I went to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Delta, B.C. tonight with a few friends. The drive was a mere 15 mins from LG/CT's place, short compared to the 1h15m line-up. The queue started outside, then went into a large tent where KK merchandise was displayed on tables and racks. Who would buy a Krispy Kreme ladies' T-shirt for $18.99?? The inside of the store looked like any other Krispy Kreme, with their automated doughnut dispenser. The one thing the doughnut machine didn't seem automated for was detecting jams. We were there to witness first-hand a backing up of doughnuts, just after the glazer. Oh the tragedy! In fact, I happen to have a video of the crisis, narrated by myself and some other customers around me. Fortunately, the workers managed to clean up the mess and life went on.

As most Krispy Kremes, we got samples as we waited in line. Then I ordered a sampler (dozen original glaze, dozen variety) and a second dozen of the original glaze. When LG/CT and I got our donuts, we sat at a table to wait for some other friends in line. I downed one a filled donut and another original, then I stood in line with the other friends and got another sample. :) After I got home, I had another two originals. Hey, I'm not admitting that 6 Krispy Kreme donuts in an evening isn't healthy. But it sure is tasty!

Another one of these "why didn't I think of that?" examples, I guess. The best inventions are the simplest that solve a common problem. Good job for these guys. See Vancouver Sun Article "Students Engineer A Winner".

The wrong kind of stain...

I don't know how many times I've done this. I'm enjoying a mug of steamed milk with a shot of caramel just before heading out of the house. Then, somehow, I manage to split a little on my pants just off the crotch area. Well, it's milk, so it's not really colored... and then the caramel content makes it dry a little stiff, making it obvious there's a stain (while still with no color). These kinds of stains should not be hanging out near the crotch area. They're a cause for misunderstanding and poor assumptions.

I watched Gigli. Yes, the box office bomb. It wasn't even a bomb, it was a dud. But to be honest, I really didn't think it was that bad. It wasn't great, the plot wasn't well thought out and the acting was mediocre, but there were worse movies last year. And if the screenplay were really that bad, how could they have gotten some of the people they did? Al Pacino was in the movie (playing a bad part, mind you). Anyway, in spite of what the critics all said, I didn't think it deserved the ratings it did. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle deserved worse. But they were lucky to have women and violence.

My Samurai Code quiz results:

"Compassion: You are there to share your sympathy with others. People would consider you affectionate and caring, and someone to look up to."

Whatever. When someone thinks of Kevin, they don't immediately think "compassionate" because I'm not, and I don't try to be. This test sucks.

I had trouble sleeping last night. My nerves got to me and my heart was racing as I lay in bed. I realized that I have a HUGE amount of work ahead of me in the next month and a half to pull off what I intend to pull. My M.Eng. project really only has the remaining few days of February and the month of March to be completed, although it's barely started. My final course project has to be done by mid-March, and I have to study for my final quiz. Aside from that, there's MUCH to do on the job front. Things like these tend to work themselves out for me, but it may be because of these "scares" I get when I realize that the timing's tight. I'm going to start working overtime (late nights at school), and cut out the TV. Well, maybe I'll watch American Idol. But that's IT! Gotta kick my ass.

Krispy Kremes has opened in Delta, B.C.!! There was a news piece just now on Global. People have been lining up ALL DAY, the lines right now (just after midnight) are 1hr - 1.5 hrs... TO GET DONUTS!

This is the first of seven B.C. Krispy Kremes locations. See this article.

Anyway, I'm going there on Friday. If you want to come, give me a shout!!

My Philishave shaver is dying. I think the power supply is blown. After each charging, the shaver doesn't hold its charge - within a day, it's back to having no power stored. To add to that, I plugged it in to charge today and left it for a few hours, and when I came back, my washroom had a burning smell and the shaver was hot! I guess I'm in the market for a new one. I can't see why most electric shavers are $100+ cdn... seems overpriced for such a common piece of equipment.

Here's a good rule to adhere to when meeting someone in an almost "dating" environment: don't keep bringing up past relationships, especially when they weren't good experiences.

Would you do what you do in this loo?

Them Brits think of everything. I think I'd use it... just for fun. Too bad they didn't have it when I was there in London. KC, will you go on my behalf?

