Today is supposed to be Shanghai Expo day, but Ann and I decided to just skip it entirely. We’ve been hearing horror stories of lining up as long as 6 hours (!) on the pavilions that are worth visiting (e.g., Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Germany). That’s gonna be one heck of a waste of time. After that nightmarish trek at The Bund last night with that mass of people from every nationality imaginable, we thought going to the Expo on a Sunday is going to be hell. We also thought RMB160 is too expensive for a photo-op outside the pavilions, so we decided to just change the itinerary and visit Shanghai itself. We can buy Expo merchandise (available just about anywhere) and pretend we did go there, anyway.

We decided to go to Zhou Zhuang water town instead. Well, at least that was the plan. See, we were so tired last night that we woke up late this morning. We had planned on trying to catch the 2:10pm bus to Zhou Zhuang and since we left the hostel at 12:00nn, we skipped both breakfast and lunch and headed straight to the bus station located, according to the directions Ann got from the ‘net, “close to Shanghai People’s Stadium near Xujiahui.” As you can see, the directions were very vague. For one thing, distance is relative. What is near to some people may be far from others. For another thing, how the heck do we get there?

Since the directions mentioned Xujiahui, the first natural reaction is to go to Metro Station Xujiahui. Which turned out to be a bad idea, because to get to Shanghai Stadium, you must go to Shanghai Indoor Stadium station, not Xujiahui. Or maybe there is a way through Xujiahui station once you have mastered your way around Shanghai, but for first-time, non-Chinese speaking people like us? Na-ah. Long story short, we ended up on the wrong station, which cost us an additional RMB3 each to go back to Shanghai Indoor Stadium station. Once we got to the correct station, here comes dilemma No. 2: where exactly is “close to Shanghai People’s Stadium”? The stadium itself is huge. We might end up walking the entire circumference of it before we see the bus station.

After a looooong walk and some missed turns, we finally found it. It’s near the stadium ticket booths. We got in, but not before some guy stopped us to say that there is no bus for today (!!!) and he is offering a private tour service in case we still want to go to the water town. Of course, that’ll cost an arm and a leg, so no, thank you. We proceeded to the Tourist Information counter, and true enough, the tour guides said there is no bus today. But the service resumes tomorrow, and we can buy our tickets now to reserve our seats. We decided to get the 9:30am trip.

Ok, tour tickets? Check. Now we must eat. It’s already about 2:00pm at that time and we still haven’t had a single meal. I promised Ann that I’ll treat her to Ding Tai Fung in Shanghai as a belated birthday gift so we decided to head off to Xintiandi. But not before we stopped by a Family Mart to grab a sandwich and drinks because I still don’t have any idea how far Xintiandi is from where we were and we were already close to passing out from hunger.

After a few missed turns mainly caused by vague directions such as, “get out at Exit 2 and walk 200 meters along Madang Road” without specifying if we should go left or right once we reach Madang Road, we finally found Xintiandi. But before that, there’s little amusing incident that happened. You see, the reason why I decided to choose Ding Tai Fung’s Xintiandi branch to treat Ann is because this restaurant happens to be Rain’s favorite. He was seen dining at this particular branch when he was in Shanghai. So it’s basically a Rain trip but as soon as we got out of the Metro station, this is what welcomed us:

We went there for Rain; instead, we got Song Hye Kyo. Is this a sign? And I should stress that I did not see any traces of the ‘puor homme’ model in there.

Anyway… Ding Tai Fung. Can I just say that I love this restaurant? I little bit pricey especially if you know that food in Shanghai is generally dirt cheap, but the food is awesome. I ordered xiao long bao (of course), pork and shrimp dumplings, double-boiled chicken and shrimp fried rice. The soup from the double-boiled chicken is heavenly; it reminds me of good ol’ nilagang native na manok. As for the xiao long bao, it met all my expectations. Except that I botched on the proper way of eating it, that the waitress had to approach our table and handed me a guide on how to properly enjoy xiao long bao:

This is the second time I majorly failed on eating this dumpling. Yesterday, we got some Yang’s Fried Dumplings (actually, I had wanted steamed dumplings from the one across Yang’s but there was no English menu so I had to regretfully turn away) to take home to the hostel and I just ate it as I would normally eat any dumpling. The result is that all the soup squirted out of the dumpling and drenched my camera. I think I should’ve had a clue since this thing is called “soup dumpling”.

