I'm heading out of Shanghai later this afternoon, bound for Beijing, so I thought I would share this photo of The Bund (old imperial buildings from the 1920s - built by the British, apparently) taken from the window of the restaurant that we had dinner at last night.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
From Shanghai with Love
So, I'm staying here at the Westin, Bund Center, Shanghai - it's the building with the lotus flower on the top of it (to the left) - and justing beginning my work week.
Facebook, Twitter, parts of Flickr and, surprisingly, UlloaSullivan.com (must be the topless pictures of me and Toby!) are blocked from within China so my updates are going to be even more sporadic than usual. I think I can cheat with Twitter by texting my updates to them so I'll try that... and hopefully I won't get arrested.
Adios 4 now!
Facebook, Twitter, parts of Flickr and, surprisingly, UlloaSullivan.com (must be the topless pictures of me and Toby!) are blocked from within China so my updates are going to be even more sporadic than usual. I think I can cheat with Twitter by texting my updates to them so I'll try that... and hopefully I won't get arrested.
Adios 4 now!
A Tale of Two Craig's
It's been a crazy hectic but fun week in the UK - great to see Paul & Steph's new place on Sunday and to hang out and play footie with my niece and nephews in their back garden (see the video on Flickr). They were all very happy with the Koala and Kangaroo souvenir's I brought them back from Oz - I assume that wanting to suck on them all the time means they liked them - and Toby presented me with a picture he painted of Cornflake in the sun of a Spider.
Monday saw me forcing myself to get up at a reasonable hour for a call and then heading into town to get passport forms and photos taken. The former was easy - just a quick trip to the post office - but the latter proved to be more difficult as not only was the machine at Tesco out of order but so was the one at the Post Office. The nice lady at the Post Office suggested I go to Jessop's - the photographer just down the street - and after pausing to thank her for her help, that's exactly what I did. After getting the photos taken, and popping next door to Argos to get a USB memory stick, I then headed back to Mum and Dad's, hooked up with Dad and headed to Pret a Manger at Bicester Village to have lunch with Mum after she finished work. The afternoon was filled with form-filling and preparation for the following day, dinner with Toby and then my journey up to London to check-in to the hotel.
Tuesday started off fine with me getting up and getting over to the passport office in plenty of time for my appointment and everything went smoothly until I got to counter 41 for my appointment when the nice (but formal) lady said that they couldn't accept the photos as there was too much shadow. 'Great!' I thought. 'It's OK', she said, 'just go and get your photos taken at the machine upstairs and take this slipt to the reception counter to get another appointment once you're ready.' That didn't sound too bad on the face of it until I realized that I didn't have enough change for the machine so first had to join the cashier desk line in order to get some. Once I'd done that I then joined the photo machine line to discover that of the three they have in the building, 2 were out of order and so everyone was queuing for the 1 that was operational. Not only that, but the machine gives you three tries to get the 'perfect' pose and, of course, 75% of the people in the line decided that their vanity couldn't stand having a passport photo that they might have gotten a better take of and so just had to use all three goes. By the time it was my turn my patience was sorely tested and I committed to getting my photo done first time no matter what. So you can understand why I really don't look all that happy in the final version (top row) that is now firmly embedded in my new 48 page passport. The stress of this process had been exacerbated a day or two before when I learned that the Chinese Embassy had recently changed their Visa application process such that it now requires a minimum of 3 days turnaround for your application and that in order to submit an application you need a letter from a local company inviting you to visit them in China which needs not only my full name and birth date but also the number of the passport on which I will be travelling. And because I was only getting the new passport on Tuesday afternoon I then had to immediately get those detals sent over to the company I'm visiting in Beijing and hope that they followed my instructions overnight to send the letter over to the visa service company I was using for first thing the next morning.
I woke up late on Wednesday morning - jet lag - to see two emails in my inbox. One from the company in China with the copy of the letter cc'd to the visa service company and one from the visa service company saying they hadn't received anything. Having thought all the stress was over I immediately called the visa service guy and told him I could see it in my inbox and that it was definitely sent to them. He then checked his junk folder and discovered it in there and told me 'I'm going to hang up now'. 30 minutes later I got an email from him saying that everything had been submitted and then I was able to relax.
The process for doing these things is never really that simple - the forms are complicated, the appointment system rigid, and the people at the offices (who are only doing their jobs, of course) are inflexible when you make mistakes.
Anyway, having thought my troubles were over I then promptly left my blackberry in the back seat of the taxi that dropped me off from my meeting on Wednesday. Not only would it have been inconvenient on any other day but it was my lifeline to the visa people and the folks I was coordinating my trip to China with (not to mention how I update the UlloaSullivan twitter account and staying in touch with M while travelling) and it was going to be a right pain in the arse to lock it down and replace it while I was away from home. Fortunately, my faith in humanity was restored when about 90 minutes later the taxi driver turned up and dropped it off at reception in the building we were meeting in. I called him the next day to thank him for going the extra mile to take care of me.
