Sneak Preview Of Shanghai Trip

As I mentioned in my last entry, I was away for four days over the last weekend. Not because my summer holiday has started, but because I self-declared a four-day holiday for myself in-conjunction of the rainy season lol! The destination was Shanghai, China as the main intention for me visit the city is to visit Expo 2010, a World Expo in the tradition of international fairs and expositions held every few years. 

This year is arguably the biggest expo ever held in its 150-years history, in terms of the number of visitors and the cost. That can be comprehend as it is held in the most populated country in the world. 

Baby Duffy tagged along to Shanghai as well.

My late lunch, consisting of Tokyo Borscht, corn and sweet potato cold soup, and white sesame rice at Soup Stock Tokyo, inside Narita Airport.

We took ANA's flight NH 921 which departs at 18:10.

Boarding pass with one of the many pieces of red papers. That guy looks like my neighbour's grandpa haha!

Not my first time taking ANA's plane, but still must camwhore with the aircraft!

I had the Sleeping Buddha as my partner in crime haha!

Unlike my trip to Seoul a year ago, I wasn't travelling alone this time, as I went to Shanghai with Kai Cung. The idea to make this trip came from him few months ago, because he was dying to visit the Expo. Taking into consideration on the fact that I have a poor command in Mandarin, I will never visit China, a country where the people speak almost hundred-percent of Mandarin, unless I have someone to accompany me.

So, it was a great chance for me to go there by tagging along with Kai Cung, who will become my talking-parrot-cum-translator haha! 

Arrived at the airport a bit early, so we took the time to do some shopping at the tax-free zone upon checking-in. Ended up getting myself a bottle of Ralph Lauren perfume and a new pair of watch, which comes with a zebra-ish metal box as well.

Several minutes at the boarding gate, before boarding the plane.

牛と牛蒡のすき煮 (Beef and Greater burdock's sukini), soba, custard pudding, snack mix, salad, sashimi, eda-mame and a bottle of red wine.

Foreigners entering the country were required to fill in this form.

After the three-hour flight, we finally touched down at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. It was here that I encountered the first of my many awkward and silly experiences during our short time in Shanghai. It happened at the Immigration counter, when Kai Cung and I were queuing-up to get our passport stamped. Seeing the two tourists before us walked towards the counter at the same time, I did the same. 

"One by one!" was the short line I got immediately from the Chinese Immigration officer. 

The Immigration inside the airport.

That was the first phrase I heard from a Chinese at the mainland, which also became the line used by Kai Cung to tease me throughout the whole trip haha wtf! 

Our tour guide, a local Chinese was already waiting there when we walked out from the arrival hall. It wasn't hard to spot him, as he was holding a blue flag, with the familiar HIS logo on it. When we reported to him, he had some slight difficulties pronouncing my name, which I find it a bit surprising. It is so hard to pronounce the word "C-A-L-V-I-N"?

Anyway, he appeared to be quite happy when he found out that we both are not Japanese and able to speak Mandarin. We had some short chat, while waiting for the rest of the group members to come out.

Our flight from Tokyo arrived a few minutes late than the schedule.

This is how the arrival hall in the Terminal 2 looks like. Our tour guide and his blue flag is visible in this picture.

Some decorations at the airport to promote the on-going Expo 2010.

The very first convenience store that I spotted in China. "Cheerway Easy Go!" - what a random name for a convenience store lol!

While waiting for the rest of the group members to come out, I took a short stroll around the place and saw this interesting machine.

Boarded this bus to our hotel, before beginning our adventure around the city the next day.

During our one-hour journey from the airport to the hotel, the guide introduced himself, and gave us a brief information of what we can expect during our time in Shanghai, so that the Japanese wouldn't be super shocked during their encounter with the locals. Weather wise, the sight of clear blue sky is a rare thing to Shanghai, as it is mostly cloudy everyday. When it rains, it pours really badly. Overall, our tour guide, Mr Chou Kai Sen, speaks relatively good Japanese, minus some minor mistakes here and there.

I find that I was able to relate most of the stuff that he explained to us, as it is quite similar to what we face back home. Among some interesting points were the fact that the population of the city is over 20 million, which is almost as much as the population of Malaysia! On the customer service, I shall sum it in just one word - bad. In fact, it is even worse that Malaysia. Not only the cashier will never give you a friendly smile, they would just literally throw your stuff into your bag when you are paying at the cashier. That was exactly what I experience at one of the convenience store that night, which surprised me haha!

 You won't be smiling if you are dealing with the traffic in Shangahi lol!

If driving in KL is considered challenging, wait till you try driving in Shanghai. Queue-cutting and going against the red light are two common sights in China. It is not that one or two drivers who does it, but almost everyone does that. When they overtake, they just couldn't be bothered to turn on the signal light.

In Japan, pedestrian is always given the top priority, but in China, it is the opposite. Drivers are the king of the road. That is why every time I cross the roads in China, I turn 360-degrees to see if everything is clear, before crossing; and not just by looking left and right haha! Considering all this factors, it was clear why the tour guide didn't allow us to sit in the front row of the bus, worried that the bus might need to make emergency breaks suddenly.

Double-bedroom, which was not bad for the price we paid.

We were halfway catching up with the score of the World Cup quarterfinal match.

The toilet, which was a million miles bigger than the normal ones in Japan.



Never thought that there is Lawson in China too. By the way, plastic bags aren't provided here, and we gotta pay for it if we need one. 



 Some of the drinks are common brand which are sold in Japan.



I somehow find it amusing and funny to see these soft drinks having different names. Imagine the Japanese calling Coca Cola as 古歌コアラ lol!

