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Shanghai was foggy when we arrived in the late afternoon, and remained murky until evening, when it got prettier simply because the city lights came on. We braced ourselves for the cold weather, but even the 3 layers of clothes I was wearing didn’t seem to make a difference.

Walking home from dinner, we stepped into a department store just to get some respite from the cold, and I ended up buying a long, padded coat. Tomorrow, I may get a warm, fuzzy hat as well so that my ears don’t feel like dropping off.

There’s fast internet where I’m staying, but certain sites are off-limits: namely, my favourites Facebook and Twitter. Google.com was accessible but there was a huge banner ad that took up more than half the page, pushing the search bar down. It disappeared before I could grab a screen shot. I thought that was most unusual, given how Google’s home page is usually very spartan and gimmick-free.

Other web services that are accessible, so far: LinkedIn, Flickr, Evernote and even Second Life. And this blog, of course. Webmail seems to be working fine. However, third-party apps that connect to Facebook and Twitter (like Tweetdeck and Seesmic Desktop) don’t work.

So I tried updating my Facebook status via a Twitter app installed within LinkedIn. Those of you who are my Facebook friends - I hope you’re able to view that. Presumably, after the initial command is sent to LinkedIn, thereafter all communication between the web services should occur outside of China.

I’m still suffering from a stiff neck and it’s been difficult to sleep. Hope to find a good masseuse tomorrow.

Over and out…

It’s been a while since I wrote something here. I’ve been busy.

In several hours’ time I will head to Shanghai for a holiday. It will be chilly but hopefully fun.

Will write more when I’m there, if the internet connection’s working and we’re not being charged an exorbitant fee.

Today I met my family at the Charles de Gaulle airport and drove them to Chablis. There was a big accident on the A6 highway because all cars stopped moving for 30 minutes, and people got out of the cars to see what was happening down the road. Soon, a few ambulances and rescue vehicles arrived and cleared the way.

Because of that, by the time we arrived in Chablis most restaurants were closed. We finally found a bistro. All they had left to offer us was a cheese platter with salad and bread, which we willingly agreed on, and some Chablis wine.

We drove on to Dijon, settled down quickly at the hotel and booked a table at a Michelin 1-star restaurant at the Hostellerie de Chapeau Rouge. I was surprised it was relatively easy to book a place on the day itself. We took a scenic walk through the historical part of town to get to the restaurant.

Overall, the food was good, but initially disappointing. As an Asian, I am not so easily impressed when presented with a row of maki (Japanese rice rolls) and what tasted like fried dough with Indian spices dipped in yoghurt sauce. My own starter was salmon in 3 ways. One tasted like a Vietnamese dumpling, with chopped salmon and mint leaves wrapped in a rice-based dumpling skin with a fish sauce dip. Another was like a wrap with guacamole. The final chunk of salmon was nicely done and I thought that was the most original. I thought it would’ve been fine to stick to French, or a less literal interpretation of ‘fusion’ food. The other starter was a simple rocket salad but nicely done, though I dare say it was nothing unusual.

The wine was excellent and together with the main courses, made up for the unimaginative Asian-style starters. My veal was tender and tasty even though the pieces were thick. The others had beef and swordfish, and the roast pigeon in could’ve been the best dish of all, because it was even more flavourful and succulent than my veal.

We ended the meal with two combinations of various desserts, either laid into one cup or plate. I tasted unsweetened ‘glace’ (ice cream) and it was actually refreshing. The sesame whipped cream was also unsweetened, and similarly easier on my conscience. So were the jelly cubes. Thus I thought the mains and desserts were worth it.

Tomorrow we head to Beaune, another town en route to Geneva.

Day 1: Arrived around 9pm at Larnaca airport. We were greeted with lots of H1N1 warning posters. After collecting my check-in bag, I was welcomed at the exit by D, the bride-to-be, who was using a high-tech phone to video my entrance. Had supper at D’s home, chose some slideshow photos with her and learnt more about her lovely family. Then we went to bed.

Day 2: Woke up mid-morning. D made me a sandwich with Cypriot ham and cheese. Headed off at 11am for a manicure and pedicure with D, and ran errands together. Had lunch at Le Cafe where many people were posing with their beautifully done-up hair, tanned bodies and sunglasses. D headed to the florist’s and photographer’s while I stayed on to shop at Debenham’s. I was annoyed with myself for forgetting to bring my sunglasses to Cyprus, of all sunny, cloudless places in the world to visit. Turned out well in the end as I found 2 lovely pairs of sunglasses and 1 pair for my housemate. All UV400 and between 8.95-9.95 Euros in price - and then a discount was given on top of that! I was terribly pleased with my finds.

Day 3: The wedding!! D only had 2 hours of sleep and was feeling unwell. Fortunately, after a hot shower and fervent prayers to God, she was revived and returned to her usual feisty self! Hallelujah! D and I headed to the hairdresser’s. I got myself into a funky hairdo to go with my traditional Chinese cheong sam. I was a bit doubtful, but everyone seemed to love how I looked, so that’s that!

