Woe betide whoever dares say my kid isn't cute enough!!!

Warning: If my blog or this post disappears overnight, you know it's due to some mystical forces of the Chinese government.

I'm brought up to write proper English, and am sickened when people over-use exclamation marks (e.g. Wah lau eh!!! This noodle is very nice to eat leh!!!). But, I simply had to title my blog with (at least) three exclamation marks to convey the strong feelings I have for the subject of this post.

Sad news about the Olympics, and it's not about the fact that (obviously and NOT suprisingly), Singapore has yet to pick up any medal, or that some Chinese hot-for-gold medallist got silver or bronze instead. Instead, my sadness is linked to the story of two Chinese girls (that's LIN Miaoke on the left, and YANG Peiyi on the right).

Quick question before you read on: Do you think both girls are cute, or is "angel-faced" Lin cuter than short-haired, crooked-teethed Yang?

Now, read on:

Pretty, pixie-faced Lin Miaoke became an overnight star (or in her own father's words, "an international singing sensation") after she appeared in the opening of the Beijing Olympics, singing the all-too-famous patriotic Chinese song "Ode to the Motherland". She became a hit with her sweet voice, beautiful red dress (and what I think is an overdone plastic smile and too much make-up for a nine-year-old). Fair enough.

Problem arises when reports have surfaced that Lin was lip-synching (oh well, international pop stars lip-sync too, and it has also been reported that Luciano Pavarotti's performance at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin was pre-recorded as the wintry cold made a live performance impossible). However, this has been pushed to the limit when horrors of all horrors, it was also revealed that Lin was not lip-synching to her own voice, but to that of another young girl, seven-year-old Yang Peiyi.

In China's keen attempts to present its "best" on the international stage, Yang was not deemed good enough to sing at the opening. You can read more about the details in this report, but details are summarized as such:

Chen Qigang, the ceremony's music director, had been asked last minute by an unamed Politburo official to replace Yang with Lin, according to an interview with Beijing Radio. This is what Chen said (I've combined various parts of his quotes into the below abstract):

"The audience will understand that it's in the national interest... The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and a good grasp of the song and look good on screen... Lin Miaoke was the best in this. And Yang Peiyi's voice was the most outstanding.... We had to make that choice. It was fair both for Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi...We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance."

Obviously, the end results are far from perfect - Yang's looks were just not cute enough for some official (who I'd assume does not have kids of his own and thus judges innocent kids harshly based on looks).

In my personal view, China's quest for perfection has really extended beyond acceptable boundaries - it's quite shameful and saddening (as well as maddening!) to think that poor Yang has to live in the shadows of being deemed uncute, and even Lin is a victim for being deemed to have a lousy voice. Who needs "perfect" when you are just a kid, for goodness sake?! There are many comments online with debate and disgust about this and obviously, alot of local media have been told to remove the story, suggesting that Chinese authorities are indeed uncomfortable with the fact that they've been exposed.

Of course, as with all matters, the other side of the coin has a camp of people who agree with the lame "national interests" excuse that China needs to present its best to the world at such an important event. However, who cares about "best" when your "best" turns out to be "fake"? And isn't one of the key elements of Olympic spirit about "fair play"? Hubby Wayne offers his two cents' worth as he's more in tune with the psyche of his fellow Chinese citizens: if Yang were to appear on stage, there would also be criticisms of why a "cuter" girl was not chosen - you can't please a nation of 1.3 billion, and it's easy for us non-Chinese people to look on and criticize; guess you can't please everybody whilst balancing "national interests"!

However, even more heart-tugging is Yang's sincere response (and hopefully nobody had to hold a knife to her dad's neck to force her to make such a politically-correct statement), that "just having her voice used for the opening ceremony was an honor". Now, why can't we adults and the folks in question exercise such innocence?

I shall end my rambling outburst with the mission of the Olympic Spirit:

"Our vision and purpose is clear - To be an icon of Olympic values and ideals, to inspire and motivate the youth of the world to be the best they can be."

Mark R. Dzenick

Chairman - Olympic Spirit Group

Note to guilty parties: Key phrase in above is "to be the best they CAN be", and certainly, definitely, absolutely not "to be the best they APPEAR to be". (Cue: Shake head and give a heavy sigh...)

