School Week Deux

Shanghai, October 22 to 26, 2007 (Monday to Friday)

I am combining a week’s worth of musings into one post again, as more than half the week is dedicated to school and school work, and can thus be glossed over….

This week, I had a surprise exam that lasted two grueling hours, as well as a 500-character essay to write, courtesy of Bad Cop teacher. School’s not too bad, actually. I am learning quite a bit, and it’s not taking too much of a toll on me as Week #1. I also learned about an exam called the HSK, which kinda “certifies” your level of Chinese language knowledge…depending on when, where, and how much this exam costs, I may actually take it, since it provides a comparable, measurable benchmark of language proficiency.

I managed to make it out to a couple of sights this week. One was Jing An Temple, which is a lovely little Buddhist temple smack in the middle of a bustling commercial zone in the Jing An District. It’s quite bizarre to see huge gleaming high-rises and shopping complexes juxtaposed with this 100-year-old classical Chinese temple, with all of its pagoda-esque eaves and whatnot. Inside the temple’s courtyard, you could spy obscenely huge billboards hawking Western products. The worst, for me, was a Calvin Klein men’s underwear ad that served as a backdrop to the temple’s north building. Imagine this solemn, historic structure, that people are praying to…and behind it is a super cut dude posing provocatively in his skivvies. Welcome to modern China.

The temple was very crowded, though it wasn’t a special Buddhist holiday, nor the weekend. Admission was a little more than a buck, and included a small bundle of incense offering. You pop your money into a contribution box, pick up a bundle of incense and move into the main courtyard. There were volunteers manning the incense tables, but it’s not like they were watching you like a hawk. It’s pretty much an honor system…though I can’t imagine anyone actually not contributing. Cuz that would be wrong.

Inside the courtyard, people are jostling each other for a good spot near the open-flamed metal urns in order to light their incense. It’s light or be lit. I have always associated Buddhism with calmness and serenity. Not here! Many of the worshippers were urgently pushy; jockeying for position at the open flame, at the various altars. I guess their urgency is another expression of their faith and devotion. But that’s one end of the spectrum. On the other end of the spectrum are the serenely faithful, who amidst the hustle and bustle of the courtyard, they stand quietly, solemnly still, facing their chosen object of worship, incense in hand, hands raised above their head, silently praying. It’s quite a moving sight. I say “chosen object of worship” because the temple houses various gods and images and incarnations of Buddha.

There were three main altar areas, one with a large stone Buddha, one with the Goddess of Mercy, and a large, cavernous area with eight golden statues of lucky gods, as well as a smiling Buddha, and a militaristic god. It was humbling to see followers prostrate themselves fully on the ground, and silently crawl towards their object of worship. People pushed, but pushed patiently, if that makes any sense, to get to the prayer pillows directly in front of each altar.

I can’t say that I believe in any god in particular, but I believe in a higher being, and I think this higher appears in various manifestations. Given this, I also prayed to every altar I visited, asking that my friends and family be blessed with good health and happiness. You know, one of those fool proof requests….kinda the equivalent of using one of your three wishes to ask the genie for a 1000 more wishes.

The main courtyard had some booths selling Buddhist prayer beads, along with a chart indicating what type of stone brings what type of protection or blessing to what Chinese zodiac animal. Some tiger’s eye beads caught my eye, and after consulting the chart, I saw that the tiger’s eye brings prosperity and good fortune, so that worked for me. My second non-food purchase in Shanghai. I also got a little certificate certifying the beads were original and blessed by Jing An monks. Also in the courtyard was a tall structure (it looked like a well, with a large dragon sleeping atop it) with intricate carvings and sayings and a hollow top with openings that people were tossing coins into. Think of a wishing well that you throw up at, as opposed to down into.

The temple had staircases that lead to the second floor of the various buildings. The second floors provided a less hectic space to people watch and drink in the atmosphere, as well as a higher and different vantage point for the temple grounds. One of the doors were slightly ajar, and I was able to see the Goddess of Mercy statue’s face up close and personal. It is a truly beautiful and serene face.

As class time was rapidly nearing, I left the temple at its main exit…and was accosted, twice, by different “fortune teller ladies” whose opening remarks were the same: “You have a lucky aura, miss! Let me tell you more…” At this point, I thought it best to use the “no comprende” defense and simply said, “Sorry, I don’t understand” in Chinese and get the hell outta dodge.

I noticed a small park across the street and decided to check it out before hopping on the metro. It was a lovely green space, beautifully landscaped, and truly being enjoyed by its citizens. And on a weekday to boot. People strolled leisurely, some sat on benches and read or chatted, and a few people practiced Tai Chi near the small man-made lake, at the other end of which sat a charming little Thai café. I came across another wedding couple having pictures taken…it must be wedding season! I’ve seen seven different hotel room doors with the lucky wedding “double happiness” hangings at my hotel to date.

