Long Weekend

This is how One U 5th floor parking lot is like last night. I took almost 25 minutes , just 5 minutes short of getting my parking ticket invalidated because of the stupid jam in the parking lot! All cars were trying to get out, everybody is impatient (since when Malaysian drivers were ever patient? Tell me!). Some cars even use the entrance to get out.

In view of the long weekend, I just want to wish everybody a very happy holidays and Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Also, don’t forget to do the following:-

- Ensure your car is properly inspected before a long journey home. Safe journey!

- Your bills have been paid because there’s a delay in post – I was told! Because I have yet to receive my credit card statement. I know I should be signing up for electronic statement! Perhaps everybody should to help save paper, hence save a tree!

- Tell your neighbours that you are not at home so that they can help to look out for your house and give your phone numbers to them in case of emergency.

- Unplugged all your electronic items – to save energy, except the fridge lah, I supposed. Haha!

- Speaking of fridge, ensure the perishables in your fridge have been consumed – milk, yogurt, vegetables, meat, chicken?

- Ensure your insurances have been paid and updated.

- Inform your newspaper man not to deliver newspapers to your house during the long holidays.

- Remember to pray!

I won’t be going anywhere this weekend. Looking forward to spend sometime with the family and also friends who will still be in KL during this raya break.

Have a good weekend!

Road Idiots

I guess I am one of the lucky few people who don’t need to be on the road for long hours to get to work. If your work place is just 5 minutes away from your house, I tell you, you will never change your job. Haha!

Anyhow, this does not stop me from experiencing blood pressure rising moments on the road when meeting with these people (are they even human??) during one of my rare drives. Seriously, I salute myself (when I was working in the heart of KL) and some of you people who have to brave 1-1.5 hours jam to work every morning. For entertainment sake, I put up some drawings to illustrate how frustrating it is to encounter such morons and idiots on the road.

Don’t you just hate it when a moron hogs your lane when he was supposed to keep to his right in order to get into the lane he wanted? I supposed he’s not lost because there are MANY of such kind trying to cut the Q by going into people’s lane only to get back to their lanes to avoid waiting time.

Don’t you just hate it when a moron hogs the left turning because he cannot wait at the long traffic light and trying to cut into the lane as soon as the light turns green.

Don’t you just hate it when you are driving on the fast lane, then there’s this idiot coming at you from behind at even faster speed?? Like running 180 kmph on a 80 kmph lane??? The best part is all the cars in front of you are also travelling at 80 – 100 kmph only and there are SO MANY CARS on the road. Worse is when you are driving at night and these road bullies modified their headlights which can blind you!?

This happened awhile ago and I wrote about it. I think this is THE ULTIMATE cause of traffic jams in Malaysia. So many KPC on the road!!

Some people just like to hog the fast lane even when they are driving like 50 kmph on a rather clear road. Please lah. If you want to take all the time in the world, please go to the slow lane lah.  Better still, don’t drive,  please do everyone a favor and buy yourself a bus card. Like that, you can even sleep in the bus! You might cause accidents if some idiot coming at you as fast as running away from the meteorites in 2012!

I can NEVER understand people who drive 40 – 60 kmph on the fast lane.

This happened in my office. Imagine, the company compound is quite large, there are plenty of parking spaces. One would just need to walk a bit further away if one could not get a parking lot nearby office. However, there is this particular moron who always park at the passage way where cars would be passing by. This of course, inevitably caused inconvenience to others. The best part is, this moron would scream at the security guard whenever he asked her not to park there. What a moron, huh?

They say, if you repeat the same mistake twice, then you are stupid. How about if you repeat 10x? Haha! I rest my case.

Well, hope you had a laugh. We all need a little humor every day. What to do? God made jerks, morons and idiots and put them in this world to entertain Himself. Haha.

Hope you have a great weekend ahead.

* The rectangular shapes represent vehicles lah.

Skinny Men in Small Gondolas

I couldn’t really recall this dream in its entirety as everything was rather fast moving and chaotic.

I was making a trip to somewhere on a flying chair. It was something like chair lift, the one you sat on before you jump off the slope to ski?

I was with a friend and we were flying passed bridges, rivers, fields, caves, tunnels, etc with refreshing wind caressing our faces. It was really wild and fun. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. Then we passed by a canal occupied by small gondolas.