For the second time, the soup got drained all over my plate because I forgot that I was supposed to place it on the spoon before biting it. Thanks to the instructions, we also figured out what that mound of ginger is for.

After that delightful meal, we strolled by East Nanjing Road until our feet ached. We also emptied our pockets - in my case, scratched the hell out of my credit card - on Expo merchandise. We decided to call it a day early since we have to check out early tomorrow for the Zhou Zhuang trip. But not quite yet. We’re just resting; we’re gonna go out and pig out some more after this.

Hello from Shanghai, China!

Everything’s going on smoothly, so far. Ann and I arrived at Pudong International Airport at about quarter to 12mn. We got out at past 1am and the only option we had to get to the city is via taxi. We already know that it might be difficult for us since we neither speak nor understand Chinese, and it’s true, it proved to be difficult. Luckily, through the recommendation of a lot of travel forums about China, I had the sense to print out the name, address and telephone number of our hostel and gave it to the driver, who automatically called up the hostel to ask for directions. Thankfully, we got an honest cab driver. It was a long (and expensive) journey from the airport to the hostel, but we reached it safely with only a few minor hitches, so it’s fine.

We’re currently staying at Beehome International Hostel at Dong Chang Road. It’s a nice hostel. For one thing, the rooms are HUGE and clean, with nice amenities such as free wireless internet. Of course, we’re in China, so there are sites that we can’t access. But I can live without Twitter and Facebook as long as my blog and my emails are available.

First order of business? FOOD. I love it that there are restaurants around our vicinity which are open even at the ungodly hour of 2:00am. We were so hungry so we just followed our noses and went inside this restaurant that serves hotpot dishes. They have a sort of English menu, meaning there is an English translation but it’s a bit garbled and they don’t have photos on the menu. The waiter knows limited English, too, so he can’t help much. We just pointed at what we think is chicken, vermicelli and meatballs, and then pointed at ‘moderately hot’ and waited for what they will bring us. It turned out to be a nice hotpot chicken stew (think chopseuy without the veggies), and ‘moderately hot’ isn’t exactly moderate. I don’t want to think what ‘extra hot’ tastes like. But the dish is quite tasty and the servings are good enough for four people and we only paid RMB39. That’s not bad at all.

Mission for later: pig out on xiao long bao. Must find that restaurant that Rain always eats in when he was in Shanghai a couple of weeks ago…

People travel for different reasons. For some, traveling allows them to explore new cultures and experiences to widen their perspective. There are others who travel purely for business, and there are those who travel purely for pleasure (and a few lucky ones who manage to do both at the same time). There are those whose trips won’t be complete if they don’t go shopping, and there are those who can’t live by without taking a snapshot of every nook and corner he or she goes to.

For me, I’ve discovered that I travel because (1) I want to see how people in other places live their everyday lives; and (2) I travel to eat. Photography, as I’ve found out in this latest trip, is just incidental to the entire thing.

This trip to Malaysia was funded almost entirely by my friend Ann aka. this blog’s resident Psychic. This is only her second trip outside the Philippines (the first being a trip to Bangkok with a few officemates last February, which she didn’t fully enjoy) and the first time for her nephew and his new bride so she asked me to accompany them. She availed of the Air Asia promo from last year and got tickets priced at just below php400 (less than USD10) one way, inclusive of fuel surcharges. She took care of my airfare and accommodations; the only thing I have to pay for are travel tax, terminal fee and pocket money. How could I say ‘no’ to that?

We spent the past 6 months researching about Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, and that’s where I fully realized what my interests are when it comes to travel. I declined to take the HOHO bus because the stops were almost nothing but museums, and I have no interest in museums. One museum trip is enough for me. (It is for this same reason why I don’t take the Seoul City Bus Tour: because one palace and/or museum visit is good enough for me.) I don’t have to enter mosques, because I’m fine with just looking at the facade. I don’t mind if I don’t climb the Petronas Towers or the KL Tower. Why should I look at the view from up there when the towers themselves are the view? In short, I’m not really a “I must go to as many tourist spots as possible!” kind of traveler. I’m more interested at taking my time observing what the locals do in their everyday lives, which is also the reason why I am drawn to visiting shopping places. Not because I want to shop, but because shopping is a culture in itself. I was amused at the amount of information I gathered just from hanging out at shopping malls.