Our late late supper, brought from the convenience store downstairs.



My red notes have evolved into some other different colours lol!

Since we already managed to "make friends" with our guide, we were given the highest floor for our room. Later that night, he came to our room to check if everything was alright. Since ours were the last room that he had to go, he ended up chit chatting with us, while watching the World Cup quarter-final match between Brazil and Netherlands haha!

To make sure we were fully energized for the next day, we went to bed straight away. Stay tuned for more updates from Shanghai!

Of World Cup And A Jenga Game

To those of you who have thought that I have gone MIA, sorry to disappoint you because I am still alive.

My mid-term exams are finally over, to my huge relief. At least I can now take some fresh breath, which I think I am really in need of it. Anyways, there's not much break even after the exams have finished, because the reports and assignments just cannot stop to pile up. I often try my best to finish one, but the next thing is that I am certain to get another one on the next day.

I digress. Not intending to bore you with my long boring rants, I am sure that most, if not everyone of you have gotten yourselves infected by a certain kind of disease that happens every four years. The good news is, it only lasts for one month. The bad news is, you will see an increase of the number of zombies at your school and workplace during this period. Plus, you will heard people shouting out of a sudden in the middle of the night. Sometimes, that could be a good thing because it can become your alarm clock in the early hours of the next morning.

Yes, it is the World Cup fever. Even if you are not a huge fan of football, I am sure you just cannot make yourself to be oblivious to the on-going tournament, which has now entered the quarterfinals stage. Which team are you guys rooting for? I am all behind the team who plays the game by the way how if should be played - beautifully.

I guess you know which team I am referring to, don't you?

By the way, did anyone notice that Malaysia has representative in the World Cup as well. No, I am not bull-shitting you. Don't believe me? Take a look at this link. I spotted him, who was there as the forth official during the first match between South Africa and Mexico. And he was also assigned to be the referee in several other matches after that as well. Although we still haven't master the skill to kick the ball into the goal, at least we are able to send a Malaysian to run along the white lines while waving the striped flag.

Talking about the World Cup, there is some guessing competition in my university, organised by the co-operative store. They require us to predict the team who we think is gonna win the tournament come July 11. There are sixteen teams to pick from, and since the number of teams has been reduced to eight, everyone has an one-in-eight chance of correctly predicting the winner.

The competition form.

Shunsuke Nakamura, as the mascot. I am sure now people recognise Keisuke Honda much better than this free-kick specialist.

I love blue colour, so I stupidly went and picked Hondorus as their jerseys are blue in colour. Seems that I am gonna end up as a big loser in this prediction game haha!

The other day, on my way back, I saw one of my lecturer busy doing something behind his lab. Guess what he was doing? He was squatting around some plants and after taking a closer observation, I realised that he was tying some supporting poles to his tomato plants. Imagine, a professor who teaches us about plasticity mechanics has a favourite past-time by gardening behind his lab. Cool, isn't it?

It's eco-friendly and besides that, whenever he feels hungry and need some snack, he can just walk to his mini farm and pluck a tomato to fill his stomach.

It is July already, which means it's gonna be summer very soon. The bad news however, is the fact that the heat keeps on increasing day by day. Sooner or later, you will hear to me ranting about how hot it is in Japan. Trust me, nobody loves the summer in Japan, or should I say, the heat and high level of moisture.

Every Thursday, on my way to school, I will come across a group of primary school children with a few of their teachers tagging along them. Based on their attire and the stuff they carry along, I suppose they are on their way for their weekly swimming lessons. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I walked passed them and one little girl who was talking to her friend next to her, got a big shock when she looked in front and saw a giant in front of her lol!

When I walked passed them, I over-heard her telling her friend, "sugeiii!!", which literally means handsome haha!

Wearing caps to school is a norm among the Japanese kids.

The platform at Midoridai station, where I take the train back home every day.

This afternoon, on my way back from school, I saw an elderly lady, fully clad in a blue kimono, waiting outside a house. I later found out that she was visiting her friend. The main point here is, although I have been living in Japan for some time already, I still think that it's something cool to see such scene - a lady in kimono, who is visiting her friend, and calling out her friend from outside the house.

It is not often to spot such thing in big cities, especially in a country where you see the way the youngsters dress-up, which is as if they don't have enough cloths haha!

"Ting tong..."

Back home, I used to see groups of mak cik in kampong, who wears only sarongs and chit chat outside their wooden houses.

Different setting, but the topic of their conversation must be similar, I guess. Say for example, "I just bought this carrot, three for two dollars, damn cheap right?" Or for some who likes to boast around, it could go something like this: "My daughter is a surgeon, every time she cuts people, sure get paid with five-figures amount of money. One day, she can get two or three patients-lor!"

Clockwise from top: Kawaguchi's spicy chicken, Kai Cung's vegetable curry and my tom yam chicken.

Later that night, Pei Jing and Kawaguchi, both Kai Cung's course mates dropped by at our place to have dinner. The ironic thing is that, instead of the girl who does the cooking, it was the three guys who did it instead, and we each came out with one dish. All three dishes however, are spicy stuff. Nothing surprising, as all three of us come from South East Asian countries.

While taking a rest after the dinner, I took out my Jenga set and we played several rounds of Jenga. We got damn high and excited, that the two of them keep saying it would be their last round before going home; but every single time, they continued playing another round haha!

Kawaguchi was lost, not knowing which is the best piece to take.

Just look at how unstable the whole structure was, especially the lower level.

I will be away for four days, starting from tomorrow, to take a short break from this hectic daily life. It's somewhere neither too far or near. Anyone with the correct guess of the destination might get something as a souvenir from me.