Well.

Godsdamnitall to heck. I had just paragraphs of insightful chatty prose and accidentally pushed the bliddy back button.

So..there was something about being responsible. Yeah. All that shit. And busy. Because I always am. Night off tonight - hurrah! Plans what were blessedly rain-checked from the other side so I don't even have guilt. I'm contemplating some Final Fantasy in a bit.

Not unpleasant plans, by the way. Just...nice to have a night off.

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The Jinmao Tower. On the 84th floor of which I had cocktails with Claudia. That was fun. Sunset over Shanghai.

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Malcolm is happily in situ, house-guesting for a bit. Happily for me, too. He is as unobtrusive as a 6'2" man can be in a small space. Plus, how awesome is having food cooked for you in your own home?

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Semper suterne nitens,

C

Earthquake

Having had a couple of phone calls and a few emails saying, "I'm pretty sure you're nowhere near it, but..." I thought I'd better reassure.

The earthquake, though horrific, was nowhere near me. If you were above the 20th floor in Shanghai, you would have felt it; one of Claudia's friends who lives on the 42nd floor was terrified - her flat swayed from side to side and everything fell over. I was on street level at the time - wondering why so many people were pouring out of skyscrapers. Luckily, I was with Meina at the time (Claudia's pal / my new pal) so she could translate the radio broadcasts for me.

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Shanghai is just fab, I've decided. Definitely a great city to be a moderately-well-off Westerner in. At first I was really intimidated by it all, but I've gotten used enough to the stares to smile at most of them, and everybody smiles back. Just curious about the funny looking white boy.

Of course, it's a smile-and-firmly-shaken-head on the street my hotel is on. "Bags? Watch? DVD?" And, of course, after sundown, "Massage? Pretty lady?"

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Had a test-pack last night and at first I was worried, but got some room still. I don't - quite - want to stop shopping, though, so I'm just off to check my baggage allowance.

***update*** SIXTY frickin' quid! Maybe I don't need that hoodie after all...

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Semper superne nitens,

C

Ni hao!

That's 'hello'! (I know at least five words in Mandarin now. *laugh*)

Hanging out at Claudia's school for a couple hours, so on t'internets. Lindsey wanted to observe a class as she's thinking of doing the whole English-teaching thing, only in Moscow. Which is handy as that's somewhere else I've always wanted to go.

Lindsey leaves tomorrow, which is poo. :( I've had a really great time hanging out with her over here. We think a lot alike, which is nice. Makes for easy conversation. Plus, she can quote almost as much of 'The Emperor's New Groove' as I can. Weather's been a bit rain-like the last couple days, but that has concomittantly emptied the streets of the vast crowds that normally range through the place. Lindsey, Mei Na (Claudia's colleague) and I had a really lovely day in Tai Kang Road, which is a really boho sort of place. Some guy bought a big warehouse and converted it into low-rent studios and such for artists. It's now a collection of alleyways filled with lovely little designer shops and galleries. Some great photography and some incredible ceramics. I managed to keep my hand out of my pocket, with the intention of going back. You know you definitely want it if you have to go back and get it.

Renmin Park and MOCA (contemporary art gallery) today. Only in the art gallery for about twenty minutes as we had to get to Claudia's school for Lindsey to observe, so I'm going back. Incredible work, really amazing. If you / I'm lucky, the attendants will be just as inattendant and I might be able to snap a couple of them. God bless the top-side viewfinder. :)

Going out to some reasonably posh gaff this evening. Collection of boutique bars and such. Got seven days left (fly back next Sunday) and I'm starting to wonder if I'm got time to fit everything in. At least one veryvery early start as some of the photography I saw yesterday was of people doing tai chi and such on the riverside, contrasting with incredible effect with the hugeous buildings in Pu Dong, the financial district. Only problem is they do that at 5am. Yeesh. At least I'm only ten minutes walk from the place.

Heading for at least one day trip next week - Hangzhou (the 'zh' is pronounced 'j'). Described as 'the Garden of China' and it's only an hour and a half away on the fast train. Photosphotosphotos.

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Semper superne nitens,

C

A superhero who's lost his powers

Well, hell, if there's one thing I can do it's communicate. Only not in Shanghainese. Hard to charm people with broad smile, hand gestures and 'yes/no' 'please/thank you'.

Shanghai ver' cool. Can't be on here long as I have a seriously fatigued battery and I want to sneak in a couple of flickr uploads.

Been to Yu Gardens - very lovely (and incredibly relaxing after the busybusyBUSYBUSY of central / anywhere Shanghai) 400 year old gardens laid out by some Emperor or other (what? there is wikipedia if you're that interested - how lazy we become!).

Day trip to Nanjing (pop. 6.5 million) yesterday. Site of a massacre in 1937. Japanese troops killed 300,000 Chinese people who were mostly civilian and in large part children, female or elderly (it being OK to kill able-bodied men). The museum was very well done, if a bit heavy on the 'we must use this example to become a glorious nation'. But hey - what's wrong with a bit o ambition on any scale - personal, or national? (Cat amongst pigeons for comments, that one, I'm sure). Museum was also huge. Took us about two hours plus to get round it, by which time I was about ready to throw a screaming paddy if I saw one more greygreygrey room of death. Funny how little one can know about the world, though, eh?

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Shanghai itself is...stinky. I know that's a terribly trite summation, but it is a bit. Good smells as well as bad, but a combination of not-always-brilliant sewers and the heat (up in the 30s yesterday) make for a nasal assault every 100 yards or so.

Ver' cool, though. Incredibly busy and a bit daunting (all right, shit-scary) at first, but I'm getting my head round it. I don't like being as conspicuous as I am, but some very off-the-cuff helpful people have got me into a decent headspace. I'm staying right on the touristy-shopping mecca, which actually sucks a bit. Can't set foot out of the hotel without 'bags - dvd - gucciprada' every five steps. After five pm you also get 'massage? pretty girl?' because obviously being white, male and by myself, I must be after a hoor. ;)

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Trotting off now as I've only got 19% battery left, but I'll drop more words. Couple of pics (not the best ones as I haven't processed any RAW yet) up on Flickr.

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Semper superne nitens,

C

Just quickly

Because I'm off, I am. To the other side of the frickin' world. Crazynonsense.

Excitement.

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Spot the ned.

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Hi to the everyone who needs a hi. :)

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Semper superne nitens,

C