Illness again? You gotta be kidding me

I just cannot believe my unbelievable streak of bad luck. Just when I thought I can finally start exercising this week, guess what? Last night, while in the restaurant for dinner, as I squeezed in-between the narrow tables etc, I felt that I turned my leg wrongly at the left ankle. However as there was no sudden twinge of pain, I just ignored it

Then I went back to my room, got packing and moved one round of luggage to new room 818 and as I walked back ... I started feeling a little pain ... when I hit original room, I decided to call it a night ... except that the pain wouldn't let me! I woke up around 3"00am or 4:00am ... and tried to put some salve on it but for some reason it wouldn't heat up until I had to use Tiger Balm. And then I had no choice to pop a pill and lie down to rest

Now I can see a small spot of bruise and all day it didn't get better

So I had to go to the doctors just now and guess what? He wrapped up my foot! Unbelievable, right?

Of course, with my other half, his only assumption is black magic (again). Unfortunately with this I told him best we let the air ticket burnt as we are to meet tomorrow night. Like this, I cannot do so

Now I am in the room, eaten and watching Empire Strikes Back and feeling down. SIGH!

China Day 3 Part 2 ... final stop @ Lake Dong Ping

The heat was getting to us inspite of the hats we were given, the hand fans and the numerous slices of watermelong. I wished they would just give us some ice cold drinks. I saw Coca Cola and so wanted it but as we were accompanied by the politicians, I dared not in case they offered to pay for it or something. Hehehehehe!

Final stop at the Lake is something even more impressive. We saw a fortress coming up and truth enough we stopped there. While photography is great, the heat is not. We had to climb innumerable steps, one flight after another. Stop, photo, wiped sweat, drink water and climb some more. They gave us this tiny bottle of chinese herbs that you are supposed to peel the cap and then put into your bottle of mineral water, shake and drink - supposedly cooling but it is so bitter!

Once we reached more or less the top, it was time to rest - watermelons again - and then made our way down. Good thing we didn't continue with Lake Boat anymore. We stopped at ground floor and went inside the fortress. There is restaurant. So it is yet another round of numerous foods, beer and chinese tea. The highlights is goose liver (good thing I am used to liver), cured duck meat, a plate of veg cut nicely (all cooling like cucumber, turnips) except for something flat and rubbery but tastes like paper, chicken claws, green chillies fried with garlic and onions (?!?!?!), flat sesame round shaped snacks and of course, the fresh water fish (sigh!)

Once done, we hopped into waiting cars and continued the drive around the lake to stop everywhere but in cars. Each time we got out, we started to sweat within 1 minute (I kid you not).

Highlights include a hike up (a wee hike) some hill to see some ancient looking building and then some religious relic with sweet mountain spring water (tasted it) and then we left the lake to visit other attractions in the other side of the city

Highlights here include a new development where the streetlights are all solar or wind powered (very cool), lotus farms, a mountainside filled with supposedly original antique excavated sculptured scattered everywhere (!), and yet one more something that looked like a movie set, and for sun set, we went to somewhere that appeared to be lots of rocks with shrubs shooting out but great sunset as we have view of sun and moon at the same time

Do I need to tell you about dinner? It's at our hotel this time and yet again, it is the huge banquet but hey, tonight, at least the cooking evident is of a higher caliber than last night - less dishes but ultimately much much nicer

Bed time!

China Day 3 ... The Lake Tour of Dong Ping ... Part 1

Well the day saw a beautiful morning that is scorching hot and dare I say it? Even hotter than yesterday! We are supposed to meet everyone for breakfast at 8:30am but for some reason or other, the Chinese team thought it was 8:00am. Thank goodness I was up already. However, as expected, dear Mr DareMan is still busy getting dressed. So me and the RedMan waited for him in order to go together while this young gentleman with the stressed face kept on bouncing from one room to another to check if we are up and about!

Breakfast was again another orgy of food and drink albeit a bit weird - they served sweetened milk and hard boiled egg seemed to be their preference. As for the bacon, thank goodness there is pork. And the tiny cocktail sausages has a nice meaty texture to it!

Then it was time for a short car ride out to the lake wherein we strolled through the scenic entry way, again with the classical buildings, some nice landscaping and artwork (with shops selling knick-knacks that I so want to see but cannot!) and onto our boat. My first proper boat in ages. We all ducked into the cabin but as soon as it was rolling, I knew I had to climb back out on top. To heck with the sun. And guess what? Within 10 mintues, everyone came up as well

It was a beautiful ride - duck farming and traditional boat rowing, birds flying by and big fish swimming in the waters

And then came the strangest drink we were offered in a bottle. I thought it was water and it was but infused like soda except that on the ingredients, it stated baking soda! Baking soda?!?!?! Ugh! You can bet I turned down the second bottle for the rest of our trip. Hah!

