Aloha!

So, turns out that the snow in Seoul did affect my flight...the plane
was late in getting to shanghai, and by the time I made it to Seoul
the flight to Seattle was already long gone.

Luckily, there was an option to go to Hawaii and then transfer to
Seattle there.

So I did.

Not enough time to run to the beach; just got to see the airport. Was
not dressed for the weather; air conditioning was not turned on in the
terminals in the morning.

Had burger king. Then starbucks. Ended up chatting for a long time
with some of the people who were also on the way to Seattle from
Shanghai.

Random stories, different china perspectives.

waiting & waiting at airport

Arrived reasonably (but not insanely) early at airport, check-in, customs & security were pretty efficient.

As it turns out, my flight is out of the "old" (~10-12 year?) Terminal at the Shanghai Pudong airport. 

Was hungry, got some lunch...this airport is more "traditional" in terms of Chinese style as just about every business within is locally owned and drastically marked up for the captive audience.

88 RMB ($12.88 USD) for a mediocre rice box lunch set? Lame. Oh well...I could have ordered a burger for a little less, but was really doubtful - in my experience with generic airport restaurants in China like this, food quality is usually low & prices are high. 

Was hoping that they had a Burger King, but no luck (if it happened that my flight was out of Terminal 2, however, that would be a different story).

Had also been hoping to pick up some English translations of some Chinese classic books, but no luck there either...a lot of business texts. Guess I'll have to hit up Barnes & Noble or Amazon when I am back in the US.

Oh well...I'm not intending to whine. Here are the positives:

1. There is very decent & fast & free wi-fi coverage. One cannot assume that will exist in some US airports.

2. The baggage cart was free, not an absurd $3.00 or whatever it is in the USA. And someone was solely dedicated to making sure people exiting their cars or taxis had access to carts. 

3. No tips necessary! (This stands in stark contrast to a Delta experience I had in Minneapolis where the lady handling curbside check-in spent 10 minutes extensively helping some other dude with 10 bags, then finally gets to me, has an attitude with me, still takes forever with my two bags, and then when I don't tip her, she yells "Hey, this is a service!" to me...lame lame lame).

4. Airline didn't even turn the scale on when weighing my checked luggage.

5. This part of the airport is spacious, quiet, and has relatively few people...one of the most tranquil places I've been this entire trip. A little odd considering that travel is ramping up for Chinese New Year (the bulk of the population will be taking trains, however

wrapping up the trip

So, for some reason there's a warm spell in Shanghai and it's ~55-60 degrees F during the day (12-15 degrees C, for those that bother).

That's not expected to last  - it will get back to normal (38 - 48 degrees F; 3 - 9 degrees C) at the end of the week.

But I'm headed back stateside on Thursday.

It's been a pretty good trip. Here's a list of the things I'll miss, things I won't miss, and stuff that I'm really looking forward to when I'm back in the US.

Will miss:
1. The food - I love Chinese food, and I also love that (even in Shanghai) it's possible to go out to eat every day on a modest budget. Being in such a big city, there's lots of new things to try, and a diverse range of Chinese food (from all regions of the country) are available...I'm not really into a lot of Shanghai-specific cuisine yet, but everything else that I like (Hunan food, Sichuan food, Dongbei food, Xinjiang food, Guangdong food, Japanese food, and Korean food) is all readily available. You can get Chinese food in the US (or Canada), but it just takes more effort, and it's rarely priced as well as it is here.

1.5 - food portions - While there's a ton of good food here, it's also portioned reasonably..while I get full, I'm rarely urged to stuff myself. So in this way, it's probably healthier.

2. Pace of life - things change fast here; it's exciting and people are on the whole fairly optimistic (despite some grumblings about the government and not making enough money).

3. Work - I get to be a training expert/manager while I'm here. When I go back home I'm back to being Joe Schmo at the bottom of the totem pole. I knew that this position/role was temporary from the get-go, but it will still be a come down of sorts.

4. Conversations with new people in China - I guess during this trip I've spent more time hanging out with Chinese people than I often did when I was living in Shenzhen (that was probably due to the pace of life in Shenzhen and that I worked in a foreign company where my foreign peers and I would frequently get together after work too). Anyway, it's been fascinating getting the Chinese perspective on things we talk about now...it's also easier to communicate as it seems like I have a lot in common with Chinese people working here too. The foreigners I've met this trip have been pretty interesting for the most part as well...have been meeting a lot of the "career-expat over achiever" types, a few "FOBs", and then some of the dregs of humanity (see my last post). Chatting with friends in the US is okay too, but it's often different - without the unifying pull of being in China & trying to figure things out, then one has to come up with other topics of conversation (mundane topics like sports & what was on TV seem so trivial).