The many manifestations of parental love

• Wayne's parents reached Beijing on an overnight train from their home in Zhengzhou, Henan this morning. It has been two years since Wayne's father came to Beijing (the last was in August 2006 when our families met for the first time here - as per pic below). They are here to soak in the Olympics spirit and attend the three events Wayne successfully bid for tickets to - two sessions of gymnastics, and the semi-finals of women's basketball. More than that, them being around has made our home livelier, and the two weeks they are in town will be a chance for Rosabelle to "acquaint" with her Ye Ye and Nai Nai before she pops out (hopefully they will consider spending their CNY in Singapore, heh).
  
  
• I experienced a strong, pulling pain on the right side of my abdomen last night (when sleeping on my right) in the midst of my sleep. It was so bad I could not even switch positions, and only after five minutes, when I moved over, then did the pain subside. I got so worried when I did not feel Rosabelle kick for about 10 minutes, and was so relieved when she started moving so I knew it was probably nothing more than the usual pulling of my ligaments when my uterus expands. However, this pain, unlike the rest of the times, was constant, and almost paralysing...to the point that I woke poor Wayne up to tell him about it (sweet, sweet Wayne was very reassuring...).
  
• My mum, as with usual routine, would call me every weekend to chat, and one of the first things she told me on the phone on Sunday was, "Eh, this Friday is the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. You and Wayne better go home early on that day." (embedded in strong Chinese beliefs about the Ghost Festival, and the fact that on the 1st, 15th, and 30th of the seventh lunar month, the ghosts are fiercest/most disruptive).
  
• On 10 Aug, defending champion Xian Dongmei won China's first judo gold medal - no mean feat for a 33-year-old lady who just gave birth to her daughter 18 months ago. She is the first Chinese judoka who has managed to win gold medals in two consecutive Olympic Games, and is also the first ever mama Olympic champion in China. Understandably, this meant that she had to resume training shortly after birth, and her very poignant celebratory interview on CCTV made my eyes water. She said something to the effect of, "I really want to thank my husband who has given me much support to my coming back to judo after marriage and giving birth to our daughter, and what I want to do most now is to make up to my daughter whom I have not seen for more than a year."... and upon mention of her daughter, her voice cracked and eyes filled up with tears.

Such is the sweet bliss of parental love, and I am blessed to be able to be showered by it, and to manifest this in return on Rosabelle.

Huat, Huat, Huat, Huat, Huat ah! (发、发、发、发、发!)

What were you doing on 8 August 2008, at 8:08 pm? Well, I'm in Beijing, and of course I was catching the much-hyped over Opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics Games (more on that later...)! It was a busy, hectic day for Wayne and I on this day, where fortunately, both our companies granted staff a day off to mark the occasion.

In the morning, we headed out to play golf (well, at least Wayne did, and I sat around reading magazines, and snacking non-stop to keep from being hungry)....Wayne's lately into golf and is busy practising his shots before venturing on the green one day, heh...

As the driving range is in an "ulu" area of town, we had to call for a cab to come and pick us up after we were done. It being the first day of the Olympics, and there being many, many, many kinds of traffic restrictions and road closures, there were lesser cabs than usual and Wayne had to walk a stretch out and hail a cab in to fetch me (same situation on the night before when I was heading from work to meet Amy Tee and John Millward for dinner - more about them later - I had to wait for about 20 minutes going from work, something totally unheard of in Beijing where cabs are in abundance! We even had to take the bus back to their hotel after dinner at Da Dong Roast Duck - horrors!).

By the time we got a cab, it was late so, we skipped lunch with the Millwards - we were originally scheduled to meet them at their hotel for lunch, but I was too hungry by the time we got home and wanted to take a bath... bad call to settle our own lunch as the Millwards raved about it - they are staying at The Opposite House, a new, swanky boutique luxury hotel right smack in Sanlitun area, and Amy had the privilege of getting a complimentary stay (through her previous work with Amex), and complimentary F&B/services throughout their stay!

So, lunch at the mediterranean restaurant, Sureno, was free of charge, as was their cocktails in the lounge the night before, as was their laundry service, as was their room's mini-bar, and as was everything else - how shiok can that be?! Only thing the Millwards needed to do is to critique the hotel room, service, food etc since they have yet to open officially (my dream job - get freebies for doing something I am adept at - complaining!)

We reached their hotel and went up to their very nice room (rooms have different themes there), where Amy forced John to lie in the wooden bath tub and pose as if he was in a coffin - hilarious! We ended our "stay" in the hotel with again, complimentary, drinks at the coffee area downstairs - the lobby is also very nicely done-up - their check-in/out are all entirely wireless/paperless, yet another nice touch to their already very-good service!

