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CHINESE NEW YEAR EVE --------------------------------------
AWAL LIBUR WEEK2 (I've 2 week holiday from my office. Hah! Enak bgt! Enjoy)

Gw diajak Kat makan dinner bareng (steamboat - cook together, eat together). Ini hari pertama gw kenal2 anak2 gereja MRII Shghai.. Wehhhh.. Seru bgt.. And the people are realli nice!!


Dr kiri: Katherine, Melly, Imelda, gw.


Kat itu anak gereja - dy yg pny rumah. Gw benernya rada sungkan seh.. soalnya pertama kale ketemu kan udah diajak 团圆饭(which is contradictory - coz it's supposed to mean gathering dinner, while gw sendiri baru aja kenal geto). Kita belanja di Super Brand Mall (sampingnya Pearl Oriental). Kat dulu sklh di Seattle tp sklh bahasa satu taon dan skrg kerja di Shanghai. Total time in Shghai: 1.5 years


Melly lulusan S1 & S2 dari jerman (arsitektur) - and she's really nice. Kl ngmg ama temen2 baru bisa 体贴(attentive) bgt "entertain"nya. Udah 3 taon di Shanghai. Katanya pertama kl waktu di Shanghai struggling bgt, pengen balik serasa-nya. I know how it feels man. Tp skrg dy orgnya udah bisa adjust - very well! I'm encouraged. Kdg2 musti survey2 lokasi.. Ceweq2 man.. Wah berat jg ya jd arsitek! Skrg dy lg pindah rumah (dy tinggal deket ama tmpt bos gw yg lama - where I stayed the 1st 2 weeks in Shanghai, dari 中山公园 ke 金沙江 which is one metro stop away)


Imelda - temen Kat. Bonyok mrk saling kenal - mrk jg baru kenal geto. Imelda pagi keesokannya udah pengen k Huangshan (how she eventually ended up going to Huangshan juga aneh - gara2 ada siapa geto yg gak jd pergi, jd ada tempat kosong). Ya lucu lah! Dy di sini kerja (brp lama Imel?? Gw lupa - Tempat kerjanya di Minhang, deket2 tempat kerja Evan). Anehnya lagi Imelda dari Purdue, which is the same as Evan!!!!!! Nah loh! Dunia kecil banget!!! Dy gak kenal Evan - Evan jg skrg masih di Indo (Semarang).. He'll be back soon. Nti gw kasih tau Evan of this character called Imelda.


Overall, nyambung2 aja ngmgnya. Ini hari pertama which leads to 8 days straight gw ama Kat / Melly jalan2 bareng (yes, EIGHT DAYS STRAIGHT). Ada temen2 lain jg yg dtg. Dibawa puter2 Shanghai. Two of them are really very nice people.. (Kebetulan sama2 libur jd ada waktu) - 8 days worth of pictures coming up!!!!

JALAN2 AMA LIFENG (LIFENG BROUGHT ME TO STROLL AROUND THE TOURIST AREAS FOR 6 HOURS STRAIGHT) - This is Lifeng on the left, Felix (Lifeng's friend) on the right. Kmrn pengen cari2 org dari Shanghai Maritime University (soalnya lg interested perkapalan) Guess what! Felix is the first one who studies there. Dy kerja bidang forwarding skrg. Ini resto d Huangpi Road (makanannya 干锅 alias pot kering) ala Guizhou (deket Sichuan - terkenal dengan makanan pedes.)

Jinmao Tower (just a stone's throw away from Pearl Oriental)

Gak tau building apa ini (yg penting ada bendera China ya aja) - governmental office opposite Shanghai Museum. Dulunya itu di The Bund, tp karena government udah designate The Bund as the area to be preserved, maka tempat governmental office dipindahin ke 人民广场(people's square) which is where I was standing.

Ini daerah 步行街 (pedestrian area) di daerah Nanjing Xi Lu. Kata Audrey seh jelek, tp memank 档次(kelas) Audrey kan beda.. Di picture ini ada satu org lg maen saxophone (di sebelah kanan atas).. Keren. Musiknya di-amplify jd satu jalan kedengeran. He really gave the whole street a certain flavour（特色).

