Where's Gaz, Again?

Yep, I'm still alive and well. Yep, I stopped posting after getting caught up to Shanghai. Yep, I'm still going to catch up!

Life in Beijing has been great, but it's been a different schedule, and I neglected to work the blog into said schedule. I'm leaving Beijing today, headed off for a week around China. You may not see an update until a week or so from now, but I will update relatively soon with photos and reflections on Beijing.

Shanghai: July 14-18

The 14th of July. Bastille Day, eh? I’m on the train to Shanghai. I’ve been on the train for 4 hours, got another 19 or so to go. Ya. Long long train. I’m sharing my compartment with a middle-aged materials science professor from Hong Kong, a 20something guy who crawled into his bed as soon as we left (although he’s mostly been reading, not sleeping), and a middle-aged woman who has barely entered the compartment the entire trip (she’s mostly sitting and standing in the hall outside). The compartment is comfortable enough, and they come by with food for sale every so often. Of course, they come by at lightning speed, calling things out in Mandarin. The only reason I was able to get food is because the 20something decided to get some food and stopped the food person. I just pointed at what he had gotten to get the same thing.

15th. Still on the train. Slept fairly well thanks to an Ambien, earplugs and an eyemask. After waking this morning, went to the restaurant car and got a fried egg and two pieces of wonder bread. Gah, the egg had been fried in about 50 gallons of oil. It was literally dripping with oil. Ugh. Should have had the congee. Anyway, still have several hours until we arrive in Shanghai. I’m running out of things to do. Only 2:45 left on the computer battery, and who knows how much on the ipod or ds.

Later on the 15th. At the hostel. Got to Shanghai at 3:30, off the train, wandered looking for an ATM. None at the station. Luckily found one after about 10 minutes of walking. Then to the ticket office. “English Service” line, no problems, got ticket A-ok. Then to the subway. People have no idea of a line here – they kept edging in front of me, or trying to. So I just pushed back. Eventually made it to the ticket machine, got my ticket, headed on to the crowded train. Got off three stops later, couldn’t find exit 9. That’s because I had to head to the other line to find it. Oh well, walked all the way around People’s Square, no idea where Jiangyin Road was. Stopped at a Starbucks, iced latte, cashier gave me vague directions. Which ended up being good enough, as I saw a sign for the place soon after leaving Starbucks. It’s right behind the giant Marriott. Checked in, it’s a really nice hostel – my room is large, giant bed with fresh sheets, towels, a real desk, AC… My only quibble is that I can’t get a WiFi signal in the room. Le Sigh. So right now I’m sitting on a couch across the hall from my room. Oh well.

Dinner tonight consisted of the remaining peanut butter and wheat bread I had from Hong Kong. I had walked around the block looking for food, but didn’t end up with anything more than a bottle of water. At least I got that.


16th of July. Shanghai. Morning. Wake up, brush my teeth. The door locks automatically, so I stick out the deadbolt to keep it from shutting when I go to the bathroom (which is right next door). I put on the same shirt as yesterday (the new Lafuna short-sleeved button-down shirt that was covered in sweat not just yesterday, but the day before as well), wonder if I’m going to stink badly, then forget about it. I need to do laundry tonight, but there’s no dryer. I’m not looking forward to hanging all my clothes to dry. Oh well. This morning I need to see some sights. I’m meeting Terence (who I met through BoardGameGeek) at 1:45.

Headed out for a walk around Shanghai. Saw the Bund, was surrounded by touts trying to sell paintings. Very annoying. Then I headed back to the hostel, met Terence, his wife, and his baby son Timothy. They came by in a cab, picked me up, we went to a café. Talked with them a while – Terence is a lawyer, doing M&A work for a Singapore firm here in Shanghai. Used to be a RPG gamer, but got out of it because of a lack of players in Singapore. Now it’s just board gaming. He’s a quite nice guy. We got along really well. Evelyn headed off with Timothy, and Terence and I played some San Juan and some Mamma Mia!, which would play much better with more than 2 players. Then we walked around the neighborhood a little, had a few xiaolongbao, then headed up to Terence’s place, where we talked more about tv, comics, movies, games, etc, etc… It was a very nerdy evening. Then some pasta made by Evelyn. Finally, we headed down to the pirated dvd store, where I picked up season one of Huff and Munich (munich was useless – it was in Russian with horrible English subtitles – I just left the damn thing at the hostel). Terence walked me back to my hostel, and that was that. I watched a couple episodes of Huff (which was good), and then sleep.


The 17th. Woke up, did laundry. After hanging the laundry, headed out. Walked to Yuyuan, the “Old Town” area of Shanghai, had some more xiaolongbao (better than the day before’s), then walked to the French Concession area. Some nice architecture, but mostly just shops there. Had some good tea, but didn’t buy any.

18th. Check out, leave bags at the hostel. Walk back down to the Bund and around. Dumplings for lunch. Back to hostel, get bags, off to train station.