Of course, the other stuff that I took note in my research are the must-go places to eat.

And with that long introduction, I commence blogging about my trip to Malaysia.

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All my blogging plans have been a major FAIL, so far. I initially wanted to post a parting shot before I leave using the free WiFi at Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, which turned out to be non-existent. Then, I was supposed to post a short, “we’ve landed in Kuala Lumpur!” entry using the hotel’s free WiFi at the coffee shop, which turned out to be closed for business when we arrived. My laptop has been receiving signal from WirelessKL. I registered for it but the service hasn’t sent the PIN code on my phone, so I still couldn’t use it. The only time I was able to surf the ‘net was while we were waiting in line at Immigration at KL-LCCT, and at that point the only way I can update whoever wants to be updated about this trip was through Twitter. I am currently writing this at our hotel room at Citin Pudu, and hopefully this entry will get posted tomorrow morning at the coffee shop during breakfast (and if you’re reading this right now, it simply means I finally found a free WiFi signal that works).

Ok, so what misadventures have we had, so far?

1. Note to the management of DMIA: would you mind putting up clearer road signs leading to the airport around Clark SPEZ? There was one road sign that said, “DMIA straight ahead”, but that straight ahead leads to a closed gate with a sign that says, “no entry”. Ok, then, so where should we go? If we didn’t ask a random soldier by the sidewalk, we would’ve been terribly lost.

2. DMIA is small. As in really, really small. It’s so small that departing passengers had to be let in by batches because there’s no space inside to park your buns and wait. And this is what the pre-departure area looks like:

Yup, that’s just about it.

3. Check out my lunch at a coffee shop at DMIA:

This adobo plate + a can of Coke costs a whopping php290 pesoseses. It’s not even remotely close to my mom’s or Charity’s adobo, although it’s not too bad, as well. But for that price? I demand silver cutlery, at least.

Next time we’re taking Air Asia, I’ll just order their in-flight food. It seems tasty and it’s so much cheaper that DMIA’s luxury adobo.

4. I’ve heard stories of how small Air Asia’s planes are, so I wasn’t expecting anything. Whadya know, they’re definitely NOT as cramped as Cebu Pacific’s planes. Air Asia planes definitely have more legroom. Also, at least Air Asia’s planes have ample airconditioning. My only gripe is that the armrests were so hard, my elbows hurt after an hour.

5. We arrived at KL-LCCT 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. I think it’s because the pilots did a Speed Racer during turbulence. I never ride roller coasters so I can’t really tell, but I think I had my first roller coaster ride yesterday.

6. It’s such a blessing for the ever-camera hogging Pinoys that both DMIA and KL-LCCT allow picture-taking at the tarmac.

7. First official misadventure in Malaysia: we didn’t know where to get a metered taxi from KL Sentral to our hotel which was literally just a few meters away. The hotel’s website even said that it should only cost us RM7.00 if we take a cab from KL Sentral to Jalan Pudu. However, since it’s rush hour and we have no idea where to get a taxi which would allow all four of us with our luggage to share just one cab, we ended up taking a coupon taxi at KL Sentral and it cost us RM25. Howell…

8. First order of business after checking in at the hotel: FOOD!!! Petaling Street (aka. Chinatown) is just a 5-min. walk away from our hotel, so to be safe, we decided to have Chinese dinner as our first taste of Malaysia. We had bak kut teh and a couple of other not-so-Malaysian treats. What can I say, the food was EXCELLENT. I’ll blog about it in detail later.

9. I’m already a few ringgits poorer because of food and ref magnets.

10. I’ve been very curious about this drink called Kickapoo because I read from someone’s travel blog that it is her must-have thing whenever she goes to Malaysia. Naturally, I had to try it. Verdict: In the Philippines, we call it Mountain Dew.

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Edited, July 17, 2010; Location: KL-LCCT boarding gates on the way to Kota Kinabalu

It was raining so hard in Kuala Lumpur last night when the clock stroke 12 midnight, signaling my birthday. It always rains on my birthday; this year is no exception.