This week I also stopped by the People’s Square, which is becoming the primary cultural center of Shanghai, with architecturally stunning buildings such as the Grand Theater, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Urban Planning and Exhibition Center, and various government buildings.

Again, the area was packed, even for a weekday, so aside from admiring the buildings, the pleasant green space, and the various art sculptures in the plaza, I didn’t have a chance to explore very much before having to hop back onto the metro in order to make it to class.

I went back to the Jing An Temple area once more later in the week, with two goals: one, to pick up a ticket for a Cirque de Soleil-esque show called “Era – A Journey Through Time”, and two, to visit “Wong Family Cooks” a shop that has sold “small eats” ie, snacks and small bits to eat on the run, for nearly 100 years. The tiny, dilapidated corner storefront is still there, with a kindly lady selling fresh, hot, pan-fried onion cakes, packs of fresh dumplings, stewed pork, grilled shrimp, and other goodies. I bought a couple of the soft, yet crisp onion and spice-filled cakes (20 cents each!) and made my way back to the metro. On my way, I passed a larger, more modern, cleaner, “Wong Family Cooks” that basically sold the same stuff, only in a “food court” environment. I was curious as to the relationship with the tiny hole in the wall. They seemed to sell the same stuff. They MUST be related…with the old shop there for historical reasons…

Other Miscellaneous Musings from Week Deux:

Escalators. I don’t think I’ve spent as much time on escalators in such a short period of time! Shanghai is laden with skyscrapers, and within each are elevators and escalators galore. And then we have the cavernous metro stations…People’s Square alone has 9 exits. Actually, probably more, I just happened to notice 9 as the highest number. The metro station spans a huge, huge area. Also, each metro station has some sort of shopping within it, be it small booths, or larger boutiques, and at least one vendor selling food and drink. It’s nice to know that wherever you go, you will always have access to quick sustenance. But back to the escalators. Initially, I was quite surprised that people stop moving when they hit the escalator. Shanghai peeps seem to always be on the move, that I expected them to keep moving even on the escalators. Alas, no. They know when to rush and when to stop. And of course, all bets are off when you hit the streets aboveground. Each escalator, without fail, has a small plastic sign hanging under the upper level, informing curious, wayward, oglers who strain to see below/above them as they ascend/descend to “Watch Your Head” or “Mind Your Head”. It is with much amusement that I realized the sign itself would be the first thing to hit you if you were not ‘watching your head’. Guess being whacked by a thin plastic sign beats getting bonked in the head with a concrete ceiling/wall any day.

Nature. I have a much greater appreciation of nature ever since arriving in Shanghai. Shanghai cherishes its green space, and the parks are meticulously maintained. Also, many of the main boulevards are lined with well-maintained greenery. It’s been an absolute delight meandering down a charming cobble-stoned sidewalk, crunching on lovely fallen leaves in various shades of autumn brown and yellow, swatting at flitting butterflies, thinking they were mosquitoes or moths before realizing that they were beautiful butterflies. Jumping out of the way as bikes and motorcycles screech past you on said cobble-stoned sidewalks. Cussing good-naturedly as tree branches and bushes sway in the breeze as you play the “keep right, dammit” chicken game with people walking from the opposite direction. Admiring a leaf of brilliant, bright green then yelping, startled, when it starts moving and you realize it’s a monster of a grasshopper. Enjoying the serene chirping of crickets at midnight. Appreciating the sweet songbirds that land sprightly on your windowsill and croon for you at five in the morning. Learning to see, with new eyes, every leaf, and every speck that you step past on the ground. That lovely copper-tinged splotch, for example, looks like a looping figure eight, as if a tiny ice skater had drawn out the figure in time to a Celine Dion ballad. And that charming graceful swirl is, to quote Al Bundy, “curly like a mouse’s tail.” Wait. Oh sheet. You know…that figure eight kinda looks…Oh sheet. That was a mouse. I have just been waxing poetic about rodent roadkill. Bloody. Hell. Naturally, I screeched like a girly girl when the mouse-shaped splat revealed itself to my mind’s eye. I pictured Ratatouille being run over by a wayward motorcycle. See, that is how spontaneous and unpredictable Shanghai drivers are: Even nimble little rodents can’t avoid ‘em.

I Heart Consumerism

Shanghai, October 21, 2007 (Sunday)

I slept in after last night’s late outing. In fact, I slept so late, that I missed the breakfast buffet. (They shut down at 9:30am.) So after feeling a little miffed that I’d have to go out and get brekkie (I have been spoiled by the brekkie buffet), I made my way to the Carrefoure shopping complex and went rabid at a trendy bakery called Bread Talk. I finally decided on a curry beef bun (30 cents!) and a custard-filled peanut-pineapple glazed sweet bun (25 cents!). I washed this down with a good, strong espresso (okay, a splurge at $2). Hmmm. This beats the weak house coffee at the brekkie buffet and is worth every penny.

