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The Last Time We're Going to Kowloon Ice House.

admin | 25 May, 2008 22:00

Sorry, I can't do it... I can't go back.

Kowloon Ice House is a prety popular snack chain in China (a lot in Shanghai) full of snacks, drinks and nice light foods. Once you step inside, the place is full of Hong Kong karaoke and pictures. It's a great spot, especially if you are a fan of HK pop culture, like yours truly.

But after tonight, I think the next time I'm look for that nostalgic feeling, I'll take a flight to HK instead...

After the gym, Zoe and I decided we would go for a snack. I ordered some soup, curry and some drinks. The first thing I noticed before I ordered is that the menu changed. Originally, it was one sheet with selections on the front and back. it was quite clear and easy to follow. Now, it's a thick book with old plastic covers for each page, new dishes (that almost look like a restaurant rather than a snack house) and the prices are sky high. A lot of the small dishes they used to serve... GONE. Now, I'm not a big fan of these changes, but I can deal.

The part that bugged me was there was a fly in the soup...

That's ok, fairly normal, it happens, especially in this weather. We told the staff about it, and they wanted to change it, but fearing that they'll just dump the fly out and give us the same soup, we decided they can just strike it off of our check. No big deal.

Next up, I found a fly in my iced coffee. That's enough. We told them about this too and they had the nerve to say that the fly JUST flew in. (Right so in between you guys walking from the kitchen over to our table, the fly flew in our soup...)

Zoe and I were in shock. Now, in the mall where this Kowloon Ice House is located, you can't find any flies around where we were sitting, and flies like to be around food, especially where there's lots of food... MAYBE, just MAYBE, their kitchen has some issues. I mean, when we found the bug in the soup, it was underneath all the lettuce, and I don;t think the fly was just going for a swim.

Heck, even the white spoon we recieved had all these black spots and marks all over it. Later w got two spoons, with half of the marks gone...

We wanted our money back, all of it. We weren't going to spend nearly 20 bucks (I'm talking in USD here, not RMB) on non-hygenic food. There are other people around ordering as well. After the fuss and battling between us and the waitresses, we finally got our money back... but not our appetite.

I can't go back there because of this. We go for the quality, but if it's gonna be like this, I'd rather go for street food instead. Stop cutting corners!


Shanghai , Hints and Tips , health , food :: Comment (23) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (1)

Saved after being trapped for over 180 hours... and gave birth!

admin | 21 May, 2008 07:58

General jist of this interview is about a pregnant woman who was stuck in the rubble around the earthquake for 180 hours (cause a lot of the roads are messed up and it's hard to walk around). She gave birth yesterday and the baby is safe. It's a miracle.
By the way, two more folks were saved after 196 hours of being stuck in rubble.
Not all have been miracles, the numbers are over 40,000 in deaths and countless numbers of injuries, physical and emotional. Wherever you are, reader, please donate what you can to this tragedy, be it money, clothes or news you can pass along to others. China is also in need of psychology experts (who can speak Chinese). Thank you.

News , People , Hints and Tips , health , Awareness :: Comment (10) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

Chinese People Exersizing Early In The Morning

admin | 04 April, 2008 11:07

This isn't a cult, people! It's old people exersizing in China!!

(I hope this doesn't offend anyone, this is just an observation!)

My wife and I wake up everyday at 6am to get ready for work. I generally walk her over to the subway and send her on her way. This is great for two reasons: 1. I send my wife off feeling energized and ready to go, whcih also makes me feel energized to work that day as well. 2. I can watch old Chinese people geting in some good early morning exersize!

(Note: It's prety much never younger Chinese because they are generally busy getting ready for a long day at the office.)

This morning, from my terrace, I watched an old Chinese woman in her 70's clapping her hands while walking and sitting around the pond in the middle of our complex. There was no music playing. She wasn't applauding for a show. Nor was she trying to compose a Just Blaze beat. She was just clapping.

I'm used to seeing this interesting form of exersize having lived in China for over three years, but I had to ask my wife for myself just what the heck is going on...

Me: Why is this lady clapping her hands like she's calling to aliens or something?

Wife: (Smiles) What do you mean?

Me: Y'know, she's clapping her hands like she's doing a rain dance or reaching out to her ancestors through ESP or something. (Note: Today's Qingming Jie by the way... so I have my reasons fo the ancestor thing..) She's staring around her too... Yo, look at this!

Wife: (Laughs) No, that's just to get more circulation through her body, that's all...

Yes, so it's all exersize. If you see old people walking around slapping and hitting their own bodies, walking backwards, or singing opera songs to themselves, they aren't possessed... it's exersize.

I have to give these people a lot of credit though, I mean, if this is why Chinese live so long, maybe we all should get into these crazy looking exersizes as well... Alas, gyms are starting to take form out here (I work out at a gym myself...), and well... these exersizes do kind of look goofy... to the untrained eye...

I heard that a lot of these movements are a part of a traditional Chinese exersize called Qi Gong. (And Qi Gong makes any weak looking person feel pretty darn gangster.