On the other hand, it's equally weird walking into a washroom in China where the toilet stalls are only chest high, they don't have doors, and people are squatting in plain view.

Now, I don't think there's really anyone left that truly believes that professional wrestling is all real. WWE No Way Out is on TV, and I'm watching Brock Lesnar taking on Eddie Guerrero, but I couldn't stop wondering how much IS real or can be made real. For example, apparently Brock has an injured left knee, and Eddie was taking advantage of it. Now, I don't care whether this is real or fake, but if Eddie's jump-kicking Brock's knee from the side and from the front with both legs with Brock standing straight, how can you avoid injury? Naturally, Brock can't quit to avoid ripping his knee apart (in the name of Entertainment), so they continue and Eddie continues his mayhem on the injured knee. I can't help but to wince everytime there's a blow because I feel like there's going to be an nasty ACL or MCL tear.

I can only wonder where I'll be in four months. It's a crazy and exciting time. I'm armed with time off work and the determination to drive my Masters to an end by mid-April. This leaves me less than 2 months to start and finish my M.Eng. project, which will be an interesting task on its own.

I was laying on my bed earlier this afternoon thinking about what I would do when I arrived where I'd be. Thoughts of my first few days:

Here I am, different city, different country, I can't help to think about home and the friends and family back where I lived just two days ago. I need to get a computer up and running with MSN/ICQ before I go nuts and have Vancouver withdrawl. Maybe I should take a walk outside, but it's 9pm now - everything's closed, there's nothing to see. I think I'll start reading a little more now... hmm... I don't have a good book with me and I'll probably be distracted with thoughts of home. I wonder if there's anything I can do for work ahead of time so I don't go in cold. Wait, I need a computer for researching. Perhaps I'll meditate instead to see if I learn something new. <2 minutes later> Meditation's boring. People who meditate must not have anything better to do. 9:05pm. Man, this is driving me insane. I won't meet anyone new until I start work in two days. Oh look, a cockroach. Where're my slippers? Oh, right... I didn't bring any. Wish I were home. I have slippers at home. Sigh... 12 more hours before tomorrow will start for me. I'll try sleeping now to get there sooner. <3 hours later of tossing and turning, Kevin sleeps>

Having trouble keeping track of birthdays? Take a look at the Birthday Alarm. I haven't used it, but I know some people starting to. Maybe it's been around for a long time.

I feel like I should go on vacation in Vancouver. As someone who was born and raised in Van City, I sure don't know it as well as I'd like. I don't know enough about the history of the city, and I probably haven't paid money to do the touristy things either. I should take a few days off and go wild in the city I live in.

I need to put another posting here regarding William Hung. Check this SNL clip out.

By now, many of you already know of the failed American Idol contestant William Hung. But did he really fail? He's certainly got a lot of publicity out of his revision of the Ricky Martin song "She Bangs". His "fan page" has garnered 7,578,730 hits and apparently he's been signing autographs on the UC Berkeley campus. While he seems overwhelmed, and happy, with the newfound fame, I really kind of feel sorry for him. To me, Will seems like one of those guys that just doesn't get it. I have my doubts as to whether his "fans" are really fans, or whether they're just mocking him and his televised antics. But I guess if he's fine with it all, all the power to ya, Will.

William Hung. But is he really?

I think that one of the the most amazing pair of eyes belong to Claire Forlani. She doesn't really strike me as being beautiful, since she has kind of an odd look, but she's got eyes that a guy could lose himself in. They have an unusual shape, bending like an upsidedown U when she smiles, probably seen nowhere else but in Japanese animation; and they shine brighter than the blue waters seen off the coast of tropical islands in travel brochures. She's one of the reasons why Meet Joe Black was a great movie.

English is an awful language. It's filled with ambiguity and confusion that can only be sorted by tone and context. Pay attention the next time you read a book or something with dialog. And then there are words that are constantly mixed up because they sound too alike. How many times have you gone through the following dialog:

Person A: blah blah blah blah in 15 minutes.
Person B: In 50 minutes??
Person A: FIFTEEN. One-Five.

It's sillyness.

Why can't spiders crawl out of bathtubs? What is it about the material that prevents spiders from gripping, even when it's dry? I was watching a spider in my tub for about 5 minutes, as it crawled up the rounded bottom, scaled about 5-6 inches, then tumbled back down in failure.

