Obviously a McDonald's fan...

I was going over photos to blog about when I spotted this photo of me in McDonald's Hangzhou, China with my nephew Joshua clowning around (or should I say declaring me the devil?) behind me when a thought (or should I say a theory?) dawned on me... I seem to have a McDonald's photo in most if not all of my travels.

So I tested this theory and revisited my travel folders the past 5 years and here's the result of all that sleuthing..

2009 March

Hangzhou, China

2008 October

Yokohama, Japan

I remember that day Kana, my friend Satoko's youngest daughter demanded that we eat at McDonald's. Apparently she does not get to eat as often as she likes because okasan does not think it's healthy food. Smart mother..

2008 September

Shanghai, China

In the old town of Puxi (read Pusi) where nothing in the area of food is familiar, seeing this McDonald's was a blessing when we needed sustenance for a bout of shopping. I realized that the pink tote from St. Kitts and Nevis (oh somewhere in the Carribean..) does not do anything for my color..haha!

2008 June

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

I died of laughter when I saw this because all the while I thought - no I missed out in Dubai! But no, not true. Trust my brother's friend Richard to take a pic wherever we stopped that day he picked me up at 7am to ride the bus and explore Bur Dubai and the Dubai Museum with me.

2007 November

Macau

I think this is the cutest of them all!

2007 October

Taipei, Taiwan

And no, we were not posing just because it's a McDonald's. This was the McDonald's were the last scene from the famous Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden was filmed. What can I do? I'm hopelessly a fangirl..

2007 June

Bangkok, Thailand

The most unique of all that I've been to. This one I did ask my Ena, my staff who travelled with me to take a photo of me and Ronald greeting everyone "sawadeeka".

2005 December

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

No photo from the exterior of the store, but the evidence is on the table. No doubting where me, Ochie and our Malaysian friends were.

2005 August

Fukuoka, Japan

And lastly, this photo from Fukuoka. My fellow geisha Vic took this photo to remind us that we were running out of money and can only afford a McDonald's meal. We were there to see SMAP's concert but did not realize that when the Japanese says their store is on sale..they really mean sale!!

All this talk about McDonald's is making me hungry. I wonder if someone delivers at 4am?? =)

Eeni, mini, mainimo!!

I've been wanting to post about this but I'm still lazy....lazy as ever. All I want to do is watch dramas from my tri-nation fandom. And this chart seem to represent what I am pre-occupied with except for my SMAP fandom which is another story altogether.

In 2003, I discovered Meteor Garden which led me to discover Vic Chou, Jerry Yan, Ken Chu and VanNess Wu.

In 2005, I discovered Hana Yori Dango which led me to discover Matsumoto Jun and Oguri Shun.

Last January 2009, I got on the Boys Over Flower boat which led me to discover Kim Hyun Joong, Lee Min Ho, Kim Bum and Kim Joon.

I know I have it bad when I would watch something more than once. I think I have it reallly bad because right after watching BOF thrice, I dug out my MG dvd and started watching it again. I have a sinking suspicion that I will also dig out my HYD episodes soon after.

That bane of my existence "Youtube" also added fuel to the fire when people started posting videos comparing the 3 versions that led me to asking ME, who do you like best? My answer may change later (cop out! hahaha!) but at this very minute, here's what my heart tells me. From the bottom...

F1 - VanNess Wu vs. Hiroshi Abe vs. Kim Joon

Me - VanNess! Not because my love and support for him is unconditional because I do criticize his not so good performance but I still remember his Mei Tzuo after 6 years.

F2 - Ken Chu vs. Matsuda Shota vs. Kim Bum

Me - *wrestles with self* ..... Kim Bum!! But Ken is just a hair behind. Yi Jong is just too cute, the premise for his playboy character must have made it for me or is it his 1-2-3 move?