Byk toko d pedestrian area itu udah tua (some goes back to whatever dynasty geto). Toko ini Heng Dali (toko jem) mayan lama jg, cm I can't be certain how far back..

Nice view of the Pedestrian Area

This is interesting. Many shops are called No.1 this , No. 1 that. (e.g. No 1 department store). It goes back to the period of Chinese independence - where the state started establishing stores for private goods. But I heard from Lifeng that manajemen dulunya parah - and the service is really lousy. As of today, I can't be certain coz I din go inside to check it out.

John Naisbitt reported in his book Megatrends Asia (pg 112-113):

"China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) .. response to budget cut was entreprenuerial. Since 84, the PLA has set up more than 20,000 companies with profits of about $5billion (yes, $5 billion). That makes PLA the largest and most profitable commercial empire in China. .. As many as half of China's military personnel are engaged in non-military, commercial activities.

Citicorp has invested in a pharmaceutical company that is part of PLA's San Jiu Enterprise Group.. Baskin-Robbins works with a military-run firm to sell its ice cream. Other successful PLA businesses include Guangzhou's 3-star hotels, best karaoke bars, bus routes beteween GUangzhou & Shenzhen.. PLA even owns JJ's, Shanghai's largest nightclub. "PLA, Inc" .. has stake in Nine Queen's Road Central and offices in old Bank of China building

PLA .. use special advantage (of military airport) to fly places civilian planes can't. It's as if a bunch of US Air Force officers decided to use some of their military planes to fly civilians around to various parts of the country in order to make a few extra bucks."

Sampe2 tempat yg gw & Sando mao sewa itu pny army sini. Jd disewakan kpd org army & mrk mao sub-lease ke kita, tp kita decide "no" .. Kl ada mslh apa2, gak bisa di-claim karena melanggar.

Gw & some police car gimmicks in Nanjing Pedestrian Area

Coba lihat kawat2 depan gedungnya State Grid (yes, the State Grid alias PLN)!!! Bisa kebayang Shanghai dulu itu kabel listrik-nya kacao segimana.. Skrg udah mending seh.. Cm byk transformer gede d samping2 jalan. Mayan serem se.. (lain kl gw tunjukin fotonya)

Me and Pearl Oriental Tower & Lujiazui - Shanghai's new financial district (where I'm standing at the Bund). Huangpu river in between separated PuDong (East of Pu) and Puxi (West of Pu). Pudong is a new area gazzetted by the government to be Shanghai's new developmt town! Shanghai is far too crowded already. Bayangin man! Dulu itu flat ground & farming areas tp skrg it's where Shanghai's international airport is! Wow! Gila betul (Shanghai separates its airport into 2: Int'l in Pudong - east end, domestic in Hongqiao - west end)

I purposely took the pic with the boat with the HUGE LCD advertisement in the middleground. Yes, people, it is an LCD screen. Spore kyknya gak ada ya.. (Spore advertising media-nya kyknya ktinggalan dech).

Nice view of a garden with Pearl Oriental at the background (left) - Lifeng helped me to take the photo

Cheng Huang Miao - It's a must visit. It's 10 minutes walk from the garden earlier. This is where the people gather during CNY and 15th day （正月十五)

Starbucks in Cheng huang Miao - a seamless blend between East and West! Nice..

Nice. Novelty! One-finger trick! Hah!

ON A LONE TRIP TO ZHOUZHUANG ------------------------- Sando has gone back for about one week now. The initially apprehensive me - going on a trip to Zhouzhuang. China's no 1 water city. Shanghai has 6 water cities surrounding it (e.g. bandung-Jakarta kota satelit geto) Commissioned by the Chinese governmt, so I thought it'll be safe to go alone. Sempet serem jg sehh.. Tp cb menghibur diri di kala menyendiri.. Haha..=P I took the bus from 集散中心 (which means gathering the loose tourists) di Indoor Stadium. Zhouzhuang is about 2 hours away from Shanghai by bus.

