upgrade pretty pls?

got upgraded recently on a Qantas A380 flight to first crass :D

considering the cost of a true frist crass tix, my only hope of such an experience is really heaps of luck and an oversold economy and business section during peak season~~

my experience? the seat configuration is awesome. even the blinds for the windows is remote controlled via a wireless touch screen controller!! the table was so big that we could play mahjong on it (well almost)..

but as usual the food on qantas is rather crappy. they do however have quite an extensive wine list. the green lump u see above is actually fish! *yuck lol.. but you do get the full tea set when you asked for tea... and they still use plastic cutlery in first crass :p

strange as it may sound, most passengers in first crass are rather easy to please... they come aboard, once in the air, most change into their qantas pajamas and go str8 to sleep.. no food nothing.. the old lady sitting across the aisle was reading a book the whole flight and her only request was that her cup of tea was topped up throughout! strange...

but nevertheless, free upgrades are always welcomed.. no complains there!

sleepless tea

had a ice milk tea (hk style) at my favourite neighbourhood restaurant, dong's and could not sleep till 3am that night!

according to a reliable source (M), apparently if the quality of the tea was good, it should not cause any insomnia :o pple who know me well will know that i dont take coffee well. my hand trembles and will get heart palpitations... even the cans of diet coke in my fridge is caffeine free lol :D

not only that, i have also recently discovered that i'm lactose intolerent! its ok here in syd where its easy enough to get soya milk with our usual coffees, teas and chai lattes ;p but overseas it would be quite different.

however the recent trip to hk have proven otherwise... strangely enough consuming the genuine *hk milk tea (obvsiously not made with soy milk), i somehow did not suffer from (a) any side effects of lactose intol or (b) insomnia... hehe and amazingly, there's a corner take away shop (undergrd next to maccas) at the kowloon city-airport station that serves ice milk tea immersed in a bowl of ice! (see abv) apparently as the ice melts, it then does not dilute the tea.. how thoughtful..

happy bd dave~

it was my flatmate dave's BIG _ 0 and we brought him to tetsuyas in syd for a meal.. having heard raving reviews and being known to have a LONG waitlist for a decent table, it had to be good right?

a quick ring to the amex concerige and 2 days later, we got ourselves in!

we had our complimentary welcome drinks.... nice move... and the 13 course degustation started. i find the service over polished and the ambience was otherwise so so.. they seemed to have paid too much attention to the decor of the food rather than the food itself :p not that its not good, but perhaps my palate's not trained for such delicacies lol.

food: clockwise abv: welcome champagne, bread roll, starter: some quail eggs with avocado soupy stuff... scampi tail, king fish sashimi

food: clockwise abv: salmon with crab roe, abalone strips with some pasta bits, octopus ravioli (this one was yummy). mains (i) duck

food: clockwise abv: mains (ii) beef, desert: peach ice cream (not in picture), whithered cherry, more other desert coffee and tea....

of course they have fancier names than what i have written but anyhow, u get the picture. as each dish was served they were briefly described.

knowing that it was my mate dave's bd, they provided complimentary bd cake as well. nice touch....

the only regret was not opting for the matching wine!! but we'll try it again sometime :D

our section leader Michael brought us for a little tour around the kitchen area and other dining rooms after our meals. apparently tetsuyas started as a BYO restaurant but now they have their own cellar.

now they employ about 130 pple and sits about 50 tables a nite. there are about 25 pple working in the kitchen alone. u dont decide on the meals served unless u have special meal requests. menus differ slightly depending on where u r seated in the restaurant and they also have seasonal adjustments.

thanks M for dropping us off and fetching us after.. will promise to bring u next time! :D

rat race?

another quick weekend work in tpe..

i remember vaguely when i was still schooling i resented the thought that i had to be in a white collar job, chasing paperwork and pleasing bosses as i slog on with my life one day. and some time ago, i was happy (or foolish) enough to think hey, i think i did get away from all this...