We bade farewell to the Millwards who headed off to the outskirts (see you next month, my dears, it'd be a nice reunion of the BBC - Blare Bitch Club - of ex-Public Eureka colleagues where Amy's the VP cos she's always so bitchy (hoot!), and me, I'm the CEO - meeeooowwww....), and Wayne and I took a walk around Sanlitun's The Village.

This place, or in fact, any other place in Beijing these days, takes on a completely new facade within a matter of weeks (or even days). They have many new (and nice) buildings, and shops, and we even visited the Olympics Hospitality Tent of Adidas (faux pas is Wayne was wearing a Nike T-shirt - haha!) - Wayne's ex-colleague, Robin, is working with Adidas, and flew in from Shanghai to be in Beijing during August (as Adidas is the official sportswear partner of the Games).

So, we got unrestricted access into the VIP tent and you see the backdrop of their award-winning ad? I personally like the TVC and print ad of this inspiring commercial, but read somewhere that with the sketchy faces of the people, it looks like a scene from the "Hell of 10,000 souls" - freaky but true (hehe!)!

Visitors could also get imaginative by putting speech bubbles next to the characters on the backdrop, but check out this one of somebody who is in CHINA but could not get the spelling right...(sheesh!):

Hungry me then had to bid farewell to Robin too, as we walked to the nearest fast food outlet, KFC, where poor Wayne had to queue for about 20 minutes to get me some snacks to eat (was tough getting a seat too)... throngs of people there as alot of people were in Sanlitun area to congregate and watch the opening on big screens with friends.

Still on the topic of food, we then headed on to our last pit stop of this "huat, huat, huat" day - Tim and Van's house - their relatives are in town for the Games, and we decided to join them to catch the opening together in the comfort of their home. In commemoration of Singapore National Day the next day, there was a Singapore feast with catered food from local restaurant, Lau Pa Sat, and we OD-ed on the likes of curry chicken, sambal kangkong, mee goreng, almond jelly...(for about SGD20 per person, though dessert was provided by the friendly hosts).

On screen, the opening (especially the countdown) was already quite majestic with more fireworks than the history of Singapore's NDPs combined (multiplied by 500x), but in retrospect, CCTV (the national broadcaster) did not do justice to the real magnifique of the whole session choreographed by Zhang Yimou. It's not clear, but some have put blame on the broadcast director of Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB), a Swedish; whilst others have attributed it to CCTV's own mish-mash of their own footages, which only they had rights to, with that of BOB's.

In any case, there were many, many important and "wow!" scenes that were enjoyed only by the audiences on-site, or better captured by other better broadcasters, so I won't even bother to give the link to local renderings, but instead those from Getty Images on BBC. There is a local blog posting that captures images that we poor TV viewers did not catch due to the lousy directorial skills - sheesh! Kudos are given to the NBC broadcast (which I caught on DVD), which obviously fared much better than its CCTV counterpart.

At parts where only an aerial view would do justice, CCTV chose to focus only on the sweaty faces of the performers, or on the bored-to-death faces of the Chinese politicians. Further, for those foreigners who did not know better, the appearance of the various countries' athletes was not in alphabetical order, but according to the number of strokes in the first letter of your country's Chinese name! Now, how would any foreigner know that - imagine having to hold your pee for fear of missing your country's short (in the case of Singapore, very very short) appearance?! And I won't even go into how the subtitling failed terribly (minuscule Chinese fonts with no English translations during the sequences; names of countries only appeared in English...).

One other conclusion as well about the opening - at sequences where we were debating if they were mechanically/computer-driven, they ended up to be operated by manual labor (i.e. it's cheaper, maybe free of charge, to have Chinese people moving blocks up and down, rather than to install a device that will do it for you - 1.3 billion people leh, am sure they can find many willing volunteers!).

An interesting fact to end this post -- on this day in China, there were other "records" being set as at least 314,224 couples tied the knot on this auspicious day of so many "8"s (or to mark the Olympics as well), a one-day record for marriages since 1949 (when the People's Republic of China was founded). Well, there's another saying that "88" is the colloquial for "拜拜", or "bye bye"...so auspicious or not...you figure it out (I know in Singapore, it's the seventh lunar month, or the Ghost Festival, so maybe it won't be so auspicious, depending on which part of the world you sit in). There are other couples in China who even demand for caesarean births to coincide with the date, and have named their child "Olympics", or at least, the Chinese equivalent "奥运" (faint...).

