living up da dream in Shanghai ...

alwiz love chinese cities coz they r so bloddy huge. makes u feel so insignificant. well, this time in shanghai ... went up on top of da world at Century Avenue restaurant over at Park Hyatt Shanghai. superawesum dinner. wuz mighty happi wid my baby lobster :D and oohh ... champagne. did da usual rounds at hua hai road & first time in nanjing road. not too bad .. but not nuff time to really hunt fer bargains.

review of restaurant check out:
http://www.smartshanghai.com/venue/4190/100_Century_Avenue_shanghai

we compared our tour guides ... :D

so the second leg of ma trip wuz in beijing ... my colleague & i questioned ourselves, how comes our tour guide looks like this (left) compared to this other korean tourguide (right)? but nways, our tour guide wuz actually VERY VERY good cept she did not allow a stop for starbucks or anything else for dat matter(so i had to make do wid some chinese watered down capp .. yuck!) she kept the schedule like the military.

this is wat u want EVERYTIME you checkin.

this is wat u want to happen every single time u check into a hotel. the reception tells u they r overbooked and upgraded u to their suite ... ahahaha ... so much da happi me :D way to start my beijing trip!

SANLITUN & YA XIU beijing.

Sanlitun Village is just another hyped-up commercial hub - basically if you need to shop just stick to WANG FUJING STREET (see below article). Go there if you need to hit the bars, not shops. There is one market bazaar of sorts called YA XIU - tell the cab driver "yah-shew sanlitun". but this will appeal to the more uninitiated amateur shoppers - you will mostly get garbage here (note: not my quote, this came directly from the local cab driver). quality is not good, but the price - basically here is the tip. if they offer you 180 yuan for a replica sweater, drop the "0" - dats 18 yuan and dats how much approx actual cost. of course, you risk being called at if you go dat low ... so i went like 50% from the actual offering. but later i found out, i could go a lot lower - shit! hahaha .. but dun buy too many stuff there, quality not worth it.

Beijing : Souvenirs @ local market

along the huge shopping street WANG FU JING street, tucked in a corner you will find a local night bazaar of sorts. excellent if you want souvenirs and ive got one! :)

BEIJING WANG FUJING shopping

when in beijing ... goto main shopping strasse "WANG FU JING" street. despite the minus degrees, i managed to scour da entire street. mainly stuff we get in singapore but this shop METERSBONWE having huge megasale (50%-70% off) on hip winter down jackets. got one ... hehe fer my next germany winter trip :D

Versace for H&M LAUNCH - Donatella Made me do it.

so i know right? this is insane. already knows the dresses are like not-worth-da-price range (for H&M ma ...), but still made it to the ONE-DAY LAUNCH. i mean ???? wha ...???? all i can say in my defense is donatella made me do it.

Donatella ... why ...?

Image excerpt from Film Advert on VERSACE for H&M.

All I can think of wuz ... ooohhhh!! finally a designer collection from H&M in Singapore ... yay yay hurrah! all kinds of happy me. AND THEN .. !!!! i saw da prices *faints* waitaminnit! this is H&M MY ALLTIME FAVORITE STORE FOREVA AND EVA. why leh donatella go and spoil the price range like this? or maybe it's just here in singapore. singapore prices always higher than REST-OF-RETAIL-WORLD. hahaha ... nways. i'm still thinking whether i should queue up fer this. we'll noe soon nuff! *WINKS* maybe i just buy my piece fr H&M shanghai since i'm goin there nways.

TOPSHOP Runway Show @ ION Orchard

as with any TOPSHOP shows, great music, great vibe, clothes-this-time not so much. only liked the sequinned pair of shorts they put out. but my favorite thing throughout the evening wuz probably the 42 BELOW booth. bartender made excellent PINK cocktails. kudos. oh yeah ... also thanks TOPSHOP fer free goodies! aviator shades were awesummm...!

H&M Singapore LIKE SIAO

3 Sept 2011 - H&M Singapore opened its doors here. Apparently, Singaporeans camped outside on the night before the opening (LIKE KIASU SIAO ... hahaha). And no, in case you're wondering - i did not camped outside, at least NOT for H&M. Okay, fine. If they had the Cavalli collection or Stella McCartney for H&M collection - I will. But in this case, they don't have - so I'm not gonna subject myself to this siao-ness. It was near-impossible to get in on the first day - the queues were like mile-long all the way towards Orchard Central. You get ma drift ... but The Superfairy, your typical trooper got in anyways. Heh. I just have ONE anecdote to share. so the fitting rooms were like crazy (see, Singaporeans just don't care if it's overpriced. it's important to be able to tell all their chick frens dat they WENT already to H&M store the next day ...) i din wanna queue up fer da fitting rooms, and i went to try in front of a mirror (yes, i can actually tell if the dress fits or not) ... and suddenly, a Singaporean auntie wuz angling me from the side for the mirror. I mean, c'mon - sighhhh ... do i have to do this now???? So I wuz polite and said to her, "Look, I'm gonna be for awhile here since I've got a few dresses." Auntie din get the message ... she said to me "CAN I JUST TRY THIS ON?" THE FUCK. Which part of my message she din get right? After being ignored (I just continued trying ...), she fumed at the side saying "You know, you are really rude if you dunwan me to try, then just say cannot." From here, I said " Okay, cannot. Look, I was already polite enough to let you know I will be awhile here." To which of course she said BITCH, so I returned the favor without hesitation "Yeah, you too." Nways, the point is i am KIASU like anything as well but let's just be civilized. Everyone wants to try on new stuff at a cool store ... when someone is trying something on, and she tells you nicely she might take some time and she GOT the mirror first - please step back and not insist on your turn. There are enough items in H&M for everyone - but since this is Singapore (maybe not) ... if not, do the one better - take your shopping at H&M overseas ... you get 3 stores in one street. And I guarantee you loads of options.