I wonder if Spiderman ever slips in the shower. How embarrassing.

The End of a Saga

Ok, maybe Saga is too strong of a word. My last day found me picking up my cashmere jackets and a couple other items at Dongjiabu and Xiang Yang Markets. I spent some time finding a specific Tag Heuer watch for my brother, which was an experience all in itself. Basically, I'd find a booth/store with a slightly wider selection of watches, and I'd ask if they have any better ones. They usually do, and they'd invite me a few steps into their store, where they'd open a few drawers with hidden slots, or they'd pull a metal suitcase out from under the shelf. When I don't see the watch I want, they tell me to follow them, and we'd walk to another booth/store, where that owner would pull out their secret stash to show me. But I didn't end up finding the watch I wanted to buy. Nevertheless, it was fun.

Anyway, I scooted back to the hotel and finished my packing, then checked out. Then I popped over to the same Shanghai Xiao Che ("Shanghai Small Eats") I went to yesterday. My last meal was 20 xiao long baos and 4 shen shao baos, which cost only 14 RMB ($2.30 Cdn). Got back to the hotel at 2:20pm, ready for my 2:30pm shuttle bus to Pudong Airport. I didn't see the bus, so I sat around a bit. Finally, I got up and went to where my luggage was being held for me. Turns out, the bus had left already!! See, they told me to get there about 15 mins early, but they didn't tell me it was at a different door of the hotel. So one of the Sofitel hotel workers took me and my luggage around the corner to another hotel, where my bus was parked (they pick up people from a couple hotels before going to the airport), and I was okay from there on in... until I got to the airport.

First, I casually made my way to check-in aisle J, for my flight back to Vancouver. When I got there, I read a sign saying I had to have my temperature taken at aisle H. So I walked back there, filled out a form, got my temperature checked via infra-red, got my form stamped, and lined up at J again. When I got to the counter, the lady said that it was some 800 RMB extra for a 3rd piece of luggage. My third piece was a sword I had bought, and it was fairly small and light. I was shocked and stood there "umm... umm...". Finally, she told me to weigh the sword, and it was light enough that she'd let it go for free. Whew!

I was early, so I decided to go to a Watson ("Your personal convenient store") and spend the rest of my Chinese money. Besides, what would I need Chinese RMBs for anyway? So I spent 51 RMB on dried fruit, Panda chocolates, and bubble gum. As soon as I walked out of the store, I found another 6 RMB in my pocket. Doh! As I approached the departure gate (not the flight gate), I read that I had to buy a Airport Fee (like YVR's Airport Improvement Fee) of 90 RMB. Turns out, I can only pay cash. Well, ... umm... I had 6 RMB. So the lady at the till told me to go to a currency exchange to get money from Visa. 10 mins later, the lady at the currency exchange tells me that it's cash only exchanges, and that I'd have to go downstairs. Another 10 mins and I finally get 84 RMB from the Development Bank on the first floor. FINALLY, I pay the airport fee and get to the waiting area. Now, I KNOW I have a free pass to the Maple Leaf Lounge that came for having Aeroplan Prestige status... but I couldn't find it. So alas, I had to wait with the other commoners. What a dread.

Anyway, the flight was only 10 hrs, and I slept through 6 of them.

Now I'm home.

Kevin

The Last Day

Okay, just wrapping up around my hotel room... see you when I get back home!

The Last Full Day in Shanghai

Today was the first day on my own here in China. It was nice to be able to sleep in until 11am, although I slept only a little before 3am so I didn't get all that much sleep anyway. Could have been worse. I got a few things organized around my hotel room and headed to Victor's place for lunch. Victor, who is back in Shanghai after growing up for 17 years in L.A., lives with his dad, who came back to Shanghai from the US two years ago. Very nice people. We had some very Shanghainese foods prepared by Victor's "Ya yi" (translated: "aunt", which is what they call their maids out of respect), and then we went DVD/Karaoke disc shopping. The store Victor took me to is the largest DVD store I've seen, and they have all sorts of movies, but not at the best prices because they SEEM to be legit. I picked up a few Karaoke DVDs and VCDs, as well as a Romance of Three Kingdoms VCD box set. The deal with this store is that if you buy over 500RMB worth, you get a discounted price on each item. My items together would have totalled around 400RMB, but some other woman, who didn't have 500RMB either asked if I wanted to make the purchase with her. So we did, and with the discounted prices, I paid 220RMB. I parted with Victor and headed back to the hotel.