All in all, a very eventful and purposeful day (in comparison to what I did on 9 Sep, Singapore's National Day - cleared up the last of the wardrobes in the house - the guest room's; and went for facial, for manicure/pedicure...so uneventful...yawn...).

You know it's Olympics season when...

• Taxi drivers in the city are decked in a uniform of pastel yellow shirts and striped ties.


• When you get out of a taxi, an aunty comes to you and does a short survey of whether you were happy with the ride (was the aircon on? did the driver speak properly? did he remind you to take all your belongings? does the taxi smell?)... and presents you with a complimentary pink face towel as a gesture of appreciation.


• When it's much harder to get a cab since (i) the city is imposing the single/double-digit number plate rule to limit private cars, so everybody else is taking public transport (ii) those who have to take the train are forced to take cabs because the city has closed alot of stations for security reasons, or have such long queues to implement security checks that more people are getting late for work (iii) selected cabs have been tasked to stay empty as they ply the roads as they have been given implicit instructions to ensure foreigners can get cabs whenever they want (time for me to whip out my SGP passport...).


• When the friendly greeting du jour and small talk is not about "have you had your meal?" or "it's a hot summer, isn't it?", but instead "do you have any tickets to the Olympic events?", or "is your company granting you leave during Auguest because of the Olympics?".


• When in dry Beijing, and the even drier and hotter summer months of July and August, we get occasional rainfalls (thanks to rumoured cloud seeding of the city government who want to clear the air for the Games).
  
• When your friendly neighbourhood DVD shop closes for "stock-taking" for the loongest time over this period (to avoid IPR issues).


• When companies start granting vacations for 8 August to mark the opening day of the Olympics (and are realistic about how terrible traffic conditions will be). Some companies even allow flexi working hours or one- to two-day telecommuting in a week (not mine...).


• When family members and friends from out of town start visiting and putting up at your already-cramped homes so as to avoid paying for exhorbitant hotel room rates.


• When family members and friends from out of town always start or end their personal emails with something along the lines of "it must be an exciting time for you since you are there in the thick of action for the Beijing Olympics" (and maybe hoping you will offer them a free homestay...).


• When those in my line of profession swing extremes - you will be super busy if you/your Client are involved in the Olympics; or occupy yourself with stuff you would normally not have time to do (like budgets, executive trainings etc) if you/your Client are NOT involved in the Olympics.


• When any other Company, whether international/local, sponsor/non-sponsor, will attempt cheap shots at linking itself with the Olympics by using sporting images or phrases like "2008" and "中国加油" (China go!) in their communications.


• When TV and radio stations do nothing but talk/play Olympics-related images/songs (I know I will be seriously relieved when this all blows over...).


• When you suffer from Fuwa (the 5 Olympics mascots) overkill with memorabilia/souvenir shops sprouting up anywhere and everywhere in departmental stores (fakes galore as well in side streets and some touristy areas).


• When you get worried if your kid's going to grow up in an over-competitive environment because alot of Chinese people want to have kids this year to aim for an "奥运宝宝" (Olympics baby).


• When you know your country's own 43rd National Day Celebrations on 9 Aug pale in comparison to the Olympics opening on 8 Aug (Happy Birthday, Singapore!).


• When I start blogging about the Olympics even though I am seriously sick of all the overhype and the inconvenience it brings to me.

I'd always answered the question "so, how long do you intend to be in China for?" with a "well, at least until the Olympics", so I can witness for myself being in a host city for the first time. The time has swung round, so why am I not too excited?

Maybe it's too much overkill, with the 1,000-day, 500-day, 100-day, N-day countdown and Olympics songs playing till death etc, and as I mentioned, the inconvenience it brings to me as a resident in this city (in traffic-congested Beijing, they have designated some lanes for Olympics vehicles only, so imagine the further congestion it'll bring). Folks renovating their homes over this period have to contend with a lack of renovation supplies as they are restricting such courier of large goods into the city and prices are higher than usual due to a lack of supplies and transportation.

Before the Chinese government reads my grousings and decide to shut down my blog, it's not all a bad thing... the streets are cleaner, the taxis are cleaner and drivers more polite, public facilities/amenities are completed, security is beefed up for good reasons (there are seriously alot of saboteurs, so even though we have tickets, I am not going for any of them and will leave to Wayne and his parents to enjoy), and it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Below pic was taken almost two years ago when the Fuwas just came out...we had a visiting colleague, Tracy, from our Malaysia office then. Here's hoping the good things continue after August and is not just for-show-only to impress the rest of the visitiors, and that we have a successful (and safe) Olympics!