Will not miss:

1. The shredding of my immune system - back in Seattle/Bellevue my social circles are fairly restricted and probably the worst things (health-wise) that I'm regularly subject to are cat hair and dust. Here, I'm dealing with: jet-lag/sleep, touching things that are on public transit (touched by thousands of people daily), being around thousands of strangers daily on public transit, constantly sharing food at lunch dinners, maybe a modest uptick in the amount of drinking I do, the smog/pollution, and the damp/cold weather + often unheated workspace - it feels like I've been sick a lot this trip; way more than ever when I was living in China before and way more than when

2. Scooters & bicyclists - Due to the high price of obtaining & maintaining a car here, scooters are more prevalent than in other large Chinese cities. Shanghai is by no means a "scooter city" like I hear that Taipei is or like you might see in Thailand  However, there are enough of them to be an annoyance - most scooter drivers couldn't give a rat's ass about following traffic rules/guidelines, and so they often drive in the middle of the sidewalk and are loose & fast with any inhibitions related to traffic lights. I'm usually listening to my ipod so I don't hear them coming behind me, and at night most don't ever bother to turn their lights on (this apparently could be related to the fact that the headlights are reportedly one of the first parts on the scooter to break, usually within a few months of purchase).

3. Lack of privacy / quiet - While my friend's living space is pretty nice, the walls must be made out of paper or something, as every sound from outside and upstairs carries in. Likewise, I assume that if one was super noisy inside, the sound would carry out.

4. Big city can be tiring - The flip side of living in such a dynamic environment is that it can be exhausting. Commute to work (in my case) is fairly long. I cannot say I've ever felt really full rested this trip. It feels that my life in the US is comparatively much more relaxed.

5. blocked internet - not that internet access is the only thing that matters in life, it's still jarring & irritating to have a wide swath of the internet simply not function. While broadband access is pretty well distributed here, a high-speed quality connection is really hit or miss.

Definitely looking forward to:

1. Seeing the wife
2. Seeing the cats
3. Seeing USA friends
4. Being back in an apartment that is relatively quiet
5. Having space in my apartment (even while my friend's place is fairly spacious, by Chinese standards, the layout still feels cramped.
6. Driving
7. Having relatively quiet apartment (even considering we're on the ground floor in a high traffic area, it's way more quiet than it is where I'm staying now)
8. Clean-ish air & clear skies, at least when it's not raining (do not want to hear Seattle people whine about the pollution there...ever. Things could be so much worse. That being said, as far as pollution goes, there are worse places to be in China than Shanghai).

decent day but weird, weird night

I was originally intending on a different, more curse-filled title for this post, to reflect the shock in my state of mind. However, after sleeping on it I ultimately decided otherwise.

Nonetheless, if you venture through the entirety of this post you may agree.

Day - This was saturday morning, and it was a decent but lazy one. My friend, who had been hosting me for this trip, had finally come back from a 2 week stint of business travel. There was much to catch up about.

I went to gym, he went to boxing training.

Afterward, he wanted to go to the gym for an additional cardio/regular workout; I wanted to go explore the city some more. Unfortunately, it was raining...so thus it seemed like it would be a good day to go to the art galleries (mostly indoors & all).

I had heard things about the area on the Sinosplice (http://www.sinosplice.com/) blog.

Got disoriented on leaving the subway station, followed my inner sense of direction and ended up going on a big loop; passing through the throngs of people already in line or attempting travel for Chinese New Year. For whatever reason, I ended up taking a street that hadn't been finished under regular construction and was as such basically a muddy puddle.

I endded up going back to where I started - studied the map further and had a further go of it...finally made it to the art area (moganshan lu).

Enjoyed it immensely - there were lots of post-modern exhibits, featuring mostly mainland China artists. I also visited a special display that prominently showed some art from Korean & Japanese artists, among others.

As I ventured further in, I found both larger display areas with sculptures in addition to paintings.

What was especially cool was that in many of the galleries, the artists themselves were there - I have not often had the opportunity to converse directly with artists (especially painters & sculptors) about the work that they have done while I am in the middle of viewing it. It is very interesting to hear their stories & interpretations toward what they have painted & how the artwork even came to exist.

Anyway, the art generally featured interpretations of modern Chinese society today, juxtaposing new and old, the traditional and imported in a variety of styles and settings.

One that really struck me was a ginormous but very crude (in quality) sculpture of Mao...everything was rough, and the proportions made him look more as a bloated, overweight giant rather than the super-heroic larger than life traditional statues so often out there.

Ended up picking up a few framed photographs and some postcards; maybe made some new friends too.

Was a little embarrassed overhearing some other visitors trying to haggle way too hard over the price of some artwork.