Had lots of photo-taking and traditional ceremonies performed by family members and friends, at D’s apartment. There was also a lot of food, although I was so occupied observing everything that was going on and taking photos, that I hardly ate!

In the midst of it all, cars were honking downstairs and we learnt the groom had driven in from Limassol! He and his men circled the apartment twice, waving at us all. The bride was excited to see him. We headed to the church. Greek weddings are different from Western weddings. The groom and everyone else waits outside the church for the bride. She walks to the groom and everyone enters the church together. There is also no kissing!! :(

The ceremony was all Greek to me, i.e. I didn’t understand a word. There was a lot of singing by the priest(s) and the choir at the back. Then we threw flower petals and rice at the newly-wedded couple! I finally met the groom S. I was so happy for both of them and wish them a blessed lifetime together.

I hitched a ride from a couple of Bristol law juniors from Nicosia to Limassol where the wedding reception and dinner took place. Then Bristol law classmate A fetched me from a hotel and took me to his place. I was so happy to see his wife, who was also my law classmate H, and their baby Z! Together we went to the reception, then A, H and Z went home. I met more Bristolians during dinner, and they are now my Facebook friends ;-)

Cypriot/Greek wedding dinners start very late and end even later, with lots of dancing! It was a buffet, but each table took turns to take food so it was not a mad rush with a super long queue but quite manageable. The only thing I wasn’t comfortable with was the smoking in the air-conditioned hall. Apparently there are smoking laws but they are not well enforced, and Cypriots will smoke even in front of babies. So I was glad that baby Z was not at the same table. A fetched me home and it took me a while to pry out all the pins stuck in my hair. Finally I showered and slept. It was a long day and I was glad to have survived it!

Day 4: I finally had a long sleep as I drew the curtains so the summer sun didn’t wake me up. Had lunch and tried some local Keo Beer.

Late afternoon, H took me to see the ruins at Kourion. This is us in the car!

This is me, feeling well. Actually, it’s an ancient well but I didn’t feel ancient, just well.

Kourion was great, but more could be done to develop its tourism potential. We had a pamphlet that had a bit of information, but frankly I got more out of the Wikipedia entry. At many points we had no idea what ruin we were looking at. Location maps didn’t have a ‘You are here’ sign, so we had no idea where we were, or where to start walking. Also, relics on the map were numbered randomly, not in concentric or any other pattern. H noted that fake pillars used for a play at the amphitheatre were left abandoned on the side, not too far from the real ruins.

Went to town with H to buy dinner at a famous kebab place which is also a Guinness World Record holder for the longest kebab.

Day 5: Left for Cyprus, but made sure I got to see baby Z one last time! I enjoyed my stay in Cyprus and having friends to take me around definitely helped a lot. Goodbye, until we meet again in Singapore!

Over the last weekend I made a trip to Paris to boost the economy. This mission was completed with Louis Vuitton (LV) being the main beneficiary. After a short train ride and an even shorter metro ride, we found ourselves in the heart of Paris, and beheld one of the bastions of French luxury goods:

I experienced rude service in a previous visit to LV, but this time nothing bad happened. We were in fact fortunate that the LV employee who came up to assist us was a fellow Singaporean, as he gave us extra tips on what to see in Paris. He was also very good at recommending which bag/accessory would suit us better.

He also made expressos so we had the pleasure of sipping them in the middle of the shop, which was a luxury I didn’t experience in an earlier visit years ago. The main store was bustling, yet not as crazy as the branch at Ngee Ann City in Singapore, where I’ve seen a queue snaking round the corner, but it was definitely good business. Which begs the question: What recession?? The rich remain rich and those with a lot of savings are in fact probably benefiting from overall lower prices and discounts. It is a known fact that buying LV in Paris and getting tax rebates is a better deal than buying the same item back in Singapore.

Not surprisingly there were many Asian tourists snapping up LV goods, and a good proportion of the LV staff were Asians themselves. I think it helps the sale when your salesperson can speak the same language as you, and may also have come from the same culture. I noticed some customers who were speaking in a distinctly mainland Chinese accent. I think there were quite a few other groups of customers from neighbouring regions as well.

I am glad I finally got myself a good passport holder. The last one I had was a free gift that crumbled after some years of use and dirtied my passport and the bag holding it! As with many other things in my life I would prefer to pay a greater price for something I know would be longer-lasting. Unlike many other females, I don’t like shopping very much. I find it stressful to have to keep replacing things and matching exact shades of colour. Sometimes, however, there are impulses… such as this:

I needed a nice reddish bag to go with a dress I’m planning to wear to my dear Cypriot friend Demetra’s wedding this weekend. Also, I used this bag at the INSEAD Summer Ball (to be covered in my INSEAD blog…) because the theme was ‘A Touch of Gold’. I hope up to this point my female readers appreciate my description and photos ;-)

There was a jazz festival going on in Paris but I decided to give it a miss. Instead I bought some jazz CDs. There were some good discounts from stores like Virgin and even FNAC. Despite the weather report saying it should be sunny in Paris, I never believed it totally and sure enough, it drizzled for a while.

Anyway we went back tired but happy, just in time to rest and prepare ourselves for the Ball…