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Bingo No Bingo-Part 2

Bingo bingo bingo! this time I also succeed to make bingo! Yeay! However, while I’m looking back on the pictures for this bingo I kept rolling my eyes “why oh why Marlyn you need to wear that clothes?” but you have to consider that it was taken few years back and I’m sure at that time I thought it was the best clothes ever 😉

This bingo came from Susan: travel!

UK! oh no this is the moment where I rolled my eyes the most but again be in mind I went there when I was 16! Not even a legal age to do anything! haha 😉 and I went there for a homestay program from EF for 2 weeks with the hope that I can speak English after that and guess what? I didn’t speak any! haha I still remember at that time the currency between IDR and Pound-sterling was crazy 😮 (year 2007) and the fee was still crystal clear in my mind: 5000 Pounds! I went abroad before to Singapore but it was by boat 1.5 hours away so I didn’t really feel that I was in another country haha that’s why UK will always be my first country and perhaps that also the reason that it hold a special place in my corazon 🙂

That girl yes obviously that UK girl was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever known, very fashionable and very bubbly that unfortunately taken way too soon, she died on the age 19 (at that pic she was only 12) due to getting hit by a car when she was about to go to her part time job in a supermarket 🙁 Rest in Peace Katy Pancott, I will forever remember you!

The very first time I visit France and Netherlands was together with my UK trip. I was very mesmerized by the Eiffel Tower (and still am), I don’t really understand Netherlands at that time I only knew it smells bad but fast forward 10 years later when we went there again in year 2019 (read: when I grown up) I knew what kind of smell that was 😉

Korea was my premier trip with my sister, I think this time when she more or less graduated from Unpar so we were still very young, beginning of 20s haha

New Zealand was the first country where I rode a helicopter and I saw ice! not snow! but ice on the mountain, the snow is already on the road so I didn’t see it fall down from the sky but the snow was thick enough and super super enough to make a South East Asian girl very happy 😉 also the first country that I ever wear the wintery outfits and felt so cool to finally able to wear a leather jacket haha We went there because my sister graduated from ANU and we had a trip to NZ.

USA! I was only tag along actually it was my father that has a program from a bank where he worked to study in US for 2 weeks and I was still a student in Indonesia and on a semester break so yeap I joined the trip 🙂 actually he was supposed to go last year but he went to hospital instead so lucky me he postponed it to the following year haha the jetlag was surreal so while my father went to class, I was still sleeping at the hotel until afternoon 😉

Singapore, many many times! The first ever Universal Studio opened it was soooo hit in Indonesia and the Marina Bay Sands hotel! it’s a must to have a picture there 😉

Cambodia, a beautiful Angkor Wat!

Taiwan, the country that distance wise is very close with China but without a USA visa, I can’t go there as I need to go back home and apply it in Indonesia but lucky me I had that USA visa! so I can go there! and I really like Taiwan! although I didn’t read their characters because its written in an old traditional way but Taiwanese people are so nice and helpful!

Vietnam yaiss! I went there with my 2 little brothers from Donghua University. They are my friends for my whole student year! and I love them both! I called them 弟弟们 because at first I don’t speak Chinese that good and their Chinese name is so hard to pronounce let alone their Vietnamese name so I called them 大弟弟 and 小弟弟 which later on changed to just 弟弟. Thank you so much for picking me up at the airport, be my tour guide and let me stay at your place. Psst, one of them the 弟弟 already become a father! and his son is exactly looks like him! haha

Next is Thailand, I went there with my classmates from Donghua-Nan and Pisen, thanks for Nan family that drive me around and treat me like their own child. Also Pisen that kept quiet while we were all sleeping and you get lost when we want to visit Chocolate Village haha and then on some trips to I met a France born Vietnamese family and it was so funny because we all wearing the same kind of shirts! the elephants while riding the real elephants! and the local guide thought that I was one of their children as well haha well at least I got 3 brothers and 1 sister from that trip 😉 and I met with one of the brother again- Vinh at Paris few years later! and a memory that me and Vinh won’t forget was he got his first tattoo in Thailand and I was there to witness it together with his other brother Khang and Khoa they should made one also but they backed out haha!