So, after all that excitement, I'm pleased to say the rest of the week went smoothly - great business meetings, nice dinner with Steve, Neil, Maya and Sully on Friday night and lunch with Nick, EK, Maureen, Mum and Dad yesterday morning. And my China Visa was approved for multiple entries over the next 12 months so it will be at least a year before I have to go through any of that again.
I share this tale not to seek your pity but to help those of you who may find themselves in similar situations in the future. As Michelle put it quite succinctly the other day - '... it is kinda your fault for leaving everything to the last minute, dear.'
Monday saw me forcing myself to get up at a reasonable hour for a call and then heading into town to get passport forms and photos taken. The former was easy - just a quick trip to the post office - but the latter proved to be more difficult as not only was the machine at Tesco out of order but so was the one at the Post Office. The nice lady at the Post Office suggested I go to Jessop's - the photographer just down the street - and after pausing to thank her for her help, that's exactly what I did. After getting the photos taken, and popping next door to Argos to get a USB memory stick, I then headed back to Mum and Dad's, hooked up with Dad and headed to Pret a Manger at Bicester Village to have lunch with Mum after she finished work. The afternoon was filled with form-filling and preparation for the following day, dinner with Toby and then my journey up to London to check-in to the hotel.
Tuesday started off fine with me getting up and getting over to the passport office in plenty of time for my appointment and everything went smoothly until I got to counter 41 for my appointment when the nice (but formal) lady said that they couldn't accept the photos as there was too much shadow. 'Great!' I thought. 'It's OK', she said, 'just go and get your photos taken at the machine upstairs and take this slipt to the reception counter to get another appointment once you're ready.' That didn't sound too bad on the face of it until I realized that I didn't have enough change for the machine so first had to join the cashier desk line in order to get some. Once I'd done that I then joined the photo machine line to discover that of the three they have in the building, 2 were out of order and so everyone was queuing for the 1 that was operational. Not only that, but the machine gives you three tries to get the 'perfect' pose and, of course, 75% of the people in the line decided that their vanity couldn't stand having a passport photo that they might have gotten a better take of and so just had to use all three goes. By the time it was my turn my patience was sorely tested and I committed to getting my photo done first time no matter what. So you can understand why I really don't look all that happy in the final version (top row) that is now firmly embedded in my new 48 page passport. The stress of this process had been exacerbated a day or two before when I learned that the Chinese Embassy had recently changed their Visa application process such that it now requires a minimum of 3 days turnaround for your application and that in order to submit an application you need a letter from a local company inviting you to visit them in China which needs not only my full name and birth date but also the number of the passport on which I will be travelling. And because I was only getting the new passport on Tuesday afternoon I then had to immediately get those detals sent over to the company I'm visiting in Beijing and hope that they followed my instructions overnight to send the letter over to the visa service company I was using for first thing the next morning.
I woke up late on Wednesday morning - jet lag - to see two emails in my inbox. One from the company in China with the copy of the letter cc'd to the visa service company and one from the visa service company saying they hadn't received anything. Having thought all the stress was over I immediately called the visa service guy and told him I could see it in my inbox and that it was definitely sent to them. He then checked his junk folder and discovered it in there and told me 'I'm going to hang up now'. 30 minutes later I got an email from him saying that everything had been submitted and then I was able to relax.
The process for doing these things is never really that simple - the forms are complicated, the appointment system rigid, and the people at the offices (who are only doing their jobs, of course) are inflexible when you make mistakes.
Anyway, having thought my troubles were over I then promptly left my blackberry in the back seat of the taxi that dropped me off from my meeting on Wednesday. Not only would it have been inconvenient on any other day but it was my lifeline to the visa people and the folks I was coordinating my trip to China with (not to mention how I update the UlloaSullivan twitter account and staying in touch with M while travelling) and it was going to be a right pain in the arse to lock it down and replace it while I was away from home. Fortunately, my faith in humanity was restored when about 90 minutes later the taxi driver turned up and dropped it off at reception in the building we were meeting in. I called him the next day to thank him for going the extra mile to take care of me.
So, after all that excitement, I'm pleased to say the rest of the week went smoothly - great business meetings, nice dinner with Steve, Neil, Maya and Sully on Friday night and lunch with Nick, EK, Maureen, Mum and Dad yesterday morning. And my China Visa was approved for multiple entries over the next 12 months so it will be at least a year before I have to go through any of that again.
I share this tale not to seek your pity but to help those of you who may find themselves in similar situations in the future. As Michelle put it quite succinctly the other day - '... it is kinda your fault for leaving everything to the last minute, dear.'
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Fruits of My Garden
No, it's not a metaphor. This is the bounty I collected from the UlloaSullivan vegetable garden on Saturday.
There were two giant sized Zucchini. Four bent Zucchini-like things (I forget what they are officially known as), a Cucumber, 2 Japanese Eggplant (Aubergine to the Europeans) and a lonely Tomato.