Twin bridge - taken by a couple from Mongolia (anyway d Cungkuo, org2 dari kota2 kecil geto lebih baek ketimbang org2 kota besar kyk Shanghai)

Zhang's House - Ini gambar belakang rumah (ada perahu kecil which supposedly brings the veggie + meat straight to the kitchen i.e. belakang rumah) spy gak jorokin seisi rumahnya

Main2 dengan penggiling beras - jadinya rice powder

A view of the river

Ini kunci dari Ming Dynasty - wuih pinter banget ya.. mrk mimic the space in between the monkey and the tree to make a lock! Wow ingenious bgt org Cina jaman dulu!

Silk woven from silkworm

Ini friends that I made during the lone trip to Zhouzhuang.

Di kiri itu anak sklh d Sichuan cm dtg Shanghai sendirian & jalan2 ke Zhouzhuang sendirian (like me!) Haha...

The one behind.. nah itu mayan seru... (Bule biasanya seru) Org Polish cm co-nya itu main "rowing boat" dan jd agent "rowing boat" merek Croker.. katanya itu merek no. 2 di dunia. Dan ada satu tempat namanya FY di Cungkuo yg produksi 60% dari world's supply of rowing boat.. Gila bener! Nah lu pikir ce di sampingnya itu istri-nya kan.. Jan blg "We're just friends. Me and Yola know each other since we were in high school". Mrk berdua udah pny anak lage. Lucu jg.. Open bgt bisa jalan2 k luar negeri bareng2 ama temen2 sklh. Kita yg hidup d Asia ya gak bisa aja geto - di culture kita, kl jalan2 begitu mgkn kena stigmatised in the best case ya! Heh!

I also met a lone Taiwanese on the trip. We had lunch together eating 踢 (pig's hoof) and ba yu (ikan bego kyk puffer.. kl dipikir2 geli jg seh). Ternyata memank trip yg keluar2 kota Shanghai itu memank byk lone-ranger kyk gw geto.

YIKES.. CHINESE PAPER WORKS RIBET…………………….


Nyambung dari entry gw yg lalu. Gw udah e-mail Audrei bos gw ttg denda 500 yuan itu (gara2 failure to double-register my stay) tp sampe skrg blm dpt reply. Kmrn msn ama anak yg udah pernah magang di company gw juga. Namanya DK – satu org cinpur. Gw kasih tau dy masalahnya begini2.. Dy lgsg blg ke gw "bayar aja 500 yuan nya, biar gak pusing". Gw mikir "Huh?" Lu goblok bgt se. Either that or dy jenius dech..


Gw perlu no hp Audrei supaya bisa telp dy, tp dy di luar negeri. Hari ini sekretaris Audrei suruh gw balik ke kantor untuk cari file yg ada d laptop. Gw balik ke kantor nyari. Gak kecari. Sekretaris-nya suruh gw telp hp HK Audrei. Nah so that’s how I got her hp. Call her one of these days to tell her the problem.


Ok man. Terus terang gw uda rada parno neh bener. Kmrn2 kan apartment manager-nya blg dy mao telp polisi kasih tau ttg masalah registrasi gw. 4 hari lalu gw plg ktm security auntie di bawah. I walked past her and dy ngejar2 gw sampe ke lift. Lalu dy nanya "lu tinggalnya di unit brp ya?" Dan biasanya dy udah kenal ama gw tp br kali ini SAMPE NGEJAR2 GW KE LIFT (about 20 metres past a corner). Di samping dy ada satu security guard lagi. Heh? Koq pake berdua ngejar2 gw? Kyk gw illegal immigrant aja. Gila.