Happily sated, I opt to walk off my breakfast with the 30-minute trek to the Luo Shan Guan Road metro station. I decide to go back to Nanjing East Road and the Bund, even though I knew it would be packed. I drink in the spirit of consumerism and, thusly drunk, make my first frivolous purchase of the trip: a track jacket from Uniqlo, the trendy Japanese clothing chain that just opened a store in NYC. Uniqlo is a bit like Banana Republic, but with a more tongue-in-cheek slant, I think. The track jacket I bought is black with white arm stripes, and a great graphic patch on the chest and the back: “Mighty Soy, LA” with a wacky graphic of a soybean with muscular arms. You have to see it; I’m not doing it justice. These graphics are supposed to be based on American brand signs…I dunno…Can someone from SoCal let me know if there’s such a company, Mighty Soy?! I really liked the wacky irony of the graphic. And the price was right -- $27 US for a real brand name. Never fear, I will load up on cheap, madly-bargained fakes when I hit the open air markets. For now, I need to warm up on actual stores. I also peeked into the Chinese equivalent of Abercrombie and Fitch – this chain called Metrobeene or something like that. I wasn’t very impressed, though it was really popular with the younguns. I also checked out the Wing An Department Store, a huge Macys-Nordstrom-esque store. It was nice to wander the labyrinth of stuff; they do like using mannequins…I think they have the greatest mannequin to customer ratio I’ve seen thus far). I didn’t see anything I really wanted…except a Hello Kitty egg poacher machine. Genius.

I wandered along Nanjing East Road, the pedestrian-dominated, neon-sign teeming shopping road that leads to the Bund, the waterfront promenade west of the Huangpu River. I maneuver around the masses of picture-snapping tourists and marvel anew at the gorgeous buildings east across the water in Pudong, including the new and modern phallic Pearl Tower, and the classic buildings across the Bund on the west, including the architecturally stunning Peace Hotel. At the north end of the Bund is a monument to China’s heroes, a huge stone structure, with carved friezes around the base of the memorial. I wandered around the memorial, and discovered a small park beneath the Bund, complete with an ivy-covered corridor lined with trees and benches. Here, many locals were shooting the breeze, and I joined them, claiming a carved bench and deciding to take advantage of the relative quiet to call home on my Chinese cell using an IP long distance card. My parents were out (social butterflies that they are), but I left a message assuring them that I was alive and well. One note about the IP card. The English option? A joke. The chick who recorded the English message had the worst English ever. It took me three tries before I finally deciphered what she meant. Also, the China Mobile Cellular Service? They like sending you text messages. In Chinese. I got all excited, thinking somehow, someone had found a way to text my Shanghai cell. But alas, it was China Mobile, letting me know my balance, as well as trying to entice me to download new ringtones. I think. I didn’t have my dictionary with me, so they could have been telling me “Bite Me” for all I know.

Scared off from my bench by the stench of Durian (a notoriously yucky-smelling fruit – I think the smell is somewhere between rotting meat and gasoline) that a bench-neighbor had unwrapped, I decide to return to the fray of Nanjing Road in search of food. I find a relatively quiet dumpling joint in the Raffles Center shopping complex, and gorge on wonderfully fresh shrimp dumplings and crab-stuffed “xiao long bao”, or Little Dragon Buns, a signature Shanghai dumpling that is served with a tart vinegar dipping sauce, and that bursts with a sweet broth the second you bite into it. Given that, you really should pop the whole thing in one bite, as you DO NOT want to lose a drop of the yummy broth. As to how the hot broth is magically encased in the delicate dumpling? The dumpling is stuffed with a solid gelatinized broth that melts when the dumpling is gently steamed. (This culinary tidbit brought to you courtesy of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations Shanghai eppie). I can’t wait to try the xiao long bao at Yu Yuan, a picturesque garden in Shanghai that houses a tea pavilion and dumpling restaurant that has served world leaders, including the Queen of England and Bill Clinton. If it’s good enough for them…well, then.

Wishing to avoid the crowds, I decide to make it back to the hotel early, and hop back onto the metro. It is still pretty packed, so I guess others had the same idea. I make it back to my hotel an hour later, and spend the rest of the evening doing homework (damn you Bad Cop teacher!) while enjoying campy made-for-TV movies on HBO Asia.

Canto-Pop Concert Day!