From the hotel, I went to a market off Nanjing Road that I had been to to buy a new piece of luggage to bring home all the things I spent money on during the trip (and there was A LOT to bring home). I got a larger luggage and a small "North Face" backpack for about $32CDN. Went back to the hotel, packed a few things, and went out to a Shanghai Xiao Chi (Shanghai small eats) for dinner by myself. For 14 RMB (~$2.30 CDN), I had 10 xiao long baos and a bowl of beef and noodles in soup. Cheap! Well, Spectrum's no longer paying for my trip, so I decided to be a little more thrifty.

Finally, I jumped in a taxi and headed out Southwest to meet Andy (whom I saw in Hangzhou before). We went for a foot massage upon my request, since I wanted one and Carol had recommended it the day before as well. It cost about $7.5 for about 1 hour's work. The funny bit here was that as the masseuse was working on my left foot, she was cranking pretty hard. I winced inside, but I held a straight face as I continued talking to Andy. Finally, I mentioned that I was only pretending it didn't hurt, and the masseuse piped up too, saying that she was wondering why it didn't hurt! She said she was putting a lot of pressure in there, and was getting tired. Guess I should have said something. But we had a good laugh. She was a blind masseuse, which is often advertised for some stores, but often not really true once you get inside. Anyway, the rest of the massage was good. Andy then took me to a popular pub called Paulaner Munchen, which is pretty close to the House of Blues and Jazz. This place seemed to be very popular with the foreigners (the majority of the patrons were), and the workers were dressed up in sort of a Dutch-styled dress. They had a Filipino band (two girls singing, a guy on the electric guitar and singing, and another guy on the keyboard). With songs like Dancing Queen, It's Raining Men, Moulin Rouge, and more, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Shortly after, I jumped back into a taxi and came back to the hotel. Story over.

Kevin

Two More Days in Shanghai

Yesterday, the three of us started the day off at a clothing materials market called Dongjiadu suggested to me by my brother's friend Wil. The market has many booths, each with a variety of cloths, silks, wool, and/or cashmere. Most sellers seem to have a tailor they can grab on call to make clothing as well. I ended up at booth No. 82 (also recommended) and bought two cashmere jackets for a very affordable price. I was really happy with that purchase. I pick up the finished products on Monday.

After this, we walked around a short while before taxi-ing to the Jade Buddha Temple. The temple seems to be the busiest one I've seen in most my life, with a good number of people praying, and no lack of tourists. I bought some incents and did the "bai bai" (praying) thing. We spent about an hour at the temple looking at the statues and praying.

Then we met up with Robyn, who is friends with my brother, in the old town and went for some dimsum. The restaurant we went to is supposed to be rather well known, and the specialty dish there was the bun with crab ovaries; it's a larger bun (say 3 - 4 inches in diameter), with soup and crab ovaries inside and straw down the middle. Robyn's white, but has been in Shanghai teaching English for almost 6 months, so she's quite familiar with the surroundings and customs. She took us around the old town, where there're are tons of shops (like everywhere else in Shanghai) -- one purse store owner brought us into a little closet-like room in the back of his store through a hidden door, which was only large enough to fit 5 people uncomfortably, where he had his good stuff. Jan bought two LV bags for friends, and managed to get a fairly good price for it.

After the old town, Robyn took us to Xiang Yang Market, which was probably the best place for finding clothes, purses, wallets, backpacks, and the like. We got there via the underground metro, which was as packed as any moving vehicle could be. Anyway, I bought a few items for friends and myself, and was quite happy with all of that. It was great fun doing the bargaining, and I knew I'd be back to do more.

To end the night, Robyn took us to a place called the House of Blues and Jazz, not far from Xiang Yang Market. This bar/pub is a nice joint, catering to mostly foreigners, and was featuring the Sam Hooper Group. The group is composed of Sam (a black singer on the guitar), Jordan (a white guy on bass), and Akira (a Japanese guy on the drums). To say the least, these guys were amazing. Gord, who plays in a band himself, was really impressed by their abilities as well. Anyway, we had dinner there and stayed until about midnight before heading back to the hotel.

