Liuzhou - Done Deal

came in two nites back from shanghai. liuzhou is a small industrial city in guangxi. it is located two hours by expressway from guilin and share the same geographic topology. it has little hills surrounding the city and the liujiang (river) running a course round the city.

they having a saying here; liuzhou men are manly but liuzhou women are even more manly LOL. liuzhou women are tough and quick businessmen. my partner W started talking to a local businesswoman Y on a $10m deal on monday and i flew in to sign the deal on wednesday midnite. the deposit was transferred into our account the next morning. and W has never met Y till monday afternoon. the speed and agressiveness of Y surprises us. a matronly woman with children in their 20s, Y and her hubby control a business empire covering auto parts and property development. the hubby looks after the operation of the factory while Y is the strategic planner, deal closer and troubleshooter.

we celebrated the deal with a simple dinner for four with two small bottles of maotai, but of coz.

Shanghai

after all the partying in changzhou it is back to work in shanghai. am staying at the ascott in pudong. arranged to have a breakfast meeting at the westin. they serve a great breakfast buffet here.

getting here was a pain, the traffic in shanghai is horrific on workdays. always try to stay near your place of business but that doesn't usually work out for me. i have to meet people all over the city. that's the life of a salesman.

Changzhou - pufferfish

changzhou is two hours car ride out of shanghai. maotai flew in to spend a day with his good friend here. Tao is a young businessman dealing with cooling towers and industrial coatings. He is also a crazy party animal and gourmet of strange exotic chinese cuisine.

for tao, there is a sop (standard operating procedure) for a relaxing weekend. it starts with a brunch of exotic foods. this trip is 'he tun' some sort of pufferfish. it came braised with brown sauce. we had a whole fish each. the meat is firm and very sweet. the spikey skin is served whole and if possible swallowed whole. it is believed that the roughage will help scrap the stomach and intestines thereby cleaning out the internal plumbing system.

this dish is served last coz everything else will taste bland after eating the fish. it is also that they have to wait twenty minutes after the dish is first sampled by the chef. if the chef survives the dish is served otherwise you don't get 'he tun' that day. yes, the fish is very poisonous if not prepared correctly.

Chinese Red Wine

10 people 7 bottles 1 hour. when you drink like this the taste of the alcohol is not important. then it was on to a k place where there was chivas much much soda little bit.

Beijing - Fish Head Curry

yes, quite a surprise! we came over to the traders hotel for breakfast coz the one provided by the ascott sucks.

besides the curry there were also these small square pieces of roti prata. but these were horrible, like corrugated cardboard :(

the curry was ok, too lemak for my taste.

Just for LBT

more ascott calligraphy. remember the famous line from this poem ;) LOL

Beijing

home away from home.

Lovely Miriam

at the la casa, presenting the goodies available.

Maotai? Nope...

macallan.

At Changi Airport...

maotai is waiting for a friend coming from SF via narita. happy to see this friend. will definitely have some good drinking and cigar sessions over the next few days.

Drunk and Happy

started at 5pm with macallan whisky. so maotai and friend had 1 bottle of said whisky by 9pm. then headed off to thumpers. coz maotai's other friend did not reserve table, gang went to k place.

maotai was bad. he forgot he is in singapore. never screw around on home ground. maotai never screw, maotai is of age that can control.

maotai is happy coz gang also had chivas. it was a scots' night. now maotai can feel whisky breath, if light match now, can have circus show LOL

i love you, those reading this blog
i love brenbren for giving uncle face
l love gang for standing by me and find place to drink and rubba
i love ... coz life is short.

7000+ days and counting DOWN.

It is Friday!

It should be maotai time... 

Wine Tasting

had a fun evening which of course had to include alcohol. it was a wine tasting session which started at 6pm. most of the wines were forgettable. but two that made me happy were;

1. willow bridge "black dog" shiraz 2001 geographe wa
full body whacked you in the mouth no nonsense take me taste me sorta wine. a little thick but with 5-10 years of cellaring or 3 hours airing it should be tame enough for a good long slow session. take this wine alone or with a close fren listening to the blues.

2. willow bridge reserve shiraz 2003 geographe wa
very fruity. the ribbena with alcohol type that i like. get half a dozen bottles with a few friends for banter/ ribbing/ chat/ gossip and snacks.

ended the evening with a nice buzz... =)

Love many Marry Once... II

"love changes for the better" because the "love" at the beginning of a relationship is a different emotion from the "love" which comes later.

maotai's friends break up/ divorce with excuses like "i don't love him/ her anymore because i love someone else" or "i found my true love" or "this time is real" (LOL)

this is BULLSHIT maotai's belief is that between couples the "love" thing starts as "spark/ interest/ lust/ crush/ chance" then with work continuous commitment from both sides almost all relationships can be turned into "love", the kind of "love" that lasts.

so if the "spark" is not fanned then no fire will happen. maotai's experience is that those who seriously believe in the "one great love binding two hearts forever" concept are the most likely to get hurt and/or change "the one great love" in their lives.

Love many Marry Once...

the concept of one great love binding two hearts forever does not exist for the majority and in experience. i believe that it is possible to be in love with more than one woman at the same time. but because of the times we live in a man can only marry one.

what does last for the majority is responsibility, appreciation, security, understanding and comfort in the familiar (better the devil you know LOL).

depending on one's culture/ values, these qualities in a marriage can last. to appease those who believe in hot flash passionate romantic love, the wise tell them that over time love changes for the better and into a different form.

... more on this later.

Holland V Starbucks

took a picture using my nokia of my bunch of keys, headset and coffee. posting to blog by email. i love technology especially when it is used for something as lame as this =)

Now you know me ... maybe ... :)

You scored as Interpersonal. You enjoy being around people, like talking to people, have many friends, and engage in social activities. You learn best by relating, sharing, and participating in cooperative group environments. People like you include salespeople, consultants, community organizers, counselors, teachers or any other helping profession. Interpersonal 96% Musical/Rhythmic 79% Visual/Spatial 71% Intrapersonal 68% Verbal/Linguistic 57% Bodily/Kinesthetic 46% Logical/Mathematical 32% The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligences created with QuizFarm.com