Sunshin3

This solo trip to Bali was better than i expected. I probably did some of the craziest and silliest things i ordinarily would have never done, like parasailing, teaching a bartender how to make lime margarita, smoking Sampoerna cigarettes so that the pesky flies would leave me alone and zipping around town on one of the local’s motorbike.

But the best part of it all was finally finding my peace.

In the midst of dealing with the craziness of the Integration project and a couple of securitization agreements, i have totally forgotten that i will be departing for Bali next Friday.

Damn, talk about a holiday that doesn’t feel an inch or even an ounce exciting.

I guess it’s the company that i’m going with.

Bugger!

In comparison with day 1, day 2 was quieter but not necessarily, boring either.

The boys went out to the outskirts of town to get some kinky leather stuff while i walked the streets of our apartment in search of coffee, food and massages.

Since the meeting was cancelled, i spent the afternoon sleeping before heading out with Terz to Labella Cafe. It’s a neat, and cozy lounge opened by one of their friends. No pictures though because the main reason why i was there was to work on some documents given that wireless connection was free.

I figured that if i was going to take a later flight out, i had better get some work going which yes, sucks because i was on holiday somewhat.

Terz headed out to watch Bjork in concert but returned after an hour and a half. Not sure if he managed to catch her infamous Declare Independence farce.

And we spent the evening watching Lambo before catching a short nap for my 8.20am flight out the next day. There’s a reason too complicated to explain why it’s Lambo and not Rambo.

Despite the crazy and impulsive move, it has been a fruitful weekend for me.

I guess like the purpose of his trip, my batteries needed recharging. It was an emotionally challenging week for me prior to the trip and i am thankful for his offer to pop by.

I finally feel well-rested and ready to deal with the hand that i have been dealt.

Thank you.

The plane touched down at Shanghai Pu Dong Airport at 6.30am in the morning. With a journey that took about an hour to reach downtown, no prizes for guessing what i was doing in the car that Terz arranged to pick me up.

This year’s winter in Shanghai was especially harsher and longer. It took a while to get used to the extremities of the weather but it was refreshing nonetheless.

And i continued snoozing at Xavier’s place till we decided coffee was essential to keep us warm.

The day saw us driving by the bund, exploring downtown, taking photos of ordinary folks doing ordinary stuff, having good dim sum etc..

It’s always nice to explore cities when you have friends already living in the city. I was supposed to meet up with a client during my trip too and she had the intention of bringing me to Xin Tian Di but ah well, some events happened and i had to give that leg of the weekend trip up.

Probably the most interesting highlight of the trip was witnessing this group of elderly folks trying to match make their kids. It was quite a scene watching these folks exchanging numbers and resumes of their daughters and sons publicly in a couldn’t be more aptly-named “Peoples’ Park”. I’ve been told that they only do it over weekends which also makes me wonder if their kids are aware of what their parents are doing.

Who knows? Singapore could draw inspiration from them.

And when evening fell, we headed out for a hot-pot dinner with more of Terz’s friends. Honestly, the number of Singaporeans living in Shanghai is amazing and you don’t really feel alien in this country. Drinks was held at this place called Barbarossa, which served sheesha pipes as well. I took a drag, and found it sweet and light although i much preferred the Chilean wine that we were drinking.

Barbarossa from People’s Park

Drinks, good meals, great company.

I was glad i came.

Image taken from chinahighlights.com

This is probably going to be chronicled in one of the craziest things that sunshin3 has ever done biography.

I’m going to Shanghai tomorrow evening and will return to Singapore on Monday early morning.

See you guys when i return!

Image courtesy of Nick Pan

As you can see, I’m not a photo-taking person.
Guangzhou is a haven for Cantonese cuisine.

Unfortunately, I’ve also tried the worst of Cantonese cuisine when I was there. But hey, if you haven’t tried the worst of Cantonese cuisine, how would you tell the standard?

The terrible street stalls / restaurants serve dried-up xiao-long-baos, salty cha siew baos, overly cooked vegetables and meat but at RMB3.50 (S$0.70) for 12 pieces of xiao-long-baos, who’s complaining?