Tokyo Sojourn (Part IV) - Lodging, Kawaii Stuff & Finale

Alas! The last of my lengthy postings about Tokyo Sojourn!

Humble Abodes

Prior to going to Japan, I've heard stories of how tiny their hotel rooms can be (I was even worried whether with my expanding belly, if I can fit into their toilets/shower rooms!), so I went with really low expectations of minuscule capsules for rooms...

On our first night, we checked into Prince Hotels & Resorts, outside of Tokyo city centre. There was much grousing initially on why we are not staying in the city, of how we were being short-changed for a hotel in the outskirts etc (cos it's nearer for us to head off to Hakone the next day), but we heard from local friends that this hotel is relatively "bigger" and has nice rooms, which is quite true. Rooms in Japanese hotels have "pay per view" channels, or in Japanese, they are "有料" channels (i.e. soft porn lah!), so I took the brochures from this hotel - no scintillating photos, which is surprising, because aren't they supposed to entice the men to want to watch and pay for the movies? Hmmm...

On the second night in Hakone, we checked into a hot springs resort, Hotel Heian - I know, it reads like darkness "黑暗", but in Japanese, it means "平安" - we slept on tatami mats, but this hotel was soooo old, they had ancient-looking fridge, TV, phone etc in the rooms, and I swear the day curtains in my room had blood stains! The room does look like something out of a Japanese horror movie where the killer chops bodies up into a hundred pieces and stuffs them into the ancient-looking fridge...thankfully I did not agree to getting a single room as my office Admin Manager so nicely offered (I figured I'd need help with my luggage, and in case I needed someone around at night, so my roomie for the trip was Chen Yi, my university mate who is now my colleague, heh!).

There was nothing much to do around this hotel area after dinner, and my colleagues and I heeded the advice of our Taiwanese tour guide who suggested we go to a hypermarket "not too far" from the hotel. It took us 40 minutes one way to walk there, and we had to rest along the way.... it turned out to be just a one-level supermarket where I ended up buying a bunch of champagne grapes, a packet of milk, and sweets! Wah lau eh.....at least the air was fresh and it was a leisurely walk, but still! As we walked along the way, we chanced upon a red light district street, and also came to the conclusion that all the rest of the hotels/resorts look less seedy and are much nicer than the one we were staying in!

By the time we walked back to the hotel, I seriously needed a bath (rest of the folks took their baths in the hot springs, which are segregated by gender - as seen in signs such as those in the right picture), but in my condition, I could not soak in the hot springs at all and decided to bathe in the room.... where to my bad bad bad luck, the room had no hot water at all!

So... I had to bravely (well, Chen Yi sweetly accompanied me though she already had her bath) go to the hot springs area, and though I did not soak, I had to take a bath in the communal area! Yes, baring my pregnant birthday suit in front of my colleagues and taking my bath in the steam room! Can die...luckily there were not too many colleagues there already as it was late, but I completed my bath in 5 minutes and thank god I did not have my spectacles on to view the other naked bodies...yikes!!! But it's either that or bathing with cold water...or not bathing at all...

I got quite worried whether the hot steam room would be harmful on Rosabelle, and actually developed a red, patchy skin on my tummy the next evening (could also be due to me shopping around the next day under hot weather), but after checking with AmCare, it should be fine, but it was an experience I'd very much rather forget man!!! (Luckily I didn't soak in the hot spring as one of the female colleagues revealed she could see the whole hot spring from the comfort of her room - i.e. view everybody else naked if she wants to - aiyo!!)

Our last night was spent in Tokyo City centre at U-Port Hotel, again much "bigger" than I expected, but after we rushed back on the subway (thank goodness we had our colleague's friend to bring us on the ride as the subway system is totally confusing), we still checked in late as the coach had to pick up the folks who went to Disneyland, and came back an hour later than agreed (it was holding all our luggages).

We had all our breakfasts in the hotels, so it's not anything to hoot about, but one thing we noticed is that there are alot of luuurve hotels around Japan (i.e. budget hotels with kinky themes for short-term/hourly use)...e.g. this below hotel that's literally called "Love", and another we spotted in Hakone called "Hotel Oh! Oh!" - my colleague and I exclaimed "Oh! Oh!" at the same time...it was hilarious...

Kawaii Stuff

We were allowed to bring along friends/family members (they paid for their own trip expenses, of course), and on this trip, we had four children tagging along. When it comes to group tours, having kids around will make everyone moan and groan as it's believed that the folks with kids will always be late, be the most troublesome etc etc...but this time round, other than some one-off instances where some were late (and got chastised by all), they performed relatively well.