Shanghai, October 20, 2007 (Saturday)

Concert Day! (Note: The concert coverage below might be a bit too detailed for most, but I wrote an essay about the concert in Chinese as homework for my taskmaster Bad Cop teacher, so I figured I’d include it in English as well.) I slept in, and had a leisurely morning. I left for the Hongkou District, where the concert stadium, Hongkou Soccer Stadium, was located. According to my guidebooks, the Lu Xun Memorial Park was nearby, and it was also near other Lu Xun related sites, like his former residence, and a street that he liked to hang out at. Oh, I should explain who Lu Xun is: he’s a famous Chinese writer, known as the father of modern Chinese literature, who wrote from 1915 to the 1930s or so). He wrote beautiful pieces (essays, short stories, and poems), but I like his satirical pieces the best. He used comedy and satire as tools to point out injustices in society. He is best known for his “The True Story of Ah Q” which is a short story (well, a long short story, or a short novella, depending on your perspective) about a simpleton named Ah Q who got into various scrapes during China’s revolutionary era. The story was made into a 1980s-era Cantonese movie, and also spawned many related novels by more current, modern authors. I wrote a paper on Lu Xun for my grad school East Asian lit class, and believe you me, the movie was very very helpful (!)…as well as the exploration of references in modern culture, such as Old Master Q comics. But I digress. The metro took me straight to the stadium, and the park was a 5-minute walk away.

The metro station links directly to the stadium, so I was able to peek into the stadium via its gates. They had curtains covering each of the gates, but some of the curtains were ajar, so I was able to see how huge the stadium was, and how far away my seat was from the stage! Forty bucks buys you semi-nosebleed seats…imagine what 10 bucks buys ya! I saw a crowd of fans gathering near the main doors, and as is the norm here, join the fray…there must be something interesting going on. It turns out it was the die-hard Sammi fans. They had a huge banner, and one dude, who I assume was the thankless president of the “We Heart You, Sammi” Fan Club, had a megaphone and was trying to get the peeps in line, as well as practice chants of “Sammi, Good Show!” He was ignored, of course. A mini van came to a screeching halt a few minutes later, and the fans started shrieking. Four people jumped out of the van and dashed into the stadium. I assume one of them was Sammi, since a couple of the fans in the front were crying in bliss (at having caught a close glimpse of the star, I guess), while others were crowing about managing to snap a picture. I saw Jack. Not Jack, as in her manager, but jack squat. Ah well. That’s what happens when you serendipitously cross paths with rabid fans. I overhear a couple of fans say that Sammi will be rehearsing in a little bit, and I recall the slightly ajar curtained gates above. I make a mental note to come back a bit earlier and see if I can’t catch a glimpse of the rehearsing.

But first, Lu Xun Park. My goodness, what a park! It’s a beautiful green area, with a man-made lake, and beautiful pockets of greenery, tranquil benches, and rock formations. There were also huge open squares dotted with trees and benches, in which people were sitting and talking, or playing chess or cards. Various karaoke stations, with bright LCDs also dotted the square, and it was a wonderfully bizarre sight to behold people of all ages clamoring around the screens to sing along to Chinese classics. A couple of musicians were practicing in the square, one playing an er-hu, a screechy-in-the-wrong-hands string instrument, played with a bow, one playing a harmonica, and their efforts added to the lively cacophony.

The park was truly a public space, with families enjoying the beautiful weather in a leisurely fashion. Children begged parents for toys being peddled in the square, or for the chance to play in the huge “beach ball” bubbles in the lake. Each child was encased in their own bubble, and then gently launched into the lake, where they “walked” on water gleefully. Youths played badminton, sunbathed, or practiced gymnastics or martial arts in the designated “Exercise Ground”. Senior citizens strolled leisurely along the cobbled paths, pausing to admire a blooming flower, or chat with a friend seated at a bench. Sidebar: Walking backwards seems to be a popular exercise. I saw a few seniors do just that, swinging their arms energetically.

There were many Chinese citizens taking pictures, too. I wouldn’t say they were tourists, though there were many of those afoot. They were taking pictures of each other, of blooming flowers, or of flowering trees. A couple of tea pavilions stood on the lake, and these were occupied by elderly gents, as well as some tourists, enjoying a cuppa.

The park also had its share of wedding couples, too. I saw at least three couples having wedding pictures taken. One had their picture taken in front of the Lu Xun Memorial Clock, which I thought was a little odd…the word clock in Chinese is a homonym for “end”…I thought the symbolism was bad juju…but evidently not to the couple! Maybe I’m not modern enough for modern China.

I walked the park for a good hour or so, before leaving in pursuit of eats. I wanted something quick and close by, so ended up at a Chinese fast food joint that specialized in Beef and Noodles. If it’s from a cow, they will pair it with noodles. Brilliant. I decided to forgo the more wacky pairings and try a classic braised beef and noodles, with a western twist: cherry tomatoes and spices that gave the broth into a borscht-like flavor. I tamped the spicy broth with a yummy frothy papaya drink. Total cost of hearty meal and drink: $4. Bloody hell. The drink alone would have cost me $4 in the US. And this meal is not even considered cheap in China! I am in lurve.

Properly sated, I made my way back to the stadium, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sammi in rehearsal. I saw a tiny dot that sounded like Sammi singing. She was then joined by her guest, Richie Ren, and they practiced a duet. The zoom on my camera didn’t help much; I couldn’t see a thing…though I heard everything aok. The acoustics were awesome.