Room service wasn’t any better nor was the instant noodles that I bought from the convenience store and if you’re a coffee addict like me, you’ll find yourself withdrawn.

The Chinese love and are proud of their tea roots.

Cowboy who goes to Guangzhou frequently suggested some places to go like a wholesale market off the city centre and Sha Mian Island, however as a young female venturing out, I got stared at often which made it extremely uncomfortable for me.

But it’s not always bad about Guangzhou or well, China for that matter.

They do try to speak English, as much as I avoid speaking Mandarin and they are hospitable in their own little ways. The thing that I love about Guangzhou apart from the weather is that I’m not discriminated because I can’t speak Mandarin.

But I won’t fancy going back there in the near future..

Now that I think about it, there’s nothing healthy about the Health Centre, if you ask me.

No pictures though to protect everyone.

The façade of the Health Centre looked decent and professional and for a two hour massage at RMB 280, I felt that it was cheap so I took up their offer. After a quick shower, I was brought into a huge waiting room which I was told, to let me relax and grab a bite. I apparently found out after much gesticulating that I had to request for my massage when I was ready for it and that the waiting area was essentially an area for the manicurists and reflexologists to tout their skills.

And so I was brought into another area where no amount of euphemisms could be used to describe.

The massage rooms were barely lit and the windows connecting to the other rooms were tinted. The masseuses wore tennis skirts and had extremely tight t-shirts. But since they accepted women clientele, I thought how bad could it be?

Well, the subsequent events changed everything.

Although I was female, the masseuse that I had spent an inordinate amount of time stroking my butt.

With oil, lots of it.

It was like a scene out of some Jap lesbo porn. She sat on top of me, ripped off the disposable panties that I had and proceeded to stroke my butt cheeks using her thumbs in deft movements.

To illustrate further, I have drawn what she did to my butt..

Drawing has been photoshopped for aesthetical reasons.

If the butt wasn’t tantalizing enough for her, she turned me over and stroked my inner thighs with oil again.

It’s honestly nothing sensual. In fact, I was so worried that there would be a male masseuse massaging me instead if I slept.

After two hours, I got dressed, paid, and went off to catch the French version of CSI on cable.

These are things that Virtual Tourist or Lonely Planet guidebooks don’t tell you.

So be wary if you’re female.

My first solo flight out and I had to screw it up by having SQ page for me 5 minutes before boarding gate closed despite having checked in 48 hours beforehand.

I wouldn’t have had such an issue as well if our dear SQ had been more efficient and I’ll never forget the most disturbing conversation I had for that day:-

Me: “Hi, I’ve done an online check in and I’m here to check in my bag and collect my boarding pass.”

SQ Counter: “Sorry Mdm, please proceed to Row 9.”

Me: “But your email indicates that I should be at Row 7 or Row 8 if I have not printed my boarding pass.”

SQ Counter: “Mdm, you may print your boarding pass at the Self-automated machines. Please proceed to Row 9.”

Sunshin3 looks at the horrendously long queue at Row 9 and notices that it is now 7.45am.

Me: “Look, it is 7.45am and my flight is departing at 8.10am. I don’t care if I’m checking in my bag but could you please hand me my boarding pass NOW?”

Man, talk about red tape. We still have a long way to go to become a service-oriented society.

Nevertheless, I got onto the flight just in time and managed to arrive in Guangzhou without a hitch. Old boy was kind enough to arrange for the hotel to pick me up from the airport and he was also quick enough to deliver instructions on the things that he needed done.

So while I’m here in the hotel typing his notes out, he’s in some forsaken part of Guangzhou in another meeting. Our suite overlooks one of the famous rivers which in my opinion, is really just a canal but the weather’s fantastically cool.

It’s been a little over six hours since I’ve arrived at Guangzhou and I’ve only tried the lunch buffet in the hotel and the “Health Centre”.

Tales of the “Health Centre” in the next entry..