No Fat Girls in Beijing ... & ... The Coolest Building

Beijing girls are slim, no doubt about it. 

I noticed that when I was travelling in the subways and observing the locals in general. If I see a fat Chinese girl, chances are she's not a local. Maybe she's a Malaysian Chinese cause 2 in every 5 Malaysians are obese. 

The hotel where we stayed, Traders Hotel is located in the Central Business District (CBD) where skyscrapers light up the skyline and the roads are wide enough for a small aircraft to land.

From our hotel room I can see the tallest building in Beijing:

The China Central Television (CCTV) building is one of the coolest building I've ever seen! If I love the Petronas Twin Towers for its stylish steel structure that gleams in the sun and illuminates the skyline at night, I love the CCTV building for being radical in a cool way. I wonder how the floors are named.

The girls who work in the CBD are busy executives who dresses immaculately and I noticed most of them wear pantyhose when they wear a skirt. Not too sure whether it's because of the cool weather or just good grooming. Anyhow, their legs look slim and gorgeous in pantyhose, which reminded me of my ex-boss who told me that a lady must always wear stockings if she's wearing a skirt. I had just joined the corporate world back then and that piece of grooming tip has stuck with me till today. 

If the girls in Beijing are slim lasses, then the girls in Hangzhou are another breed of pretty Chinese lasses. 

Apparently Hangzhou is not only famous for its natural sceneries and lovely weather, but also for its pretty lasses, so much so that the Emperors of China made annual trips to Hangzhou to select their concubines. 

Getting High with Fridge Magnets

A package of fridge magnets came in the mail on Thursday. I quickly opened the package and the contents blew my mind!

First there was this one from the state of Florida: 

Reminds me of SpongeBob SquarePants :-)

I was curious why these 2 had the word Margaritaville on it:

This magnet is one of my all-time favourite. It's big and shaped like a bottlecap cover. But can someone please tell me what's the purpose of the rectangular and round hole at the back? 

So I did a Google search and discovered that Margaritaville is the name of a song written by Jimmy Buffett about a drink. The song was released in 1977 and became a hit.

Isn't it amazing what you can learn from fridge magnets!

When Florida is mentioned, another name comes to mind - Universal Studios!

I like the white glow that illuminates the logo.

It's all about movie making!

And if you want to make the recipient of these fridge magnets feel like a princess, get her this:

I feel oh so special already!

In the package was also this magnet about the The Mighty Eighth:

The Mighty Eighth Air Force is one of the greatest air armada in history and you can read about its history here. I'll make it a point to visit this museum if I ever go to Georgia.

Thank you Art for these lovely magnets and especially for a quick lesson in Margaritaville and The Mighty Eighth!

Madrid to Toledo by Bus

Toledo is an easy day trip from Madrid which you can do on your own by taking the efficient public transportation.

Buses leave from Plaza Eliptica which is on Line 6 of the Metro subway (didn't I mention that public transportation in Spain is one of the best!).

Plaza Eliptica is made up of different levels and I navigated my way to the correct platform with help from digital screens like these:

Almost all signages in Spain are in Spanish or Catalan. Here it means that Route 402 is the direct bus to Toledo that leaves from Platform 7. 

When I reached Platform 7 ...

... the bus was about to leave and I didn't have a ticket!

The bus driver pointed to the ticket machine beside the platform ...

... where I bought a return ticket to Toledo for 8.88 Euros: 

Then I checked the screen and the next bus was at 11.30am:

Not too bad since I only had to wait for another 20 minutes for the next bus.

Soon I was on my way to Toledo which took about 45 minutes because traffic was clear, yeah ! 

Click here for Part 2: Getting Inside the Medieval City of Toledo