Today, Gord, Jan, and I had a quick breakfast at a cafe next to the hotel. It was already a late start to the morning, so we just took a quick walk down Nanjing Road before returning to the hotel. Gord and Jan checked out and taxied to the airport to catch a flight to Beijing. I called up Carol, a family friend, and made plans to meet for lunch.

I met with Carol just before 1pm and had lunch in a restaurant on the top floor of the shanghai Grand Theatre. It was a nice lunch, and much cheaper than I had expected. Then we went to her office (Sony Music) where I got a few free CDs and stuff, and a great view from the 55th floor in downtown Shanghai. It's cool that Carol knows a lot of top singers/groups here in Asia. I got a coupled autographed items. :)

Carol and I then went to Xiang Yang Market where I had to pick up a few more things for friends. Before long, Carol's friend Victor came to meet us at the market and together we went to Xin Tian Di, an area of old heritage buildings that had been remodeled to catered to tourists. We had dinner there, and while the buildings look fairly new, as they're only 2 years old, they still had much of the original structure there.

After dinner, we walked around for a while before going to Carol's place to chat and relax. Called it a night late, and returned back to my hotel. I'm going to meet with Victor tomorrow for lunch and to buy some DVDs. :P

Honestly, since meeting the people I've met here on my trip, I wish I had had more time in Shanghai. I coudl really get used to this style of living. Mind you, I'm a person on vacation saying this and it would be totally different if I were working. It's really late now (2:40pm at this point), and I'm watching an old Wong Faye Hong movie. Should head to bed now.

Cheers,
Kevin

First Full Day in Shanghai

Shanghai's an awesome city. I liked it right from the taxi ride in last night. In every way, it feels like Hong Kong, with its tall creative buildings, its fancy skyline from both sides of a waterway (a river in Shanghai, a bay in HK), its copious amounts of shopping, its bargaining, its pushy sales people, its prostitutes, and its cars.

My hotel sits right on Nanjing Road, the large shopping road that leads to the Bund (a promenade that faces the river). Out the steps of the hotel is the pedestrian section of Nanjing Road, which I think is great -- with its obvious conveniences as well.

This morning, Gord, Jan, and I started out just after 9:30am, had breakfast, and went to the Renmin Square area to see some things around there. We first paid 2 RMB to see Renmin Garden, which wasn't too interesting; and then we walked around, saw the Shanghai Grand Theatre, the Shanghai Art Museum, and finally went into the Shanghai Museum.

The Shanghai Museum holds a collection of old sculptures, paintings, calligraphy, coins, ceramics, furniture, and more. We probably spent 3 hours in there, walking around at a slow pace. Then we walked through Renmin Square and found a late lunch at a Japanese restaurant (what are we doing? I know, I know.).

A quick stop at the hotel and we were back out heading towards The Bund. Progress was slowed when we saw some markets through the small streets off Nanjing Road, and some things were bought (I didn't buy, but I will soon enough). I saw a white guy and a white girl there, probably early to mid 20's, and the guy was bargaining the heck out of the sales people IN CHINESE! I was most impressed. I kept my eyes on them for a short while, because of my intrigue. It was crazy to see how he was working these sales people, making them all squirm. Although I don't think I saw him buy anything.

By the time we got to The Bund, a dark sky was upon us. The great thing about Shanghai, as we discovered last night, is that we're at an lattitude such that the mooon goes RIGHT OVER the city (rather than a moon that goes over the Vancouver horizon). It's an incredible sight. We first walked along the Huangpu side of the river, then took the Bund Tourist Tunnel (a short ride in a tram the size of a small gondola, but on tracks) over to the Pudong side and walked around there. With the amazing skyscapes, it's impossible to not take tons of pictures. So I did. I have 488 pictures on my 1GB compact flash card, and another filled up 256 MB card. I'll consider emptying those out soon.

Not much else today. Pretty simple day.

I forgot to mention a funny story from a couple of days ago in Suzhou around the shopping area. Gord and Jan wanted to buy some stuff for their tea. So we were in a tea store, and while they were looking at the clay pots and cups, one of the older women working there asked me, "Are they your parents?" I exclaimed, "They're white! I'm Chinese!" A younger lady working there adds "She (the older one) said it, I don't think they're your parents." The older one said that I look like them. Totally weird. I told Jan and Gord afterwards, and Jan says "But we're white!!". Silly Chinese people.