Japan! Went there with my sister, my mom supposed to go also but she accompanied my father for doing unplanned surgery in Singapore on 10th Nov 2016! I still remember the day perfectly! We went without enough money so we kept withdrawing from ATM but the food etc was and is so expensive! and in the end because we all on a very tight budget we ate Ichiran ramen 5 days in a row not only because that was the cheapest and worth kind of a meal (I think 1100 JPY sth like that) but it was so good! and we like the concept of on a hmmm what is it’s called? small own table? the one that no need to interact with people around haha

  • Adhi

We met with our cousin- Adhi that was studying in Japan and me and my sister bought Kansai pass that is basically a transportation card that valid for 3 days (thank God it’s not consecutively) and we want to use it to the fullest so we kept using it and go to a very far place in the end I was dead tired 😮

Then my motherland, Indonesia!

China, my second home! thank you for hosting me for 7 years there! and thank you for having literally everything! the most impressive one was Harbin! thank you for giving me a feeling what -17 degree Celsius feels like! I have no idea how many body warmer sticker that I used and when I want to go out I need to wear 4 layers and inside the restaurant it was +20 degree and I was sweating hot this feeling is very uncomfortable.

Australia, oy oy oy! the home of koala? kangaroo? no it’s the home of my sister 🙂 I like that there are so many Indonesian in Aussie haha and Indonesian restaurants! wohoo the best!

Malaysia!!! my neighbor country that I got the chance to visit on year 2018 with the best crew ever! The crew that made my life in Shanghai more colorful than a rainbow <3 Big credits to Brendan that asked me to join this trip, he asked me on his bday party in Unico (this place doesn’t exist anymore) after midnight and after so many alcohol- his side, not mine 😉 so not sure if he’s aware what he’s asking but long story short I said yes! and heyyy the gang was awesome! I forever owe you a big thanks! haha

Germany and Italy! I went back to Europe after 10 years! It was for a business trip but I stole some weekend so I can visit my friends and have some sightseeing. I’m glad I can visit Benjamin and Beatrice again (also met in Shanghai after about 4 years apart)

Maldives the best resort ever! it will be so hard to beat this one. It is very expensive like very very! but it’s so worthy! Even though its a resort and mostly you always there but trust me you wont feel bored! They always have sth and buggy! so you don’t need to walk around that much just call the buggy and they will send you everywhere 😉

Well… well… these are all wonderful memories that we won’t be able to taste a glimpse of it in year 2020. Perhaps its the time to give Earth what it needs the most : REST! We need to bid a farewell to our dearest friend, Travel.

I really hope we can meet soon but if you need to take some time off, I understand. Please be assured that I still want to be with you. Big hugs and I miss you a lot!

Till we meet again XOXO

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Bingo No Bingo

With the pandemic of Covid-19 spreading all around the world, I guess people on social media is trying to do something to kill the time. A couple of weeks ago there was a very trendy “this or that” or “bingo” thingy running on Instagram, well at least that what happened in Indonesia and one of my friends also tagged me on it but I have no idea how to edit it to mine pffff so I couldn’t participate on those trend things…

Anyway, there was about Shanghai and Bandung. For Bandung…. I’m so ashamed I didnt even reach bingo haha! where all of these places? it’s a new one or? I don’t think I knew any of it!! #facepalm

  • So not active in the Uni
  • Have no idea what is these snacks!

BUT!! for Shanghai its BINGO ALL THE WAY!! haha I’ve spent 7 years of my life there so bring it on, Susan!

Learn a Shanghai dialect?! what is learning? I even participating on a “competition” haha they chose me and Frederick Visti (I called him Fimu) as Donghua representatives. Honestly speaking, we both forget everything and think that this is the shame of our lives, we were under 3 months intense class but none of it stuck in our brain 🙁 The show was on a local TV but really none of us remember anything T.T

Yesss! I found the video! not the final one because the article has been deleted by the author don’t know why. This is probably the first and my last time I went on a Television and it really made me appreciates all the actors now I really do understand why it took them months or even years to make a movie! It took us legit more than 4 hours to make a 4 mins video.

I went to a lllooooottttt of weekend trip! it’s basically a water town! me and my friends all went to almost all water town around Shanghai, yes it all looks the same, but we were a poor broke students what can we do besides went on a bus 1.5 hours away from Shanghai haha we don’t have budget to travel by plane 🙂 but it’s always fun because at that time our Chinese is not so good so we always got lost #facepalm

Christmas market was a highlight for me! I’m from Indonesia and Christmas there was and is not a big holiday so it was my first time to come there! and it became a tradition to at least got a feeling of Christmas vibe and I fall in love with the cup mwahaha so every year I always come back and buy the cup 😉 and yes my nails should follow the theme as well. Together with the first snow that I ever witness fall down from the sky. Once I noticed it, I grab my jacket and ran outside haha what a memory 🙂