Ya udah .. 4 days have passed since then. Ada bbrp kemajuan… Gw udah mulai ENGGAK parno lagi… Cuek aja lahh… Toh gak mgkn dimasukin penjara… Kl ditagih blg aja boss lagi d luar negeri.. Nyari boss gw aja…


So happens today is Chinese NY !!! Gongxi2.. Gw telp rumah (bokap + oma).. And the same time kepikiran telp bos gw. Ternyata audrei lagi ada di Hanoi jalan2.. Wah enaknya.. Ya skaligus gw pai-nian ama dy.. Terus ngambil kesempatan ceritain masalah gw.. Hpfully can be resolved soon…


Denger2 cerita teman2 kyk Evan dan temen2 MRII Shanghai, kl visa X (student) itu cm daftar polisi udah bisa perpanjang (i.e. gak usah k imigrasi). Visa Z (kerja) LEBIH RIBET LAGI – untuk perpanjang musti keluar ke Hongkong untuk balik dapet “chop” terus balik br urus registration of stay di kantor polisi (i.e. kl urus skrg di kantor polisi, balik2 jg musti urus lagi)… Nah loh!!!! Visa gw itu visa F (business trip).. Beda lagi tu...

KENA DENDA 500 YUAN DI CUNGKUO?? (1)............................................................

Rese banget neh urusan paperwork di Cungkuo. Visa gw kmrn cm dikasih 60 hari dari Cina Embassy d Spore. Sando dapet 180 hari dari Cina Embassy di Jakarta. Heran man! Pdhl tipe visa sama, employment letter dari Spore Management University. Ok gpp.

Skrg tinggal 2.5 minggu sblm Visa gw expire tgl 4 Maret. Jd gw telp Imigrasi di Cungkuo. Mereka minta LIMA dokumen aneh2, including: company's business licence (original), business registry code certificate (copy), registry of stay from local police station (original).

Ok. I decided yg paling gampang yg terakhir paling gampang.

Gw tanya security uncle yg baik itu "dmn local police station?" Lalu dy blg "Gak tau. Gw refer elu ke apartment management". Lalu ktm apt mgmt - orangnya blg "kamu k sini.. cari officer Hu.. kapan kamu mao pergi??" Gw blg "besok". Orangnya tiba2 dgn forceful blg ama gw "ya sebaiknya kamu pergi besok. Gw bkl ngmg ama officer Hu skrg, blg kamu bkl pergi bsk". Heh? Ini gertak nakutin2 gw atau beneran? Denger2 mrk blg, pemerintah Shanghai control registry of stay ketat banget, jd kamu pindah rumah pun musti register.

Gw makan siank tadi. Gw telp 110 (polisi) mao nanya dmn station terdekat. Gila! Mereka bilang "you just wait there, we'll pick you up. we'll bring you to the nearest police station" Gila gw salah denger apa? Gw blg "gak usah". Gw blg ama mrk "Gpp gw yg pergi k sono aja". Gw tiba2 jadi takut man! Lalu gw telp Evan, gw bilang "Kl gw gak telp lu by 5 pm hari ini, lu cari ini ini ini..."

Gw sampe di police station jam 2 siang. Orangnya blg "You'll be fined 500 yuan for not registering your stay within the first 24 hours of arrival." Gw kaget. Huh? Gw pikir kan gw ada visa. Koq kena denda seh?? Aneh bgt. Gw mikir orgnya minta duit kyk d Indo. Gw nanya "bisa bantu gw gak?" Orangnya dengan tegas jawab "Gak bisa dibantu". Lah bukan mao duit, jd beneran neh? Gw sempet telp Evan nanya "gmn neh Van??" Gw coba konfirmasi beneran gak tu. Orangnya suruh gw balik besok bawa duitnya. Terus gw nanya "terus kl misalnya saya turis tinggal d hotel, masa saya mesti register juga?" Orangnya jawab "orang hotel-nya pasti registerin kamu".

Ya ampun... Gw telp sekretaris bos gw, Qian Neng. Gw nanya udah pernah register belom? Dy blm belom. Gw e-mail Dikun, anak SMU yg pernah intern di company gw - blm dapet balesan. Brsan gw e-mail Audrei - udah bingung mao gmn. Skrg gw jd bingung man.

NO ONE USES THE POSTAL CODE SYSTEM IN SHANGHAI????????????


