Off to Seoul!

Well.. just to let you know I’m still here but won’t be writing much for the next couple of days as I’m heading to Seoul with Marco.  I’m excited as this will be my first out of China trip this year.

I’m planning to do some shopping probably try some massage and maybe get a facial!  Koreans have pretty good skin.  Hmm.. maybe I should do some plastic surgery and end up being questioned by immigration when I return as I don’t look the same anymore.  Hahahaha!

Marco and I are still contemplating if we will be doing the Jewel in the Palace tour.  We’ll see.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will enjoy it.  I exchanged some money yesterday and I’m not happy with it.  Their highest denomination is 10,000 won and 3,600 rmb is roughly 698000 won.  Doh!  that’s a thick wad of cash.. 😦

In any case, have a good Labor Day weekend everyone!  Cheers!

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Philippine Airlines “The Real Deal”

Manila outbound travellers are in for a treat as Philippine Airlines introduced a new promo which slash their prices by more than half.  Tickets must be purchased online and issued on April 27 and 28, 2009 and travel to be started and completed between June 1, 2009 to October 15, 2009.

In any case, I’m based in Beijing and the only fares I can avail right now is the Econolight.  So, last night after confirming with my friend that she really was planning to go home, I tried to purchase the ticket.  After several error messages, I reached the payment page.  My only problem was I forgot my securecode password and the credit card agent can’t speak English!  Argghh.. I tried purchasing it this morning but got frustrated with the slow processing pace and the neverending request for the passenger details.

I tried again this afternoon as my friend wants to purchase tickets for her children and sister, after  clicking the “Book the Itinerary” several times, I was able to reach the payment page.  However, when they processed the payment, there was a “Payment Flow Page” error.  AAAAHHHHH!!!!  What is wrong with PAL’s website!

My friend who works for PAL here said the best option now is go to the ticket office but cautioned me that the line is as long as the line auditioning for American Idol.  hahahahaa!  oh well.. I washed my hands on this.

PS.  As of 11pm tonight, my friend’s sister is still in the queue waiting for their turn.  Apparently, the airport’s system’s ticket office went down.  She said there were 2000+ people waiting.

Going to Beijing – How many days??

My sisters and mom just left from their vacation two weeks ago and life is back to normal.  Hahahaha!  If you want my sister’s account of her travels in the city, check her commentary on her blog site.  As for myself, I did all that I can do in Beijing on my first year here with Marco.

So.. before we take into consideration as to how many days.. we must consider what kind of trip would you like to have.   Do you want an amazing race adventure or a light and easy trip?   When you’ve decided if you want to kill or relax yourself, decide how many days would you like to stay in the city.  3, 4 or 5 days?

In any case, here’s a 3 day itinerary for you.  When I say 3 days, that’s 3 whole days so make the necessary adjustments.

Google Music

While biding my time before meeting up with Marco and Richard for the Carrefour Spring Wine Fair, I had dinner with Tita Beth and China Lei at their apartment.  They had CNN on TV and Susan Boyle was one of the headliners for wowing the crowd with her amazing rendition of Les Miserables’ “I Dreamed A Dream”.  I watched the video online and it made me cry in tears.  It was really amazing!  I just hope she has another song up her sleeve that will be as equally or much better than her audition piece.

Another headline on CNN was music piracy.  In China, where everything can be copied and intellectual property rights are difficult to protect, Google China in cooperation with major music labels offer free downloads on Google.  Their aim is to beat Baidu on it’s huge share of the internet search engine market.

When I found out about it, I tried it this afternoon downloading my favorite Chinese and English songs.  They don’t have a very wide selection as yet but they’re aiming for 1 million songs before the year ends.  The search engine is in Chinese but it’s easy to navigate even though you’re not a Chinese reader.

Here’s how to use Google Music:

• Go to http://www.google.cn
• Click the “音乐” icon.  That’s the 5th one from the left.   Then, it will open a new window
• On the search field, type your favorite artist.

Happy Music Downloads!  It’s Free and Legal!

Shanghai – Financial Capital of China

Shanghai is two hours away from Beijing by plane.  If you are in need of a getaway from Beijing and do not want to rusticate in the countryside, this place is the best for you.  Shanghai is considered as the financial capital of China and one of the municipalities of the country.  It’s a modern and cosmopolitan city with tons of skyscraper and highways.

There are several ways to reach this city, you can plane or train it from Beijing.  If you plan to fly, you have two airports to choose from: Hongqiao and Pudong.  These two airports are located at the opposite sides of the city.  Hongqiao is mainly domestic and is located west of the city.  Pudong airport which has two terminals serves mostly the international riding public is located east of the city.   To train it, there are two stations : Shanghai Main and Shanghai South.  To check the train schedule and prices, browse through my train guide here.  For flight information, you can try http://www.ctrip.com or http://www.elong.com.