I hung around for a couple of numbers, before deciding to stroll the outlying area a bit. I got out of the main thoroughfare and wandered some residential backstreets…and was a little taken aback at the contrast. Neatly cobbled, tree-lined streets gave way to dirty streets that were treated as part of the tiny living structures. For example, the front of the houses were half kitchen, and half laundry room, with pans of raw vegetables stacked along with buckets of laundry and garbage. I passed some street vendors selling roasted chestnuts and steaming buns, but opted not to try them, as I had promised my Mom I would not eat from a street vendor. I intend to keep that promise with the caveat that: if there is a line of locals greater than five deep, then that negates the promise. Also, if the vendor is located inside a covered square, and not on the street, then they are no longer a street vendor, so that would make it ok. The vendors I passed did not meet my two loophole criteria, so I had to pass them by.

It was starting to get dark, so I made my way back to the stadium, pausing to buy a pearl tea on my way back. I passed numerous ticket scalpers and vendors selling cheap binoculars and snazzy glowsticks. I expected to be allowed into the stadium, like before…only now, they had barricaded the entrances and stationed security at all points. Gosh, I guess I was lucky earlier to be able to move freely around the stadium and eavesdrop on the rehearsal and sound checks…I waited with other fans outside the main gates, and about an hour before showtime, they finally allowed us in.

I knew the stadium was huge, but you really feel its size when you’re inside of it. I have no idea what the capacity is – I would guess at least ten thousand, and probably much more. My seat was in the “mid-range”, not high up, but in the middle. I would say height-wise, it was “loge”, but as for distance from stage, I would say “balcony”, if that makes any sense! I could see the stage, at least. The real nosebleed seats, at the opposite far end of the stadium, had to make do with a huge screen – they couldn’t even see the stage.

The concert started about 25 minutes late. In the interim, I amused myself by memorizing the script of the three commercials that were on endless loop on the large screens. Guys, you can only take so much of the same three ads. I was ready to blow my brains out by the 15^th iteration. Thankfully, I was able to distract myself by keeping an eye on a couple to my right. They were shadily doing the “musical chairs” maneuver; that is, they were scoping out seats that were better than their real ones, tentatively sitting at those seats, and then sheepishly vacating them (and playing dumb) when the real ticket holders appeared to claim their seats. I watched them do this twice before they finally returned to their original and rightful seats. I felt very smug, the fact that I was considering doing the same musical chairs maneuver when the lights dimmed, notwithstanding.

Finally, the lights dimmed. There was a roar of anticipation from the fans. Guys, these are some active fans. I would say a good 50% had glowsticks, and they were not passive sticks…they were moving quite actively, which means the arms and hands holding them were moving. Active fans! No sticks in the mud! That’s pretty impressive in my book. The sticks glowed cheerily in the darkness. And then…boom! A flash of light, and the stage was illuminated. The stage set and lighting were very well-done. They had a catwalk that zigzagged and ascended to a high platform, and there were various descending stage spots that allowed people to appear “out of nowhere”. The opening routine involved a slew of female dancers dressed up to look like Sammi. They sported various signature Sammi looks. All the while, Sammi was singing an upbeat version of one of her classic hits. Then, she revealed herself by removing a wig dramatically.

Sammi changed her look after a couple of songs; her reddish hair was in a sleek bun, which allowed her to don wigs to go with her different looks. She started out with a casual loose top and leggings look, then changed into a sparkly bolero and sleek short bobbed wig for a faster song. For her next look, she dramatically descended from a raised, neon-trimmed cage wearing a long red-haired wig and short booty skirt with boots. She channeled Beyonce and jammed with a Chinese rapper on a R&B-infused song.

She sang mostly Cantonese songs, and a lot of which I recognized, even though I hadn’t been into new Canto-pop music for a good 4 years. She didn’t chat much for the first third of the show, opting to go with a pattern of sing, change clothes, and sing.

Her next look was a sleek bobbed wig paired with a whimsical white dress over leggings, accented with a floaty, round, petal-like attachment to the back of her dress. She sang some super-sweet love songs in this look while her dancers, dressed in fairytale-inspired costumes, danced whimsical ballet routines.

Next, she donned a chic white pantsuit and her own hair, still in a bun, for a series of power ballads. She took this opportunity to finally chat with the audience. She revealed that this was her comeback concert after a two-year hiatus, and that this was her first concert in Shanghai. She shared some personal anecdotes, such as how her father suffered a stroke two years ago, and how that factored into her decision to take a hiatus and spend more time with family. She dedicated a song to her dad, as well as one to her good friend Andy Hui, who recently lost his father.

Sammi’s mandarin was passable (better than mine!) though you could clearly hear the Cantonese influence. She inserted a couple of Cantonese sayings (for example, “fourteen fifteen”; “sup hm sup look”; denotes “being undecided”) which didn’t translate to Mandarin at all. Native mandarin speakers were puzzled by that saying. Sammi had to revert to Cantonese or English on a couple of words she couldn’t say in mandarin.

