New friend in Shanghai

Recently I was looking back at my blog entries and realized that I really have strayed from original objective of this blog. That objective was to share stories of the people I meet during my travels. Instead my blog has become more of a snapshot of my travels.
So here is an entry to bring you back to the people I meet.



Near my apartment in Shanghai is a "legitimate" foot massage shop. There is a pleasant young lady from Sichuan province near Chengdu that worked at this shop. She is typical of the many migrant workers, especially the women. She worked for about 2 years in a factory manufacturing electric toothbrushes and shavers. Tired of the long hours and poor working conditions she took this job giving foot massages. She has an older brother, also working in Shanghai, and with him she shares an apartment. Since this posting I learned she recently moved to another shop that pays a little better. She will go back to her hometown later this month for about 4 weeks and will learn cosmetics. She plans to return to Shanghai and work as a beautician.
A cute girl, but streetwise; I suspect the factory and foot massage parlor had much to do with that.
Her name is Ling Li. Attractive but not beautiful. Dark skinned with contemporary short haircut.
Good taste in the clothes she wears and recently discovered makeup. It will be interesting if she makes it back to Shanghai, and with new job.





Jet joined Evan and I following spicy Sichuan dinner near my house. We do not
see Jet as often as we used to. Hopefully he will be back with our team soon.
The "traditional chinese man" now has a family. A young wife and daughter back
in Wuxi.

Qingdao Penglai Weihai Yantai (Click here for more info)

First week of Oct, I visited with a small travel group Qingdao, Penglai, Yantai and Weihai on China's east coast, roughly halfway between Beijing and Shanghai in Shandong province. A beautiful area with comfortable weather, clean cities, and nice beaches. Of course Qingdao is China's beer capital, home to Tsingtao Beer. Much European influence remains in Qingdao as it was occupied by Germany in the 1800's.

Here is a photo from the mountains north of Qingdao in the area called Laoshan. A wonderful place for a long uphill hike and fantastic view of the sea.

Here are some intersting rock formations in Laoshan.Me with Qingdao syline in the background.

Sun setting in Penglai at the temple of the 8 Immortals. See description below.

A beach front in Weihai just as the fog begins to roll in.

An afternoon snack in Weihai.

From Weihai our group took a ferry ride out to Liugong Island, a former fortress and HQ to Chinese Navy's northern fleet. The cannon below was built by Krupp Company in Germany.

Apartment in Shanghai

In July I finally managed to move into a small apartment so that I now have a place to hang my hat. Located in an apartment complex overlooking Jin Qiao Park, I am only about 10 minutes by bicycle from my office. With no foreigners in the community, I am forced to make-do with my limited chinese. I am a regular at the local laundry, grocery store, fruitstand and a handful of small restaurants in the neighborhood. Here are a few pictures. I am thankful to Evan for helping to find this place, away from the high priced expat areas that I considered earlier.

I even have a bicycle now and have made several long rides around the Pudong section of Shanghai, including a ride out to the Yellow Sea.

Eastern Pudong not far from airport. Not a place that many tourists see.

I like this video. How about you Anurag???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaezJkxb9YE

In Chicago with colleagues

These are for Weston, Barry, and FS. These are some friends they made at Rookies in Elgin.
This link might be more of Anurag's taste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYNC6cqePmY

My frustration with India

Back in March I was in India again. I joked with my colleague and good friend Anurag that despite India's risque Bollywood movies, advertising and commercials, I still have yet to find any evidence of the beauties hyped up in the media. Where are they Anurag? They surely are not to be found in Mumbai. Where are they hiding? One must fly Kingfischer to find.

See if you can get to this link of a favorite Bollywood Video and you will see what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcuncaXmAVA&feature=related

Here is neat poster I saw at the Chennai airport.

The young China

Perhaps what I like most of China is that it makes me feel young. Being around so many young people it becomes easy to forget one's age and maturity. Here is an example. 2 weeks ago my young colleagues took me out to KTV in Shanghai. With plenty of english songs on the jukebox I completely lost myself for a few hours. Refreshing. Here are some photos from my mobile phone.
Also had dinner in Beijing with another two colleagues, Golden Ma and Miller Huang. Golden is fresh out of school. Of course we enjoyed an evening of Hot Pot, one of my favorites.

Stranded in Changzhou

In April I was visiting a customer in Changzhou, a short train ride from Shanghai, with Lucy. This is a pleasant city, but the industrial parks are pretty remote. We found ourselves without a taxi after the customer visit and had to walk a distance to the main road. Still no luck we finally managed to flag down a 3 wheeled bicycle in which we sat in the cargo area. I am surprised the hole contraption just didn't collapse under my weight. The operator did well to manage the load.

Here are a few pics. We both had a good laugh.

50's Club Singapore

I just returned from China. Also spent an evening in Singapore recently. Came across a place called the 50's Club. I understand Jackie Chan, the HK martial arts move star, is the owner.

Classy place with a variety of musical entertainment. The performers are awarded flowers by admirers in the audience; these flowers can cost anywhere from $25 to $5000 or more.

I personally saw 2 ea $1000 bouquets given. Here are some of the performers. I only had my mobile phone camera.

Also saw a Hooters. But was not even tempted. My impression of Singapore in the past had been a bit stuffy, but fortunately my colleague FS showed me the more lively part of the city.

Yes, I could live here.

China New Year Feb 2008

There is much celebration leading up to the New Year. Here are a few pics at one of many gatherings of my friends in Dongguan. One must be prepared to eat and drink much.

Our friend Jackie pondering his next move.

This is a white liquor, similar to moonshine, called bei jiu. This particular lot contained gold flakes.

The gold is believed to bring goodluck. I was feeling good that night.

Alan and I finished the evening off with a relaxing foot massage at the Silver World Hotel.

And of course my favortie #30. Since this post I checked up on #30 in April. Sad to hear she has moved on to another hotel, or has moved back to her home province of Guangxi in southern China. She will be missed.

David, Louis and I on New Years eve.

Note the red jacket.

More bei jiu

The New Year decorations at the Silver World Hotel lobby.

China New Year

Due to the bad weather, and some last minute travel changes, I wound up in Dongguan for the New Year, Xin Nian. I had the privilege of visiting David's relatives in XingNing about a 5 hour bus ride from Dongguan. Cold and wet I spent, 2.5 days sleeping, drinking and eating. It was good to get away from the big city (which I consider Dongguan) and see life in the "country side".

I thank David for this memorable trip.

This is David's relative. I believe her name is Lana. She is from a small village about 2 hours from Xingning.