Our first stop was on this beautiful island with a palace and some scenic drive - it was quite fun! We even had an opportunity to walk through some limestone caves with awesome images! Then we finally had a buggy waiting for us and took us through to the remainder attractions including an entertainment area where you can lounge on traditional seats while watching the seas! Or rather waters of the lake!

[To be continued]

China Day 2 ... Dong Ping ... Part 2

Finally after seeing windmills like in the movies, we arrive in the city of Dong Ping and had our first introduction to summer heat. And I meant it. This is worse than my time in Dubai, Doha and Bahrain. Here it is about 35 degrees celsius but the humidity is so high that the moment I stepped out of the damn AC place, within a minute, sweat is dripping all over! I kid you not. From morning until late at night, it is sweat sweat sweat

We arrived at our hotel and checked in. Then it was a quick change before we headed out to our first and only attraction of the day - the movie studio city amusement park. Initial impression was good as you see these massive walls and you are reminded of those chinese period movies of olden day kingdoms. However, when we stepped inside, it felt vacant and empty. There are a fair number of streets with proper buildings. Every now and then, there is some re enactment going on. But that is about it. Nothing much. There are no side show stalls, no studios for you to catch movies, etc and the retail is generally lacking

There was only 1 good part where they were making hand puppets from scratch. Aside from that, it was generally bleurgh right to the end. I guess they needed to be clearer in their minds on what they are actually hoping to do with this, right?

Then we had another shower and the no 1 guy in charge of tourism and his cohorts hosted us dinner at the best restaurant in town which is also the local govt building. There is a wall covered with photos of the place, there is a stall near the entrance selling everything including their govt uniform of white shirt (?!?!?!?!), a guy playing piano and we dining upstairs

Now this is what I call a meal. We sat down at a side table, had watermelons and cooling tea. Then we moved onto a huge table that had a huge lazy susan and dish after dish were being ladled. I counted more than 40 dishes and stopped counting. Similar to lunch, rice is not one of them. They do have all sorts of bread and paus at the end though which was a nice change but just not my kind of thing. You know you feel full but not 100% satisfied. And the pride of place ? Salted duck's egg and a huge fish dish (river fish - ugh - not my thing)

Red Man did his usual by generally keeping mum and just observing proceedings, eating and drinking a wee bit

DareMan? He was in his element. He was chugging down toast after toast of rice wine, not just base sips but whole full to the brim glasses and easily out drinking all the China people. And as for food, he munched down everything that was set on his plate and even went for extras round the table. He whacked down at least double of what I ate, I kid you not. I was impressed

Finally, we went home and all we could think of was ... sleep! Hehehe! It has been a long day

China Day 2 ... the joys of pollution ... Part 1

We landed and to my surprise, the airport walk way is huge but ... kind of vacant like when KLIA first opened, know what I mean? Like they can handle a lot more load ... also the decorations are again quite ... lacking ... giving it a rush job feel

Anyway immigration and customs were great and we exited to be met by our liaison who had us in a van and that's when the fun started. The city at 1:00am was full of polluted smog! And then as we exited the airport, our van was struggling to even go beyond 30km per hour until we asked the guy if there is a problem. His only answer is that the past few days flood had gotten into his fuel ... then he pressed down accelerator and the engine roared and after several minutes, we were on our way ... only to be met by a massive jam! Yes at that time of night! Apparently somewhere further down, there is roadworks

By the time we reach our hotel zone it was almost 2:00am. Our liaison booked for us a hotel in the train station so that later on, we can just board it without much hassle. However, to our shock, the entire station is shut down and in darkness, not even security around! And to make it worse, our driver has no idea how to reach the hotel. We drove around the station, up and down, in and out, 3 times and we could see the hotel but no idea how to find the turning there. In the end, we drove to a parking lot, and half-carried our luggage for several hundred meters to the hotel

But wait, it gets worse. Checking out our rooms and realizing they do not provide any form of food or drinks, we went down to the lobby where there are 2 vending machines. We inserted money, it ate the money ... and that's it. We tried again, same thing happened. When we talked to the receptionist, his answer was dead brilliant. The machine is placed by a vendor, not them. And that's it! Thank goodness the drinks machine worked.

The walls were paper thin and we can hear neighbours going to toilet, light switches being flipped, AC temp controls being selected

Anyway after a long agonizing night, we got ready to go at the appointed time ... and guess what? All of us were ready except ... you got it ... the DareMan. He was still going to shower and change and what not! So it was another 20 minutes of waiting for him

My first impression of Beijing? Nice but polluted yet not overly congested with people. The train station is indeed impressive. Huge, clean, bright and lots of eating shops. We had a nice morning meal where (and here I go again) the DareMan stuffed himself silly. We all ordered 1 noodle dish and it was gigantic. The DareMan ordered 1 sweet drink, 1 noodle dish, 1 tofu, 1 veg and 1 fish. And he asked us to try. I declined and everyone else took a wee bit but he just packed it all in!

