hello world

so i got back from my business trip to shanghai on saturday. it was quite an experience meeting with five different PRC clients all in one day. man, doing business in china is a whole different animal! never realized how useful my chinese language came into play until now -- esp. because most of the clients didn't speak a lick of english. since i was educated in the US, i had hard time trying to figure out how to say some of the technical financial terms in chinese. how the heck do i say gross profit margin, return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), balance sheet all in CHINESE?! luckily the client knew those terms in english. hehe. overall, i was quite impressed with the chinese market and how the entire market is continuosly growing -- its like you can feel the upbeat energy of growth in the air! it was a long day though...my day started when our driver picked us up in his benz at our hotel at 7am and lasted literally for 12 hours non-stop (even had kentucky for lunch in the car!). I was exhausted but it was good coming back home to my hotel.

in other news, the grand hyatt in shanghai turned out to be one spectacular hotel. i have never seen or stayed in anything like it. right when I walked into the hotel lobby (which was on the 54th floor) and checked into my room (on the 77th floor!!), i couldn't stop saying "OMG" for at least a good 10-20 seconds. the room was really nice and it was tastefully decorated with hints of chinese and western interior design. i especially like the chinese scribblings that was on the wall...so i took a picture as usual....over the years, i've been taking and collecting lots of pictures of various things that i find it to be cool and in the hopes that one day i can use these ideas in my future home =) but back to the hotel room...the bathroom was really nice too. the shower was a bit high-tech for me with 3 different spouts splashing water out from head to toe.

on the same day that i left for shanghai, my friend kristy arrived from sydney to visit and stay with me. originally i wanted to show her around when she got here but since I found out about the shanghai trip at the very last minute, she had no choice but check into my hotel first and explore the city on her own for few days until i came back. after coming back on saturday, we hung out and i showed her around hk. she did quite a bit of shopping that day since everything was much cheaper than sydney or tokyo. kristy is actually my friend from tokyo...actually my ex-coworker from KPMG to be exact. we've managed to keep in touch over the last few years. interesting because we always manage to meet or travel together to various places. one of the last time i saw her was last october in boston when my roommate-to-be, yun, and i stayed with her in her hotel in boston. before that, i've travelled with her and my other friends to taipei one year and guam another. since she was also in tokyo in june, i did meet up with her for dinner with our other friend, michael. although I wanted to visit her (and see Sydney), she has recently decided to relocate back to tokyo. i think its good for her that she's moving back to tokyo. but now i have to find a reason to go travel to sydney...anyone want to travel to australia with me?

on sunday, we went to sz and shopped and ate. she bought tons of dvds and had a nice lunch at my favorite dim sum place. then walked around a little bit more until we we were both tired and went and got a 3 hour massage. i think i must go there often because most of the ppl who work there recognizes me by my name..and i even have my own specific masseuse that i request everytime (#111 for body, and #132 for feet)...after feeling refreshed we took a train back to our hotel.

kristy is leaving this afternoon..but right after she leaves, my another friend, mary arrives in hk tonight..she's coming all the way from berlin and will be staying with me. hehe..mary will be my 4th visitor in hk..and i've only been here for 5 weeks! =)

lastly, i want to wish haeran, happy belated birthday! sorry that i didn't get a chance to talk to you until sunday. we'll have to re-celebrate (and get you drunk) next time i'm back in LA!!!