Heaven

                                         

                                               Donuts = Heaven

Finally

our shanghai trip finally pushed through yesterday. huey and i went there for a daytrip. our plan was to do her stuff in the morning, have lunch and coffee then go to ikea. we had lunch in xintiandi. it was soooo good.

we had coffee after, haven't had a decent cup of coffee for the longest time. hahaha

was already able to get my stuff from ikea. bought a new table lamp for my room and some small trinkets. i like how you can find unique and useful things from ikea for a relatively good deal. slight headache in the morning aside, it was all good.

Sick and Tired

that's how i feel about pizza. yes, pizza. i've been home alone for the past couple of days and since i'm not very knowledgeable in the kitchen, i've been buying pizza and stocking it in the fridge. reheating a couple of slices for my breakfast, lunch and dinner. last night, i had enough. while eating 2 slices, i had a hard time swallowing every bite without the urge to throw up! hahaha. and i thought i can never get tired of eating pizza. moral of the story: too much of everything, even the things you thought you can never get enough of, can take it's toll. moderation is the key.

Dark and Bitter

...that's how i like my chocolate. 

 look at this: 

i got to buy this dark chocolate again from a store in Taikang Lu in Shanghai that sells Australian and New Zealand trinkets.  this is good stuff.  the cocoa taste is strong with just the right amount of sweetness.  perfect for my taste.  it reminds me of the "tabliya" (cocoa tablets / balls) that my aunt use to buy for me in Batangas.  it is actually used for making hot coco, but i like eating it like a jawbreaker instead.  

Shanghai Shenanigans

being a long-weekend, huey and i went to shanghai last saturday to "chillax." we stayed there for three days and two nights. it was a really good trip. saturday we bought some dvds, i got several movies (The Other Boleyn Girl, Once, Breaking and Entering etc.) and some tv shows (Skin and Moonlight). that should keep me occupied for some time hahaha. then we had lunch at Parkson's Crossroad in Huaihai Road (the malaysian noodles is really nice!). that afternnon we went for a facial (vanity, vanity), got my haircut then had a healthy (well, sort of) dinner at coffee bean. haven't been to coffee bean for the longest time. i really like their food. so much so that the day after, we had lunch in coffee bean too, this time in Xintiandi. over-all, it was a really relaxed long-weekend. i enjoyed it a lot.....and did i mention i got a new bag?! hahaha.

Hangzhou Weekend

it's been 2 days since we got back from our weekend trip to Hangzhou and i still feel soooo tired. we left for Wu Zhen at 7am last saturday. after Wu Zhen we went to a cave Jin Xiu Feng Shu Dong (Natural Water-eroded Cave)

sunday morning we went to a park called Lingyin Flying Peak (bakit? hindi ko alam! hahaha)

in the afternoon, we went to Xi Hu Lake
it was really fun. plus, i got to drink my iced almond soy mocha! good thing i didn't wear shorts kasi it was still chilly. have tons of pics pa but go to my facebook na lang.

Fiesta

of the 11 days that i went back, i went out every single day. had so much fun meeting different sets of friends, eating all the food that i want and of course getting my cuppa (iced almond/raspberry soy mocha or a double grande espresso frappuccino) everyday.

with my friends from my previous job



with my "alabang" friends

tribes

with my h.s. friends

Whew!

just got back from shanghai this afternoon. i sooo blew my budget. crappy! i bought these:

i loved the movie, so i decided to get the book too (as novels are waaay better than movies); the pair of jeans, i got on sale (justifying my purchase. hahaha); so as the t-shirt and white dress shirt (not shown...in the laundry. hahaha); i finally got my hair product (i also had my haircut); and a wallet (seven years na yata yung lumang wallet ko). hhmmmm....what else? also got my Starbucks bottled frappuccinos, bought three bottles of mocha and three bottles of coffee frappuccino.....that's the best i can do since the nearest Starbucks is two hours from here! hahaha

Sidetracked Again

this afternoon after work, kymn and i went to a nearby park to supposedly jog and sweat a bit. true, we jogged......for about three minutes! hahaha. then leisurely walked the rest of the time. after about 30 minutes of walking, we had dinner at the park's restaurant.


i've always wanted to check out this restaurant. but because of the language barrier (hahahah), it was only this afternoon that i got around to finally trying it out (with the super mandarin skills of kymn! hehehe). they serve H.K. cuisine. the food is good and the ambiance is really nice. but as expected, it also comes with an expensive range of selections. a regular coffe is about rmb35 = php210 (@6)!! that's already a venti drink in starbucks and maybe a pastry! hahha. our dinner damaged us by rmb200+. whew! but it is a welcome change from the four or five usual restaurants that we always dine at here in zjg.