Study in the library all day? yes of course I was a dedicated student! this is me and my team! all laowai that doesn’t understand what is what so it took us all day to figure it out 😉

Pisen (Thailand), Betty (Italy), Linas (Lithuania) and Zolo (Mongolia)

Have a crush on international friend? DEFINITELY! No questions asked 😉 I love all my friends that I met here some I’m still in contact even some who are not… I’m glad that I met you all XOXO

  • Eri- Japan
  • Russel- Turkmenistan
  • Ali-UK
  • Harim-Korea
  • Sara-Iran
  • Adil-Azerbajian
  • Bakhnur (Qina) -Kazakhstan

Say farewell?? Ouch too much! T.T

  • Syuke-Malaysia
  • Jennifer-Indonesia
  • Francois-France

Another Bingo for Shanghai from Kristopher #cool

Yuyuan Garden? Around CNY is the most beautiful one as they have a lot of lantern shows and yep it’s crowded 🙂

  • Anya- Shanghainese

Xin Tian Di, duh?! this is only the place for us (broke ass students) only to come and take picture on the fountain and go back mwhaha the restaurants are too pain for my wallet back then… and still now haha 😉

Oriental Pear Tower, Mr& Mrs. Bund, The Bund of course! These are the MUST! After 4 years in SH I only went once to Mr&Mrs. Bund and it was for my graduation when my parents were there mwahaha 😉 For The Bund? bring it in! we were there on 31st Dec and it was sooooo many people we saw the last countdown and fireworks there 😉 and after that nope we don’t want to go there anymore, once is enough!

  • First and Last NYE on the Bund

I think Muse on The Bund was the very first night club that I’ve ever been too. I was never go on a night club before and then it was after we had Christmas dinner so without plan and without proper clothes (me and Jennifer was wearing legit sweater jacket etc) and not a clothes to go out at all and yet we went to Muse on The Bund, feels a bit weird because every girls were wearing dress and minimum outfit while we were complete gear to fight for the weather haha

SH Movie Park and Thames Town this two far away place! yet still I was there mwahaha with my classmates 🙂 so fun! we didn’t even care how long the ride was and in fact we took metro or buses, what taxi? thats too expensive 😉

  • Chuandao (Japan) and Rosalin (Malaysia)
  • with Jennifer (Indonesia)

These (except picture with Syuke) was my memories during my 4 years being a student in Donghua University, crazy how time flies! and as I saw through the old pictures it made me laugh of how good the memories are and made me a bit emotional also as some of them I lose contact and I can’t find their number or wechat ID or even emails but I hope they remember the funny times that we had 🙂

Thank you Shanghai for the memories, I am forever grateful that I spent my 7 years time in this city. I promise you, once this pandemic is over, I will go to visit you all, Azerbajian, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Iran etc etc etc and I will search for you.

Until then, stay healthy! keep safe and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the times that you shared with me and I love you all #big big hug from me to you <3

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Not Marina Kern #wink wink

AHAHAHA! Sorry Marina for using your name without your consent but I can’t think of a better headline 😀

As China imposed a travel banned for foreigners started on 28th March until God knows when which means I am still in Indonesia and things getting surreal that I am and will be here way way way waaaaayyyy longer than I expected 😮

With losing my current job just around the corner and I am skeptical about the implementation of my so called “Plan A” , I need to stay sane!

My brothers from a disturbed family make a mouth watering bread last week and it motivates me to do the same! I mean, Marlyn move your ass and follow your brothers!

  • Thorben’s
  • Thorben’s
  • Wyatt’s

Hmmmm but I’m not Marina Kern! I don’t have all the necessary ingredients that make the object looks fancy so I went over to Youtube and find how to make something I mean just something! cake, bread etc that is easy to follow and with no complicated ingredients! And here I found the recipe of basic cheese cake and remember this is Marlyn Praseli’s style not Marina Kern’s style so the emphasize is different. Her was more on the star hotel presentation and me, eatable 😀

And see that plastic of sugar?!?! it’s like 120 gram of a real sugar! not like the “fake” (read: healthy) sugar that Marina used pssst!

and yes we only use blender and the pot! very basic, affordable and most important is doable! 😉 I feel like master chef already hahaha tadaamm!

and what can go wrong from this? Nothing! it’s done and it’s cheesy- I mean its a cheese flavor not cheesy cheesy you know.

One of the bright side from this pandemic time is I have all the time in the world and when its all over, I need to have a new skills and why not put baking as one of them??