Edited again, July 17, 2010; Location: Lavender Lodge, Kota Kinabalu

Random misadventures, again:

1. Ann almost fought with some guy and his companions on the plane because they took our seats. He even refused to show his boarding pass when Ann asked for it, claiming he doesn’t have one. He was shooting off his mouth in Malay and the old lady with him, who has a striking resemblance to Bella Flores, was muttering stuff that sounds like, “I was here first. I’m an old lady, don’t make me stand up and move from this seat!” Of course, even if Air Asia is a low-cost airline, there’s no such rule as first-come, first-served when it comes to seats. Thankfully, the alert flight attendant intervened and explained to the muttering passengers that they must relinquish their seats to its rightful owners. And it turned out, their seats were in the farthest end of the plane. Ours was at 10th row, and it was pre-paid when Ann booked the flight so if they really refused to give up the seats there will definitely be bloodshed.

2. First impression of Kota Kinabalu: it feels like… Tarlac. Yeah, I don’t know why, neither.

3. We booked a private room with ensuite toilet and bath at Lavender Lodge, but for some reason they gave us something that doesn’t have one. According to them, if we booked through a 3rd party site like Hostelworld, the reservation that comes through them would be different. Which is definitely unfair, so now Ann is trying to look for her confirmation email from the 3rd party site to show to them that it was them who made the mistake. Unfortunately, all private ensuite rooms are fully-booked. Although the bathrooms weren’t bad because it’s not public-bathroom style so you’ll still have privacy while you do your business, except that it’s not inside our rooms and we have to share it with the rest of the tenants in the same floor. But of course, this is not what we booked, so…

4. We got a room on the 3rd floor, and there’s no elevator. Help us, God.

5. There’s free WiFi in our room, but since we’re on the 3rd floor, the signal isn’t so good and we get intermittently disconnected. I’m posting this update with the laptop directly pointed towards the door for maximum signal strength.

6. The great thing about this hostel is that it’s literally centrally located. The mall is just a 5-minute walk away, there’s restaurants everywhere and the flea market is nearby. Must.not.convert.all.my.money.to.ringgit.or.else.I’ll.spend.them.all.

Sub-title: No Rain on this parade.

As expected, I had wanted to start the day early so that we still have time to go around Myeongdong after going to J Tune and Lotte DFS >> this one, so that we can hoard all the Lotte fliers with Rain’s face on them for the CloudPH event next month. But since I had to pack and slept at past 5:00am, I woke up late again. We only were able to check out of the hostel at around 11:00am, as opposed to the original plan of checking out by 8:00, 9:00 at the latest. Only Charity, Lou, Chie and I went back to J Tune. Tita Ruby has already gone back to Manila that morning, while the rest continued their tours and shopping.

So there we were with our good ol’ box of bukayo, armed with the knowledge that we had the correct address. I thought I already had it down pat. We even took note of all the buildings one will pass by before reaching the J Tune office. Guess what: it’s still the wrong address. We got there and the office was still closed. When we inquired from the real estate office at the first floor, they informed us that J Tune has already moved to another building two months ago. Great, just grrrrrrrrreattttt. Thank you, J Tune, for not updating your corporate website with the most current address. No wonder the cab driver said that when he called the phone number that we got from the internet, it was not in use anymore. And you know what’s even better? When we inquired for the address at Lotte DFS’ Tourist Info Center as we have decided to just ship the box to J Tune so that we won’t have to carry it back to Manila again (either that or I will throw that darn thing at the Han River first chance I get), they still gave us that same address that we got from researching at the PC Bang. (By the way, J Tune, this is called sarcasm, and what I really want to do is to strangle all of you right now for once again proving how incompetent you all are.) It was really so frustrating. It was like someone has cast a Fidelius Charm on J Tune’s office, thus making it Unplottable. I wonder who the Secret-Keeper is? (Sorry, Harry Potter reference.) Maybe someone was really reading this blog and learned that I am scheduled to drop by, so they moved offices so that I won’t find it?

Since we basically can’t do anything about it anymore, we then decided to go to Lotte DFS for the flyers and possibly to check on the internet if it’s still possible to look for J Tune’s address so that we can ship the box via courier. Fortunately, Lotte DFS has free internet so I was able to post a message here on my blog asking for the address. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time and by the time Winnie has posted the address, we were already on our way to the airport. I did read about Rain’s departure to NY that day, but at that time we thought there’s no way we can catch him if his flight is at 8:00pm since he may have already boarded by the time we finish checking in and clearing immigrations. But hey, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.

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