traditional transport used in one of the world most modern city…
it was real tempting with an empty stomach… after a hearty meal and.. it’s like, oh, please….
though its a mock up town… but I love it…
beautiful Jade Temple Buddha
French Concessions... funky shops… restaurants with expensive drinks… art galleries… boutiques selling over priced items… yet it’s my favourite place of the whole trip… and I must have been under-dressed or something… several times I picked up an item, the salesperson will inform me of the price without me having to raise my voice… and nothing beat having a salesgirl telling you… ‘oh.. the dress is too small for you and I have no bigger size coz we make only one size!’... well, I was just picking the dress up to look at the design… and ouch.. it does hurts till today.. BUT there is an accessories boutique selling all things Pearls.. as in Farm Pearls and not South Sea Pearl… very very reasonabley priced and hand made by the owner herself...
ICBC is one of China leading bank … I was being recommended to buy their stocks in fact… I was seeing the logo everywhere I turned… but each time we see one… hubby will say ‘ICBC = ai xi bei xi’ which in hokkien translates to ‘ICBC = want to die cannot die’… and since there is one right opposite our hotel… I went in there to change some money… as I was being given big 100 notes… I asked for some to be changed into smaller ones… the clerk guy said that he had not enough on hand for other customers… !! I was like… comeon this is a bank and you gave me that excuse??..
I skipped my breakfast for this famous restaurant at Yuyuan… one word ‘disappointment’… the queues were long and everyone was talking about it… so I have to try… the big bun with straw.. it was just plain soup inside… and I couldn’t understand why it was oily since it was simply filled with soupbase …
we went to the pudong side to have a better view of the full Shanghai Tang… along the river bank.. I saw this set up photography store… and I really have the urged to have one taken… but because 1. there is no changing room so I have to slip on the costume over what I was wearing…2. the camera that they were using was a lot much worst than mine.. 3. lots of people were starring… so.. I didn’t have the guts to do it…
at the Zhuangzhou Watertown… the food came in HUGE portion… it was enough for at least 6 people… obviously we managed to eat just 1/4 of it… tastewise… just only ok… but most interesting part was when you see how the vegetables were being pre prepared….
one of my most disappointment was not seeing the BUND… the whole stretch is having construction going on to prepare for the Shanghai Expo in 2010…
but one of the fun part was experiencing the automated toilet in the lounge of the Shanghai Airport… I have tried many of the semi automated ones but not like one of this …. and all along I have always wondered about why the Japanese all have such a big fuss over their toilet seat until now…. for this one, as you opened the door, the light is automatically switched on… the toilet seat cover is then automatically lifted up… then on the side.. instructions and a panel of functions you pressed .. high or low, front or rear, different types of spraying methods… and it comes with the DRYER function!!… I am NOT at all ashame to admit… but it was really cute and I was like a little kid finding excuses to go in again and again…
It’s obvious that I have not been writing much… well.. not much was going on around me… and I prefer to write when my instinct said so… else I can sit in front of my comp screen all day… waffled through the post and ended deleting the work… though I have no major story to tell… I do have some of the shorter version to share…
I was at Mango (the boutique at Sun Plaza Medan) yesterday… while I was being served by the salesgirls… 2 relatively tall LOCAL ladies with their boobs practically spilled out from the new TIGHT nicely tried out tops were well served by the male persons whom were obviously blushing with glee… I was standing beside them seeing the male reactions and was thinking ….. how did Indonesia be known as one of the world most populated Muslims country… and what’s with all the fuss about Syriah…?
At Marriott male’s locker room…hubby often overheard… ‘there are more cah bor (pretty woman) at Cambridge than here’…. in fact I can write a post of the gossip going around this male room… but naahhh… ‘respect’… is the word…
is it the Indonesian culture or what… but I find it real rude to have people opening a sentence with ..‘ooii’… ‘yo’… ‘woii’… and I get that a lot with the Medanku Blackberry users… and mind you.. the screenshot clearly stated… ‘Vic@MedanKu.com’ …
am considering an online degree in Journalism… then it became.. many of the known writers or the top bloggers definitely has no such title behind their great name… but well.. I think I am persueing it anyhow anyway…
Spent Rp 600.000 on a Lunch for 4 at ‘Gelato’ resto one afternoon … the more I think of it… it’s like.. ‘what did we eat???’.. it’s an absolute ripped off…!! .. well.. what saddened me was the fact the food were nothing to be thrilled at….
I have been married for almost a decade… apart from our honeymoon… hubby and me have not been to anywhere without work or the kids… i.e .. pure traveling just the 2 of us exploring new city with no work and no kid attached… and he finally agreed to a week at Shanghai after all these years…
I was going through my Aug/Sep credit card bills and am absolutely astonished to see ‘Trattoria’ and ‘JW Marriott’… dominate my payment list for this month… and I can see more to come with the Marriott discount card…
From year one that I have moved to Medan… I have the vision to open a restaurant… (who doesn’t huh..) … I’ve gone through like 5 major readings purely on guides to opening a restaurant… simulating countless amount of calculations like budgeting, P&L account… miles spent on road scouting for the best location… hours spent calling up property agents enquiring about the Ruko… one idea lead to the next… and NO… nothing works… and NO.. I have no regret… as it is undeniably that my tastebud will definitely not work with the local Chinese… but in contrast… I am finding a gap that will suit the local Indonesian… Chinese consumers in Medan? … I have raised my white flag up long long time ago…
some 3 years back… for each Idul Fitri comes, and with each holidays being longer than the next… I was telling my hubby how we should take the time to explore more of Indonesia.. i.e visiting other cities… like Yogjakarta, Lombok, Java, Manado, Sabang etc.. well.. it ended with nothing…
apart from Jakarta, Padang and Bali.. thats just about it for Indonesia with me…. I know that I should explore more… BUT I bet I am not alone to feel the reason behind… Idul Fitri holidays will probably be the only time that best suit me to travel within the country… but with Hari Raya (the New Year for the muslims) being the most important date for the locals…. where shops are closed, airport are jammed packed with locals trying to get home ( just imagine the queues and delays… the squeezing and queue jumping…), and that hotels charging high season rates and that air tickets are like double the price… honestly…. I simply can’t bare to part with my money.. coz.. adding it all up… I can easy take a trip to Hong Kong.. plus the fact that my dearest just not into local sightseeing.. (a typical local who dont see what’s the point of seeing all things local…aiii)..