See this really sweet photo of the two younger girls dressed up for dinner...

As well as this other photo of this baby at Hakone who was wearing watermelon shorts (of towel-like material)! So cute I wanted to kidnap (or just bite her buttocks)...

Other than being entertained by the cutie pies, I also spotted alot of other interesting Japanese stuff on this trip...e.g. a classic -- their "oh-so wonderfully high-tech the only thing it does not do is serve you coffee whilst you are peeing" toilet bowls - they had buttons to wash and blow dry your "er-hem" after you are done; buttons that can play waterfall/singing bird chirps in case you make embarrassing noises whilst doing your business; and also the toilet seats are all comfortably warmed so you don't get butt freeze! (But this last function almost killed me when I went to the toilet during lunch in Hakone - the toilet seat was so warm it warmed up the whole toilet cubicle, which was already very small and stuffy...thought I'd faint over from the heat!)

Unfortunately, Chen Yi revealed to me the "ugly China tourist" when she said one of the mothers of the girls who went on the trip with us made her daughter STAND on the toilet seat to take a pee. See, in China, they have this perennial fright of toilet bowls and would rather have squat pans, so this educated woman (I think she is?) made her daughter STAND with her DIRTY shoes on the wonderful, high-tech toilet bowl.... really makes me roll eyes in disgust.

Another thing is they had toilet signs in Chinese that requested for users to throw their toilet paper into the toilet bowls. Now, this is OBVIOUS for us not staying in China, but in China, where the plumbing system is not as sophisticated (in the past), they are brought up (and used to) throwing their used tissue in the bins to avoid clogging up their bowls. So, yes, even in my CBD office building in Beijing, I still have to do my business next to bins overflowing with such "used tissue"....and when local folks visit my house, I will hide my bins and remind them to throw whatever into the bowls (no way am I going to empty THAT kind of trash for them!) but in Japan, they obviously face the same problem with these Chinese tourists, so it was common to see overflowing bins as well...EWWWW...

Enough of toilets...the signs that I saw around Japan were all also very cute and camera-worthy, and for Sanrio/Hello Kitty fans, it was heaven for them (not me lah...).

However, not all signs can/should be taken literally, especially if read directly in our Chinese language. For example, this sign below means making love "作爱" in Chinese, but it's actually referencing a legit restaurant name...haha!

The streets were also filled with other intriguing things that I would have paid more attention to had it not been a mad dash around on the trip... e.g. that of a young boy drawing the street scene (to excruciating detail); nicely-painted store gates; floor depictions etc... am sure I would have enjoyed them all more if I had a leisurely time in Japan.

Final Musings
Many colleagues were surprised that I wanted to go on this trip, and without Wayne chaperoning us at that, and marvelled at how I trudged through with Rosabelle. I knew I wasn't going to be taking a vacation for a long time to come, and in my second trimester, this is actually the best time to travel (no more morning sickness, more stable pregnancy, tummy not too big yet etc etc). Further, the air and freshness in Japan was a good respite from the Beijing pollution, and the R&R away from work for a few days would do myself and Rosabelle good, heh.

However, following a tour group from China does have its cons - we tend to get marginalized (also because of the way they expect Chinese tourists to behave, which as I depicted in "stand on toilet bowl" incident above, is sadly true at times); get pushed back to the back-end of the plane (I had to fight for my emergency-landing seat with extra leg room); get booked on super-cheap airfares (my mileage points was zero to-fro!); had a super-lousy guide who followed us from Beijing (he got ticked off by me many, many times over!)... and of course, on a group tour, the itinerary is highly inflexible and we passed by sights only on the bus. We wanted to catch the Tokyo Sumida River Fireworks Display that took place on our first night (July 26) but as it could not fit into our schedule, those who wanted to go had to arrange their own transport...sigh!

But still, for someone like me who had never been to Japan before, and considering it's an all-expenses-paid company trip, in the caring and helpful hands of my fellow colleagues, it was still a good eye-opener. It's breath-taking sights like these that make me forget (but momentarily only!) all my grouses...

So...until our next road trip with Rosabelle (where Daddy Wayne will likely have to be involved to), here's Mummy Wendy signing off on the report about our Tokyo Sojourn - hope you enjoyed it!

