Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloweenie...

It's Halloween.... and I am down with the flu... in Guangzhou nonetheless on my final city stop in China. Trick or treat? Down with a bug... that's a definite trick for me!

Chengdu was pleasant, but rainy. And so far, Guangzhou has been nice with the warm weather - warm and humid enough for me that I opted to stay indoors! I have been pretty much in bed all this time, medicated, drinking lots of fluids (the OJ in this country ain't the real thing!) - praying to get through the last two fairs in a healthier state and also for my journey back to Hong Kong and back to New York.

I cannot wait for Sunday... after the final fair when I leave on the Guangzhou KCR East railway line heading to Hung Hom station in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Around Nanjing...

October 27th
Nanjing, China

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From Nanjing Museum...

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Dr. Sun Yat Set Mausoleum


Created with flickrSLiDR.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Around Shanghai...

October 24th-26th
Shanghai, China

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View of Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower from the Bund

Created with flickrSLiDR.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Around Beijing...

October 17th-20th
Beijing, China

Forbidden City
In front of the Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Created with flickrSLiDR.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Around Seoul

Thursday, October 16th
10:35 pm
Lotte Hotel Seoul

A tourist in Seoul... here are the pictures...


Created with flickrSLiDR.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Touch down in Seoul

Wednesday, October 15th
8:15 pm
Lotte Hotel Seoul

I arrived in Seoul okay... my Korean is NOT great at all next to saying hello and ordering what I would like to eat and that's about it.

A recap on my flights.... the worst leg was from Buffalo to Chicago. Talk about starting out bad... some DUMDUM spilled... no DUMP all his coffee on my lap! I was sleeping... and I YELPED and jumped out of my seat from his hot coffee... no change of pants (was so not thinking of having coffee dumped on me). The best part... the guy WAS NOT apologetic OFF the bat... I looked at him as he was wiping away his spilled coffee on his little tray thingy... then a soft sorry came out some 10 seconds later!! I was wearing one of those soft track pants thats totally ruined... with a humongous coffee stain which I attempted to rub out with club soda. No connecting airports... Chicago nor San Fancisco sells any pants of any kind... just tonnes of T-shirts. To hide the stain - I wrapped my red jacket around the "bad area". Talk about starting off great on my flight right?

The rest of the flight was pleasant... it was an 80 minutes ride from the airport to hotel. Some dignitary or minister or someone important from Mongolia is staying here for a meeting.. so very cool. They have no rooms for me with any great internet connection and SMOKING only... so i had them upgrade me since I initally booked and requested for non-smoking :P

I have had MANY people talk to me in Korean... talking about fitting in and all asians look alike. Hehehe....

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View from my hotel of downtown Seoul

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That's not mist or fog... its POLLUTION!

My hotel is situated close to the Myeongdong shopping district so I took a stroll around there after having an authentic Korean dinner of Soon Doo Boo in this little eatery located between a couple of small lanes filled with restaurants and bars that's just a short walk across from the hotel.

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Little alley ways...

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My soon doo boo dinner with yummy accompanying side dishes!

Tomorrow is a rest day for me before work officially kicks in... so I am joining a full day tour around Seoul. Updates to be continued...

Monday, October 13, 2008

Updates since the wedding...

I am still in the midst of collecting wedding pictures from everyone - doing the impossible after that which is to organize all of it before I upload them all to my flickr account and then share it here. How pedantic right? The OCD-ness in me just have to get all of them organized. Peter and I are also super looking forward to seeing the rest of our pictures from Punam.

Until then... here's a sneak peek if you have haven't already seen the many pictures already updated to my facebook photos :P

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I leave for Korea and China tomorrow for work - am very much looking forward to it. It's bittersweet as I am leaving husband for 3 weeks!! Will try to update as much as I can on the road :D