Ofc the start always a basic but for sure it won’t stop there! I will look another video of how to make anything and hopefully the next zillion one will be as close as Marina Kern’s fancy style 🙂

#Peace Marina! haha

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Kudos to Kiddos-Part 2

Kolbano beach is only 27km away from Oetune but there wasn’t really a sign of “Welcome to Kolbano” or whatever so it was a bit of struggle to find where is the entrance, we indeed need to stop few times to ask where is the beach until we found a big giant rock and there it is. Never I’ve been so happy to find some kids there! Me and my mom each got a kid 😉

Mine was Age, while my mom was Alfa-both of them are 14 yo but they are soooooo small, well this is how 14yo Asian looks like 😉 they went to the beach straight after school to earn some money and we gave them however we like.

Age and Alfa

Age asked me to point my finger, to hold this stone and to make a ssssshhhhhh with my finger. I don’t really understand why should I do that but I trust that this kid knows what he’s doing 😉

Then he put some rocks to make a kind of “house” and stack it all together and I asked what the purpose of it? He told me to stand on the other side and when I looked at him he put the camera right infront of the stones so it looks bigger. He even asked me to jump while throwing some small stones and he got it on one shot!

I am so happy with Age because he is soooo smart and he also doesn’t have a phone so thanks to “My Trip, My Adventure” that taught him to do so! I kept asking “Age, where should I go now? where is the good spot again?” and he kept saying go here, go there, stand in here, blablabla. He knows how to use my phone more than I do!

Actually the spots for taking picture is finished there and he asked me if I already been to the top and can see the view of the blue sea? and I said no, do you want to come with us? haha so we asked both of them to go to the car and drive us there #this is not kidnapping 😉 and because they are so small so they sit in the front seat together #facepalm

  • Yes both of them share the seat 😉
  • He changed the filter by himself

They are a bit shy at first and I asked Age what is his fav subjects at school? and he said “theology” he can’t do math so well. I asked if they learn English and good things is they do! wogh! i’m glad, but for sure not so much as what 14 yo learn on Java island but at least they know other language other than Indonesian! haha

The driver asked me where to go? and I said just follow the kids, they know the place. Just keep going up until they said stop haha

I am so happy to meet those kids they are all smart and polite and don’t worry peeps I returned both Age and Alfa to where I found them on the first place. I really hope they got many customers every day so they can get some pocket money! Thanks kiddos 😉 and may God bless you all!

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Kudos to Kiddos

As a result of being “unpredictably” stuck … Marlyn just had her journey to the East! My father was worried that I might get bored if I don’t go anywhere so when he got a business trip schedule, he took me there. I went for sightseeing with Mom while he was on his schedule elsewhere.

HA! Now we got something to do which is making the itinerary! As this journey to the East is far already and not cheap people! so I need to make the most of it 🙂 There are many beaches there but the most most most most visit one are: Kolbano and Oetune Beach (one day because it’s located really far like 3 hours away from the city center) and Tablolong (not too far max 1.5 hours away). Besides the beach, there is a very popular cave called Crystal cave, I’m not a big fan of the cave itself but because we will be there for 3 days so…. why not.

Oetune beach is really cool it’s looks like a desert. The sand was sooooo hot at the end I kind of almost “fainted” due to the heat and there was no tree that could work as a shade.

And don’t think about swimming or snorkeling there because you can’t, even if you can you will not do it, in fact you could get a skin cancer if you stay that long on the beach, the heat was unbearable #sigh

And there was 3 kids that approached us and these are the kids that are looking for money. But how can they do that? They became our photographer and we gave them tips in the end however we like. I was quiet skeptical with them because hmmm how can they take pics? But well we gave our phone… it’s not that they will steal and run away with it anyway.

Turns out the kids really know how to take picture, put a vivid filter, black and white etc and I asked them if they have phone at home and learn it? and they said “No, but there was one TV shows called My Trip, My Adventure while they do the shooting here, they taught us how to do it so we can use this as our way to ask money from people” I was amazed by them because the shooting maybe only last for few days….but they memorize it all!

As this is the “dessert” so we can’t really do much but this kid still find a way to make some picture for example he spray some sands in front of the camera to make it looks like….. i don’t know 😉 just a bit artistic… maybe?? haha

These 2 boys also playing with the tree until they knocked it down….don’t know what the purpose… They also looking for mussels from the sands to give it to their mother or neighbor or whoever they want 🙂

We spent about 1 hour there because my feet are burning! haha

  • Beginning…..
  • … End!

and we asked the kids “can you go to Kolbano with us and take our pictures?” #it’s not kidnapping hey… but they said “there’s also another kids that will take pictures there” wow, cool! the hunting for second kid started!

