Our very clean weekend in Singapore

What everyone says about Singapore is correct. It's one big clean and massive shopping experience from Cartier and Tiffany stores as common as your neighbourhood Seven Eleven to Indian and Chinese parts of the city state where you would swear you have been transported to markets in India or China. The people we met were kind and very very polite. And I guess as long as you follow the many rules, "Sir your tea will be brewed in one minute and a half, kindly wait to pour it", all goes well.


Although I have not been to that many casinos, the casino at the five billion dollar Marina Bay Sands shopping complex and hotel was mind boggling. Theresa played some slots and donated a few dollars to the Singapore Government - an unlikely event since she usually is a winner.

We did all the tourist stuff including the hop on/off bus tour and even the $30.00 per person ride on the Singapore Flyer (big enclosed ferris wheel. And it wouldn't have been a true Singapore experience if we didn't do a little shopping and have a Singapore Sling cocktail (way too sweet).

Food was excellent and I would recommend the Clifford at the Fullerton Bay Hotel. The three or maybe even four story high ceiling of this restaurant provides an ambiance of real luxury and beauty and the food as well was as good as we have eaten anywhere.

All in all we had a great time. If you are looking to park a few million dollars somewhere, Singapore is the place to put it. No inheritance tax, no capital gains tax, no with holding taxes etc. It is a millionaires mecca and I guess that's why the Louis Vuittons of this world have set up shop there.

Our Weekend in Beijing

Vice President Joe Biden wasn't the only important person in Beijing this past weekend. The Firestone family, Matt, Sasha, Theresa and yours truly travelled to Beijing this past weekend to take in the sights and sounds of China's capital and surrounding country (The Great Wall of China).

Other than having our reservations at the St Regis cancelled at the last minute because Chinese security wanted the whole hotel empty except for VP Biden and his entourage, we had a great time. Our stay at the Westin in a pretty swank suite (No one cancels a confirmed reservation that I have and gets off lightly) was great but be forewarned if you are visiting Beijing. Traffic is like nothing you have ever experienced. It is possible we spent more time in our minivan than we did touring. And nothing in Beijing is in walking distance to anywhere. You have to drive.

That said we did all the tourist stuff from the Forbidden city and Tienanmen Square (where our guide said it is rumoured there is a soldier, police man or secret service person every ten meters)to the Great wall of China and everything in between including having a Peking Duck dinner and watching undercover police arrest and take away a man dressed as Donald Duck at the Bird's Nest Stadium - go figure what that was all about.

The Great wall is indeed amazing and well deserves to be classified as one of the seven wonders of the modern world and something you have to see if you visit Asia. The toboggan ride down from the Great Wall was almost as exhilarating as the view at the top of the wall.

Finally how could I not comment on the night food market - as the old Campbell Soup commercial says hmmmmm hmmmm good!! We were tempted but just could not get the nerve up to go for it. The picture in this post says it all..... we had a great time in Beijing.

Two great stories to get your weekend started

First off, we'd like you to think of us when you go out to eat this weekend - all is not gourmet food here. Seems that a popular fried dumpling restaurant cook was seen scratching his feet while wrapping dumplings yesterday.

Now the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration is investigating the Shengji Yipin Fried Dumpling fast-food chain that operates more than 20 restaurants in Shanghai.

A consumer complained that when he was having supper at the chain's SML Center branch on Xujiahui Road on Tuesday evening, he looked into the kitchen and saw a cook take off one of his shoes and socks and scratch his feet right beside the raw dumplings.

The consumer wanted apologies from the staff. Instead, several restaurant employees started a fight with him.

The restaurant staff claimed the foot-scratching "was no big deal" and said he could only "receive apologies in his dreams."

Officials with the Shanghai FDA said the restaurant is closed until it improves its sanitation, and may receive further punishment after an investigation.

The cook and other staff finally apologized to the consumer yesterday and gave him a refund. You can be sure that restaurant is on our "no-go" list.

The second story is for all those guys who think it might be safe to fool around. Here in China, the ladies take it seriously. A woman in central China's Hunan Province was jailed for 11 years on Wednesday for castrating her husband while he slept.

The woman pled guilty to intentional injury at a court in Zhuzhou City in the province, reported Xiaoxiang Morning Herald yesterday.

She suspected her husband was having affairs as he didn't want to have sex with her. The court said it had shown leniency at the request of the woman's husband and daughter. When on May 23 her husband turned down an offer of sex, the woman said she suspected he was cheating on her and decided to "deprive him of his sexual functioning."

After giving her husband sleeping pills and seeing he was asleep, she tied him to the bed and began cutting off his testicles. During this, her husband awoke and begged her to stop, promising never to stray again.

But his wife finished the job, and then proceeded to call her brother-in-law, telling him to "stitch the wound."

The next day she turned herself in.