Lists. We know what they are. There are thousands of them. There are some you hate. There are some you always keep in your head because it makes you happy. There are some, no matter how you to try to remember, you will end up forgetting. Some lists make people happy e.g. what to buy for your loved ones. Some make ME happy e.g. list of things to bring back to Jakarta (that means I'll be having a holiday). Some lists will make you laugh to yourself e.g. list of jokes to tell your girlfriend. The same list may be a happy one for some, but a dread to others e.g. list of baby names.


To me the list I hate the most is KIV list. What are those? KIV stands for Keep-In-View. These are the kind of lists that you must always have around in mind, and you can't throw it away. No matter what. I hate those lists because sometimes it has no end-date, sometimes you don’t even know whether you have to do it at the end.


Today I have 3 KIV lists. 1st: get a cleaner to clean the house. 2nd: find a barber. 3rd get my unit’s address.


The 1st of the three. The other time when we moved to this apt in Longcao Rd, you might recall, our unit was awfully DIRTY. We were pretty innocent at that point in time – we let the tenant go without paying a single cent for cleaning the house. The other time you might remember there was an angel (by the name of Wang Ah Yi – Auntie Wang) who came during our distress to help us clean the house. I bargained for a sum of 20 yuan for a single visit – initial price of 25. Then onwards, she told us she’d come over on Thurs 7 pm (and probably Sunday at 12 pm). That week of course, we had a to work late and could only leave the office at 7pm – when we got home, it was already 8 pm (too late). We waited for Sunday – she’d probably come. Not a chance.

Audrei told us she’d give the tenant a call – to clean up whatever mess 2 weeks after we move in. I guess she was pretty busy that she forgot. We didn’t blame her. So we closed the kitchen and today, I bought one roll of tape to prevent the small roaches from entering the living room (we suspected that they are coming from the smelly kitchen). I taped the bottom of the door.

Today, I had asked another potential cleaner by the name of Li XiaoJie (Ms. Li) to come by and clean up the house. She got here just in time – 12 pm. I had early lunch (11am) – so as to prevent myself from going hungry during the clean-up. I was cleaning up – the whole place was messy, and thought that I would ask her to clean up ONLY the toilet and kitchen. I also told her the aircon was dirty – she had volunteered to ask the security guard to check the aircon – one of those common dirty Chinese tricks – overly eager to do the job even before the price is agreed upon. I told her “no need to do that……”


As always I said “我们先谈价钱吧” – let’s talk money first. She asked me what kind of price I’m willing to offer her. I didn’t want to be the first to make the move, cause generally it is bad. But in the end nobody wanted to set a price, so I went ahead – 20 yuan. Just like Wang Ah Yi’s price the other time. She turned her head from side to side. I had expected her to say like 50 yuan… Ok. Chinese are known to be “knockers” (as in “tukang ketok” – OK that came out wrong). Well anyway she said 100 yuan. I was like shocked!!! Is she crazy? I told her “I know the market price ok – this is way too expensive”.


After beating around the bush, we finally come to a dead halt again. We grew increasingly impatient cause nobody wants to lower or increase the price. Then she said “好吧，通常这样的话是看缘分” (the relationship between employers and cleaners are normally a destined one – we’re just not fated). I was like laughing laaaaaaahhhh… Sialan. Ngakak sial… Here it is just cause we can’t agree on the price, she’s trying to be philosophical. I was already pissed and I said “缘分归缘分，事实归事实” (destiny is destiny, but FACT is different). HAHAHA. BUT I had meant to say “缘分归缘分，现实归现实” which means “destiny is destiny, but REALITY is different”. I only realized afterwards when I flipped the dictionary pages and found out I was wrong, because FACT and REALITY sound so similar in Chinese. She must be thinking likewise “STUPID boy, trying to be philosophical”. Darn it! Lol. I told her 25 yuan and she was gone. So there I was, desperate again. I ended up cleaning the FREAKIN DIRTY toilet and the whole house all myself. Haha. Again.