Thanks kiddos: Octo-Jimmy and Giovanni

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Hoop Hoop (not yet) Hooray

Living in China for almost 7 years give you the advantage of having 2 times to set your New Year’s Resolution, just in case the first normal New Year didn’t go as you expected you can always make a new one on a Chinese New Year 😉

One of the resolution that I always have is: I need to have a routine exercise! On Zero Gravity pole dance studio, they had a new sport called “Aerial Hoop” I had that class once before Christmas but back then the instructor-Cleo went away for having Christmas and New Year’s holiday, but on the first day of the CNY I had another class with different instructor.

There was only 3 people that joined the first year of the rat class 🙂 Me, Joasia and Joy and ofc our teacher-Sia. Joy and Asia was much stronger than me so they already went to different moves while for me I kept practicing my own moves mwahaha they went from movement 1-6, I just kept “perfecting” my first 3 moves haha!

  • Joy
  • Asia

And mine! Well, for the purpose of taking pictures I will hold all my strength and hide the hurts with the smile 😉 Asia said “think for your instagram” 😉

I never had a class with Sia before because she only teach the instructor so imagine how dead I was when I got her as my teacher!

I hope the virus will be over soon so Zero Gravity can re-open and we can be hoop-hoop-hooray soon!

中国加油！

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Ready Player One?

The first month of this special year 2020 has been the longest January ever! Bombing in Iran, bush fire in Australia with a special hail that only last for 30 mins in Canberra yet successfully destroyed my sister’s car pffff, flood in Indonesia and Covid-19 in China… what a tough month indeed!

I witnessed the easiest order, within 15 mins we collected over 3000 pcs mask N95 but our lovely Taiwan factory only have 2080 pcs left and we took it all, delivered by air freight and the next day we got it. This was 1 day before the Chinese New Year so it is indeed the best present 🙂

It really strikes me when 24 hours before we all just had lunch together, drawing a mouse in the red paper to welcome CNY

and the next day it was mandatory to wear mask, the following days after that we were advised to not go out unless its necessary. How things can change within 24 hours?! #I may sound very dramatic now but it’s either I am over-react or the condition is really not good. I really wish that I was over-react and laugh about it later.

Few days after wasn’t bright either, restaurants started to closed mainly because they want to celebrate CNY and secondly because of the virus. So what did I do? I cooked! I managed myself to get back to the kitchen again #proud me! but I did what everybody else do which is stocked up some snacks! At that time it was still around 4-5 degree Celcius in Shanghai and quiet rainy so going out was kind of a hassle therefore snacks is definitely necessary!

Besides that we also need to equipped ourselves with mask, see my mask-volution 😉

However, with my new home, my stock of food, my mask and my laptop I think I’m ready for the situation. But…. one major issue that I still need to face is the IELTS test that I will take on 9th of February. On 27th January, I received the official news that they cancelled the IELTS test in China for the whole February and March but I need to do it in February therefore what should I do? I decided to fly back home and do the test in Indonesia. And yes, I am heading home the next day. It is indeed a very spontaneous decision.

Indonesian, my country mate, no need to worry, I declared myself as healthy because I did my self-quarantine for 14 days and I’m clean! Yeay!! Also thank you for my friends that texted me to make sure that I still alive (read: Eiman, Frida, Arana, Tabitha, Elle, Dennis, The Bejes- Revina, Erin, Marissa, Cecil, Memey) You guys can’t get rid of me yet 😉

How long will I be here? probably longer than I expected, my plan was no longer than 3 weeks but almost a month now and will still be here for another as the official cancelled flight to China until end of March.

I have a mix feeling, of course I am sad that I leave Shanghai unexpectedly but also gyms and restaurants are mostly closed until who knows when so I’m still glad that in here I can eat and still go out freely without anyone measuring my body temperature and so on.

Owh well, this is life I guess, we as the Player One of our live need to be ready to expect the unexpected.

Wish the very best for China to fight with this coronavirus, 中国加油!

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Fancy Worm

On Saturday morning, as morning as 8 AM with 4 degree Celcius, what is the better way other than to snuggle in your bed under an electric blanket? Phewww lame! Ofc there’s something better, that is to be in other side of where you are, read: Pudong, specifically Mandarin Oriental Hotel, precisely Zest Restaurant.

