Post CNY good moods; $1.4m rent; rampant corruption!

Its been 25 days since my last blog. Its becoming more a diary than any insightful commentary, so my apologies in advance. Unlike January - full of vacations - the month of February has been mostly "back to work", plus kicking off some good 2012 habits of exercise.

The first week of Feb was spent in Beijing.  First time into "Sanlitun" area for over a year; this is where the Apple store got 'egg'd' when iPhone 4S sales were halted due to crowd unrest. Tried some decent Hunan food.  Weather was pretty cold as Beijing latitude I think is close to Toronto - so down jacket a 'must'.  People in China are generally in a better mood after Lunar New Year break, so my work meetings and dining experiences were far more pleasant ... :)  

Thereafter, I flew to Dallas for work, then drove to/from Austin in the pouring rain (i do NOT miss driving at all) for more meetings, happily crashed with old friends for southern breakfast in Dallas, then to Toronto for two days for family time, then LA dinner with Montreal childhood friends ... then back to HKG. Great.

On a more leisurely note, I've been training for a half marathon (week four so far), which is roughly 5-7 miles running every 2nd or 3rd day.  I feel great.  Treadmills tend to be boring but better on knees. Ran about 60-70 miles so far but no further than 12km at a time.  Even discovered our apartment gym... it has two treadmills  - who knew?! Now... the only problem is the target date is moving since we have yet to register for a half-marathon race itself! Hopefully by April I'll be ready.

Also we bought new tennis racquets and a nice bag, so I've practicing a bit more these days.  Still enjoying the weekends of friends, food, exercise and lazing around Hong Kong with Stephen.  His new job at SHKF means he's more familiar with Causeway Bay which is great :) 

Did you know Forever 21 pays $1.4 million US per month in retail rent (highest in the world for this chain) -- just to capture Chinese shoppers in Causeway Bay???

The most disturbing thing I read recently above governments, corruption and the rise of China is: The richest 70 members of China’s legislature added more to their wealth last year than the combined net worth of all 535 members of the U.S. Congress, the president and his Cabinet, and the nine Supreme Court justices.  

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-26/china-s-billionaire-lawmakers-make-u-s-peers-look-like-paupers.html

WHAT THE F*@$!  

(YES I even think this 'result' of government work is worse than Hong Kong's $6000 HKD refund to citizens because they can't find good ways to use their surplus! People do need some level of responsible government in my opinion!)

You know its January when gym is packed and barely any work days!

January 2012 has officially closed. But you always know its a new year when the gym is packed and every machine is taken! 


I hardly worked in January hence it was a good month. Got back from vacation on Jan 9th, went to Taipei for meetings the week of Jan 16th then to Bali Indonesia from Jan 20-25th.  These kinds of months are good ones.


In Bali, we chose to stay in the 'traditional cultural hills/rice paddy fields' area called Ubud. Its a few hours from the Denpasar airport but definitely beautiful.  The wood work, craft and Balinese architecture is stunning.  They build sharp peak roofs to capture heat, but the design is simple yet tasteful (not as simple as Zen).  I know what our house will look like one day!


Besides the fact that our hotel driver's mobile ringtone was Justin Bieber, Ubud is truly a serene place. We stayed in Villa Sarna, a family run hotel of only 7 villas.  Home cooked breakfast of Nasi Goreng, and prompt service yet reasonable prices.  On the way, we stopped for famous Balinese style crispy pork. YUM but fatty.  We then took a cycling day tour from Mount Bakur down through Ubud's local temples and homes and rice fields.  Also paid 50 rupiah to try Kopi Lowak (coffee beans outputted via cat's poo, then heated and smushed).  Its extremely smooth; apparently costs $30 USD per cup elsewhere!  Ginseng coffee is truly special so we bought some of that after our coffee tasting.  Realised how many different people travel to Bali to 'find themselves' or to go somewhere relatively Westernized... we traveled with some GE European executive stationed in Shanghai.  I'm in awe how global some folks truly are!


So, Ubud has stunning scenery, and we got lucky that it was quite warm but not too hot (25-30C).  Barely any rain despite the forecast.  Then we enjoyed a Balinese dance performance in Ubud town after some fabulous Indonesian curry and satay.


The next day we were planning to go scuba diving but we hummed and hawed about the 3+ hour drive (one way) to Padang Bai or Amed or USS Liberty shipwreck. Ugh we're lazy. If you add two dives, that would be the most exhausting 'vacation' day ever!  We've dived over a dozen times but its becoming more trouble than enjoyment. 


So instead we hired a driver for the day to take us first to Sanur ('snore' is the nickname per Lonely Planet).  Beaches were decent not great, lots of retired Europeans seem to live there (especially Dutch since Indonesia is a former Dutch colony). Had a nice lunch in Sanur town, then drove off to Kuta beach. Intentionally I avoided hotels in Kuta since this is the Aussie party town where previous terrorist bombings occurred.  The beach was downright AWFUL and disgusting.  The town was sooo commercialised, traffic and pollution were terrible.  


We walked and stopped for snacks along the beach from Kuta to Legian to Seminyak (increasingly upmarket and cleaner beach as well).  Its about a 7-8km walk.  The breeze and view in Seminyak was amazing!  We enjoyed a small bite/drink at Ku De Ta (hip lounge for foreigners on the beach), then went nearby to Sate Bali for satay and delicious seafood.  Didn't get a chance to walk around Seminyak town but may be next time we'd stay near there.  Long day after 1.5 hours drive back to Ubud!


The next day we spent in Nusa Dua at the Conrad Hotel.  I was impressed but it looked like any other luxury seaside resort.  Nothing very 'Balinese' about it except maybe some food or the spa decor.  That evening we enjoyed fresh seafood at Jimbarah Beach overlooking the sunset before boarding our flight back to Jakarta.


All in all, a relaxing, relatively longer few day break.  Stephen had just started his new job before Chinese New Year, so had to get back for 2 more days after CNY!


Other recent happenings include family visits for red pocket hand-outs and lunches, taking up tennis again, outstanding Australian Open 2012 Final between Djokovic (winner) taking almost 6 hours to beat Nadal (after almost 5 hours to beat Andy Murray in semi's) and trying to settle back into routine.  I made a resolution to try to minimize business travel. hmm - tough so far.


Now we're trying to train for a half marathon. We'll see how that goes!  Nonetheless, I bought Nike Free runners "barefoot ride".  Concerned its not quite enough support. Have to run 4x per week...so far so good!  Wish us luck!