GERMAN WINGS

Hawt! AirAsia NOT!!!

My Review of Tunes Hotel: Crap & More Crap

For those of us that are not staying in KL (maybe you are coming from penang or singapore or whereva ..), then you will know the monopoly TUNES HOtel has at LCCT. This is some stroke of genius by Tunes people. Just because you are the ONLY hotel (I don't count Plaza Premium - that's a lounge) within earshot of LCCT, the way you take advantage of this situation is beyond crap. MY GAWD. The advertisement 5-star 'feel' for 1-star prices - watever. I paid RM 173 (ONLY ROOM AND FAN) and you'd think it's 5-star bed & ambience. Fyi, I bumped into every corner of the beyond-crazy smaller than small sized rooms (please note, I have stayed in hostels, budget motels, the really seasoned traveller) and I think TUNES is the only hotel that made me feel like a caged animal. You cannot cross over to the toilet when you have the desk panel down at right angle. That's how it is. For maybe RM 60 - RM 100, I can swallow this situation - but I paid close to RM 200 (!!) Why because for every add-on you want, they demand a deposit of RM 10 or RM 15. Why have to deposit ? Just charge for the item and nett okay. Stupid TUNES. So here it is advertising itself high and low on 5 reasons why you should book it (1) 5-star beds - hello? the experience is for nothing if i can't even get to the other side of the room without falling over the stupid bed (2) Power Showers - the only power you get is from knowing you cannot slip during showers coz the shower cube is so small, you just land sideways with your shoulder at the wall (3) Central & Convenient Location - sure thing ... a monopoly of LCCT terminal does NOT equal convenient location, it's a forced decision to stay here (never in any moons will i ever stay in any TUNES hotel if I have another budget choice) (4)Optional Add-ons - I dont mind paying for every add-on but collecting deposit of RM 15 for each add-on is ridiculous. Next day, I have to line-up (fighting the queue) just to get the deposit back. Stupid TUNEs. (5) 24-hour security - this is not the TUNES security, this sense of security comes from the endless stream of people checking in and out of the hotel. the hotel is 24/7 due to crazy flight schedule from airasia. Don't take my word for it ... see here reviews too http://talesofasia.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=214

LEMBAGA HASIL DALAM NEGERI

SUCKs.

Perils of ONLINE SHOPPING

Many many times, the stuf u ordered look NOTHING like wats in da picture. or better yet, the fit is no good. There is alwiz a risk ordering online - but here are some tips from my own experience:

1. Know the company you are ordering from. if you don't know the company's reputation, make sure you have had some frens who ordered before and got their goods.
2. Pay using PayPal or credit card is the best. This way you can quickly lodge a dispute report in case the other party doesnt deliver. You will at least have some chance of recovering ur money if the other side proves to be fraudster.
3. If you pay by Moneygram, there is no chance you will get ur money back once the money is claimed.
4. If nothing works, email da stupid fella and say this "I have 1000 frens on Facebook and a gagzillion contacts, plus a personal blog with loads of fashionista frens.I'll post u up as fraud if you dont refund ma money." but threats will only work if it is a genuine case of fraud. Please don't do this if there is a delay in shipment, this happens okay (thanks to our exception local Malaysian service).
5. AND FINALLY, VERY VERY THE IMPORTANT LOR .... GET UR package REGISTERED. never have an un-registered package, i promise you someone out there is wearing ur outfit which you helped sponsor to some party which u r no part of.

heh.

facebook forces u to like people

facebook. in its purest form is meant to be used to keep in touch wid ur frens and ur loved ones. today, it's not. especially in malaysia whereby its notoriously used to hook up wid as many 'frens' as possible, not even know who those frens are. so take ur stand. and remember dat sick article whereby a depressed teenager in malaysia posted her suicidal note on facebook only to be LIKED by her so-called frens. tragic. i should probably take a stand on facebook at this point. stop liking people. isnt it so true dat facebook FORCES you to like people. facebook, twitter feeds the madness frenzied state of modern voyuerism, and the more you see dirty laundry aired in public, the 'higher' you get. as long as we are on da topic on dirty laundry ... wtf is ryan & choy doing saying sorries to one another in fucking public when its evident they're not da slut here. ok, just had to get dat out of my system. nwayz,think its time we restrict only the ones dat care enough to check in wid u using phone calls, personal emails and good old face-to-face that only they should be on ur facebook frens list. and the LIKE button is meant only for them. special people in our lives. XoXo ;)