Our friend from Zero Gravity pole dance, Riccinni, she and her husband have a tradition every month to buy 16 portions for a breakfast. Even though I’m Asian, I can’t do the math, they only 2 people what was the reason to buy 16? And there is only 4 weeks in a month and 4 x 2 equals to 8 not 16? Anyway Riccinni was so kind to invite all of us to have a free breakfast there yeay! Please keep this tradition 😉

At first she wanted to have breakfast at 7:30 AM, I think she’s a follower of “Early bird catch the worm” kind of idiom and it’s challenge for me since I live in Puxi to be there at 7:30 but for a fancy worm, I’ll wake up! Gladly, in the end she decided to start at 8 AM which gave me more time to snooze 😉

I’m happily arrived there, Marina, Echo, Stacey already there and Riccinni’s husband already eaten so its gonna be all girls yeah I think I know the reason she moved the time from 7:30 to 8 😉

Marina took some food and we were on the egg and Indian curry station and she said to me “You can take the food and I’ll follow you” then I have a smart slash efficient plan “Why don’t we just double everything so one plate for both of us, then we don’t need to come back and forth” and at that point she agreed. I took the Indian curry and she said “Marlyn, not everything everything just everything” hee? I don’t get that instruction, anybody does?

Chandni arrived after that and she said “I cant believe they provide curry for breakfast its just too heavy” Marina ordered egg benedicts idk how she found it because its not written anywhere but I ordered the same! M following the other M.

Btw need to be mentioned here that she didn’t even touch the curry that I took! Think about the hungry children Marina! Beni came the last but she left first, she is so efficient, come and eat and vanished, her purpose is done 😉

We were just talking and eating until Riccinni said hi to one of the waiter, be in mind people, she and her husband already live in Mandarin Oriental for 2 years, in other way, the tradition has been going for 2 years so they know all the staff there. He is from Spain, I cant even remember his name must be Ricardo something she said “Hi Ricardo” after saying hi she turned to us girls with additional info “He is single” like how?! How do you know that and how do you ask him? “Hello young boy, do you have someone back home?” Or how how how?!?! This doesn’t add up and she said “Its because I’m old so I can ask this things”

On top of that, later on she even took picture together with him, like all of us plus him and Riccinni will always be so nice “This pic is so good Ill send it to you” and I said to her “Yo, creepy mama, you even have his wechat”

I think Ricardo was a bit reluctant to come to our table again because I have 2 plates that he didn’t pick up and I had to ask other waiter to clean it up. After many hours of eating its time for dessert, I had an ice cream and Chandni again saying “I cant believe they even have ice cream for breakfast?” Yes Chandni we live in an unbelievable world 😉

I am so happy to have this wonderful breakfast and catch up with another pole dance students 🙂 thank you Riccinni for thinking of us and no need to feel sorry because its early as you have a living proof of how much people would travel for a free food 😉

You have your whole squad to finish your breakfast vouchers for next and many more months to come 🙂

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The Clueless Night

I always like Christmas, the atmosphere, decoration, carols, the gifts, not all I want for Christmas is you song and so on and so on. The gift is not necessarily important it’s just a feeling of getting a gift and opening it that is so wow to me. And while most people are away during Christmas, make sense, it’s a holiday season after all, I had the privileged to spent Christmas with Elle magazine and Wesley Bear on their Shire 😉 I am so happy that they are staying here during Christmas and they invited me to celebrate it with them. Up until now I have no idea what is Shire haha

The menu was listed like two weeks before Christmas and I was a bit of a complicated person as I don’t eat lamb, fish, fatty pork so I messaged her privately about food restrictions that I can’t eat but I totally clueless that she still need some help on the option 1, 2 and 3 haha yeah I forget the word assist is the synonym of help # excuse my clueless, not native speaker here 🙂 overall, FYI I don’t read between the lines, either tell me exactly what to do or else I won’t feel it haha

Turns out it wasn’t only me that was clueless as Tash and Ira wasn’t responsive as well mwahaha I’m getting some groupies here 😉 but Elle, for sure you know that we didn’t mean that because on the D-day it turns out well! 😉

Then fast forward to less than one week before our dinner plan, Elle herself posted a bunch of restaurant that do Christmas deal like really? I thought we all set and since we all are clueless so we had to put into a vote of where to eat etc, even the votes went to second round really people? Presidency votes only went once and to choose a restaurant we need to vote two times?! I see the priority here and in the end the result was stick to the Shrine wohooo! #now you know what my vote was 😉

From the first time I met Elle and Wesley I always know they stayed at Lou Shan Guan Lu metro station so I was just chill as it wasn’t far from where I live so I asked her again what is the exact address and she said it was on the flyer and they moved to near Shanghai South Railway and I was like “Whaattt???” good that I asked otherwise I will go to a completely wrong direction.