just sitting in the transit lounge in sg; flying from tpe back to syd, it somehow dawned on me that i am not really in control of my own life am i? i had just worked non-stop for the last 14 days and will continue for the next 11... gosh that's almost another 2 weeks till my next weekend off.

when we often hear expert's advise that we should take a step back and take stock of our life, to look at the big picture so to speak, somehow i sometimes feel that it may be better NOT to see the big picture, to live in ignorance instead...... as ignorance is bliss right?

work is good correct? i have a couple of close friends who still have trouble finding new jobs after being made redundant last year..... but am i happy? i guess so... do i resent my working life? sometimes.....maybe i am just a cry baby never really truly happy with what i've got. lamenting being in a rat race, tasked to travel at a blinding speed.. but who am i to blame when the person i am truly racing against is myself?

god, i think i need help.....

back to reality :(

back to work this week and working a full 6-day week. not happy jan.. but such is life aint it? it's pass 1am and im still working (hard) in the office

therefore wont be posting till perhaps the weekend...

i cant believe my next flight out is next fri... damn quite soon gosh!

burger burger....

on the flight to hk this trip, i got kinda bored watching the blockbuster movies. i switched over to sum tv documentary introducing interesting food places in hk. the abv restuarant in causeway bay was featured. but the funny thing was, they did not mention the name of the restaurant nor its location. i had to google it and locate it on google map. wasnt hard tho...

so what's so special abt this place?

i ordered a softshell crab burger. yup u heard right. its the entire softshell crab in a burger!! and it tasted really good too. other stuff on the menu included conventional burgers like classic, bacon n cheese or cod fish and lobster burgers. price ranged btw 50-188 HKD (for the lobster burger).

after a chat with a friendly staff there (her name is Mina), we found out that they have been ard for approx 2 years. the restaurant is kinda small (seats abt 20) but bright and clean. beer is served onsite and they also have a frequent eater card. if your heart can take it, u'll get a free burger (up to 60 HKD) after u've consumed 10 in 3 mths! :D

u will need to know exactly where it is as it is not visible from the usual shopping areas. 7 carolinehill rd, causeway bay. http://www.burgeroom.com/

go look for it if ur ard the area and enjoy!

shen zhen

although ive been to hk quite a few times over the last few years, i have never ventured up north to shenzhen before...

after disucussing this long awaited trip with a few local friends, we were warned to be really really careful. basically 9 out of 10 pple gave negative reports. pick pockets, dirty streets, unruly locals..... ok, we get the idea, stay close tog at all times, look out for bandits and clutch at our belongings for dear life ALL the time.

after a day trip there, i can now say that either we were really lucky, or that it wasnt really that bad after all. maybe things have really improved or just the old saying, you can never be too careful...lol

the train trip was smooth, and as most visitors were either mainland or locals, there were hardly anyone at the alien queues. immigration customs were friendly and rather efficient once we figured out and completed all the necessary forms :D

shopping was not restricted to the large mall just abv the train station at lo wu (although u could still spend 1/2 the day there shopping n eating if u want), we did a short stroll to more shopping areas up north from the station and the local maps were easy to follow. the local MTR is rather convenient too as most of the larger malls are built ard these stations.

food is generally cheaper than in hk but getting good bargins will require great haggling skills. we briefly looked at a rather decent oakley backpack, not seriously buying one but just u know browsing. they offered us 480 RMB. we were hungry and went off looking for food.... the salesgirl shouted after us offering the same bag for 200 RMB and as we walked further away, 100 RMB! chris and i looked at each other in disbelief but somehow did not turn back....

as the local govt is quite strict with copy brands and pirated stuff, most are well hidden from the shoppers eyes. a small shop with just one or two bags n belts is just frontage for more `A goods`. friendly touts lined the narrow corridors of the malls and bring interested customers to special rooms for a `no obligation` viewing. no, we did not go :p

we saw the abv signage outside a roadside restaurant... we were den gently reminded that we were indeed in china. where they do eat (almost) everything and anything... animal lovers (fiona) will literally shut this shop down if she saw it.. lol