After this emotional interlude, she introduced her special musical guest, Richie Ren, a Taiwanese pop singer with whom she starred in a couple of romantic comedies with. Mr. Ren is quite ruggedly handsome, and his appearance, with short hair, white shirt, black blazer, and snug-fitting black leather pants, elicited quite a few girlish squeals. Sammi and Richie make an adorable couple, and they sang a duet from one of their movies. Sammi then left for another wardrobe change, leaving Richie to sing his famous single “Look Over, Girl from Across the Way”. It’s one of those grand “singalong” songs that everyone knows the words to. He ended by introducing Sammi, who appeared amid a blast of lights in a loose ponytail (her own hair) and a loose white T-shirt and track pants. Definitely comfy clothes to dance to. And dance she did! An awesome routine to her greatest dance hits, remixed with a high-energy, almost trancey feel. She ended the routine with a bang – fireworks and all. As she curtseyed and bowed to thundering applause, she revealed that her earpiece gave out just before the routine, and that she had basically sang the whole routine without hearing herself. She was quite unhappy with that, and wanted a do-over. So she switched out her earpiece, and to the delight of her fans, she did that 15 minute, high-energy routine AGAIN, sans ending fireworks, of course. If anything, the routine was even better the second time around. And she actually sang and danced – no lip-syncing here, thank you very much. She sang a few more fast songs (a couple of fast songs from the mid-1990s – “Chotto Deng Deng” and “Ding Dong” – settle down peeps, it’s not an obscene reference, it’s the sound a bell makes). After these high-energy songs, she went through a spotlight introducing her band, dancers, and backup singers, then descended the stage as her finale.

As this is a Chinese concert, the first finale is a warm-up finale. After five minutes of cheering and applause, Sammi returned for an encore, in her own hair, done up in a messy bun, and in an edgy white dress trimmed with knotted pieces. She sang a couple of slow classic songs before ending on a power ballad, yelling “Thank you, Shanghai” as she descended below the stage via the hidden elevator.

And yet the fans wanted more. Another round of frenzied clapping and cheering, and stomping in unison convinced Sammi to return to the stage…in her white terry bathrobe! She joked that she had slipped into her post-concert comfy wear, revealing a loose camisole underneath her robe, to appreciative fans. She thanked her fans for their support, and sang one last song, a popular mandarin song which I’ve never heard before, but which many of my neighbors knew the words to. She descended once more to the stage below, to a standing ovation, and her fans, finally satisfied after nearly three hours, happily left the stadium.

All in all, it was a great show; very high-energy and lively. Sammi is a really good singer and a captivating performer. She has a great sense of humor, and an engaging style. She sang very well throughout, and you could tell it was live. I blame the occasional loss of audio clarity on the crappy headset mike rather than on her singing. The transitions between wardrobe changes were done well, making full use of the video screens to keep the story going. The screens were put to good use when she was onstage as well: colorful graphics, as well as karaoke lyrics appeared in sync with her performance.

Her fans are very passionate – many, many waving glowsticks. And many many people who sang along with her, even when there were no karaoke lyrics on screen. This is great – except the guy near me was so loud! Dude, I’m there to hear Sammi sing, not some karaoke-crazy freak. I must say though, he must have clocked in a lot of mike time at his karaoke lounge…his pronunciation of the Cantonese lyrics was pretty damn good for a native mandarin speaker.

Hongkou Stadium is an open air arena, with a real grass soccer field. The evening was very pleasant, around 65 degrees. The moon shone brightly, moving slowly across the sky as Sammi serenaded it. Lovely time, very glad I made it. The one snag in my evening was the unpleasant discovery that the metro does not stay open later on the weekends. They shut down at 10:30pm, and we didn’t get out of the stadium until 11pm. So I had to fight with locals to get a taxi. I ended up walking a good two blocks away from the stadium in order to more easily flag a cab. Before any of my surrogate (or real) mums give me any flak, I was right behind a group of teeny boppers, and was not in a secluded area. Concert goers leaving the stadium were all over. Also, I feel that Shanghai is relatively safe. The chance of getting mugged (or worse) is very low, not that one shouldn’t exercise common sense and caution. I hopped into a cab, and was back at my hotel in about 20 minutes, which cost around $7. A bargain.

The First School Week

Shanghai, October 15 to 19, 2007 (Monday to Friday)

Sorry for the belated update…I can’t actually access my published blog directly…I can get to the “Add Posts” page, but can’t actually SEE the published posts. So for those of you used to my obsessively impeccably proofread and formatted output…my deepest apologies. I’ll proof everything when I am back home. As a sidebar, I suspect my carefully written post on a certain Central American country with awesome coffee was not carefully written enough, and my observations about the gala are causing access issues for me. I hope you guys are able to see everything ok.