My opinion on this considers that:

1. The gallery itself must charge a sizable rent (considering Artists' budgets)
2.  The artist needs to eat
3.  The artist needs to sleep
4. The artists are mostly not rich to start with
5. These are originals, not mass-produced crap that should be aggressively haggled over.

Anyway...after that, my plan had been to have some dinner and then make my way to any bar that had live music.

Ultimately, that never happened.

(I was on my own this evening as my friend had to take a client out and said he likely was going to have to go to the "dark side"...I did not want to join - I had been there and done that enough during my previous China work engagements...)

So I found a pretty modest-looking Sichuan-style restaurant. Went in. It was so busy that I shared a table with another person who had arrived there already. She left pretty quickly.

Soon after, a pair of younger Chinese guys came in, and the only space was a the table where I briefly had been the sole occupant.

So they joined me. We didn't really acknowledge each other, as is often the custom when sharing space in tight quarters.

But then they ordered a bottle of Baijiu, and I could not help but grinning - it was clear that a night of drinking was in store.

I guess my grin broke the ice and we started chatting. I stuck to my beer and they stuck to their baijiu, but we were soon cheering every 2 minutes or so (you can't just drink/sip on your own, you need to clink glasses & include the others).

Turns out that they both worked in the same advertising company, making logos (among other things) for a host of local businesses. They had been at work due to the ramp-up to the chinese holiday (everyone works through the weekend before and some how the "extra" days saved apply towards the future holiday...) We ended up talking about work, government (Yet another time this trip that I heard "I love China but not the government"), business, education, culture, tradition, holidays...a fine cultural exchange, all in all, backed up with the fool-proof drunken logic that since we happened to sit at the same table that we were fated to have this discussion and as such are all brothers (Cheers!).

So how did things fall off the tracks?

Well, another person approached and asked to have a drink with us - I didn't want to be a jerk, so I said "sure". But then this dude just kind of kept staying at our table...and staying...and then randomly bursting into screaming at the top of his lungs "FUCK you CHEATING SHIT BITCH!", while looking back at the table he came from.

So things got a little weird after that. This guy was from Japan, and didn't speak much Chinese. So the conversation got split up. Then one of the other people at our table didn't really want to talk to the Japanese guy at all (taking some bullshit nationalistic stance that he'd never talk to anyone from "little Japan")..

('Little Japan' is a derogatory term towards Japan, though I still don't get exactly what it is supposed to mean)

Then Japanese guy tells me about the time he spent in the states. Then he gets all worked up that his grandfather who fought in WWII is still alive. And that the USA bombed Nagasaki & Hiroshima.

And then we all drink.

And then the bai jiu's effects start to hit second Chinese guy at the table, and he almost falls over. But he's still gamely trying to engage the Japanese guy in conversation, but due to limited English skills and severe intoxication, is having difficulty being understood by anyone.

Then the "I'm not talking to Japanese" guy strikes up conversation with the group of notherners at the next table (3 girls, one dude, good odds, right?) and so they are now best friends and sharing food and clinking glasses. Then some how the circle expands to include everyone.

All the other restaurant patrons are not there, except for one single guy who's just kind of watching it all.

And then the Japanese guy screams and curses to his girlfriend to join us. I ask nicely as this could (maybe) shut the Japanese guy up. So the girl comes over. She's Russian.

We have a toast to the new "mini-UN" drinking party that has formed.

Eventually the Chinese people in the group start leaving one by one; I trade contact info with the Chinese advertising guys but it is unlikely we'll ever see each other again.

I know that I should leave but listening to the Russian lady's story is the aural equivalent of watching a train wreck...I'm hypnotized.

Apparently she's been in China for 15 years, recently was living with a Nigerian guy, who suddenly disappeared around Christmas time. No one knows where or why. (Possibly deported...and no one has any idea what this dude had been doing for a job). Before he left, he had introduced this Japanese guy, his friend from some way. So after Nigerian guy is gone, sometime during January, the Japanese guy and the Russian girl started hooking up. And now they're kind of a thing. Aside for the dysfunctional-ness of it all. Oh yeah, did I mention that Russian girl had been carrying Nigerian dude's baby but then lost it at some point after he left?

Japanese guy had been in town studying for a while, but then just stayed & stayed - his visa is well expired. Apparently there's some Korean girl that he's affiliated with; not sure if they got married and she used him for his visa, or what.

Anyway, continued to hear their stories, then talked about China & Shanghai for a bit, and then it was super-clearly time for me to go.

So I did.

Just way too much information to take in on one night. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people will open up such intimate details of their lives to a stranger like me...it has happened before and probably will happen again. I guess I should know better and get out before it gets too weird.

Fever

I wish it was the kind cured by more cowbell. Or even Disco Fever. But
it's the straight-up shivers...