Anyway, here are some more videos of old people doing some interesting "exersizes". Respect the game, don't hate the player.

This is my favorite video because in the begining of the video, the ldy in the blue is basically popping. She makes the corny song sound pretty dope!


Random MoJo-ness , People , Shanghai , Hints and Tips , health :: Comment (9) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

Earth Hour

admin | 27 March, 2008 12:48

What A Wonderful World...
This isn't a post directly related to China, but China's in our world and we need to protect our world to keep China and all the places we live in or visit alive, healthy and strong. Earth Hour is one step to doing just that!
This Saturday at 8pm, turn off you home appliances for just an hour, only one hour and help the world save some energy. It worked in Sydney. Check out Earthhour.org for more info.

Hints and Tips , health , Awareness :: Comment (14) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

Yogi Duncan Wong

admin | 25 March, 2008 12:51

Duncan Wong
I'm kind of shocked that I've been running my blog for so long and have yet to mention this guy. His name is Duncan Wong. If you heard about him, you know he's worked with Madonna and all for her Yoga stuff.
He's a cool dude and pretty serious about his art and his yoga. He has a studio in Shanghai and some other spots around Asia. Zoe and I took a class over there some time ago and loved it... Feel kind of bad cause I haven't been there since... but we'll get back over there soon.
Anyway, here's a vid you guys can check out... This dude is no joke.

People , Shanghai , celebs , health :: Comment (11) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

Getting your wisdom tooth removed in China..

admin | 18 March, 2008 07:57

The dreaded building that took away my tooth!
Last Friday morning I stopped by Huashan Hospital to get my wisdom tooth removed. For all those that have never had ther wisdom tooth removed or don't have wisdom tooth problems, consider yourself lucky.
Huashan Hospital has a section for dentistry and they speak pretty good English, but I handled myself well that day in Chinese. But once they started going... let's just say thank god for painkillers.
I felt like I was in the movie "Saw".(Never seen the move and am not a big fan of scary movies... but I can imagine!) They took these hammers and just ripped through my gums like I was on the death penalty. The entire time, they spoke Shanghaineese and I had to figure out what most folks were saying. There were tears, blood and a few yelps of pain from MoJo here... but finally they got it out. It was about as big as a thimble.
The cost was 419 RMB (50 bucks), which is expensive for China, but I think a lot cheaper than America. And they gave me a lot of fun painkillers to cool me off in the mean time. I'm healing up quite nicely...

Random MoJo-ness , Shanghai , Hints and Tips , health :: Comment (6) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jessica Simpson Speak Chinese???

admin | 06 March, 2008 07:39

Well... Kind of!

Here's some proof positive that more celebs are getting themselves out into the China market. Here's american Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt and singer Jessica Simpson in a TV commercial/Paid Advertisement for skin care product, Proactiv. Here's the commercial translated:

Jennifer Love Hewitt:

Ni Hao! Wo Shi Jennifer Love Hewitt! (Hello! I am Jennifer Love Hewitt!) Gao Lan Yao Fu, fei chang hao! (Proactive is really good!)

Jessica Simpson:

Da Jia Hao. Wo Shi Jessica Simpson. (Hi everybody. I am Jessica Simpson.) Wo Ai Gao Lan Yao Fu. (I Love Proactive.)

If I were to do a Chinese language battle between these two Hollywood starlets, Jessica Simpson would definitely win. She sounds more natural, smooth and chill, just like the way when someone normally talks to you. Jennifer Love Hewitt has that foreign voice that most Chinese out here make fun of foreigners for...

But these guys are celebs and Chinese is hard... Kudos to the both of these guys for speaking the language and speaking it pretty clearly!

By the way, the first lady in the show is named Annie Shizuke Inoh, also known as Yi Neng Jing... she is a popular singer and actress from Taiwan and is married to singer-songwriter Harlem Yu - Yu Chengqing. I love that he's named after the black neighborhood of Harlem. DEEP down inside... Harlem Yu's a brother.


Random MoJo-ness , Entertainment , Wai Guo , TV , blogs , celebs , health , websites :: Comment (10) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)

I need protein powder!!!

admin | 02 March, 2008 14:18

If anyone can help me find stuff like this for cheap in Shanghai.. I'd appreciate it!

As of the last 2 months, I've been going to the gym about five times a week. (Thank you, thank you, please hold the applause!) But I've recently run out of protein powder and it's hard to find this stuff (at a good price) in Shanghai. The last time I got this stuff, it cost me about 800 RMB... (Over 100 USD)... It really works, but I would rather SAVE money than spend it... (400-600 RMB is more reasonable for me!

If you have any ideas, post me a comment or you can reply to this post I left on City Weekend. Thanks! (Boy, do I wish GNC was in Shanghai...)

***** UPDATE: Thank you Jordo960 for the helpful site!!*****


Random MoJo-ness , Shanghai , Hints and Tips , health :: Comment (8) :: Permalink :: Trackbacks (0)
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