2nd in my 3. This one was easy. I need to cut my hair cause the last time I cut it was in Jakarta – about 5~6 weeks ago. Guys need to cut their hair every 1 month. I surveyed the surrounding, and found like 3 hair-cut services. The first one had a guy sitting slouching in his seat (barber) – I leaned forward from the window to ask him the price. He said 4 yuan – OMG that’s like less than GOCENG rupiah lahhh yawwwww.. Gila gunting yg dipake karatan kale yahhh… Scary. OK – KIV. Um, I walked 2 doors and found one salon – nice, 10 yuan. Another 2 doors, 15 yuan. Nice. Ok, will cut my hair soon.

3rd and final one. Address. This was pretty tough. The surprising thing is that NO ONE in Shanghai uses the POSTAL CODE system. I asked the security guys below – don’t know. Security auntie – don’t know. Main door security – also don’t know. There are tonnes of shops beside our apartment – none put a postal code. NONE. It’s crazy. I ate my dinner at 10pm at JiJiXiaoZhen (soon to be my favourite eating place) – it was raining heavily, coldest it has ever gotten since I came to Shanghai. I sat down, thinking of IDD calling Sandra for Stephany’s (tenant’s) number – cause I need it to write an application letter urgently. Real urgent. I had 1 minute left on my IP card – so I thought it would be useless. I came out from JiJiXiaoZhen – there it was, HanTeng hotel. I thought “how to problem-solve??” The hotel guy probably knows the postal code, but why would he gave it to me?? Do I go in and just ask what’s your postal code? That’s dumb lahhhh… So I went inside and asked “How much is your room price? OH so and so… Ok can I have your address please???” I noticed there was no postal code on the brochure – cannot be. I asked him “what’s your postal code??” He gave it to me. There it was – right at the bottom of the brochure, a small six-number figure, written wrongly somemore… Walaw. The last number a 5 instead of a 3… Walaw… Haha… At least problem solved.

Actually there’s a 4th in my KIV list – renew my visa. Sando has applied from Jakarta and gotten 6 month visa. Me? I applied in Spore and gotten a 2 month visa. You know what is needed for renewal? 1 photograph, 5 documents – including business licence of the company (ORIGINAL!!!!) Crap la…How to get??? Ask employer ahhh???? Siao weh… and a registration form of residence from my local police station. Crap lahhhhhhh… Dumb.

WK4 WEEKEND (2) - GOD'S TIME................................................................

Ok.. udah 4 mgg d Shanghai tp blm pergi gereja satu x pun.. Reasonnya ya gw bilang ya bonafit2 aja... Minggu pertama diajak bos jalan2 during weekend. Waktu itu gw masih tinggal d rumahnya - dan hari ke 2 udah diajak jalan2.. Dan jg considering dy gak in town most of the time, as she puts it "U're lucky I can be this free". Ya udah.. gw pikir minggu depan pergi aja asal sate jalan terus.


Minggu ke 2 - free neh ceritanya. Uda pergi ke Huai Hai ZHong Road (MRII) tp gw ada impression itu mulainya jam 3 sore. Waktu gw lihat brosur yg gw selipin d dompet gw - jam 10 pagi.. Weks.. How can I be so blur???


Minggu ke 3 - disuruh double OT ama bos.. Bo pian. Another weekend gone.


Minggu ke 4 - minggu ini. Ceritanya gw udah free bgt. Keenakan blogging (which is bad) sampe pagi jam 5. Akhirnya terlantarkan. Br sadar ada gereja jam 10 pagi. Den as expected, gak bisa bangun walaupun udah set alarm. Nah siank ini ketemu Hendry online. DOENKS. Terima teguran.... (Thx Hen, appreciate it). Br sadar slama ini Tuhan nunggu gw - "Ya udah kpn lu mo pergi? Dikasih waktu bukannya makin tambah rindu pergi malah lupa. Heh." Ya even though it's serious, tp I see a lighter side of it. Heh. Lucu aja geto. Parah aja gw.. Haha.. So I picked up mi hp - telp org2 MRII yg ada d brosur itu. Ya hopefully minggu depan bisa pergi=)

WEEK4 WEEKEND (1)...... CERITA SERU - DEBIT CARD SYSTEM DI SHANGHAI MATI JAM 1030 MALEM????