Today, at the little market off Nanjing Road, a seller asked me where I was from. I said Canada. And he asked me if my mom is Chinese, and so I said yes (I don't mention Taiwan to people I don't know to avoid any confrontation). Then he says, "You are what we call _________, which means your mom is Chinese and your dad is white". ???? I said, "My dad is also Chinese." so he asks "Is your mom from Guangdong? (well, he actually asked if my mom is a "Cantonese")... I said, for no particular reason, "No, my dad is". And he's like "yes, because your forehead is and your eyebrows are Cantonese. You can tell immediately." Bullshit.

Kevin

The Final Day in Suzhou

Two days of Suzhou was plenty. I wouldn't want to stay in this city much longer. It's not that it's a horrible city, I just don't care for it much. Aside from the gardens, the rest of the city isn't too fancy. The shopping area is nice too, but that's about it.

This morning, we checked out of the Sheraton Suzhou at 8:30am and booked a train ticket for a late train to Shanghai. After a quick breakfast, we walked around the Sheraton hotel where the Panmen Pagoda stood and a moat from the old times lay. From there, we taxied to The Master of the Nets Garden, which is nice... but paled in comparison to yesterday's Humble Administrator's Garden. Then we went Northwest to Tiger Hill, where a famous Yunyansi Pagoda has stood since 959 AD, tilting with a lean of 3'49, and is the symbol of ancient Suzhou. From the base of the pagoda, there are sightlines to see much of Suzhou... which, even at a distance and elevation, is still unimpressive. From Tiger Hill, we taxied to The Lingering Garden, another one of four famous classical gardens in China (the other being the Humble Administrator's). We lingered. Also very nice, but I was getting tired of seeing gardens.

Finally, we dropped back to the shopping center and walked around the arts and crafts market, which also had a few streets of plants (bonsai's and more). Shamefully, I suggested going to Pizza Hut, because I was hungry and was looking for something easy. To balance out my guilt, I ordered the "Seafood Catch" Pizza, which had shrimp, octopus, imitation crab, and squid. We also had a couple other more "regular" pizzas.

Finally, we taxied back to the hotel. Now here's the cool part, along one of the smaller streets, our taxi pulled to the right slightly. Then, out of nowhere (since I was behind the driver, I didn't see it), a bus hits our taxi along the side! The taxi driver, a woman, stepped out of the car and started to yell at the apologetic bus driver. Then they got into a yelling match as the taxi driver was enfuriated, and the bus driver would do nothing of it. The damage wasn't too severe, but there was a scratch that ran along the length of my door. The bus driver gave her 50RMB (a meaningless $8-9), and she reluctantly left the scene steaming.

After returning to the Sheraton, we got our bags from the luggage storage and taxied to the Suzhou train station. About 1.5 hrs later, we arrived in Shanghai at our hotel.

The Sofitel Hyland Hotel may have an impressive location, but their amenities suck. Internet access goes for 4.00/minute, up to 160RMB per 24 hour day, and everything else is really expensive (compared to just about every other hotel I've stayed at in China).

Moving on...
Kevin

The First Day in Suzhou

I knew meeting at 7:30am was trouble, that's why I suggested 7:15am. Someone else didn't agree, and someone was even later than that, so we ended up rushing to the train station after breakfast and checking out. The taxi driver on the way to the Hangzhou train station seemed to give attitude, plus the run to the train in fear that it would leave the station without, had me fuming for the first bit of the train ride. I can't stand it when other people make me late for stuff... especially when the person responsible then says "next time, let's try not to be so rushed next time". Grrrr....!!

The express train went from Hangzhou to Shanghai to Suzhou, with a few stops along the way. With our pre-booked soft seating into a fairly empty train car, we travelled much more relaxed than our previous train ride. Leaving around 9am, we arrived at the SZ train station at 12:20pm, and to our hotel just before 1pm.

