cold

the temperature here in guangzhou has fallen to 10 degrees today. this week, china faces the sudden temperature drop as it enters the spring season. as reported by ann, shanghai is down to 4 degrees now, and my smarty-pants boss assumed it was spring and didn't bring any jacket. freezing herself up in shanghai, she decided to call our client for help and managed to get herself a sweater and a vest. how nice.... as in being able to get some nice apparels from a good sports brand. we want too. (i am speaking on ann's behalf as well coz i know she wants them too!)

my nose lost all sensation as i walked out of the hotel and took the 5-7 minute walk under the expressway to my client's office. literally lost ALL sensation. my nose was dripping and i couldn't even sniff because i couldn't feel anything. (okay, i admit. i didn't expect the temperature change as well, so all i have it my topshop sweater. and i am so tempted to get an adi jacket from them. they are simply very nicely designed. booo!)

in such a weather, i'm finding warmth and comfort in 7-11s and cafes where i have my meals. you know, when it's so cold out there, the last thing you want to do is to leave the place. hence, i actually spent more than15 minutes walking around this local convenience store because it was warm and cozy. yes, i know that's pathetic.

but then again, i'll be back to hot-hot singapore tonight and probably will be complaining about the heat by the time i walk out of the plane. so i can't complain as i sniff (when my nose is not frozen) in the cool air.

brrrrr……

p.s. blogger is now in chinese format for me and i can't find the right buttons to click! ahhhh!

lost in translation

this trip to guangzhou has been quite fruitful for me. although expectations and reality was a vast difference, but at least it gives a clear roadmap on where the clients are heading towards and how we should get people moving as well. i have not done more interpretation in my whole career as much as i have in these 2 days. having to translate everything my german client was saying into mandarin (and my grasp of the language is definitely way off as compared to ann's) and making sure everyone knows what is going on is such a mean feat!

it has been quite a long 2 days so far, and there hasn't been many photos but nevertheless, there are still some to show.


another clear reason why i don't like the cz meals...
the bun is cold, even the dessert taste weird!


my mandatory hotel room photo
nothing great to boast of, but it is across the road from the adidas office


to boost the declining birth rate, they are selling storks at discount rates!


a wonderful girl i met on this trip - monica (who is my age).
a short dinner date with her became a 5-hour chat session over dinner and coffee.

livejournal blocked in china

the last time this happened, it was back in 2004 during our mattel trip when ann and i found out that blogspot was blocked in china. that was when we switched over to livejournal and stayed there for good.

two and a half years later, we are faced with the same problem. this time, the tables are turned and it is livejournal that is blocked. so i find myself back on my old blogspot account (temporary measure). but what is mind-boggling is that now blogspot is not blocked here. sigh.

google results showed that lj has also been blocked in russia and saudi arabia too. double sigh.

so i will be putting up here for the next 3 days. and i'm suffering from "friends' entries" withdrawal symptoms already.