Unfortunately I'm not going to be around to eat this sumptuous harvest as I am travelling for the next couple of weeks but I hope that somebody back home gets to enjoy them.
There were two giant sized Zucchini. Four bent Zucchini-like things (I forget what they are officially known as), a Cucumber, 2 Japanese Eggplant (Aubergine to the Europeans) and a lonely Tomato.
Unfortunately I'm not going to be around to eat this sumptuous harvest as I am travelling for the next couple of weeks but I hope that somebody back home gets to enjoy them.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
How's the Weather where you are?
Here in Tokyo this is how things are looking for this week.
Hopefully things are looking a bit better for you, wherever you are.
Hopefully things are looking a bit better for you, wherever you are.
Happy Birthday Matthew!
Here's to you having a great day on your 19th Birthday.
Cheers!
Uncle C & Aunt M
Cheers!
Uncle C & Aunt M
All About Sydney
I know, I know. It's been a while since I put a 'proper' post on here as opposed to the regular Tweeting and Facebook status update stuff. My only excuse is that I can do those things in real-time from my Blackberry while we're out actually having fun and doing things; whereas to put a 'proper' update on the site requires sitting still for a few minutes, concentrating and thinking about something that will be interesting to you all.
So, instead, let me tell you about what we got up to in Sydney.
Then, when we arrived in Sydney the view over the Opera House looked like this:
Then I spent a few days working while M hung around with Helen and did some poking about the city - in between the rain showers - and then on Friday afternoon we got together with Helen to see a great Australian movie called 'Animal Kingdom' and then went out for a fantastic steak dinner at Prime - in the old GPO building off George Street.
And then we went for a cocktail in the Altitude Bar at the Shangri-La Hotel wherein a drank this Martini as part of my ongoing 'Martini Year' project.
On Saturday we headed over to Manly on the Ferry and met up with Helen and Wendy (her sister) and headed north to Narrabeen where we had a late breakfast (er, 2pm) before visiting Warringah Shopping Mall for odds and ends.
Before heading back to the hotel for an early night in order to start packing for our respective departures - C heading to Tokyo for work (and had to leave the hotel at 6am to get to the airport), M heading to Perth for fun with the McFarlane's (with a much more sensible 9:30am departure from the hotel). In spite of her excitement to head west to Perth, M was quite melancholy on the ferry back to Circular Quay.
All is well that ends well though as my disgust at having to get to the airport so early on a Sunday quickly evaporated when I realized that I could have toasted crumpets with vegemite and a coffee in the Qantas lounge before boarding my flight.
I won't take that line of thought to it's obvious conclusion and ruminate on what all this technology that we have available to us these days is doing to our collective ability to think critically and concentrate on one thing at a time and the impact that that might have on the younger generation. It is what it is. And, quite frankly, it would make me sound old and out-of-touch with the 21st century and, probably, people would lose interest before by the time they got to the end of the first 140 characters, wondering what I could possibly want or need to say in more space than that.
So, instead, let me tell you about what we got up to in Sydney.
First, before we got on the plane at SFO, M played here last couple of rounds of Words HD while drinking a G&T:
Then, when we arrived in Sydney the view over the Opera House looked like this:
Then I spent a few days working while M hung around with Helen and did some poking about the city - in between the rain showers - and then on Friday afternoon we got together with Helen to see a great Australian movie called 'Animal Kingdom' and then went out for a fantastic steak dinner at Prime - in the old GPO building off George Street.
And then we went for a cocktail in the Altitude Bar at the Shangri-La Hotel wherein a drank this Martini as part of my ongoing 'Martini Year' project.
On Saturday we headed over to Manly on the Ferry and met up with Helen and Wendy (her sister) and headed north to Narrabeen where we had a late breakfast (er, 2pm) before visiting Warringah Shopping Mall for odds and ends.
Before heading back to the hotel for an early night in order to start packing for our respective departures - C heading to Tokyo for work (and had to leave the hotel at 6am to get to the airport), M heading to Perth for fun with the McFarlane's (with a much more sensible 9:30am departure from the hotel). In spite of her excitement to head west to Perth, M was quite melancholy on the ferry back to Circular Quay.
All is well that ends well though as my disgust at having to get to the airport so early on a Sunday quickly evaporated when I realized that I could have toasted crumpets with vegemite and a coffee in the Qantas lounge before boarding my flight.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy 3rd Birthday Toby
We hope you're having a great time and thoroughly enjoying yourself/commanding all the attention today and hope to see you in a couple of weeks.
Many Happy Returns!
Uncle Craig and Auntie Melly
Many Happy Returns!
Uncle Craig and Auntie Melly
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Happy Birthday James
Hope you have a great day and evening at Adventure Park - see you there!
Love,
Uncle C & M
P.S. Sorry about the old photo, We'll get some new ones of you soon. You have to admit, it's a good one though. ;)
Love,
Uncle C & M
P.S. Sorry about the old photo, We'll get some new ones of you soon. You have to admit, it's a good one though. ;)