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Published: March 9th 2009
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A while back I got an unexpected message from my good friend, Mike Tang, who I met in Houston when I worked there. He said he was taking a trip to China and was wondering if I'd like to meet up with him and a couple other friends he knows in Shanghai for a weekend. Naturally, I jumped on the opportunity to tour around a bit more. First, let me explain a little about Mike. Although I met him in Houston (he worked for NOV), he is Canadian (from Vancouver), but has Chinese ancestry. His parents immigrated to Canada before he was born. Luckily for me, his parents also made a point of ensuring Mike was fluent in Chinese sot that he could communicate with his extended family. Mike's trip was actually mainly to visit family in China, Shanghai was just a pit stop.
The first evening was a bit of a mess. Mike missed his flight out of Vancouver, so he arrived five hours later than planned. This was not a problem, but I went to pick him up
at the wrong airport! He failed to mention that his flight was re-routed to the domestic airport on the other
side of town, so I wasted a good couple hours messing about. Eventually we met up at the hostel we were staying at. Oh, and another thing, my cell phone which was
supposed to work in China would not charge up in the power outlets, so I had very limited options to actually communicate with Mike, especially since the airports don't have wireless internet in Shanghai. Technological infrastructure is quite lacking in China. Anyways, we finally caught up with each other.
Prior to Mike arriving, I had some time to kill, obviously. I was wandering around the river when an art student (well she told me she was an art student, anyways, I'm not sure) started chatting with me. Her name, if I remember correctly, was Shu-Shu. Very friendly with excellent English. She eventually explained she was part of an "art exhibition" and wanted to show me a gallery a short distance away. Sure, why not. Of course, she was just trying to sell paintings to me (and I did buy a couple, they were very nice and quite cheap anyways). But afterwards, she asked if I wanted her to show me around the downtown area a bit. This
World Expo 2010 Mascott
These little guys were all over the place. girl walked around in the rain with me for upwards of two hours! She was so nice, and so knowledgeable about everything we saw. We went to a traditionally "styled" market (it was actually quite new, but with old-fashioned buildings). She explained that the whole city was under construction because the world expo is going to Shanghai in 2010, and many other little tidbits. Soon it was time to get ready to go to the wrong airport, so I gave her my email address and haven't heard from her since. Oh well.
When Mike arrived, we settled into our room, then went to meet Mike's friends at a pub with many "westerners" in it. They were Erin from Australia and Carsten from Germany and they were a lot of fun.
We later changed venues to a dance club and ended the night with that.
The next day, we toured around the city. First off, the taxis are worth mentioning: They are bloody INSANE! They would fly through intersections filled with pedestrians, laying on the horn with NO intention of stopping. People literally have to run out of the way... Anyways, to continue... We went up a big business
tower, with an elevator that went to the 88th floor at 9m/s (almost 30km/hr!). The view was very smoggy, unfortunately. Apparently air pollution is a big problem in many large cities in China. It was still very cool to look
down on some very tall buildings, though. We also went to the a "knockoff" market. There were hundreds of VERY pushy salespeople. It was a little stressful, but you got used to it eventually. You can usually get them down to at least a third of the price they originally ask if you're stubborn enough. I got a Polo shirt for about $10, for example. Mike and I had lunch at a restaurant that is supposedly the "birthplace of dumplings". I'm not much of a dumpling connoisseur, but I can confidently say they were the best dumplings I've ever had. It was a really busy restaurant, we had to wait 45 mins or so to get a table, and even then we shared the table with strangers. We also went through a little museum of the first meeting place of the Communist Party of China. It was really interesting. The language they used was notable, as well. Things like "when
the British aggressors invaded, etc etc". It was near propaganda, I'd say.
That night we went out clubbin' again. We started at a very trendy, but also very expensive bar way up on the top of a Hyatt building. There were windows everywhere with a few, and even a hot tub on the roof. But we eventually left to find some cheaper drinks, and actually ended up at the same dance club from the night before for a bit, and then moved AGAIN to a club nearby the hostel that was recommended by the bouncer at the first club. The last club was nice, but full of prostitutes. Not really my style, haha.
I left for the airport early the next morning. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was a great time. I arrived back in Ulsan with enough time to get a little sleep and prepare for another Monday morning in the office.
Cheers!
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