Also, my Internet access is spotty as well. I’ve been trying to piggyback on wifi for the last week, and it just aint cutting it. So I bit the bullet and paid for it.

I am combining School Week #1 into one super large post…and you’ll see why below.

School. Is. Hard. Goodness, I thought I would just coast merrily along and goof off during class, mebbe learn a few cuss words. Not so much, my friends. (Though I am still hopeful about the cussing.) The work ethic of this great nation is what will lead to their world domination. That, and sheer numbers.

On Orientation Day, I cavalierly took a placement test that put me at the mid-range level…and I think I would have probably been able to coast that class. However, one of my classmates, an Italian girl (who probably knows more Chinese than me!) suggested that we try our hand at the next higher level, so I decided to give it a go. The more advanced class is more suitable for me, I will begrudgingly admit. It is challenging; and I am definitely learning.

The advanced class takes place in the afternoon, from 1pm to 5pm. While I was initially ecstatic that I would be able to sleep in every morning, I realized this would interfere with sightseeing. I would need to plan sightseeing in small 3-hour jaunts.

The advanced class is broken into two sessions that are taught by two teachers. For the sake of privacy, let’s call them Good Cop and Bad Cop. Good Cop is a sweet, happy-go-lucky, chatty woman, probably my age or younger, and our sessions are like extended gossipy girl talks, with some new vocabulary and grammar lessons thrown in. And then there’s Bad Cop…she’s a taskmaster…A spunky, stern dragon lady, probably a couple years younger than myself, who pounces on you immediately when she senses uncertainty or inattention. She’s the one who assigns the lengthy homework assignments, and who drills and tests you incessantly. The kicker? She looks uncannily like my Mom when she was young! I used my Mom’s wedding photo for a high school drawing class assignment way back when, so I spent a good three weeks studying and trying to recreate in charcoal pencil my Mom’s gorgeous, young face. I try not to gawk at Bad Cop during class, but the resemblance is really freaking me out. Bad Cop’s resemblance to my Mom probably explains my desire to not incur her wrath by being a diligent student. Doesn’t take a psychologist to figure that one out…

Intellectually, I know the school and teachers really can’t do anything to me if I don’t work at my lessons or go to class. I don’t need the grade for my transcript or anything like that (I graduated already, dammit!). I guess it’s my own stoopid work ethic that has me trying so hard. (That and Dragon Lady Bad Cop.) I haven’t worked this hard at Chinese, well, ever. I confess I have never really had to use a Chinese dictionary before…even during my grad school Chinese course. For the coursework here, however, I have dog-eared and thumbed through my pristine dictionary to the point of war-torn shabbiness. Plus, as I paid a pretty penny for these personalized language classes, I was determined to get my money’s worth.

So, this first week, marred by my lingering jet lag and jacked up sleep cycle, I found myself falling into a weekday pattern of breakfast buffet between 8:30 and 9am, short sightseeing jaunts or grueling homework until noon, a quickie lunch, and then school from 1pm to 5pm. After school, I would pick up dinner at my second home, Carrefoure’s prepared foods section, or at the “Big Eats Era” food court in the same building as Carrefoure (with street food-esque snacks, along with Asian fast food, such as Taiwanese, Singaporean, Shanghaiese, Cantonese, Indian, Malaysian, Japanese, etc.). The complex also has a fabulous bakery, called Bread Talk, a Pizza Hut, Mickey D’s, a gelato place, and an Italian café. I am trying to live by the guideline of “no Western fast food” during my time in China, and am proud to report that to date, I am successful. We’ll see how long before I start craving Chicken McNuggets. Gosh, I think I kinda want some now…I will have to satisfy my fried bits craving by going to the Tempura Bar at Carrefoure. Yes, they have a whole circular case filled with fried tempura bits. I think I had a fried-gasm right then and there. By the way, have I waxed poetic about how cheap food is here yet? Everyday eats are so affordable. You can eat very well here for very little, couple of bucks US. And I’ve been going to pretty clean, almost yuppie places…I haven’t been going to open air street markets for food. Yet. Of course, if you want ambience, well, you’re gonna have to pay for it. I’ve marked a few super nice places I want to go to, mainly for the décor and ambience. For the most part, everyday common meals are super cheap. Special occasion swanky places are nearly on par with US prices, probably slightly less. But back to my daily Week #1 routine. After dinner, it’s a leisurely walk back to my hotel, enlivened by the dodging of maniac bikes and scooters, and wayward cars at crosswalks. Back at my hotel, and into my freshly cleaned room, sparkling bathroom, and freshly made bed. A gal can get used to this. Then homework, reading, writing or TV (you know I need my TV, any TV…even HBO Asia or TVB8 in Mandarin) before falling asleep.

