sleeping-awake.net

Which I forgot to include in my post about my trip to China, so here they are.

Whilst bargain shopping in Beijing.
My bro wanted to buy some magnets to give as souvenirs to his friends. At the first stall we approached, the girl tending shop said that they were 45 yuan apiece. Uh, are you kidding? No, thank you. As we were walking away, the girl asked, “How much do you want for it?” We didn’t bother haggling and just went off. Guess what we saw in the stall right next to the first one? Yep, the same magnets. Bro got them for 5 yuan each.

In our Shanghai hotel lobby.
To make a long story short, the receptionist referred to me and my bro as “two little kids”. That’s what she really said, in Chinese. My bro and I are 18 and 22, respectively, and she didn’t even call us “two teenagers” or “two young people”. She really said “two little kids”. It was pretty funny.

Whilst shopping at Yu Yuan Bazaar. I was looking to have a Chinese name seal made.
Girl tending shop: 170 yuan, write your name in Chinese.
Me: 50 yuan.
Girl: No, no.
After I haggled for a bit, we started to walk away - there were other shops selling seals anyway.
Girl: (chases after us and latches onto my arm, trying to pull me back) OK, 50, write your name in Chinese. 50!
Me: No.
Mom: We’ll come back, thank you.
Girl: (still pulling at me) 50 yuan. OK, 40!
Me: No.
Girl: (still holding on) OK, 30!
Me: No, thank you.
Girl: (finally lets go) *insert Chinese cuss words here*
Got my name seal at a different shop for 25 yuan. Haha, that was a fun experience.

At Yu Yuan Garden.
Tour Guide: If you clap your hands, the fishes will come to you and look for food. (claps a few times)
Dad: Really now. (starts clapping)
Me and Bro: Oh cool. (joins in the clapping)
Soon enough, the koi fishes - like a bazillion of them - start swimming toward us. But unfortunately we didn’t have any food for them.
Bro: (waving his arms) Oh no, go back! We don’t have any food, we were just kidding! We’re sorry, go back! Go back!

Believe you me, there’s more where they came from!

Less than a week ago I was still a thousand miles away from home, breathing in the cool Shanghainese air, taking in the different sights and sounds of that vibrant city. Now I’m back in the sweltering heat of Manila - back to “real” life, I guess. Beijing and Shanghai were awesome. They were everything I expected and everything I did not expect. And, as promised in my previous entry, here’s a photo of the Great Wall, with me right smack in the middle of it:

A truckload more of pictures and a coupla funny conversations await you after the cut.

(more…)

Today is the first day of the Year of the Rat! And I am wearing black. Inadvertently, though. In case you’re wondering what’s wrong with black… well, nothing, really. But it’s the one color that you shouldn’t wear during Chinese celebrations. Red is THE color to wear. Boy, what my grandmother would do if she saw me right now. Teehee. But like I said, I didn’t mean to. I’m just a tad disoriented in the mornings, and black is pretty much my default color.

Anyway, Remy and Jerry say Happy Chinese New Year!!

I know, I know, Jerry is a mouse. But he wants to be part of the celebration too!