It was a rainy day on Christmas but I like it because I had the chance to wear my rainy boots for the first time ever! I arrived in front of their gate, I was clueless on how to ring a bell for sure I pressed the right number but the intercom didn’t want to call her room, I thought she heard my frustration and opened the door for me, when I arrived Tash was already there. I got welcomed by the very amazing blueberry cheese, bread, ham, chips, champagne and the gift! #thumbs up

Then Wesley arrived, followed by Ira that only stay with us for less than one hour due to she need to catch her flight to Beijing.

Wesley noticed that my front camera wasn’t so bright and both of us are iphone 10 user and we did comparison test but I think my iphone was still brighter than his and Elle said my Huawei is better and we were “this is iphone yo” hahaha

  • Does Wes looks like the UFC fighter Mc Gregor?
  • Or all white people with beard looks the same?

Wesley had this amazing skill of going through express vpn by configuration #something that I don’t understand, due to I don’t use express so he tried to set it up on Tash’s phone and I don’t think it went smooth at the beginning and Tash was nervous if she won’t be able to connect vpn later on mwahaha I have a bit faith in Wes, I don’t think he’s totally clueless 😉

Then our lovely host Elle brought the mushroom soup which she knew for sure that it taste great because guess what? She tasted it! But she had no idea about the main food because she didn’t taste it haha! “So, just remember that the mushroom soup taste good when the chicken arrived” quoted Elle and yes I will remember it 😉

Before Elle serve the food, she asked Wesley to cut the chicken and for some reason she needed all of us to gather on the kitchen to see how Wes did it. She said she fell in love with Wes when she saw he was chopping wood so…..


  • Can’t see that this is the reason though 😉

I have a special non-fatty pork yeay! And we were back to the Shrine’s living room, we were enjoying the food until Wes told us a story about a series that he watched? And he watched a psycho man killing cat and then moving on to killing person, why on earth we talked about that on a Christmas day? #not that we can talk about it anyday, it’s just when Christmas the expectation was getting high 😉

We also gossiped about co-workers and stuff, up until the point Elle said “It’s Christmas why are we gossiping?” haha the night is not even late but our conversation was going all the way. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Ira because we won’t let her miss her plane even though before she fly we talked about plane crash etc haha why we did that to her?! I wanted to say that you do missed a very clueless topic of conversation from trying to get permanent residence of other country and Wes will learn Spanish and Tash thought Spanish was just English ended with “o” like spoon to spoono uh uh no girl that’s not how Spanish sounds like.

Elle asked me at least two times if I was in a hurry and no, never, you have to kick me out to let me get out from your Shrine, just a reminder again that I don’t read between the lines 😉 Wes was trying to maybe give some “cue” which I don’t follow obviously by asking “does anyone wants to have a coffee?” and Tash said “maybe later when we have our desert” and magically the desert appears and he asked again about the coffee until Tash asked “are you hurrying us up, Wes?” haha and Wes told us deliberately about an advertisement of a candle and the flavor of the candle was “get the he$# out of my house” and even with this we totally clueless what was the meaning did Wes really want us to leave? Hahaha No, just kidding, I know you won’t mean that #wink wink 😉

Due to we still have some food left so Elle packed some for me for the next day yeay! 😉 and at some point me and Tash left the Shrine because it’s getting late, turns out me and Tash live not so far away, awesome!!

Thank you Elle and Wes for welcoming me, thank you for Tash and Ira, I’m happy to meet you all. Thank you for the dinner, the gift and the fact that you were so environmental friendly and wrapped it with a used newspaper 😉 Thank you also for my own gingerbread house #drooling. Hope we all happily entering year 2020 and everything that we planned disregard of how clueless it seems tonight will all turn up well 🙂

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The “Nightmare” Before Christmas- Episode 2

Well…well…well never had I ever thought that I will have sequel of “nightmare” before Christmas. Good news is this time I didn’t almost miss the flight or anything happened somewhere near the airport. It happened right on the city center of Julu Road, Dodu restaurant.