Another 'fuck you' from me to Delta airlines

Wife had to go to Korea - we found two options:

1. Delta - $798 for the ticket, which was a code share with Korean Airlines, so effectively the food, service, everything would be Korean Airlines

2. Korean Airlines - $998 for the same ticket.

We went with the $798 option.

When wife got to the airport, she visited Delta first and waited in line, only for them to tell her that she needed to check in at the Korean Airlines counter.

We planned an open-ish itinerary as we didn't know how long she'd need to stay. As it turns out, she can go home sooner than later. So she tries to change her ticket. First she calls Korean air. They redirect her to Delta. Delta tells her that she can switch for a $250 fee.

Compare this with my Korean Airlines experience.

I book the equivalent Korean Airlines ticket directly with Korean Airlines. My itinerary changes. I need to push out my departure date. Korean Airlines does this for free (though they mention if I need to change it again, it will be $100).

In comparing my wife's experience with my own, I note that:

1. Delta airlines has created no value

2. They simply collect a fee to do something that Korean Airlines did for free.

I see no point in giving Delta another penny.

In the grand scheme of things, the difference is only ~$52. But the experience with Delta was painful every step of the way and has left a horrible taste in my mouth. There's a lot of better options out there, so why the hell should I continue to suffer out of some previously mis-guided sense of allegiance to this greedy-ass crusty corporate rapist behemoth?

(BTW, again, I am not sure how they sold the NWA Delta merger to government regulators as a beneficial entity; they certainly have done nothing to benefit me, my friends or family)

Additionally, I'm sure that this code-sharing thing is a scam. On my last flight, which was with Korean airlines, that is apparently a member of the "Skyteam Alliance", it turns out that Delta chose not to recognize my miles, although they were with a partner flight, since apparently they were "discounted".

Never mind that what I paid was over $900 - which, if you were paying attention, is more an the equivalent code-sharing flight through Delta (code-sharing/piggybacking on Korean Airlines).

Fucking douchebags.

weekend notes

Friday - 

Met up with a long-time friend of mine, Aubin Wang. She's currently living in Shanghai with her husband and recently (50-some days ago) they just had their second child. 

She cooked dumplings, which were fantastic, and we talked a lot. In short, life is going well for her & family. We traded pros & cons of staying in China vs moving back to USA...lots to consider in either case, especially with children. We agreed that if one was not in a position to pay for foreign-standard elementary school (and up), then we would not want to subject our children to the public education system here if at all possible. On the other hand, growing up with native Chinese language ability seems like an excellent idea.

I am convinced that living in a country where you can hire a live in (24/7) maid/nanny for $400 / month is totally the way to go if one has very small children.

Saturday - 

Slept in, then had breakfast at the cafe across the street (nothing fancy, just bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee). Went to gym; on the way I ran into a Russian + French couple I knew from 10 years ago who studied at the same international program I did...they're married now & had two girls who were in tow and evidently were living in Shanghai. 

Not one minute later, I ran into another couple (Americans) that I knew from my time in Shenzhen. They had recently moved in pretty much across the street from where I'm staying now. Arrangements were made to hang out.

Afternoon was simple. Gym, then exploring.

Gym - 

Overheard in the locker room: "Here's how I almost died this week...cab driver fell asleep and I wasn't paying attention, we almost hit a stopped car in front of us"

"Oh yeah? Well, they've almost finished rennovating my building and the workers were throwing chunks of scaffolding down while I was walking out and a few chunks just grazed my head"

I get the feeling that one could have updated "near death experience" stories on a weekly basis, though at some point you must grow numb to it and stop keeping track.

Exploring - 

Found that it took only ~45 minutes or so to get to central downtown (I followed a very meandering route to get there; I was in now rush).

Succeeded in my mission of finding coffee filters (though in hindsight, there were places much closer that also had them) - found a high-end import supermarket where one could get just about anything that you wanted from back stateside (for a healthy markup, of course).

Continued walking everywhere, had a few snacks, realized that many of the places I've been on this trip are all within 10 minutes' walk from one another.

Went home, watched a fresh yet grainy copy of "Inglorious Basterds", ate lamb on a stick, then met up with people at the "Glamor Bar" for drinks.

The bar (well, probably more of a lounge) was full of foreigners and occasionally their Chinese girlfriends or friends. One lady had shown up in a leather leotard. Yes, she stuck out. No, I was not complaining.

Conversation was good, though you had to yell above the DJ. Interesting people & stories.

Went back to friend's place; more scotch was had.

Sunday

Slept in, then made it out to the gym.