The train was nice. My first in a bullet train. Modern and very comfortable. Within a few minutes of chit chat, the DareMan got up to go to the buffet cart. Instead of buying drinks, he again bought lots of sweetened drinks, nuts, local dried foods and even duck neck desserts! And of course, he tucked it all in!

This was like less than 2 hours after breakfast

When we reached Jenan West, a car was waiting to pick us up and go to the city. It was to be about 1 to 1.5 hours. To our surprise, it was a stopping time again for meals. Unbelievable. I thought we would just head down to the city of Dongping but hey this is China and I wanna experience all the culture and uniqueness that that entails right?

So, the lunch. Without going into too much detail, suffice to say that this is the second simplest meal in China after our breakfast. And as usual the DareMan tucked in heartily and even drank glasses of alcohol!

We had lots of different starters made from veg, very little meat and we ended with plate after plates of meat like dumplings (our shui kow). No rice or noodles which to me is odd as I thought we are in rice country. There must have been at least 12 to 20 dishes and the DareMan whacked it all especially the ending dumplings. They brought out more than 4 types and he ate every single one and more than one piece each. There goes the diet, right? Hehehehehe!

China Part 1 ...

Today is the day when I am supposed to fly to Beijing ... excited? You bet!

Naturally, this Gee Pee Tee being what it is, have to figure out a way to increase my tension and stress level, know what I mean? We have the Kitchen No 2 resigning late morning. So I called the EAM, DOHRD and DOFB for a joint session. After that, I rushed back to my place to pack and then they messaged me that he has retracted his resignation. I mean, come on! This is his opportunity in the sun. His boss is leaving so he has either a shot at no 1 or to show what he can do. Why screw up?

Okay

So as I was leaving my room, the ShirlGril messaged that there is the presents DareMan wants to take to China waiting with concierge for me. I went there to lobby ... and guess what? No one knows! I had to ask them to find her to find out that it is still up in DareMan's office

Okay - but that wasn't all. Then ShirlGirl said to wait while she hunted for DareMan's sunglasses in his car only to find out that there are 3 pairs and she didn't know which is right. She said to wait for her to call and confirm. I didn't want to because the driver already had been waiting for so long

Okay - but that again wasn't all. I was asked to pick up the DareMan at his house. I arrived and called him and he said to wait for him as he needed to take a bath! Hello! It was 3:30pm pick up. We had to wait until nearly 4:00pm. Good thing this was a regular cabbie I am using

When we reached the airport, the RedDude was there. We checked in and they brought so much stuff that we exceeded by about 4kg combined. So they argued with the lady for concession and she said no. DareMan said it must have been an off-day for her. O come on! Rules are rules

Thank goodness the plane had less drama when it was time for boarding. So it is goodnight for this entry and by the time we reach Beijing, it will be after midnight! So I will continue the arrival experience on my next posting

Old Acquiantances Renewed ... or ... Welcome Mr. Bakar

Yup today is the official starting day for the Burnt Man, my ex-GM from Berastagi. We got him to join us for about the same Micky Mouse salary but lower level and at home. Is that not a great package? I know he is energetic and I know he will go all out to get the job done. The only thing to consider is if he can rein in his ego a wee bit ... hahaha ...

Still it is nice to have an opening day like this where finally the team here is willing to work!

MOU Again ...

Yup yup yup ... July seems to be that kind of month, isn't it? All of our efforts, in Malaysia and Indonesia, all hit the same stage in Jul regardless of when we started and this? Today? It is the third MOU signing for us

Well ... as it was coordinated by DareMan ... you can expect the same nervous energy from him that drives everyone up the wall ... literally ... the juniors from Gee Pee Tee had to go through so much for such a small event until they were starving with no food yesterday ... today? I ran into some people and they were all tactful but they were hinting that behind DareMan's back, people were gossiping about him going overboard. It is an MOU, not a full Agreement. So why do like this, right?

Anyway, we got lost as usual on the way to Shah Alam ... and took an extra 40 min to arrive at the place ... then we ran into the Red and had a nice meal on him from the canteen ... then we sat around for 2 hours listenin to VIPs etc before we vamoose out of there ...

Highlights? There is one CUTIE. I saw him coming out of the room to have a drink and he was alone. When we were seated, he was 2 rows in front and was alone. He looks about mid-20s, tall, slim, in office uniform and o-so-sweet. You know the type where the clothes fit him just nice, not too tight but not too loose. I can stroke that butt and kiss that face. Sigh!

Then deciding to take a break, we went to Empire and had a nice snacks before coming back to Gee Pee Tee. All in? A nice enough day except that my leg is acting up again. That's probably due to my own idiocy of the past few days eating seafood on hot plate, fried noodles, etc and 1 shot of alcohol. Hope it is better tomorrow. Sigh!