Chinese food is better in (Greater) China

Come on, you saw that subject line coming....


This was my dinner in Shanghai today. I stopped in a mall and ate at a food court to sample the local food court food. A few too many dumplings for one person but boy were they good. I was confused though because I had to put money on a card and use the card to pay. I had to go back twice because I didn't put enough on at first. In the end it only costed $2.60 though. I seem to be always lost in translation.

It's been really tough keeping up with my blog posts. So much running around and meetings and traveling and when I do have a moment, I'm exhausted and just want to relax or sleep.

Taking a step back... Phi Phi islands in Phuket were gorgeous. We'll post pics when we get the chance. The day tour was good despite poor weather. It was cloudy all day which perhaps was a blessing so no hot sun or sunburn. But the winds were high and waves up to 10 feet! The boat ride was rough but I found it kind of fun. We did some snorkeling and went to a few different stops. We couldn't go to the cite of the movie The Beach because the water was too rough to get into that cove. Oh well, it was a worthwile day trip anyway.

Hong Kong was good. I had a lot of client meetings plus had to train some folks in the local office. It was so freakin hot and humid there too. I don't know how people can deal. One of the days a freak occurance happened. A girl fainted during my presentation. At first, I saw her nodding off so thought she was just sleepy or I was boring. But then she fell over on the couch and didn't get up. We had to call paramedics. Craziness. Turns out she was allergic to some medication or something. But her coworkers said it's happened before too. Despite that drama, it was a good trip. Kenn explored a little days, shopping mostly. He did some work from the hotel too. Then I would meet him for dinner and one night we went to the Peak which overlooks the city. Gorgeous skyline, I must say one of my favorites. We had a very clear night but of course forgot our video camera (our only camera source these days). We had dinners and drinks in Soho during the week as well and on Saturday took a 30 minute ferry to Lantau island to visit the Great Buddha statue. Overall, Hong Kong is a lot more international than I remember it. Of course i vacationed there almost 10 years ago. When I went last year it was only for a day. Although a lot of the meals we had were actually not Chinese (I know, it just happened that way), we did manage to have a great dim sum.

I took the train to Guangzhou on Sunday while Kenn flew back to Tokyo. Flights for him to China were just too expensive to justify given that he has a ton of work these days too. So for him to come to China and stay in the hotel would be a waste. It's a bit lonely traveling on my own now but I have plenty of work to keep me busy. I was only in Guangzhou for 2 nights and a day. Again, SOOO hot. Too hot to walk around besides my last trip there was enough for me. I'm not that impressed by the city. After a day of client meetings, my colleague did take me out for a nice dinner. The first night I ate at the hotel seafood buffet (which was actually a really nice spread). I also had a slight lost on translation incident at Starbucks when I tried to pay with Taiwanese money which I had left over from my last trip and I thought was China Yuan. Oops.

I have a lot more insights about culture of these cities and my experiences but I'm going to have to save it. Getting tired of typing....

2 more days in Shanghai and then I'm off to Beijing!