Tokyo Sojourn (Part III) - Food & Shopping

Food, Glorious Food

I am not a sashimi (nor any kind of raw foods) person, so I stuck to non-adventurous food whilst in Japan. Alot of our meals were provided for in the tours (some of crap Chinese buffet-style, complete with China people jostling for food), and we did not have the chance to go around much and be experimental with our taste buds (I made up for it with alot of snacking in between - haha!).

We had BBQ buffet on the first night there (eat until very full lor)...

then had a udon set lunch the next day (local colleagues found the food quantity to be too little, and the udon to taste different from China types - I found it nice..heh!)...

on the second night, whilst staying at Hakone small town, all of us dressed up in traditional gear (ok, it's the pyjamas they actually provided us), and sat down on tatami mats for a traditional dinner. It was very hard for us all to sit like the tour guide is demonstrating, so in the end I just stuck out my legs - some of the little girls even "zhao gng" (exposed themselves), but the food and experience was fun nonetheless!...

it was lunch and dinner on our own expenses the next day, so I ate in a small ramen stall where I first had to buy a ticket from the vending machine, and then passed it to the very handsome cook over the counter to whip up a bowl of vegetable ramen (was delicious! the ramen, not the cook). I did not dare to take photos too blatantly, so here's a sneaky shot across the table of somebody else slurping his ramen.... SLUUURPPPP!

For dinner, by the time we were done with shopping, I was starving and totally not in the mood (nor have energy) to capture photographs, but we ate chicken BBQ rice - again very delicious...and for the last day, that was where we were brought to eat the yucky Chinese buffet lunch, so I won't even bother wasting time complaining about how yucky it is...(though I found out that for China tours, it is mandatory for the tours to include at least one Chinese meal, and alot of my local colleagues appreciate it as they were not used to the less flavorful seasonings of Japanese cuisine).

One thing about Japanese items and foodstuffs is the fact that they all look too good to be eaten. It's all about packaging, packaging, packaging, and the foodstuff I brought back for my colleagues and friends/family are all so kawaii (cute), that I couldn't bear to open them up...

Another thing about Japan are the vending machines - and you can see them all over the place selling anything from burgers to cigarettes to hot coffee... I could not resist and bought some drinks - you can see even their drink bottles are oh-so-cute....

It was snacks galore as we went from place to place, and I had to kick myself hard to resist my sweet tooth (although I succumbed at times), as I was mindful of my blood sugar levels. I enjoyed the lovely snacks and desserts, and took the chance to try out various foodstuff as much as possible (quite easy as I got hungry relatively fast!) - so no regrets!

Shopping, Glorious Shopping

We were brought to a few areas for our shopping:

Ginza, Japan's premier shopping district with various international designer brands, and a place to see and be seen...

and on our free and easy afternoon, instead of heading to Tokyo Disneyland as I originally intended to (decided not to in the end as I'd only have half a day there, and can't enjoy the rides in my condition), we went to Shibuya for some serious walking around. This area is a popular shopping and entertainment area and one of Tokyo's most colorful and busy districts and birthplace to many of Japan's fashion and entertainment trends. They have major departmental stores in this area as well, and I managed to pick up quite a few maternity wear from various places, including affordable pieces from Muji (they are not actually for pregnant women, but these days, large, flowy dresses are in, so good for me!) My colleagues basically went crazy over the cosmetics/toiletries stores, which has alot of local brands like Kose or Fancl selling at much cheaper prices than they get in China, so they bought like as if they were going to export (seriously)...

On the last day, we had our last does of retail therapy at two places - one at VenusFort, which was tourists' duty-free heaven, and interesting because the indoor decor is replicated after 17th-18th century European architecture and streets. In the day time, there is an open ceiling showing clear, bue skies, changing to a starlit night in the evening.

It was a pity I was too busy covering the three levels of shopping to take in the nice interior decor (and they had alot, alot of baby clothing on the first floor, which fortunately, I did not succumb to cos I know if I started, I would not stop! I saw a can-die-for pullover for a kid, that read "My voyage has just begun", and at the back, it read "Guide me" - it costs SGD60!).

Next door to this was the Toyota Automobile Museum (free entry too), but seriously, who cared about viewing this when I don't already have enough time shopping?!!

En route to the airport, the coach stopped us at Jusco - I seriously underminded this place - Jusco was just one of its major tenants - there were two storeys of serious shopping and other outlets and in only one hour, there was only so much I could cover! At one point, I was walking so fast that I felt slight pangs of pain and had to slow down (sorry, darling daughter!)...