GAMBAR GW & EVAN d SHANGHAI STADIUM Pagi ini terima sms dari Sando dari Indo. Dy cm mao blg "oh ini nomor gw d Indo". Pake Chinese lagi. Hayyah... Kamsia oei. Oh ya udah gw bales (pake Indo kl ini.. hehe) tp sampe skrg blm dapet jawabannya.


Anyway.. Gara2 gw kmrn mlm tidurnya jam 5 pagi ngerjain project tmpt kerja gw, gw hari ini bangunnya jam 12 siank. Lgsg ketemu Evan makan Japenese. Waduh top banget lahh.. Realli nice.. Ada satu menu. Gw gak tau namanya apa - kyk jamur jepang dibalut pake daging sapi dikasih teriyaki sauce. Nah enak bgt. Abis dari sono ya udah, kita pulang, tidur d rumah sampe jam 5 sore. Evan jg kecapean, jd sama2 tdr.


Ya udah malemnya kita ke Shanghai Stadium. Soalnya katanya d sono ada bus2 yg keluar kota Shanghai. Sesampainya d sono, wuih ada byk CALO.. jual2 tiket.. ya namanya gw main modal nekat.. gw nanya aja.. "Ini tiket ke mana?" Org-nya cengo.. Dy bilang "Ini tiket Jeff Chang"... Yehhhhhh....... Anti-klimaks bgt.. Kirain tiket ke luar dari Shanghai.... eg. Hangzhou, Suzhou... taunya tiket konser Jeff Chang 张信哲 kl gak salah (singer Chinese - one of my favourite)... Orgnya nyeplos "Org itu (gw) koq aneh.. pake nanya tiketnya buat kmn???".. Gw mikir dalam hati "sialan lu kirain tiket k Hangzhou... allahhh malah tiket konser"


Ok... Nah kl d Shanghai, namanya FO (Factory Outlet) itu ada bbrp.. Top lahh.. D Stadium ada satu.. Gw masuk, ngelihat2 sportswear geto.. ya ktm Adidas sweatshirt .. muraahhhh banget.. 74yuan man! Busyet.. ya udah beli...... Ok kita mkn mlm d Papa John's ... makan pizza ...

Terus kita k supermkt. Nah ini gambar penitipan barang d supermarket Shanghai.. Nah loh... Otomatis semua.. And bagusnya lagi... ENGGAK USAH BAYAR... GILA.... Gw mao beli bedsheet.. kmrn ke Ikea nyari .. eh taunya mahal bangettttttzzzzz... target market Ikea beda lah d Spore ama d Sg ama Indo..

Ini gambar LIFENG (tengah - colleague gw) dan temennya, Felix (sklh d Shanghai Maritime University - oh perkapalan.. interesting).. Nah ini cerita SERU-nya.. Kl org China itu.. Mrk 很会作人 (hen3 hui4 zuo4 ren2) alias punya manners banget. Serius.. Gw ama Evan lg complain ttg org Sg (gmn mrk kdg2 rese n dll..) Nah.. LIFENG itu colleague kantor gw - dy rela sampe2 temenin gw beli bedsheet. Ya ampun.. Boro2 colleague lu d Spore bs kyk geto..


Dy jg cerita kl misalnya supermarket d Shanghai itu selalu d tempat yg jauh dari MRT site (peraturan pemerintah) - Shanghai urban planning-nya pinter bgt, jd satu kota itu traffic-nya jd enggak gila2an macet-nya. Ok... Ceritanya gw mao bayarin mrk dan udah tarik2an barang ama mrk UDAH LAMA AND MAYAN PARAH (mrk gak enak gw bayarin).. waktu gw mao bayar buat minuman yg Lifeng + Felix beli ... kasirnya bilang "SORRI KITA PUNYA DEBIT CARD SYSTEM JAM 1030 UDAH MATI"... ANJJJJRRRRINGGGGG... wah.. how come so sweh ah?? Sialan... wah... Sialan.. gw mao ngakak juga gak bisa... sialannnnnn...lol... lucu banget geto loh... ya gw lihat duit d dompet... Um.. gak cukup tuchhh... Akhirnya... ya... mrk ... bayarin... gw... dech... gak enak bgt..........*puter2 kepala*

DUNIA KECIL - EVAN, MY FRIEND IN SHANGHAI....................................