Few weeks before Christmas, me and Courtney has been texting and asked each other if we will be here on Christmas and yes we both are. We didn’t plan anything until 23rd of Dec when Courtney said let’s meet up on 24th I said yes to her and we started to look for a place to have dinner, we didn’t want to be a fancy deal dinner, there were some places that we were interested in but in the end we chose Dodu at 7:30pm. Courtney made the RSVP and we all set for the next day.

On the day, I had to take the wrong direction so she had to wait for me, she said “it’s ok because we didn’t get the table yet” until I arrived which was 15 mins late we still didn’t get the table but we were not complaint about it, we understand that restaurant was busy. The only table available was the one that directly in front of the door, originally we didn’t want to sit there because it’s cold….but anyway we chose that table for a while. We ordered “roasted cheese” and “half roasted chicken”.

We both kept talking until I realized some guest from upper floor already went home, so I talked to the Chinese guy-let’s call him the manager- that I want to move upstairs and he said “No, upstairs only for 4 people” heee??? What is that? He can’t separate the table into 2-2 or what? And I turned myself to Courtney and said “Courtney, as white people to another, please talk to this white guy, he seems to work here” and she did, the white guy was peeking to upper floor and said to the manager “yes they can move upstairs” I think the manager tried to be funny by saying “yeah, you can move upstairs if you want, actually it’s colder there” yeah for sure it’s colder there. #weird feeling number 1

When we were upstairs, the table that been set up by the white guy wasn’t really convenient but we didn’t complain about it, within few minutes we saw another table of 4 left so we just moved there, the waitress- I assumed she’s a Filipino separate the 4 table into 2-2 and sitting next to us was a couple.

Our first dish arrived, which is surprisingly not the cheese but the chicken, not a biggie, we were hungry anyway, it came with the sides and since the table is small so the food was kind of consumed all the space on the table.

Then our cheese arrived but the waitress gave it to the couple next to us and I said in Chinese and Courtney said in English that “this is ours” the girl heard us and move it to the next table of 4 and I said to her “that cheese is mine” she said “no, they also ordered” Courtney said “but we were here before them” #weird feeling number 2

Anyway we continued eating our roasted chicken, I think it was not more than 5 mins the manager came to me and asked “did you order roasted cheese? We didn’t mark it and now it sold out” and we both said “that cheese was ours but she gave it to their table” well the manager done what every manager would do which is he gave us a pate as a compensation.

Even after the pate we were still hungry and thinking about dessert until the food of the couple arrived which is half roasted chicken and their portion was bigger! Turns out they mistakenly gave our order, they gave us quarter of a chicken! No wonder we were still hungry! #weird feeling number 3

I had a habit of taking picture of the food and I called the manager to talk to him and he said “I can’t see the difference in the picture” hmmmmm you can’t see the difference? Like HOW?! They have 6 pieces and we only have 4?

  • Ours
  • Them

Anyway the white guy was around and Courtney talked to him, he was quiet surprised and I asked him “are you the manager here?” he said “I’m the boss here” I continued “Good, can you see this picture and the food that this couple had?” but the way me and Courtney talked to him wasn’t complaining, we just informed him about what happened and he took our report seriously than his staff. I said “I’m really sorry but I won’t write a good review about this place” and he was so wise by telling me “It’s OK do what you need to do”

Then we went downstairs to pay and the white guy still there and he said “OK, we will charge for the quarter of the chicken and please wait here I will give you something to compensate” and guess what he gave us??? A complimentary voucher of a free quarter of a chicken! Yeay!! And when he handled me the voucher he told me “Now you can write an OK kind of review right?” haha! I asked him what is his name, he is a Hugo Boss and we really appreciate him for his behavior but we warned him that the attitude of his staff is not good at all.

We left Dodu in searching for a dessert place, while we were walking we got a bit calmed and able to think clearly and we find it funny that it seems like we got the food for free due to this voucher 😉 and we just laughed when we realized that our Christmas Eve dinner was only 78 RMB mwahaha bottom line is it wasn’t really a bad thing after all.

The voucher was written valid until 31st Dec but Hugo crossed it until March and I said to Courtney well actually we can use it now and said to them “Hello, we’re moving on, we’re still hungry and we both demand our free quarter chicken now” haha but we didn’t do that we stick to our dessert searching.

I ended up having ice cream at Garcie’s and Courtney having crepe at Odelice!

As the night is going late…. We had to say goodbye but both of us will come again to Dodu to see if the service has improved or not and for our free food obviously! Haha! Turns out this wasn’t a total “nightmare” before Christmas but I don’t mind to not have this kind of moment again for next year, please don’t let it become a tradition!

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all had a nice Christmas Eve and Christmas day 😉