A lot can change in 1 day. To all my friends who did not heed my advice to come visit me during Chinese New Year, you are wiser than I. Despite the fact that Chinese New Year is depicted as one big firework-laden, dragon orgy, it’s actually a very boring time to be a “laowai” in China. All those hilarious scenes of people stampeding each other and sleeping in bathrooms in train stations across the country means that unless you live in the countryside with migrant workers, your city will empty out during the Spring Festival. Chengdu turned from a massive [View Full Entry]

---

---

As an English teacher, the one thing I missed out on was Shanghai's real business environment. When I set out for China back in September, my goals were to learn as much Chinese language, culture and business practice as I could in their changing place in the world. While I never got lazy (well, I did give up the job search pretty quickly), I regret that in not having a real job, even if just for a short while, my business experience came from little more than griping friends and haggling at a fruit stand - not exactly resume noteworthy. So [View Full Entry]

---

---

No more than 1 day after touching down in Shanghai was I advised to get the hell out. Over the last few decades, Shanghai has developed into a world class city, complete with modern amenities, international flavor and pulsing beat. In other words, everything I came to China to avoid. That being said, I wasn’t ready to immediately take the bait and head out to the sticks just yet. But fairly early on, I realized Shanghai was a little too familiar for my great escape and at some point I would take off for weirder pastures. In the meantime, it was [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ask about the Shanghai's dating scene and the answer solely depends on whether you ask a guy or a girl. For ONCE, for one beautiful, shining moment in time and space, the stars have aligned in cosmic proportion to finally grant us guys the upper hand to meet girls! With a virtually inexhaustible supply of beautiful Chinese girls to pick and choose from, the ratio couldn't be better for the less-fair sex. Shanghainese women clearly consider themselves far more refined, cultured, stylish and international than their countryside comrades, so what better way to show off your progressive lifestyle [View Full Entry]

---

---

When Coley first handed me 9 hours of teaching English upon arrival, I thought it would be a nice way to ease back into my first job in 6 months, before finding a real job. What I quickly discovered is that while the Whore of the Orient is based on the fundamental principle of getting rich, none of that actually applies to employees. After all, why would a company want to hire an American on a Western salary, when they can get a Chinese dude that speaks English and pay him 100g rice per month? I've never seen so many "internships" [View Full Entry]

---

---

A black carpet 4 ft high in the metro? A 15-minute/95-degrees transfer at People's Square? No thanks. A bus 'system' with no English translation, no discernible order and seemingly no forethought? I'll pass. A city that looks manageable on a map only to have your 3 block stroll turn into a marathon? F' that S'. Sure cabs are great, but what am I going to do, spend 11元 on a cab to go to a noodle house just to eat a 10元 meal? My bike is all I need to conquer Le Tour De Shanghai (except Pudong, but who wants to [View Full Entry]

---

---

I know this is not the entry most of you expected, but it remains a huge part of expat life in Shanghai and a good topic to get out of the way early. This is by no means my entire experience, but simply a fact of life in Shanghai. My address says China. The TV is in Chinese, as are the signs, menus and banter on the streets. However, if I really wanted, I wouldn't have to spend a single moment "in China." In any given day, I could eat breakfast at Steak & Eggs, watch the MLB playoffs, drink gin [View Full Entry]

---

---

Walking down the street my first morning back in Shanghai was as surreal a feeling as I've had in a long time. The sights, sounds and smells were so familiar, but as if from a time I couldn't really remember or forget. Thanks to my flight being delayed out of San Francisco for 5 hours, I had to roll into Shanghai after being awake for seemingly a week straight. But right off the bat, it's the same old weirdness - babies with holes in their pants squatting in the streets, old men walking down the road in pajamas and misspelled English [View Full Entry]

---

---

I'm baaaaaaack...... What began as a quick refresher course in Western living back home, has turned into the World's Longest Farewell Tour and an eternity of waiting and shifting moods. Reverse culture shock shifted to restlessness, to excitement to leave, which dulled to eager anticipation and onward to boredom. In the 6-week eternity of being an unemployed bum, living with my parents (as opposed to the wandering vagabond, living wherever my head found a pillow I was while traveling - which is way cooler, honestly), I nearly forgot the excitement, slipping back into a routine and a normal vi [View Full Entry]

---

---

So, after 5 days of waiting patiently for the Travelblog website to get back up and running, I come back to find that these muppets have royally fucked up the server and memory and lost nearly every blog posted in the last 3 months. What a coincidence, I was on the road for those last 3 months. So all my entries are gone. Cool, huh? Is there anybody out there that happened to save any of my entries? I can recreate most of them from print outs I have here, but I've completely lost my last 2 posts from Shanghai & [View Full Entry]

---

---