Explored more - on studying google maps I found that I'm living really close by to the Shanghai Music conservatory (上海音乐学院). I stayed at a hostel there back in 2000 when I first visited Shanghai...so I really wanted to see it again and see what had changed. Turns out - a lot...did not recognize neighborhood and I walked right past where I needed to go. School got majorly rennovated...not sure if they still rent out bargain-priced rooms to backpackers or not.

It was still pleasant to walk around the neighborhood - the thing with the French Concession part of Shanghai is that the streets are small-ish and it feels like a neighborhood; much of the architecture from the early to mid 20th century is intact, which also makes it unique for China. Even newer parts of Shanghai subscribe to the modern China city planning aesthetic of mega blocks separated by 4 to 8 lane roads. Will post some pictures shortly.

Picked up a bottle of Mountain Dew which was on clearance at a convenience store. I haven't had that soda in a long time; this was more disgusting than I remember. My nose started running immediately after finishing it. Coincidence? (My snot was bright orange. It caused some concern).

Hopped on subway, went back to electronics market in town...picked up a few more iphone cases. Newsflash to people in the US - you are getting incredibly hosed on the cost of iphone accessories...a simple case here cost me ~$2.50, and I bet I could have had it for less if I bothered bargaining more. The same case retails for $20 and up on the US (either in stores or via online retail).

Went to BreadTalk, which is a Singaporean bakery chain that is fantastic, picked up a stash of breakfast food for the rest of the week.

Checked out a Best Buy - weird...kind of like the a US store, especially the annoying pitches for warranties that no one needs/wants plastered ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Differences? Not much media on sale (aside from official copies of Windows, maybe some NDS and PSP games), the store was spread over 4 floors, there was a guitar section, mobile phone section was huge, much more room for water heaters and range tops...and that's about it. Not sure how successful they will ultimately be in China (the prices ranged from fair to exorbitant, certainly not amazing), though the look & feel of the store is a step up from what I remember of some of the local competition (Gome 国美 and Suning, among others). 

Finished up day with a beer & watched "Fantastic Mr. Fox"...which I thought was pretty good, and that the forced time limitations of stop-motion probably helped Wes Anderson keep the script and pacing pretty tight.

Thoughts on music

Just occuring to me as I walk around:

Interpol - good music, mostly, that is great when I'm in the mood for
it. Not sure how much I would really want to see them live. Of course,
if money was no object, I'd be there. I do not think it would be.
"fun" show, however. Can't imagine them doing anything to engage the
crowd.

Vampire Weekend - Why is this band supposed to be a big deal? Their
music is pussified shit.

fun music download here

http://teamteamwork.bandcamp.com/album/vinyl-fantasy-7

Interesting mash-up with various rap/hip-hop artists over music from Final Fantasy 7. Pretty decent so far.

google.com is weird in China...be careful what you're searching for...

Dealing with the Great Firewall of China, It's always hard to tell (at first) if this is a temporary glitch or if something is permanently blocked.

Even 20 minutes ago, it was working fine for me.

I did a web search on the (old) PC game "Freedom Force" (there was a $2 special on the game via Steam and I wanted to see some reviews).

That immediately resulted in an error page and my access to google.com (not google.com.cn) resulted in errors as well.

(Someone has probably made a list of search terms that trigger this reaction...I guess that "freedom" is among them, as well as "Tibet" and "Tiananmen", among others)

After ~5 minutes though, access returned.

Although in day to day life as a foreigner in China, one may feel more free than one does in the US, experiences such as this are jarring reminders that one has very little recourse against the government here.

I'm trying to think of aspects of people's lives where government does not have some influence. But for that matter, the same could be said of life in the US as well - it is just that I am more accustomed to how the US government does things and so nothing strikes me as odd about it. (Taxes, health insurance, registration of anything, working, regulation of the food that is bought, regulation of the stores that sell it to me, rules and support of the roads that I drive to purchase anything, the cops that are on those roads enforcing traffic law, etc...in a sense the government is equally pervasive in the US as here)

Rambling now...enough on that for the time being.

Time for trip to gym, then more walking around Shanghai.

Happy to discover that I'm actually only a few blocks away from the first hostel where I stayed when I first visited Shanghai 9.5 years ago. Will check that out on my way to explore some other places.

follow-up thought on the iPad

So, was just thinking if the iPad would really replace my living-room / couch laptop...and I'm having more doubts than before.

The lack of Flash support is actually more problematic than it seemed at first glance.

I mean, I don't always use Flash while I'm online - I usually get really annoyed by flash-enabled websites that are relics of 2001.

However, I do appreciate the various video clips, cartoons, games, and extra interactive function that Flash allows. The iPad won't support that. It will have a Youtube workaround...but youtube is not the sole source of decent online video content.

Although perhaps not as trendy looking, ANY laptop would have more functionality.

So we'll wait and see on this one. Certainly no rush from me at this point.

