Who said Construction Barriers can't be cute?! They don't need to be boring concrete designs. See the Japanese designs found on the streets of Sapporo:
Other observations in Japan (with full photos attached):
Stephen loving Yobodashi Umeda electronics store in downtown Osaka... with 8 aisles of camera bags to choose from...and 7 other floors of stuff including toys for kids
Uniqlo is very empty in Osaka (maybe too many locations)
Tons of street performers
Great food in department store basements
Tons of gaming parlours for teens, kids and adults
Hello Kitty is the national hero
Penguins are really cute in person... Osaka Aquarium was fun but 4 levels of Pacific Ocean is a bit overkill
http://picasaweb.google.com/irene.stephen.yang/JapanHolidays2010#
We're off to historic Kyoto tomorrow then Tokyo!
We are in New Chitose Airport in Sapporo (island of hokkaido, bei hoi do). Our snowboarding adventures were great! We first landed here on Xmas Eve, and instead of waiting for a shuttle bus, struggled with limited Japanese phrasebook to take JR train then walk a mile with our gear to first hotel. Next morning off by bus to Niseko!! The snow / powder is amazing... I highly recommend Green Leaf hotel which is slopeside in Niseko Village. There are 3 main ski areas: Annapuri, Niseko Village and grand hirafu. They are connected by "Niseko United" shuttle bus... Sounds kind of communist. Anyway we enjoyed the hills, an all u can eat crab/sushi buffet then Onsen hot spring. Literally unisex bathing is freezing cold weather in middle of snow covered forest, in rocks hot spring. I snuck a photo. Will post later! Also the hotels provide shisheido products-whoa! So nice! Grand hirafu had the best night skiing!
On day 2 we ate steak slopeside in Hirafu before heading back for a restful evening at te hotel. Day 3 we went to Rusutsu Resort; an entirely different mountain area to meet my friend tiff and her cousins from Taipei. The resort was like a mini Vegas, with carousel and amusement park... Fabulous views from the slopes and warmer weather!
We spent night of day 3 in Sapporo city, eating street food, watching musicians, businessmen going to karaoke bars and teenagers gaming out at Taito game stations dressing up for photobooths and video games... The ramen food stall was good too!
In our snowboarding adventures I rank:
1) Blackcomb - best long mountain runs, bowls and powder
2) Whistler
3) Snowbird (connected to Alta in Salt Lake city Utah)
4) Heavenly (south tahoe)
5) North star(north tahoe)
6) Grand hirafu Niseko (good powder)
7) Rusutsu (nice wide open views)
ok bye! Heading to Osaka now!
Dec 22 is 'winter solstice'. Supposed to be the shortest day of the year! My workplace lets us leave the office by 4pm, and also this time on Xmas Eve.... ?! And my relatives here had a dinner which sadly I could not attend.
(Although last Saturday ... Stephen finally met my relatives for a home cooked meal. He loved the food and ate a lot of fresh seafood and veggies. Plus their cooking is awesome as well, but the trip a bit far)
I spent a day in Shenzhen China on business trip. My blackberry didn't work well there! and my china mobile people sim card ran out of money (have to refill in HKG). So being unplugged for a day was TORTURE!! The train ride is over an hour from Kowloon Tung to the border (there are two checkpoints), then a short walk across the bridge and taxi ride to my office in China. Rightly or wrongly, I cannot sleep on such trips. Maybe I fear getting robbed; not of money, but of my HKID or Passport! As I need to go more often, I will slowly ease my fears of the Mainland... even I intentionally dress a bit too casual to avoid getting mugged in daylight (Shenzhen supposedly is not safe especially for women). On the positive side, had very good meetings with my internal support team , then a few customer meetings - which were long overdue. The thing about Shenzhen is that nobody is from Shenzhen; all are migrant workers to this thriving 'pearl river delta' region.
Off to Japan in 24 hours. Can't wait to snowboard! BUT will be unplugged again as I enter the CDMA world - argh. (We finally unpacked some stuff in our new apartment, but haven't quite packed up our service apartment yet....returning on Dec 31 will be a disaster)
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO MY FAMILY & FRIENDS. MISS YOU ALL!
Across Asia, colleagues to call one another by their initials (first letter of First name then first letter of Surname). Maybe because anglicized Chinese names are difficult to pronounce?! I thought it was strange at first - and frankly sometimes people have the same initials.... so information is crossed at times! For instance, my old boss in Singapore was "CY". Similarly here at AMD, I should be known as "IH" or "IY" (However Irene is easier than most Chinese/English names to remember....or my colleagues know I chuckle at this, so they don't bother) Just so you know, the parents in Asia don't actually name their children by two letters only! ha ha.