There were many, many small gondolas moving in unison towards one direction. Since the gondolas were very small, it could only occupy one man each. They were very skinny men dressed in traditional Vietnamese costume, the áo dài and were all wearing straw conical hat, Nón lá as well. Their áo dài were exclusively in shades of blue or red, no other colors. They were not paddling. Their mini gondolas were making way on their own rather swiftly.

I chuckled at the sight as I remember the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean whereby there were many single occupant boats moving towards one direction to the Death Valley.

Then, my friend warned me not to laugh at the dead people as it would stir their souls into unrest. The warning came too late. As soon as he finished warning me, I felt one of the men grabbed my right leg. We were almost thrown off our chair lift. The grip was strong and he didn’t want to let go.

My friend then told me to shout in order to frighten the dead soul so he could let me go. I shouted once but he could not hear me. Then, I shouted the second time, “OI!!!” at the top of my voice.

I woke up, startled by my own scream. I was glad it was merely a dream.

Shanghai Skyline

Day 4 – 23rd October 2009, Friday

After breakfast, we made a stop at the Taihu Wuxi pearl factory. Tai Hu (Tai Lake) is also producer of fresh water oyster pearls, amongst other things. On how to detect real pearls, you just need to rub pearls against a mirror and there would be powdery substance emerged on the mirror and not biting it till your teeth cracks. LOL. The most expensive pearls are big and round ones.

Here, my aunt spent a bomb on getting a set of yellow pearl necklace and ear rings. Pearl powder in Malaysia costs RM5 for one small vial. The Chinese believes that, pearl has cooling properties, hence it’s good to consume it when you are having fever or perhaps, dab some of its powder if you have ulcer in your mouth. Here, one vial goes for as cheap as 80 sen!

After visiting the pearl factory, we went to have early lunch. Right after lunch, we were whisked away to this “Tong Ren Tang” selling herbs and Chinese medication somewhere behind the restaurant for a foot massage. I asked if we can have a foot massage right after a meal? I remember, we were advised to have foot massage on empty stomach? Not too sure, we went ahead anyway.

The thing is, the people there are really blood suckers! A guy in our group who has businesses in China said it was a bit overpriced. After getting our diagnosis – me being overweight (yes, one need not feel pulse to find that out!) and my aunt’s blood sugar is too high (she is partially diabetic), we were persuaded to buy some 2,600 yuan worth of medicine. Of course we didn’t buy anything. Apparently, this shop is a bit seedy and I was somewhat disgusted by the pushy “doctors” and person manning the place. Bloody hell.

We went to a Jade factory after that. As usual, they would tell you of their history and eventually hope that you would spend to buy something there. According to the guy who has businesses in China in our tour group, it’s very difficult to tell whether or not the jade is genuine. It’s because sometimes, they could fake the jade color by injecting colorings into jades. So, because of that, we didn’t want to buy anything. Further, I don’t think I have any interest in purchasing jade.

There was an argument broke out when the Kuching lass tried to bargain for a cross pendant and a jade ring at cheaper rates. I didn’t watch the entire commotion but, the argument went on for some time coz we all waited in the nice, breezy compound for them. When they came out, they looked pissed but eventually got what they wanted.

Then we made our one hour long journey to Shanghai. It was already about 7 pm when we reached Shanghai. We were greeted with a long stretch of highways with skyscrapers flanking both sides of the highways. Our jaws dropped in awe when we see the endless highway with buildings touching the skies! Most cars are imported – Buick, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volkswagon, etc. Heck, even the cabs are all Volkswagon or Mercedes Benz. The people here surely know how to travel in style!

By looking at the buildings alone, you could tell that Shanghai is so prosperous! It surely makes Kuala Lumpur look like some small kampong! At an intersection where the 6-tier highways were connected, there was a huge pillar with 9 golden dragons surrounding it. Since I couldn’t take any photos coz the bus was moving, here’s a scribble on how the highway looks like!

