Rice, Beer, Knock-offs, Mao, and Typhoon's

So I've been here a few weeks now and things have gotten much better. I've made some friends, the French have returned (kind of like 1778 when the French saved the Americans), have learned some more Mandarin and I found an Indian restaurant. In between I've have had some beers, interesting taxi rides and a whole bunch of meals where I have no clue what I am eating. I hoping the phrase knee-rho puyo (not trying Pinyin - just the phonetic sounds), means no beef can help me out.

About the food, the rice tastes fantastic as sometimes it’s the only thing I eat. My belt is glad to gain back a few notches! If you guys at work think the food cafe is bad, you really got to try the food in the canteen. If it was just me saying the food was bad, then I could understand that maybe it’s just me, but the local folks don't even like it, and most people are still hungry after lunch. Its part of their salary package, the company provides lunch, whether they eat or not they don’t get the money for it. Let's get on to better topics!

Well, I’ve seen the Shanghai Museum, Nanjin Lu (kind of like our Bloor Street for shopping, with the exception that it resembles Las Vegas, neon lights everywhere) as well as walked thru the Bund – Basically along the river which has old colonial builds along its banks when Europe and Britain setup trading posts – really nice, during the day and night. The entire day was really nice, but at the close to the end when we were leaving the Bund, I saw this little girl, and she was doing an acrobatic show. I was amazed at how incredible her performance was, but appalled that she was working at 7-8 years old on the street like this. It broke my heart. I felt really sad, and helpless because there was nothing I could do to help her.

Shanghai vs. Construction
I've been here 4 weeks and I have seen the road I travel into work transform from a 4 lane local road to a 8 lane highway! It’s incredible, Shanghai is in perpetual construction, overnight the city will change shape, roads will come out nowhere, houses down to rubble, buildings grow faster than the grass in the parks - this place is simply incredible. They just throw loads and loads of people at any construction project, and the results are quite interesting and complete in very little time.I wonder what Mao would think about this China today, especially Shanghai? The largest city in China consumed by a kind of capitalism, with people trying to get one up on one another, it has totally consumed the city. The traffic is a good example of the social condition of Shanghai, a constant fight to get in and out of lanes, pushing other motorist into other lanes to make turns, just the way life is here... a struggle. You can't help but feel for the people.

Knock-offs
Well I know where to buy them, pretty much anywhere. These people just walk up to you and try to sell you fake Rolex, Mont Blanc, Prada, and list goes on and on. If you don’t buy they keep on hassling you, I’ve been follow about 4 city blocks before he decided to just give up. Actually they even have a fake market, Xingyang Market, where you can only buy knockoffs. Nice place to shop, just make sure you bargain, and I mean bargain. Like if they say 250, you say 40, and then you'll probably get it for 60. So bargain.

Typhoon Chanchu
Well we didn’t get the worst of it but we did get a bit. On the 30th floor the winds were just howling it was really loud, but I slept thru it only to wake up a few times because it got a bit too loud. The next day though the city was a mess with down lines trees a broken and on the road. I guess you guys out there are also having bad weather out there with the hurricane down south.


Went out and saw a bit more. The Old City, old Chinese buildings turned into a large market, where you can buy anything. Name brands, knock-offs, souvenirs, food, gold and lots and lots of jade. Walked thru some smaller lesser known markets, I think where the locals of the area go, if any western world health agency saw these markets, I think there would be serious concerns, I think maybe the canteen lunch comes from markets like these! Also went to the botanical gardens it was ok.

Going out
Shanghai is a crazy place. Great scene, need to explore a bit more. One place I’ve already been twice is Zapatas. Basically, it’s a place for ex-patriots. Music retro, people dancing on the bar tops, half-litre beers, and a whole bunch of middle aged foreigners with young Chinese women. Or middle aged foreigners looking for young Chinese women, in any case there is an abundant amount of both in this place and they all seem to have a great time! This is the place to go for food, beer and a great time.

Anyways till next time.