The only "lowlight" of the shopping was when the tour guide forced all of us to go to this lousy "duty-free" shop (even after violent protests) that basically did not have anything much and has service staff who were all Chinese-speaking (so guess who their target "victims" usually are)...wasted at least one hour of precious time there - luckily we scooted out to get more food, haha!

Surprisingly, I did not end up with too much shopping at the end of this trip. Japan has alot of cute knick-knacks and nice clothing that make my eyes and mind whirl (and if I was shopping in my non-pregnant figure, I'm sure the damage on clothing would have been colossal!), but alot of times, the stuff are things that make me go "hmmm...what on earth would I do with soemthing like that when I bring it home?" or "would I seriously wear something like that?"...they are having their summer sale now so prices are really reasonable, and their service is very, very impeccable. To the point when I am rushing around from shop to shop and had to bite my tongue to not be rude when they take forever to wrap up my items, or walk from behind their counter with my purchases so as to see me out of the shop (haha!).

See my spoils at the end of the day..not too bad, isn't it?

Enough posts for the day - I will wrap up my final Tokyo Sojourn postings with commentaries about the hotel, the folks on this trip, as well as random musings...till then!

Tokyo Sojourn (Part II) - Sights

My ramblings about my Tokyo trip continues with the various sights we caught in - by the way, I managed to upload my pix on this site; happy viewing of all two hundred over photographs!

Mount Fuji
Our coach drove us up half-way of Mount Fuji (Fujisan), Japan's highest mountain - a must-go when you are in Japan. A total of 3,776 meters, Mount Fuji is a dormant volcano, which most recently erupted in 1708, and when we reached half-way (2,305m) and disembarked - the air pressure was very high (they sold gas/oxygen in bottles in the shops) - check out what my bottle of unopened milk powder looked like - ready to burst!

We got down to take photos and go to touristy souvenir shops where I bought the mandatory postcard from the post office there), it was raining and foggy, so it was pretty cold! There were hoards of Chinese tourists around there, and coupled with the fact that we were all taking shelter from the rain, one of the shops (the one with the post office) was teeming with loads of people (I had to tell a Chinese aunty "I'm pregnant, can you pls don't push me?! HMPH!").

Clouds and poor visibility often block the view of Mount Fuji, and we were lucky to get a clear view of the mountain going up and down. As Mount Fuji is officially opened for climbing during July and August via several routes, we spotted many brave souls decked in their gear and ready to climb all the way up from where we were (of course none from our tour group lah).

Sensoji
Also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple, this is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, as it was built in the year 645 (to mark the Goddess of Mercy, Kannon, as two brothers fished a statue of the Goddess out of a river in 628, and even though they put the statue back into the river, it always returned to them).

We washed our hands first before offering our donations and prayers, and walked past the five-storied pagada through Kaminarimon, the outer gate and Hozomon, the main gate. However, as we entered via the "back door", we did not walk all the way through to the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), the landmark outer gate. Blame it on us getting distracted by a shopping street of over 200 meters (with a history of several centuries), called Nakamise, with typical Japanese souvenirs such as slippers and folding fans, as well as various traditional local snacks (which I enjoyed!).

Statue of Liberty @ Odaiba Marine Park
Yes, you read this right! I did not know there is a (replica, of course) Statue of Liberty in Tokyo, but the guide brought us to view it at Odaiba at Tokyo Bay. Smaller than the original, it took us 20 minutes to walk in the hot morning sun to view the bronze structure, so it's quite boh liao, though we kept seeing the skyline of Rainbow Bridge as we walked along. The bridge could be viewed along our routes, and was completed in 1993, spanning 570 meters, and is so named since lamps placed on the wires supporting the bridge are illuminated into three different colors (red, white and green) every night using solar energy obtained during the day.


Other sites
On our bus journeys (which was most of the time), we passed by some iconic landmarks of Tokyo, like the Tokyo Tower, which stands at 333 meters (13 meters taller than its model, the Eiffel Tower of Paris), and the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. It was completed in the year 1958 as a symbol for Japan's rebirth as a major economic power, and serves as a television and radio broadcast antenna and tourist attraction (which we did not go because the guide would have had to pay for us..tsk tsk). We also saw (note: did NOT ride, only SAW) the Odaiba Ferris Wheel, the largest one in the world with a diameter of 100 meters and a height of 115 meters above ground.

This wraps up the sights (no, seriously, that's all the tourist spots we went to - we were on a guided tour, so what do you expect...). To avoid this post droning on too long, I shall blog more about my other favourite topics - food and shopping (!), in Part III. Stay tuned!