This is HILARIOUS!! "那個" lah!!!!! You only have to spend 10 minutes talking to a Beijinger to know he didn't make it upl!
There's a lot more about the Chinese language that is foreign to me (Why are there no spaces between words?? How do I know what's a verb vs. noun vs. adjective? Why does BabelFish online translation suck so bad?!). But hey, I survived 3 weeks working in Beijing.
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Like most good travel experiences, this one started with a night out with the locals. I was so happy to see my colleagues, who took me to Gui Jie(Ghost Street), a 24-hour haunt with a mile-long stretch of restaurants offering Mongolian hot pot, chili-spiked cucumbers, spicy crab, water-boiled fish, etc. The food, though not always elegantly presented, was delicious. Beijingers, like most foodies I know, subscribe to the notion that if you don't know what it is, just try it first! And with this, my adventure with eating random food on this trip started the first night. We indulged in a variety of spicy Sichuan dishes, many plates of appetizers and cold beer, all for less than 50rmb (6.50usd) / person.
Peking duck.. duck blood.. duck stomach.. duck head.. you name it. i ate it.
I stayed at the Raffles Beijing Hotel, a Beijing landmark run by the Singaporean hotel group. The hotel is situated in the heart of the city, on Chang-an Da Jie, between Wangfujing Ave and the Forbidden City. My office was to the west so I’d pass under the huge portrait of Chairman Mao and Tiananmen on my way to and fro work each day. Within a few minutes (and for less than 20rmb or 2.6usd), the ride would take me from the vast spaces of Tiananmen Square, to the massive skyscrapers and new hotels in the densely populated business district in Xidan.
The second week I was there marked the unveiling of the National Grand Theatre, one of the most controversial buildings sitting incongruously in the city center, just west of the Great Hall of the People at Tiananmen Square. Critics have nicknamed it 'the Eggshell' (indeed, the theatre by the esplanade in Singapore is affectionately named 'the Durians' for its perculiar shape as well). And to the north of the city, there's the $480 million Olympic stadium, dubbed 'the Bird's Nest' because of the steel beams stretching to resemble a basket of twigs and branches.
I was amazed to see the massive buildup in the city but had always been curious about lao Beijing (old Beijing). The second weekend, my coworker offered to take me on a hutong tour to the north of the Forbidden City in a neighborhood where he grew up in. Although these hutongs (alleyways) were first formed in ancient neighborhoods that were once inhabited by officials and aristocrats, they still represent the dwellings for a large part of the urban population in modern Beijing. We took a stroll along the gardens, courtyards and alleys in the area, peeking occasionally into the homes of the hutong residents. Imagine living where 12th century magistrates once lived! Communal bathrooms and color TV sets!
The hutongs were located near Houhai, an area that recently became known for its bars and restaurants that line the lake. It was there that I rocked to a Chinese band, watched a belly dancer perform after a traditional Beijing mask-change performance, and played drinking games in a Thai-themed bar. Perhaps a tad touristy, but there's nothing I like more than bars+shops(+drunk asians) by the water. kidding! I found the Chinese light beer to be quite enjoyable and initially thought I was a good match for the drinking powress of the Chinese… until they started to take shots of the Chinese bai jiu faster than I can count the number on the dice.
that's the meatpacking district in nyc! hur hur... tricked you didn't i? (sorry no pics of houhai)
Since so much of my time was spent in taxis, I’d hope that the cab conversations would help me gain a feeling of ease and familiarity with Beijing. It seemed to work. After some time, I was soon tossing my limited vocabulary, occasionally giving directions to the drivers, some of whom just came from the rural villages and did not know the roads well. How they passed the driving/English language test required for all taxi drivers, I do not know. 那個, 那個, 那個 Houhai 是很那個,那個,那個酷 ("nega nega nega Houhai is very nega nega nega cool!") Can you tell I had a lot of fun in Beijing? Olympics 2008, anyone?
my buddies Jon and Eric went to Singapore this past week and sent me these pictures via sms:
"Look what we found !" " Tiger brewery ! T y Lynn for booking it" "The restaurants on the river at boat quay are a tourist trap. Three kilo crab cost 98 sgd."
and they went to zouk and ministry of sound!!! i so wish i am back in singapore...
neh-mine! at least now they know why i speak funny
Haven't seen one of these in a while. Thanks for reminding me Hode...
Weekend was fun... but due to the selective nature of published content and lack of good-looking-no-red-face-from-alcohol-and-bad-dance-expression pictures.. there's no update for now
i wasn't so sure i had made the right choice to go to brussels when i arrived at the airport and found myself to be the only single asian woman in sight. i tried to conceal the fact that i was a little disoriented when in reality i had no euros and couldn't follow the signs in french/flemish. when i finally found my way to the train station, i was lectured by the ticket guy when i tried to pay 3.6 euros with a credit card. and when i arrived in the city center and asked for directions to my hotel, the ticket guy there sized me up with a look and said (in a bad french accent) i was better off taking a cab my hotel was supposed to be <200m from everything(!) and reachable by foot (brussels is a small city). i cursed under my breath for leaving london on a fine-weather day... and with it, the classy metrosexual office men and their sexy british english accent... (joking!)
so what is in brussels that would make me go through the trauma of customs and immigration at heathrow all over again to fly 1 hour into the capital of the european union, that can be described as an un-touristy tourist destination?
similar to other european cities, there were century-old architecture, tall gothic-style cathedrals, a market square in the middle of town, compact cars and cobble-stoned streets, and my favorite one of all, the stay-a-while cafes around the square, where i can people-watch over a fantastic cup of coffee.... that never gets old for me.
my train ticket from the brussels airport to the city center was only 3.60 euro r/t, and the ride was <20mins. brussels is such a cheap and efficient city! (like singapore!) i was also impressed by the fact that the belgians are effectively trilingual (i mean, singaporeans are trilingual too ... if you count Singlish as a language, and my mandarin and chinese dialect as passable...) i tried to wield my rusty french during a stroll at a flea market but i realized what a bad idea that was since i only knew how to ask "what is this?", but had no way of understanding the replies i got back in french....
now the thing that i absolutely love love love about brussels -- brussels sets itself apart from the other european cities for the unique array of food that its famous for. those who know me well know how important good food is to me especially when i'm traveling. this is when i'm most 'productive...
and CHOCOLATES!!!! i don't know which is more shocking - that the belgians consume in average 100L of beer per person per year.. or that each belgian eat as much as 16kg of chocolate a year (it's a wonder that they aren't obese) i think belgium is one of europe's greatest secret!
that's me about to dig into some escargots and mussels
i promise brussels's not all about food. no, really. remember the very talented jean-claude van damme? smurfs and tintin are belgian too. my brother used to have many of those comics. that's tintin and his doggie, milou!
i just threw in brussels sprouts here for fun. i didn't see any on my trip... come to think of it i didn't actually eat any vegetables this weekend...
that's the meatpacking district in nyc! hur hur... tricked you didn't i? (sorry no pics of houhai)
Can you tell I had a lot of fun in Beijing? Olympics 2008, anyone?
my hotel was supposed to be <200m from everything(!) and reachable by foot (brussels is a small city). 
i was also impressed by the fact that the belgians