The Sheraton Suzhou Hotel is AMAZING. It's not very tall, only 3 - 4 floors, but it spreads over a large block and looks amazing. As our taxi drove up, it looked like we were approaching a tourist interest spot as the hotel looks like a traditional chinese fortress. The previous hotels I've stayed at in China have been high-tech with fancy amenities and look cool and modern. This hotel is a breath of fresh air with its exquisite decor, but also has a fair amount of the fancy in-room things.

After we dropped our things off, Gord, Jan, and I took a cab to our first tourist destination, The Humble Administrator's Garden, one of the four famous gardens in China. Between this taxi ride and the ride from the train station to our hotel, we concluded that there are more people walking the streets, more people biking on the streets, and more cars on the roads than in Hangzhou. Traffic was intense.

At the garden gate, we paid for a "General Ticket" which allows us to visit a fair number of gardens over 3 days (although we're only in town until tomorrow). I decided to pay extra money for a guided tour, which wasn't really worth it, but I did get more historical stories out of the garden scenes. The Humble Administrator's Garden is absolutely astonishing. These are the kinds of places that cause me to have 1000+ photos at the end of my vacations. The amount of thought and care that went into the building of the H.A.G. is evident, from the low buildings that allow a near buy pagoda to be seen over the garden walls, to the meticulus detail and views of the garden from every angle of every path. We spent some 3 hours walking around, observing, relaxing, and taking pictures. Lots of pictures. Unfortunately, 3 hours was longer than we had expected, and we were kicked out with the closing of the garden for the day.

Because we spent so much time in the H.A.G., it was most likely that the other gardens in the city would be closed as well. So we went to a shopping centre (a 4 block x 4 block shopping area of stores). Our first stop was a restaurant. The one with its building edges lit in red turned out to be empty other than a table of people playing MJ. The one with its building edges lit in pink seemed fairly popular and we decided on that one. Dinner was awesome. Szechuan food. We had about 6-7 dishes, with several hot dishes. The bill came to 149 RMB (about $24 CAD) for the three of us. What a steal, by our standards.

After getting completely bloated with spicy foods, we headed back to the street and walked around. About 1 hour later, we left and went back to the hotel, and called it a night. Tomorrow, we'll try to see what we can to wrap up this city and move on to Shanghai, my final destination in China.

Kevin Out.

A Final Day in Hangzhou

Today was another hugely successful day. In the morning, the travelling trio mapped out a rough plan of what we wanted to conquer. We rickshawed in two separate three-wheeled cars (i.e. a cart pulled by a man on a bicycle), with Gord and Jan in one car, and myself in the other. Our first destination was The Broken Bridge, then the YingLin Temple. After we got off, as we were nearing the bridge, a local HZ woman saw us looking at our map, and asked us where we were going. I told her our plan, and she replied that we should go to the Longjing sellers in the mountains (where they harvest the famous HZ Longjing tea, it's also where the locals go to buy their tea. After she left us, another woman came to us (me) and gave similar advice... but with a more complete path. Her new path was to bus to the Longjing tea mountain, then walk down to the Nine Creeks waterfall, then rent a "bread car" around to the Six Harmony Pagoda, take a bus to the Leifeng Pagoda, take a boat onto the West Lake and the islands on the lake, then cab to YingLin, and finally back to the Broken Bridge. We thought about her advice, and decided to take it seriously -- so we hoped on the No. 27 bus up to Longjin mountain. On the bus, I asked a woman beside me how long the bus ride would take, and we started chatting. She was getting off at the same stop, and offered to show us where to go, explaining that the best place to buy Longjing tea is up the mountain (this was becoming a familiar comment). We got off the bus and headed down an old street scattered with old houses. We talked along the way; she suggested the same path as the woman had before we got on the bus. She took us to her mother's house, who happened to sell tea. Figures. Nevertheless, on the cold day, the warm tea was great to induce some heat into our bodies and circulate blood into Gord's frozen hands. We were taken aback by the authentic main corridor of this woman's house. It was a small room, with tea baskets and harvesting materials. Most amazing, in my opinion. Some more tea was bought, and money was spent.

We continued down the road, which soon turned from old pavement to older cobblestone. On each side of the path were hillsides lined with tea bushes (I think that's what they are). We crossed over several dibbling streams of water, and eventually came to the Nine Creeks. Our two RMB entry fee seemed almost too much to see what we came to see. Aside from a waterfall, there wasn't too much else. There're stairs that go further up the mountain, but we chose not to climb them out of laziness and after discovering that the source of the waterfall was a small puddle 10 metres up, filled with water pumped from below.