with Indonesia being such a big country and that the infrastructure is not well developed… it’s really not easy… unlike Thailand, Malaysia, US, UK etc.. the locals can choose to drive.. and go cities hopping… while here.. all you can do is take Plane rides… and living in Medan makes it even more unfeasible…
being here in Medan means that where ever we go… we need to take a flight out to the nearest cities before we get to our next destination.. i.e plane connections.. and that simple 1 hour plane ride.. to either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore or even Jakarta… will cost an extra of at least US$ 150 per person.. so for my family.. it will add up to like US$ 600!!
well.. my current travelling wish lists are Lombok and Yogjakarta… each time that I look up Lombok…. my brain will say….. let’s do it the next time.. I need 4 planes connection – Medan-Jakarta-Bali-Lombok.. and imagine waiting for flight connection in Jakarta airport!!!… I don’t even want to go explaining it… even with lounge access… its kind of not the place I want to be… anyway…. assuming I am taking the earliest flight like 6 am… I will only get to Lombok like 2/3pm and will cost me about US$ 350 for air ticket… so with that… we never get round to doing it..
the time that we were enrouting to Bali.. Jadon being his first time to Jakarta Airport… (we were only transiting…).. was real excited about the whole trip… the moment that he stepped off plane and walked into the terminal… he turned back and said “mama,… are you sure we are in Jakarta?? …. it smells so bad.. and very dirty”.. and he never mentioned about going back there again…
and when I asked some of the local friends….. apart from Business trips to cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya as well as holiday destination, Bali… many of them don’t really explore much of their own country too… well.. I guess I am not alone…
Alcohol… I just can’t take it… the maximum I can drink is like 3 gulps of BEER, and that’s about it… anymore of that, I will not get drunk, in fact, my body won’t even pass through the drunk stage, but instead, I will simply fall flat on the ground… a lot of people asked me why… honestly, I don’t even know myself..
With that, to ask me to write anything about bar, honestly, I am in no position to do so at all… since I don’t step into pub or bar that much, I can’t tell what’s good and what’s bad or how it should be one.. the proper ideal one.. but, of course I am able to tell which is the one that I will have fun going to..… that’s also why, you never see me write about night life both for this blog as well as in MedanKu.com..
The Prime Bar at JW Marriott Hotel Medan, is probably the first bar that I walked into in Medan, I have not even been to Retro at Capital Building… (I can imagine many of you thinking I am living a ‘nun’ life… well, sort of but not exactly so too)… I was told that the live band would start at 10 pm… and that I’ve got to experience that… well well well… just hearing the time @ 10pm, my little voice was already telling me that I am going to miss putting my boys to bed, I have to miss the opening hours of the Dows, I have too much stuff to upload to the website … so, I told Ms PR that, 7pm is fine for me…
and oh! I was even supposed to do wine tasting… but I just can’t.. can’t as in… how on earth am I gonna come out with words to describe how the wine taste like… so, I sort of decline her offer… hahahaa… now, I can hear many of you thinking “what a stupid silly girl she is”
ok, the bar is situated right below the Prime Steakhouse, the aim is that guests will come in for dinner and followed with the Bar thereafter… well thought out I would say… not sure if that is exactly what guests choose to do…
The Beverage manager was a little surprised that I don’t drink,…. apart from selected carbonated drink, I live on plain mineral water… after having just finished off meal at the M. Gourmet, I was rather in need of Aqua… so when I asked for one, he was literally laughing off me… “you are in one of the most prestigious and most happening bar in Medan, and you want an Aqua!!!” and mr hubby, laughed so too at me.. and they both decided on Mocktail on my behalf… which is nice… there are good meanings behind those house mocktail…and named by the manager himself..
My hubby, not a nightlife person but god knows where he learnt how to drink, I have no clue… was really in for the fun……the Manager gave him a shot at ‘Flaming Lamborghini’.. it was definitely a good experience one to play with for free… hehhehehe…., but knowing that I will not be able to describe much, as I have no absolute clue to terms used in the Bar, I took a short vdo clip… at Rp 120.000++ a shot, it’s probably one of the fastest money sucking you can just drown into your stomach… well, for us anyway… watch the vdo clip and you will see why… with food, you still need to chew, but with drinks, esp this one… you’re being ordered to suck fast to have the maximum effect…
thinking back… I am so ashamed of myself… can you imagine, I was asking the manger if the bar is smoke free or have any non smoking area… at times, I do feel like I am so disconnected with the real world…
The place is nice IMO, it’s brightly lit up… not the dimly lighted ones, so I can see everything clearly most of the times… it’s a good reasonable size place… I felt safe, at least I don’t feel like I am in some crippy place… a nice place to just hang out with friends over drinks, I would say…