But Apple did get my attention.

landed & keepin' it real - quickie reviews from plane - Why didn't this get posted earlier in the month????

Touched down in Shanghai ~ 4 hours ago.

My friend Jeff sent his driver over; I was picked up and we met for drinks. Also met Jeff's girlfriend, a very nice lady who happens to be from Australia.

Had some wine & beer. Now tired...work is going to come way too soon tomorrow.

Anyway, during the plane ride over to this hemisphere, I partook in some movies and other media.

Notes:

1. District 9 - very solid sci-fi, and the South African setting is a refreshing change of pace.

2. Public Enemies -  pretty good cop/gangster movie. Seemed different than the trailers - thought that there would be more romance and more that establishes Dillinger as a badass. Instead, most of the movie is just about the endgame for how Dillinger is caught; and you're rooting for him all the way. But although the movie was flawed, it was one of those movies that still leaves an impression on you; the setting was very well done and the world was presented very well (although it seems like the exterior scenes were very, very controlled...probably in order to maintain the premise of the time period).

3. Extract - Mike Judge office commentary on suburban America? Count me in. While none of the characters are particularily likeable to start with, somehow the movie keeps you interested and laughing. Probably will get better with another viewing or two.

Mega-update post - thought this went up earlier but it was sitting in my drafts folder

Had been intending to do this in smaller chunks, but I've been out & about more frequently and jet lag is wearing off so I am no longer at home exhausted at 10 pm hoping to still fill a little time with chronicles of my thoughts.

So now, here I am, 1:31 AM my time on a Thursday - nearly a week has gone by since my last post, so there's a lot to say:

Thursday - registered at gym close by to where I'm staying. Just a one-month membership - but pretty nice for what I am used to; I guess not so much for the gym & equipment itself, but rather for the other stuff offered; there's a lot of spa-like amenities. Anyway, not the sort of thing I'd normally join, but given proximity and other factors this made the best sense for right now.

Friday - After work, met up with an old friend that I've known since I was an exchange student as well as someone who I knew through mutual friends back in my Shenzhen days. Had dinner, then ended up running around town to a few different bars. Shanghai, as long as I've known it, was always more expensive than other places in China; during this trip it's clear that at some establishments prices are on par with that of the US or Europe, if not more expensive. 

Did not go to a neighborhood or area with a super-clear bar street, it's more like you have to find parts of town that have bars and then shuttle between them or walk for 10+ minutes between locations. Certainly manageable.

Timing was a bit off, however - most of the places we found were closing up just as we entered.

Notable, the bar "People's No. 6" (may have been People's No. 7...apparently the owner just adds locations in a sequential order) - the entrance has two sealed doors, one needs to find and press a hidden button in a faux entry area in order to gain access to the main club. However, we made it there just as the bar was shutting down.

Perhaps things are more regulated here than I remember; it seemed that a lot of bars were closing at 1 am or earlier.

Found another place, it seemed dead but we encountered someone on the way out. She wore a very revealing/low-cut top, and introduced herself as "Juggalicious". 

(seriously)

She informed us that the party upstairs was private, and a combination birthday/farewell/debauchery event for a few people together.

Although she had to leave, she & friends was happy to pass their wristbands onto us. 

We went upstairs, and were suprised for:

1. The 95% amount of foreigners there

2. The "discounted" beer price offered with wrist band - 35 RMB per bottle. I guess that's ~5.41 USD - not crazy, but not exactly a screaming deal either.

After the bar, went back to my place;, with friends in tow.

Told stories, shared beer, ate yangrouchuanr and fired rice/noodles from local vendor where we had stopped along the way

Had been hitting a jet-lag wall that evening, but somehow broke through and was raring to go at 6 am the next day.

Had intended to post more but am passing out 

tug of war

Usual-kind of day today...up, then to work, then busy at work.

Was happy to hear that we had to change training plans around because of a team office activity.

I had not received that memo.

Apparently all the different groups in the company that are responsible for different vendor partners got to team up against each other for a tug of war. It turned out to be pretty fun, and my colleagues were kind enough to get permission for me to join in as well.

Unfortunately, our team didn't do very well - we got slammed after the first round. :(

Still, it was a cool experience. I put lots of pictures of the event up on facebook; I really should get around to updating this post with helpful and illustrative pictures once I am free of the Great Firewall's blocking effects.

Had Japanese-style curry and sushi for dinner, then subway home, then picked up some laundry detergent, soap, and cheap-ass wine. 

Then visited gym.

Now back home, updating posts. 

It should be noted...in this case, $3.75 did not get me a very good bottle of wine (should I be surprised)? It's watery and has some weird funk to it. It is probably not a good sign that there is no visible label denoting the year it was produced. 