Illustrated Shanghai Night skyline along the highway

We were left at Shanghai Hong Qiao Da Tong Yang Market to shop for stuffs. The luggage bags here were cheap. You can get one 28 inch hard cover trolley bag for 280 yuan (RM140). I got myself a winter jacket at 200 yuan. Actually, we could have gotten it cheaper if not for the time limit imposed on us for shopping. We were given only an hour and half to shop and eat at the same time. After shopping, we went for a dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant. the owner spoke to us in Hokkien. He’s quite friendly. The food served was quite good. We had minced pork rice, saba fish, some ocien (yes – my aunt ordered it, I don’t know why), some stir fried pork and a plate of vegetables. Behind this restaurant, there was a group of kids practicing football. From the faces of the kids and the coach, I believed they are Koreans.

Football Night

Shanghai ‘s traffic on Friday night could be pretty daunting. The jam was horrendous. Our guide told us that, they have closed the Bund for construction of tunnels so in future all tourist buses and vehicles could be parked down at the tunnel in order not to overcrowd the Bund. These were all done to prepare for Expo 2010 Shanghai China next year from May 1 to Oct 31, 2010. So people, it’s not a good idea to travel to Shanghai next year on the respective months as it’s going to be crazy!

A night scene in Shanghai

We were then taken on a ferry to see the Shanghai skyline instead. Well, the tour guide is probably right. If you have been to Shanghai and didn’t go to see the beautiful night skyline, then you have never been to Shanghai. It was breathtakingly beautiful. My picture didn’t do any justice. You ought to visit Shanghai yourself.

Everything looks yummy in Nanjing Road

After the ferry ride, we made our way to Nanjing Road, the business district of Shanghai. Here you could find shops upon shops selling branded goods, pharmaceutical, restaurants and little knick knack shops. After a brief stop at Nanjing Road, we headed to  Xintiandi, the “Bangsar” of Shanghai. It’s definitely 10x more happening than Bangsar! Imagine tall girls with sexy long legs walking about in the knee high leather boots. High fashion seemed to be the order of the day. There were many mix of people from all over the world – all  dining and eating, and watching the night goes by, sitting side by side.

Stir fried pork slices

By that time, we were already too tired due to the traveling time. We called it a night at Hunan Hotel in Shanghai. This hotel is very old school. It somewhat made you think that you have traveled back in time during the “Shanghai Triad” time. They don’t serve mineral water in bottles. They put water in a glass flask, which I find really good for promoting environmental consciousness!

Wild, Wild River

I was on the bus with some family members and other people whom I not known. We were traveling to the crocodile farm. Upon reaching the place, suddenly the bus driver stepped on an emergency brake and sent everybody in the bus flipping all over the place, except for my family members whom I held on tight. Without warning, the bus fell off a cliff heading towards the crocodile farm at 90 degrees and rolled over a few times before hitting a stop.

The bus doing a 90 degrees drop

Miraculously, nobody was hurt. Apparently, this is the only way buses can enter the crocodile farm. We were welcomed with open arms by owners of the farm. From the waterfall to the river, we could see crocodiles the sizes of bolsters were swimming along the water current. We were somewhat not afraid of what we saw.

Shooting the rapids along the crocodile infested river

Then, the owners ushered us to a very long boat with its hull looking somewhat like the built of Noah’s ark but without the roof. We were shooting rapids in the very long board, going against the waterfall current. Everybody was wet. It was a fun ride. I kept warning people to lay low to avoid falling into the crocodile infested river. Also, to avoid the crocodiles that were jumping out of the river and above our heads. When we reached the destination, we got off the boat to get to our place of rest.

A platform surrounded by crocs

To my horror, the place of was just a nicely decorated, slightly alleviated platform on the river! Before we could prepare ourselves, the owners suddenly shouted and asked us to pretend to sleep and ignore the crocodiles if they go up the platform. If we do not heed his advice, we would be attacked or eaten alive. It was then the crocodile climbed over a child and came for me. I quickly pretended to sleep and the crocodile opened its mouth and sunk its teeth between my left armpit and back.

I know.. the croc here looked like giant lizard.. and I wish I am THAT slim

I could feel the teeth sinking into my flesh. I didn’t even budge. I tried not to make any noises and remained as dead as a log. I even tried to pace my heart beat slower. The croc was still gnawing on my back for a few more minutes before letting go. I heaved a sigh of relief when the crocodile went back to the river.

I was furious. The owners of the crocodile farm should not put us in such dangerous situation. I was about to write a strongly worded complaint letter to the management, then I woke up.

LOL!! The dreams just got weirder and weirder.