid a fixed amount of 90 pesos and the taxi driver took care of all the immigration procedures in both Argentinean and Brazilian borders.

We read that we could also take bus to cross the border but we were too tired with our cliffhanging adventure before so we opted for a more comfortable option. Also it was still very hot when we landed, about 37 degree Celsius so a nice air-conditioning taxi drive was more appreciated. We made a correct decision because our taxi driver then offered us a day tour to the Iguazu and he arranged all the transports for full day for 400 pesos. Much cheaper price than if you would have arranged it from Brazil (note: Brazilian real is more expensive than Argentinean pesos). We keep the contact info from the taxi driver for reference, you can contact me if you are interested.

One hint for you who plan the same journey, remember to ask your taxi/bus driver to stop by the border of Brazil if you intend to stay there for more than a day. There is an immigration check in Argentina so you won’t miss it, but in the Brazilian side, there is no immigration check unless you request to do so and if you plan to stay in Brazil more than a day, then you will have to fill out an arrival card which you have to surrender upon departure. Failure to do so will result into big penalty and may delay your departure.

I would strongly recommend you to stay a full day in Iguazu and make your visit to both sides. In Brazilian side you can take a very nice picture of Garganta del Diablo but in Argentinean side you can do a nice trekking in the area and enjoy the nature. Be prepare for the hot and sweats! When we were there, it was almost 40 degree and we actually had our first sunburn from the trip. Some girls opted for bikini but I forgot mine in the hotel!

In Argentinean side, based on the recommendation from our taxi driver, we took Gran Aventura from Iguazu Jungle Explorer. We had to trek 3 circuits of total about 10 km, then take a boat ride to the second biggest fall in Argentinean side (they cannot take us to Garganta del Diablo since it is located in Brazilian side) and finished with 8 km truck ride in the jungle. It was quite fun, especially for the boat ride but you will definitely get wet!

Iguazu is really a large area. The falls consist of almost 300 falls. I have been to Niagara Falls in US/Canada border and I have to say that it was nothing compared to Iguazu. I really love it and I cannot stop taking pictures. The nature in Argentinean side is also very nice. Living in crowded city like Shanghai will make you miss the sound of birds and the smell of fresh air. All in short, this is the best part in my whole journey!

Some pictures from the journey:

Adventure Iguazu (part 1)

The trip to Iguazu Falls was beyond expectation! It was fun and adventurous! I would really like to share it with you but I will have to break into 2 parts so it won’t bore you too much!

Everything went fantastic with the flight from Mexico City to Buenos Aires. We actually flew with free mileage from MilesandMore and were upgraded to Business Class flight since the Economy were fully booked. I fly with Business Class quite often for business travel, but I can tell you that the business class section of Mexicana Airlines is unbelievably spacious.

When we arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, we were stuck for quite a long queue in the immigration. We also realized, when we were queuing, that we have to fly to Iguazu from a different airport. We landed from Mexico City in Ezeiza Ministro Pistarini Airport and we had to take the domestic flight from Jorge Newbery airport which is about 45 minutes away. We only had 2 hours to complete the immigration, get our luggage and transfer to the other airport!

We hailed a cab, hoping to catch the connection. Unfortunately the first cab we got was driven by a quite eccentric old driver with beard and long hair and although we have asked him to drive as quickly as possible, he drove as per speed limit! In Buenos Aires! We can actually see all cars passing us while our driver sat back, relax and busy talking to us about nonsense! We were so bored and upset so we ignored him until we noticed that he started to slow down after sometimes. Guess what!! He felt asleep driving! Beat that! We almost screamed to him to wake him up and he had to pour water to his face to stay awake!! Unbelievable!!!

Anyway, after 1 hour, we finally arrived in the other airport. We were so sure that we will miss our flight and had to stay over in Buenos Aires. Guess again! The flight from Aerolineas Argentina was delayed for about 3 hours so we were just in time to get into that flight! In fact, the ticketing lady saw our hopeless faces and decided to upgrade us again to Business Class! They rushed us into the plane and the flight attendance immediately handed each of us a glass of champagne. Pfffewwww!!!!

An hour and half later we landed in Iguazu and found out that the pilot decided to put more gasoline to anticipate for the bad weather condition rather than bring our luggage. Not sure how he got the idea from as the weather in Iguazu was quite nice and hot! The luggage arrived in our hotel at around midnight. By that time we were totally exhausted and just had one thing in mind, sleeping!

We stayed the next day in Iguazu and made a trip for both Brazilian and Argentinean sides. The day after we were scheduled to fly to Rio with a 10 am flight with TAM Brazil and our flight was AGAIN cancelled and we had to be rerouted via Sao Paolo. Later we found out that flight delays and cancellations are two common things in South America. One hint for you, make sure you have enough connection time to allow for delays! Especially if you have to make international connections!

To be continued with the day trip in Iguazu.

Last Working day in 2007

Finally I made it through...

Friday was my last day at the office for 2007. I woke up in the morning feeling excited that I will soon be off for the long-waited holiday but also sad knowing that I have to say goodbye to a colleague who will go back to Germany. I hate farewell, especially to those people I feel most comfortable to interact with.

I found this as a big disadvantage of being an expat, it took you sometimes to make friends but by the time you've finally made one, it is already the time to say goodbye again and move on with your life. It sucks.

We had a big farewell dinner from the company last night. Some of us stayed longer for a drink at Cloud 9 Bar at Jinmao Building. We chatted till morning and looked back to the time that we have spent in China and all the achievements and the frustrations that we've shared together. I will definetely miss the time we worked and fighted together for our result. He is one of the people that I respect in my life and I have the pleasure to have worked together with him.

And now, I can actually prepare for my trip! We are flying by 9 am on Sunday morning.

Happy Holidays to all of you and I hope you have a great one too!

One more week to go!!! Yay!!!

At about this time next Sunday, we will be on the plane flying somewhere on top of the Pacific ocean en route to Los Angeles to catch a plane to Mazatlan, Mexico.

I have checked with Jorge’s nephew, he’ll be in Mazatlan by 20th December and will stay there until the new year.

We will be staying in Mazatlan until 2nd January and after that we will catch a plane to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Our German friend who used to stay in Buenos Aires for quite a long time has given us an address for a delicious steak house right in the downtown. Asado, they are the best in the world!

After Buenos Aires, we will catch a plane again to Iguazu Falls, right in the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay to see for the first time the famous Garganta del Diablo (the Devil’s throat). From Iguazu, we will cross the border to Brazil and make our way to Rio de Janeiro where we have a hotel reservation waiting in the beach of Ipanema. Yay!!!!! Can’t get more excited than I am right now! Beach, sand and caipirinha..I can smell them already!!! I feel like packing for the trip now!! We actually have bought new pairs of trekking shoes for the trip to Iguazu.

We’ll be back in Shanghai on 13th January 2008 and believe me, you don’t want to see my calendar in January! It discourages me to come back!

Anyway, before we can finally have our Christmas holiday, I will first have to fly to Changchun (8.20 flight tomorrow morning) and hopefully I can come back on time on Wednesday night. I’ve checked the weather forecast in Changchun, it will be -10 degree on day time and -18 degree at night. They’ve expected scattered snow shower on Tuesday and Wednesday which, in Changchun, can translate into flight delay, if not cancellation. Wish me luck, guys!!!