If I was cynical, I'd guess this is water + formaldehyde + red coloring + sulfur + "wine flavour crystals". 

ipad?

So, saw the news concerning the new Apple tablet.

After reading through the keynotes, it seems interesting - a nice toy.

I'm not sure who is really going to buy one at first; probably just the mac faithful initially.

Considering myself...my old laptop (overhwhelmingly used for couch-based web surfing) is doing just fine...but if I needed a replacement, maybe this would be good enough; it is certainly cheaper than a new Macbook.

Then again, they are asking $499 for the base model that is basically a glorified/bigger iPhone...decent laptops (if not Macs) are available for that much if you shop around. Doesn't matter for me anyway; I'll figure that out when my laptop eventually (but hopefully not too soon) dies.

Regardless, I think it's too early to tell how successful it will be. Certainly could get some support, but I'm not sure if it will gain mass-market acceptance as quickly as the iPhone did...probably not; could be more of a slow/steady growth.

Could do some neat things, but nothing's striking me quite as much as the iphone did.

on the train today

Was a pretty average day, all in all.

Rainy.

Took subway + bus to office, as usual; during transfer to bus I picked up some kind of fresh dough + egg + sausage thing on the street for 7 RMB (just over 1 USD, for those keeping score at home).

Not a bad breakfast, though it sat in a small plastic bag dangling from my hand for 15 minutes as I stood on the crowded bus winding its way to the software park where I'm working for the time being.

Work was fine; boss is returning to US after a brief stay here, and I extended the time on my return flight - looks like I'll be coming home later. 

(Missing the cats already thinking about that)...Marsha may or may not make it back home before I do.

The train was fairly empty on the way back, after transferring to Line 1 to cover the last 3 stops before I got out to walk home, there were plenty of seats available.

Guy across from me took out a book, and a pen, and started sneaking furtive glances at me while scribbling.

I was a little unsure what to make of it until I caught a glimpse of the pages in the book...he was making a sketch.

This does not often happen.

So I tried to stay still, all the while knowing that I had only 2 train stops left.

I got up to leave, and the guy showed me the sketch he had made; maybe 1/2 done. Certainly recognizably me, but with a wider face, more jowls, and less hair than I would have liked to see. 

I suppose that in this sketch, and as in life, the truth is not necessarily as flattering as I would like it to be.

I hit the gym after heating up left-overs from the weekend.

some news from today

This post would be better with pics, but I'll be sideloading them onto facebook for the time being; with the Great Firewall of China in full effect it's hard to do any blog updates beyond pure text.

Rather than try & fill in everything that happened in the past few weeks+ the unexpected sojourn to Korea, I'll just say a few things about my experiences today.

Morning was warm - pleasant even. I guess it was around 10 C (or 50 degrees F).

Not sure why, but the trains seemed busier than usual; there was no room in the transfer concourse for the nice old ladies that collected people's used newspapers (I assume to resell as scrap).

Work was busy, and ended up staying way late; so co-worker and I ended up going out to eat. 

The place was called "The Spicy Joint" (辛香汇...if I pick & choose from dictionary it's more like "hot fragrant convergence"). 

My colleague, who is originally from Sichuan, says that most Sichuan restaurants in Shanghai need to tone down the heat in order to gain mass market acceptance. Even so, he said that this place was still pretty good.

Decor was super modernish; lots of curvy fishtanks with orange-reddish fish, shiny lights and post-modern furniture. 

Apparently it's very popular; if one shows up without having made a reservation a month in advance at peak hours (6pm on), it's safe to expect a wait.

By the time we arrived it was already 20:45, and we picked a number and were group number 149...but the restaurant was calling number 108.

The restaurant was located in the 5th floor of a mall/high-rise, there were lots of western brands (real products, not fakes) on sale, even at some discounts. 

Had some time to walk around, then made it back when they happened to be calling for group number 144.

I cannot speak for what happened when I wasn't present, but groups 145-148 were all real people; no one seemed to be taking a ticket number and running.

So anyway, it's probably around 21:15 and finally time to eat.

At that point, rational ordering of what could feasibly be consumed was forgotten.

We had 口水鸡 - literally, "mouth-watering chicken" (or "drooling chicken" if you'd prefer an ugly translation) - in either case, not meaning that the chicken itself is drooling, but rather that you are so excited upon seeing the food...was kind of like cold white cooked chicken drowned in a savory oily spicy sauce, and a few peanuts. Excellent.

Some sort of Sichuan noodles - pretty common at most Sichuan restaurants and available stateside as well. Not much of a kick to them here.

Suanrong you mai cai - garlic & oil stir-fried veggies...token something green on table not covered in peppers.

Some type of Lamb dish - was almost like a lot of foods from Hunan, but with lamb. Decent.

