Thursday August 30th 2007, 4:26 pm
The water is drinkable, the room is tiny, and the fun’s about to start. We’re in Yokohama!
Yokohama - Thank You Baby Jebus
Shanghai - Street Food Breakfast
Tuesday August 28th 2007, 7:26 pm
Today, I made myself get out of the hotel, walk out into the pounding rain and get my own food. Granted, I went to the same street Ken and Yuki took me to yesterday (the one where I got incredibly good noodles), and it took me three laps around the block to work up the bottle to approach a stall and do the point and order, and my pants are entirely soaked, but, dammit, I got what I wanted: two bao and one of these scallion omelettes. The bao were filled with sweet and spicy meatballs rather than the shreds of pork I’m used to, and the dumpling itself was thick and chewy. The omelette is crispy, almost like bread, with a light dabbing of chili paste. They may turn my intestines into Swiss cheese in a few hours, but, right now, they were the best thing I’ve eaten this entire trip. And all for 3.6 Y, or about fifty cents.
Shanghai - What’s Blocked, What’s Not
Monday August 27th 2007, 11:03 pm
Blogspot, LiveJournal and the BBC’s site are all blocked by the Great Firewall. Flickr’s interface comes through, but the photos themselves don’t. I have no idea if anything I’ve posted to my photo stream are really there or if they’ve all turned into sad-faced cartoon Mao icons (because mocking the central government makes the Baby Mao cry).
What does come through is this New York Times article about China’s pollution crisis. I’ve only been in country a few days, so I can’t attest to the horrific conditions the article talks about. Shanghai has the good fortune of being next to the water, and a strong wind was blowing last night and today when we went out for lunch. But there are noxious smells that pop up out of spaces in the ground, smells worse than anything I can remember from doing plumbing. The clouds of exhaust from diesel trucks and scooters are real, but whether they’re as bad as, say, San Pedro, I can’t tell.
Something else: it’s nothing but Chinese tv in this hotel, but the Samsara in Chengdu had BBC World, which was a pleasant surprise. However, whether it was a feed meant for China (ie free of anything negative about China) or the real McCoy, I couldn’t tell.
Anyway. If you’re on LJ, you can see me, but I can’t see you. Drop a line in the comment section if you’ve got any interesting links to see when I get home.
Shanghai - Pudong Skyline, as viewed from the Bund
Monday August 27th 2007, 7:24 pm
Pudong Skyline, as viewed from the Bund
Welcome to the Blade Runner skyline.
Chengdu - The Pony Tries Some Hot Pot
Monday August 27th 2007, 7:23 pm
The Pony Tries Some Hot Pot
The Pony may be a herbivore, but it knows spicy meaty goodness when it sees it.
Shanghai - New Asia Hotel
Monday August 27th 2007, 5:41 pm
This is the problem with travel: you start out with all sorts of plans for keeping a journal, giving the people back home your insight into the mysteries of far Cathay, but after a few days you just want to sleep. That’s what I did this morning, despite the best intentions to run along Suzhou Creek and go out for a bowl of noodles and dumplings. But I think I get the special Air China dispensation, which means that anyone unfortunate enough to fly on that blighted airlines gets a mulligan the next day.
Shanghai is more of a fast-moving riot of people and lights than the little bit of Chengdu I saw. We’re staying around East Nanjing Road, not too far from the Bund, where lines of colonial buildings overlook the Huangpu River and the Pudong skyline. It is just like stepping into the set of Blade Runner, with giant LCD billboards atop barges floating by as the buildings flash ads for tvs, the Beijing Olympics and everything else. The Bund itself, a raised walkway right on the river’s edge, is like the Strand in Venice, only more annoying. Instead of guys juggling chainsaws, there are armies of kids selling knock-off watches, brite-lite tops and detachable roller skates. The breeze off the water, however, made it worthwhile.
We ate at a brewpub last night, one that was supposed to have Chinese and Western food, but they dumped the former for more of the latter. After three days of steamer tray meals, hot pot and airline food, tucking into a pulled pork sandwich and curly fries was fine with me. Today, we can knock ourselves out with Chinese street food, but it was comforting to get a taste of home. I’m still not ready to try anything that says it’s Mexican food, no matter how cosmopolitan Shanghai is supposed to be.
So, what’s up for today? Meeting with some potential business partners, looking at future office space, mailing a box of unnecessary stuff back home (the souvenir books from Chengdu are great, but they’re also taking up space), walking around more in the blazing heat and humidity. Tomorrow, though, I’m running through the city. I just hope I don’t lost like I did in Chengdu. It’s one thing to have an adventure, it’s quite another when you’re doing it in tri shorts.
Chengdu-Samsara Hotel
Saturday August 25th 2007, 7:29 am
Now going to bed. Can’t see photos on Flickr, probably because of Great Firewall. G’night.