F3 - Vic Chou vs. Oguri Shun vs. Kim Hyun Joong

Me - *tears out hair*....*rolls on the floor thinking*... ahhhhh!!! it's a freaking tie between Vic Chou and Kim Hyun Joong. For Oguri Shun, I think the deal breaker is when Rui got into that priest outfit. It was totally horrible. Both Zaizai and Hyun Joongie (notice my affiliation with their nicknames? hahaha!) are first time actors in the drama but Zai's Hua Ze Lei and Hyun Joong's Ji Hoo are so good. In real life, their dry, quirky humor seem to be the same so to play the gentle and quiet characters that they played says a lot for their talent.

F4 - Jerry Yan vs. Matsumoto Jun vs. Lee Min Ho

Me - *screams*...*bites pen*...*walks around my little birdcage*...*tears out hair some more*... *gulps down more coke zeroes that I shouldn't be having at 1:00am*... both are arrogant enough, both are violent enough, both are handsome and gorgeous enough but it's Jerry Yan's Dau Ming Zi that still pulls me. I absolutely love Lee Min Ho's Gu Jun Pyo but Dau Ming Zi was dorkier when he had to be (I can still remember that little dance at the salon) and his love for Sancai seem to be unfaltering and unwavering.

So there! I finally bit the bullet and made my choice. The bottom line is that I love all 3 dramas. I love hugs and kissing scenes which HYD did not do much for me. I love how the friendship of the boys seem to be tested and MG and BOF showed that to me. The concept of being rich was just improved over time - rich, richer, richest is how I see it which is great.

The Taiwanese started the pan-Asian craze for this timeless love story. The Japanese showed they can do justice to a story from one of their own and the Koreans despite the tough act it followed raised the bar some more. Whoever will remake this story has a huge job at hand.

*Photo matrix credit goes to the one who beautifully made it and which I stole and forgot where. Let me know if its yours so I can properly credit. Du Bu Qi, Sumimasen, Mianhe.

SIDE NOTE:
Since then I have watched each and every work of Jerry Yan up to his latest Starlit.
I've seen each and every work of Vic Chou up to his currently airing Black & White (which is soooo good, worthy of a spazz another time).
Too bad Ken does not do dramas anymore but I've seen most of his acting work.
Except for Kung Fu Chef which I have not laid my hands on I've seen all of VanNess's work.
I've seen a lot of Matsujun's work and will be watching Smile soon.
I love many of Oguri Shun's work especially Hana Kimi and even bought his photobook.
I've seen Kim Hyun Joong's We Got Married reality show stint for I don't know how many times (damn youtube!)
And I'm looking forward to the work of the rest.

Fangirls are the original vampires....we never sleep! =)

Purple Loot from China

I was sooooo lazy the past couple of weeks! Yup, lazy all around. The only thing I was good for was staring at the computer screen and watch videos.

Until I realized that I have not posted my latest loot and new additions to the purple world. Now, this is not everything but like I said, I was lazy to take pics. I bought a purple leather belt (I'll post my belts next time) and a plum winter jacket too!

I was happy to find a new mobile phone. I saw this back in September last year but did not buy it because I was already broke. Six months later, it was still there! And marked down by 20%. I guess we were meant to be.

And everyone now knows that I am crazy about Uniqlo. Well, the Uniqlo store in Super Brand Malls in Shanghai did not escape my purple-wandering eye. Picked up another pull-over and a pair of socks.

And then while waiting for my brother-in-law Ramon get off work, we discovered Askul ( http://www.askul.co.jp/) which carries anything and everything. There I found my first ever purple paper puncher! I picked up a couple of purple post-its as well. I'm gonna explore this website more and see if I learned from my Nihonggo classes.

And of course, accessories! Those wooden purple earrings sold by folks from Chinese Mongolia are just so unique. For RMB 5.00 (Php 35.00), they are already a steal. The purple crystal jade was unexpected because you don't see them all the time. So when we went back to the jade shops in Yu Yuan Gardens, I just had to grab it.

Sigh...I guess I'm off shopping for a while...until the next cool purple thing comes along! =)