Day 17 - Shanghai

This has been an extraordinary year cos I got to go to both the US (SF and Montana) and also China (Shanghai and Hangzhou). Just returned from Shanghai last night. And yes! It's finally IS a leisure trip lol.

I'm so grateful for the 1 week getaway from work. Although I was mostly touring Shanghai on my own, it was still a pleasant experience. At least I proved that I could find my way around places and act as Little Miss Independent; booking my own flights, flying alone and then travelling to all the tourist spots via the subway.

Shanghai wasn't what I imagined it to be. I thought it was a cosmopolitan city, modern and glitzy like Singapore, where the people were well-dressed like the Hongkongers. But then there were hoards and hoards of Chinese from the other provinces who swarm the place, and they weren't exactly the most polished people in the world. LY told me that the reason I couldn't find toilet paper in the toilets (not even the railway toilet) was because it would be gone the moment they installed it. And so much for 1st impressions, I had to encounter a taxi driver from hell when I arrived who smoked shamelessly, drove way over the speed limit, and even chatted loudly on his mobile phone. The cab was in such a dirty and unkempt state that throughout the 1hr journey to the hotel, I didn't dare move for fear that the dirt will rub onto me. Shanghai also didn't live up to its reputation of being a food haven. All of the xiao long baos and tang baos I ordered disappointed, and also the local freshwater fishes which just doesn't suit my tastebuds.

However I did discovered some gems during the trip. One was the 香辣虾 restaurant just across the street from the hotel we were staying which served 干锅牛蛙 (stir-fried frog legs) and 扬州炒饭 that were absolutely fantastic. We went back a second time and ordered the same dishes. I also enjoyed eating at the 鸭王 chain along East Nanjing Rd where we wrapped our own Peking Duck with rice paper, and got to eat 鸭舌.

Then there was the beautiful old street with shophouses in Hangzhou;that was given a facelift, it was the most perfect juxtapose of old tradition and modernity that I've seen. The walk down the street made me wish I had taken up architecture as my major, which was one of my dreams back in JC. Lastly was all the shopping, mainly at the supermarket. I didn't buy much but I'm quite pleased that I managed to buy the most famous Shanghai produce- 炖鸭肝 (duck liver).

Waiting for more trips, including biz trips, that will bring me to more countries... and continents.

Day 16

Was in Bozeman, Montana, for about 2 weeks. It wasn't a particularly enjoyable trip since it was a work trip staffing the bosses, plus with all the pre-trip preparations and what not I was quite burnt out even before we took off to San Francisco.

We were in a ski resort up in the mountains the whole time. There was obviously not much to do up there. We even had to drive midway down the mountain to look for more decent food. There were mountains, mountains, and mountains. Spent most of the time cooped in the apartment doing work stuff. I mean I did enjoy the HUGE apartment with a living room, kitchenette, fireplace and at least 2 bathrooms, but I AM a workaholic and given the time difference I found myself working even longer than my usual work hours. Mornings & afternoons spent attending meetings and preparing for upcoming meetings, and responding to usual office stuff in the night.

But it was a good change being away from home, escaping from the really hot weather in Singapore. We also did visit the Yellowstone National Park. It was like a geography field trip, the park was rather scenic and colourful, but unfortunately we didn't see many animals there. One lasting impression of the park was the huge lake that was completely iced over.

It was an iceball, not snowball. See the frozen over lake.