Pig-out Saturday

having been deprived of some REAL food, we went to shanghai for a daytrip yesterday as we also had to fetch a new colleague at the airport. we had lunch at T.G.I.F. and had coffee and cinnamon roll at Starbucks after. it was soooooo good!! hahaha. at about 5pm, we were already back in zjg. not wanting to waste a saturday night, huey and i went to a nearby chinese cafe to play scrabble (seriously, scrabble on a saturday night! how dorky right?!! hahaha). we were only supposed to order fruit drinks as we plan to eat at another restaurant. i ordered kiwi and huey ordered the mixed fruit variant. half-way through our first game when our orders arrived. woah!! it turned out that the things we ordered are not drinks but some sort of a fruit platter....a big fruit platter at that! hahaha. we ended up eating two big bowls of fruits and skipping our dinner plan! talk about a healthy alternative! hahaha

Stuffed Wednesday Night

i am sooooo stuffed!! rex, my housemate, cooked a menudo-like dish for dinner. i had two generous servings of rice for dinner at 6pm. then at 8pm, together with my malaysian friends, we went to the only italian resto in zjg (zhangjiagang). had a plate of penne pesto, two slices of pizza, some fries, a little bread and a cup of cappuccino. gluttonous! and oh, i forgot to mention the m&ms in between. hahahah

Taro Chips

yesterday i was sooo bored, i called huey and asked her to have coffee. we ended up going to the walk street, think bonifacio highstreet only instead of the high-end shops it is populated with chinese stores (i'm in china right?! hahaha) and is not posh...at all. we discovered a small grocery on the 5th level of a department store. and i bought this: Taro Barbecue Chips

a healthy alternative to my weekly grocery staple that is lay's and doritos munchies.

one thing lang, hindi sya masyado masarap! hahaha i'd probably won't buy this again...siguro if i'm feeling healthy lang! hahaha

Friday Night

it's a beautiful friday night. just got back from dinner, we had japanese buffet. now i'm at my room with nothing to do. was supposed to watch the 7th episode of ally mcbeal's 2nd season but the disc is skipping. crappy! now, i'm bored!! i'll probably just read a book while eating chocolate icecream.

Buti Na Lang Hindi Bumubula....

i finally ended my legendary "katamaran" and went out to have coffee and do my groceries yesterday. my malaysian friend huey and i went to auchan (a hypermarket), about 15 minutes away from our apartment. she needed to buy some veggies and i needed to buy a lotion, this friggin winter is drier than a diaper!

i bought my m&m refill and saw thiswhich is basically like a matamis na mani (those you buy in Batangas, Antipolo and Tagaytay) fortified with a hint of cranberry. wicked right?! hahaha and of course, i bought this

this morning, after taking a shower, i slathered some. parang iba yung feeling, parang hindi sya lotion! but i can't do anything about it kasi i'm running late na. i felt a little uneasy the entire day, pano kung hindi sya lotion? pano kung shower cream sya? namputcha, ayoko pagpawisan at bumula! luckily it's winter, hindi ako pinagpawisan. so when i got home this afternoon, tinignan ko mabuti yung bottle, the only english words are: olay, body, nature, science and the chinese characters eh hindi kapareho nung sa old nivea lotion bottle. walang manalo! last resort, i took a small amount in my hand and tinapat ko sa running water. buti na lang hindi bumula, lotion nga....unless conditioner 'to?! hahaha

M&M's

woke up at 1pm today, and i'm soooo lazy to move. have to go top-up my mobile phone credit and refill my m&m stash..malapit na maubos. bukas na lang siguro. hahaha

just finished watching the first 10 episodes of grey's anatomy's 4th season. ganda. dunno how many episodes na they have for this current season and hindi ako mkapag download kasi wala ng space hard drive ko. tsk, tsk..really need to get myself an external hard disk.

anyhow, i'll probably start reading my book na. you, what's up with you?

Xin Nian Kuai Le!!

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!!

i haven't experienced a hard-core chinese new year celeb yet..but the new year here is no different than how we celebrate it in the philippines. the chinese are also very festive. like us, they also go around visiting relatives and friends. kaya nga 1 week bakasyon nila, for us is only 3 days!! hahaha

but seriously, i'm getting used to living here. the locals are no different than us (noypis), some of them are even more family-oriented than us. haaayy. my only dislike here, in zhangjiagang, is that it is boring. not many places to go to or even restos to eat in. i have to go to shanghai pa or other bigger cities to unwind and have my raspberry mocha!!
anyways, i have 4 days of "tunganga" time. i'll just watch dvds, maybe start reading my new book (Love In The Time Of Cholera) or just make plain "tunganga".

the pasabog pics are not mine. the fireworks pics that i took suck kasi medyo foggy kaya malabo.

Shanghai Weekend

helo, helo...got back from my weekend in shanghai earlier this evening. it was fun! we went there yesterday morning, at around 11am. it usually take about 2 hours from zhangjiagang to shanghai, but yesterday we were sitting in the car for more than 4 hours!! kasi all the major highways were closed due to heavy snow.

we got to shanghai at aound 4.3 then had lunch (?!) at a malaysian restaurant. i had hainanese chicken rice, a veggie dish called kangkong something (yes, the malays also call kangkong the same thing, as well as tilapia, lampin and mangkok among others) and a kikiam-like pork. then, one mrt station away, we went to a tech mall. and yes, yes, yes..i bought na my dslr!! yipee!! problema ko na lang kung pano sya gamitin! hahaha. the included manual is in chinese!! crappy dba? (but it's ok, i'll just try to download it) kaya hindi pa ko makapag-post ng pictures! hahaha.


after checking-in at a budget hotel, we went for coffee at around 9pm. (at last!! i haven't had my iced raspberry mocha for weeks) then we walked to XinTianDi (an eastwood-ish kind of venue) where G+ Club is. later at 2am, we went to another club, babyface which was happening because of dj lady waks.then at 4am, we went back to the hotel (if not for my progressing head-ache, we would've stayed longer). yun lang. that was my happening weekend.

o sya, i'll still figure out how to use my cam so i can post my pics na! hahaha