We hired a "bread car", which is essentially a mini minivan, costing 10 RMB to get to the famous Six Harmony Pagoda. As I spoke to the drive along the way, he changed his mind and decided to charge us 10 RMB to get to the Leifeng Pagoda (one step further on our path) because I told him that we are from Canada, and he has a relative in Canada. Sure. So we took a few moments to take some pictures at the Six Harmony Pagoda and were on our way. The driver also explained that it was the cheapest time to buy pearls right now, and I remembered that my mom wanted some pearls as well. So he took us to a couple stores, from which he'd get some sort of kickback, I bet. No one does this free of charge out of the goodness of their heart. Not in China, not in my opinion. Some pearls were bought, some money spent. Finally, the driver dropped us off at Leifeng Pagoda, a pagoda with a long history, but was burned down in 1955 by the Japanese then recently rebuilt (finished last Sept/Oct).

The Leifeng Pagoda was amazing. Each of the four levels provides a spectacular view of the surrounding areas, West Lake, the mountains, and the city. Each level is also superbly decorated with wood carvings, paintings, and scriptures on the walls. Because of the recent reconstruction, it's also a state-of-the-art pagoda and one for the laziest of folks. There is an escalator running upwards outside the pagoda to get to its base. Then there are two 3-story elevators to get to the first level of the pagoda. Finally, another 4 story elevator takes you up the middle of the pagoda to any of the first 3 levels.

Because of the late time and the cold weather, we decided to skip the boat ride and taxi to the famous Yinglin Temple. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the doors were closed. Darn it. So we taxied back near West Lake to Yue Fei's Tomb. The 25 RMB entrance was pricy for what was contained within the building walls.

As it started to darken, we stepped into a sword shop. After much bargaining, some sharp objects were bought, some money spent. Then we had dinner with a guy who used to work with Spectrum's distributor, Andy, and his friend Charlie. And the night pretty much ended after that.

Off to Suzhou tomorrow morning with an early train at 9am.

Kevin, signing off from China... the place where cell phones should never be silenced or ignored, a CD/VCD/DVD store owner insisted that there is no such thing as "wai guo" (Western) karaoke discs, a policeman will turn you back when you're already halfway past the middle of an intersection and tell you to take the sky walk, I can get a better price because I'm Chinese, locals are more than willing to tell you what the good places to visit around the area are, and I can spit freely on the sidewalks.

A Day of Walking

My feet hurt. After a late morning start out the door, Gord, Jan, and I did a good day of walking. From our hotel, we walked down a few main streets, and came to a silk market. Some silk was bought, some money spent. Then we tried to find a tea market, but were unsuccessful, and before we knew it, we had to head to another hotel to meet Herrick (from our distributor's office) for lunch. We had a great lunch, with included more duck tongue, and were back out on the street in search for tea. Finally, we found a strip of stores that all sold tea, and we charged into the one right in front of us. Some tea was bought, some money spent.

From there, we grabbed a taxi to the Southwest corner of West Lake and walked around the new development area; then journeyed across a path that cut through the South end of West Lake, with short segments of land and 6 short bridges. The wind was strong, the air cold, and the waters were scattered with row boats operated by certain companies. The path took about 1.5 hours to traverse, and the feet were complaining. After looking at a few last shops, we taxied back to the hotel. During this ride, I actually saw a cyclist get hit by a taxi and his bike crushed. I knew it would happen SOME time. Fortunately, the biker seemed alright, and the taxi driver actually seemed concerned.

Gord and Jan decided to take a break, while I immediately headed back out to a CD/VCD/DVD store we had been to the day before. Some DVDs were bought, some money spent. After I returned, we went to dinner in a restaurant at the hotel because I couldn't put my feet through any more than the traumatization it had already been subjected to over the last 8 hours.

Back in my room, calling it a night.

Kevin, signing off from China... the place where bargaining is more for sport than real deals, people push to get around you, any kind of food can be cooked 5 ways you've never seen... even if you had just learned another 5 ways of cooking it, people sing in public as they're doing their own thing, and money is spent.