On another note, my short trip back to Toronto last week was very very cold yet fun. Spent some quality family time, slept well, and got good work done at the office. Upon landing back last Friday, immediately I went to meet Stephen for our FINAL househunting visits with the agents.
Upon our FOURTH visit back to the SAME unit in the past months, we finally settled on 34th floor Hollywood Terrace. The landlady is from Fujian province but she's been in Hong Kong for 20 years. At least she can converse in Mandarin with Stephen too. The building is literally next door to our current service apartment - we love the area - its equally convenient to SOHO/Escalators and MTR (Hong Kong/Central/Sheung Wan). The views are excellent from our unit despite the (aging) kitchen/bathroom. The building is fairly well maintained; its only 11 years old. We hear the complex was originally a shared venture between public government and private developers (for 'poor people') - but today, the units ain't cheap.
Now the real challenge is buying wardrobe/closets - these are often missing from unfurnished units. IKEA was typically a zoo, and walking in the wrong direction at Wan Chai meant we missed the street of furniture shops! All in all, we're pleased. We get the keys on Wed Dec 22 and our sea shipment of furniture arrives tomorrow... we just need internet and a TV/sofa
Finally going to Japan this Friday.... can't wait to snowboard, then visit Osaka/Kyoto/Tokyo. May crash with Matt in Tokyo, TBD... Sadly the snow is more abundant in North America and Europe than in Japan...!!!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Toronto if FREEZING COLD. With windchill its -20C. I landed here on Monday night after leaving a lovely 20C day in Hong Kong. Back here for some interviewing and team meetings, then on flight back to Asia on Thursday. Short trip, but nice to catch up with family and friends. I'm staying at my parents home, and so far I can surprisingly sleep well.
Happy Wednesday!
Caine Mansion, Le Caine Mansion, Caineway Mansion. I noticed most older buildings anglicize their names by calling them "Mansions". The irony? They are NOT mansions!
Anyway we are in the final home stretch of locking down a permanent home from Jan 2011 onwards. Down to <4 units in midst of two parallel negotiations!
On another front, we had a busy weekend. First on Friday with Karaoke in TST for Simon's birthday; quite local crowd but a good time. Then bright and early on Saturday...we trekked BACK to TST area to have lunch with my Uncle Chee from Singapore (working in Dongguan) and Aunt Doris (they are cousins). Great food and lovely weather/views of harbour. Drinking beer at noon after being hung over is never a good idea; ask Stephen. Then we went to "In-town" outlet mall near China Ferry Terminal to buy a few clothes; great deal on suits and tops. The back to Hong Kong side for another QUALITY , meticulous hair-cut!! If you recall my earlier blog, YES there are diligent and thorough hair cutters in Hong Kong! Booked a few hotels for our Japan snowboarding trip over Xmas... then I crashed on Saturday evening from exhaustion!
Today is Sunday. Woke up early for more apartment hunting with the company's agent (he isn't great, actually). Then a long lunch with Stephen's Toronto friends Cynthia and Ian. She just returned from Nepal and India for Everest trek and Yoga teaching school. Then walked to mid-levels to debate our housing counter offers. Then a long happy hours drinks with a couple from Beijing/Xi'an China to practice our Mandarin. They are heading to US for MBA next year so want to practise their English!
Tired. Have to work a bit tonight, then pack for Toronto. I'll be in Toronto from Monday to Friday this week. Wish us luck on our housing bids!!!
Happy Sunday!
To my shock, in this city of high-rollers, haggling and real&fake LV/Gucci bags and shopping centers galore.... there are "good samaritans" in Hong Kong. What do I mean? Yes there are good, honest people who are not out to cheat you for 10cents.
Here's my story. I had drinks and dinner with colleagues and a customer in LFK/Lan Kwai Fong (bar/pub area). It was only about 6-8pm or so. When I left to go to the train to meet my colleagues who arrived at the W Hotel (Kowloon Station), I dropped my iPhone 3GS. Upon arrival at Kowloon Station (other side of causeway!)... I panicked! At first, my colleague told me to 'Give Up', its lost. Then I picked up my blackberry to call my iphone. To be delight, an older man picked up the phone, told me in Chinese that he was minutes away from selling my iPhone! I begged him to wait for me, and he said, no worry, I will bring you your phone by MTR / subway... it's a bit of a trek so I was pleasantly surprised he actually showed up. Offered him $200 Hong Kong dollars too, and he only took $20 (about $2.5 USD).
So the world is not terrible - even in China. Well, Hong Kong isn't really the same as Mainland China... at least not yet! I'll save that story for another day.
On other notes, we're off to Japan for snowboarding in late December / Xmas, almost signing our 1 year lease (picking between two places), I'm heading to Toronto for 3 days, then maybe into China for a day or two before Japan.
Happy December 7th!