Nah ini temen gw, Evan. Dy org Indo jg.. Tp skrg sklh d Purdue.. Hehehe.. Gila juga se.. Kmrn dapet msn dy.. "Norman, are u in Shanghai? How long are u here for??" Ok.. gw pikir dy cuman chatting biasa .. Tau nya... Wah ternyata dy juga d Shanghai.. Wuih.. Ya udah gw ama dy tiap weekend without fail pasti keluar2. Hehehe seru juga recalling waktu NS. Soalnya kita sama2 trainee kena tekan together! Hah!!!! Ini foto kita kmrn waktu kita mesen makanan.. "Waduh sori Evan , gw lihat menu makanannya juga gak ngerti2"Abis dipesen.. Evan bilang "Wah Norman pinter juga lu mesen-nya..." Hahahahaha.. Norman geto lohhhh.. Pasti jago la.....

Evan itu temennya temen Sandra dari Indo, namanya Liza & Budi. Mrk smua ternyata kenalan & temen maen di Purdue. Gila... Wah br sadar dunia kecil banget!!!!

FENGYUN, FINANCE EXPERT......................... (the one holding the Mike)

Ok.. orang2 kantor udah pada cabut semuanya.. Brsan gw pengen selesai-in project gw.. mao ketemu Evan abis ini d XuJiaHui. Mao nyari sepatu. Sepatu gw kemasukan air kl hujan sebel bgt.. (Sepatu yg coklat itu hehehe.. Cien2, lu tau yg mana yeh? Hehe..)

Terus jam 550pm, 5 menit sblm waktu sls, ada satu colleague yg ngobrol ttg finance ama gw. I'm starting to think orang2 finance dy kantor gw itu gila bgt - super jago bgt le.. I mean kl praktek n practical knowledge mgkn gw gak tau sgmn jago mrk, tp ttg cognitive market knowledge.

Nama colleague gw itu Fengyun - dy explain what's happening with the China Stock mkt. Dlm 6 bulan, stock mkt increase a two-fold. Yes a two-fold. Byk reasons-nya - pertama ttg peran pemerintah untuk allow opening up a large portion of their companies assets to be securitised. Dy jg blg Shanghai byk bgt companies yg listed itu state-owned. For a private-owned companies to be listed, it must be a super super solid company (beda ama Spore ya). Terus what happens all the foreign reserve - China kan lagi gila2an build up reserve. Justru di-invest ke property, and causing the land price like those in Shanghai to become extremely high. Nah, menurut Fengyun companies kyk Morgan Stanley pada invest d China's CBD - and the way they put it is by PLOTS. Wah gila bgt lah. I mean Spore itu kecil bgt - and Spore government kl release CBD area itu bit by bit. Br aja release plot of land beside Wheelock itu kan. China is far too expansive. Dy jg cerita ttg Shanghai pny major yg brsan di-sack gara2 corruption of something like that. Mkt sentiments about land price is that itu udah mandek. Dan skrg the money is flowing to .. yes the money market.

Anyway Audrey jg pernah blg front-end managers di Spore don't know what they're talking about - she used to say that Hongkpng counterparts are much better in dealing with the customers and they know what they're talking about. Dy blg Spore pny itu semua graduate dan Hongkong pny very experienced. And subsequently she pulled out her money from Spore. Hah. (Ok.. gw gak mao ketawain Spore lagi lahh... jahat)

Dy ngmg ttg junk bonds - dy cerita ttg father of junk bonds: Milken. Gmn caranya dy popularise junk bonds. He issues a medium-sized company's junk bonds to ACQUIRE a larger company's asset with the promise that he will give them back the liabilities using the larger company's profit. Simple se.. very basic.. tp interesting and powerful concept.