Some kind of Bullfrog - Similar to 水煮牛 or 水煮鱼, but with the meat of choice being frog instead of something less bony. Was pretty good as well...though having misheard my colleague I was convinced that I had been eating some obscure portion of a cow for half the meal, until he clarified the name of the dish again. (the same word for beef or cow - 牛- is also used in "bullfrog" - 牛蛙...makes sense, right?).

Anyway, being stuffed, ended up taking the subway home and very much enjoying the walk back, perhaps burning some fraction of the calories consumed.

Temperature at night was just about freezing. Not that cold in the grand scheme of things, but a shock compared to this morning...may need a sweater tomorrow.

proposal for anti-rascism bill in south korea - I sincerely hope that this goes through

Great story here; I sincerely hope for the sake of Korea's continued cosmopolitan development that this bill is embraced.

Although it is certainly debatable if racism can simply be fixed via legislation (how's that working out for South Africa? It's complicated...), I think that bringing the issue into the open within Korean society might start discussion and cause people to start reconsidering their attitudes.

http://www.aliran.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1088:my-tryst-with-racism-in-korea&catid=90:2009-8&Itemid=45

I personally cannot recount many instances of racial discrimination towards myself while I have been in Korea. This is probably due to me being a white male from the US.

In some cases, I have experienced the "foreigner seat of death", where no one will sit next to me on the train until there are no other existing options. 

I have seen this happen as well with people of Southeast Asian decent.

However, such stories are trivial compared to what the person who wrote the article above had to deal with. His is not the first such story I have heard along those lines; the author of this blog - http://metropolitician.blogs.com/ - has had his share as well.

I am not holding my breath that these attitudes in Korea will change overnight; I have hope that the younger generation handles it better; they mostly seem more tolerant and worldly to me.

In a larger context, such stories like this have been and will probably continue be repeated across the world in nations that were traditionally of limited ethnicity soon have to deal with an influx of immigrants.

The US, Canada, and perhaps Australia and the UK could offer some examples for how to better integrate immigrants, though countries newly in this situation will have to be willing to learn.

back in Shanghai, back to blogging

It's been a long week, and I was actually quite behind on providing any blog updates.

I'll try and address some of the happenings from my first weekend in town, since those were fun:

Friday - 

Met up with Lisa, a friend originally from New York but who has been living in China for the better part of the last decade. Doing pretty well at the moment, also a mutual friend of my good friend Taichi, who I've known since I was an exchange student in Beijing in 2000.

Had Hunan food for dinner. Excellent dishes; spicy and the flavors were awesome. Pictures were uploaded a while ago. Odd in that the restaurant clientele was entirely foreigners...I guess that was more due to the location of the place than anything else. 

Tried to go to a bar in the Renmin (People's) Park. It was undergoing rennovations, so no luck...ran by the nearby movie theater where we saw lots of people milling around and waiting for tickets to Avatar in Imax 3D. The shows were sold out through Sunday evening, when we looked in.

Met up with Taichi at some central hotel (can't remember the name). Went to bar on 64th floor or so. Great view, drinks were priced at ~$10 USD each. Had a couple, moved on.

At this point I'm hitting the sleep deprevation / jet lag wall...but I break on through!

Unfortunately, it's only 12 am or so, but many bars are shutting down for the evening already. Not sure if it was some freakish weekend thing or we were going to the wrong places or people in Shanghai go to bed early (UNLIKELY). 

We found one place, and the bar looked like it was closed, but a party was raging upstairs, we turned around but a western girl came down the stairs, stopped us, and said,

"Hey, I'm leaving this party but you can have my wristband...just go on in!"

We thanked her, and asked what the party was about.

"It's a joint birthday/farewell/debauchery party. My name is Juggalicious."

Her name certainly did justice to the cleavage spilling out of her top. Still recovering from jet lag, I was not in the presence of mind to take pictures.

"You can get a discount on beers with the wristband!"

So we went up and checked out.

Full bar; but weird in that it was 95% foreigners there. We got beers, the "discounted" price was 35 RMB, or about $5.50 USD. 

(the pricing, layout, and clientele - nothing remotely 3rd-world about the place)

We stuck around a bit, had beers, pretended to dance a bit, and then left.

Now ~3 am, not much was open...so went back to my place, got beers at the convenience store across the street, then some BBQ lamb on a stick and fried rice from our local street food vendors and then hung out at my place to chat. 

In bed at 4:30...

update on updates

Well...if I'm blogging strictly in a chronological order, then I'm already running a week behind or so.

 

Lots was going on during the past week.

 

I find myself in Korea at the moment, for personal reasons. Should be back to Shanghai Wednesday night.

 

I hope to resume normal posting then.