I didn’t make too many jaunts my first week…Aside from my lingering jet lagginess, I occupied myself with getting situated with Shanghai life, primarily getting around. The area where my hotel and school is located is the Changning District (also known to some as the Hongqiao District), which is a good 20 to 30 minutes by car or metro from Shanghai’s city center. Changning is quite self-sufficient, with a nice mix of restaurants, shopping, and amenities, and I could probably be quite happy never leaving the area. However, to sightsee, I was gonna have to map out how to get around.

I located the nearest metro station, which is a 30-minute walk, or 10-minute bus/cab ride away. Sidebar: The metro is fast and cheap. Buses are also cheap. Taxis are relatively cheap, depending on where, when and how far. However, taking ground transportation also runs the risk of traffic jams. I like the metro, because it is climate-controlled, and the travel is smooth and consistent. Buses and taxis are a little less predictable, and depending on the driver, could be one hell of a ride.

I bought a transportation card, which you can use on the metro and the bus. You charge it with money at the metro station, and swipe it over card readers when you enter and exit the metro. On buses, you tell the attendant (there is a driver, and a ticketing attendant near the rear of the bus) where you are going, and she (it’s usually a she) zaps the amount accordingly with a handheld scanner. You can also pay cash to the attendant. I can’t imagine doing what these bus attendants do all day. Passengers get on the bus, and they may or may not come to you to pay. I have seen passengers get on, spy a seat and nab it, forcing the attendant to come to them for payment. Imagine having to do this while the bus is moving erratically.

Most metro and bus rides are about 50 cents, though if you’re traveling a longer distance, it can be twice that. Cab rides have a base fare of $1 to $2, plus additional for distance and wait times. Yet another option, which I will NOT be partaking in, is the motorbike cab – basically dudes on motorbikes with an extra helmet and no meter. You tell them where you need to go, they quote a price, and if acceptable, you hop on. Aside from the fact that these guys are unlicensed, I still wouldn’t hop on one of these bikes because, frankly, the thought of zipping crazily along in the wild west, anything goes environment that are Shanghai streets, protected only by fervent prayer and a flimsy helmet, scares the bejeezus out of me. These motorbike cabs like to hang out by metro entrances, where they expect people who are running late, and cannot flag a cab, will be their target customers.

The nearest metro station to me, Lou Shan Guan Station, is newly built; so new that the exterior and surrounding buildings are still under construction. The “sidewalks” are pending completion, so they are basically dirt and some shoddy concrete bits. They are still working on the exterior of the station. First time I spied the station, I actually passed it by thinking that it couldn’t possibly be a) it; b) operable; and c) safe. Well, kiddies, don’t judge a book by its cover, nor a metro station by the rubble surrounding it. I imagine the station and the surrounding shopping complex will be fantastic when it’s done….probably in a month or so. They are hard at work at another station that would only be 15 minutes by foot away from where I’m staying…however, that station won’t be done until December. Oh well. I don’t mind the walking. The weather here is pleasant (though still too humid for my taste), I would say 70 degrees average during the day. Armed with an iPod, and time, I can walk for miles. Time is a problem, though: I don’t like the time constraint that my afternoon class puts on me, so I will try to wake up earlier and start my morning jaunts earlier. Uh huh.

I visited a couple of major metro station areas my first week; one was Zhong Shan Park Station, which is considered the “main” hub of the Changning District. I went there in search of a cheap cell phone. My beloved Samsung wouldn’t accept the China Mobile SIM card I bought (though I could roam using my AT&T account…for a pretty penny, of course), so I was forced to buy a cheapie travel phone. My school liaison suggested I try a couple of huge electronics stores by Zhong Shan Park Station. I am bewildered by the sheer volume of shopping complexes in Shanghai. These structures are huge, just enormous gleaming high-rises filled with stores. It’s enough to bring me to my knees in humility and bring tears of joy to my eyes.

The stores I found had a mind-boggling selection of phones. They weren’t especially cheap, though…I would say the prices were about the same as in the US, though they certainly had a much greater selection. And no activation fee, no contract, no tax. The price you see marked is the price you pay. How refreshing. I decided on a cheap Nokia that was sturdy and serviceable. No sexy iPhone for me.

I also stopped by the Huangpu District, where the city center is located. It contains Nanjing Road, which is a main shopping artery that leads to the famous Shanghai Bund on the east. The Bund is called “Wai Tan” in Chinese, which I always thought was a beach. It’s closer to “waterfront”, as it overlooks the Huangpu River, and the new Pudong District across the water. Pudong houses the tall skyscrapers, the airport and a lot of business buildings. The waterfront on the Pudong side is also dotted with pricey apartment buildings. I didn’t have time to do a whole lot of sightseeing on the Bund or Nanjing Road (yet), though I intend to go back often. This is where I would stay if I were focused on pure tourist pursuits. The liveliness of Nanjing Road reminds me a little of the Las Vegas Strip: the neon signs, yes, but also, the sheer energy. There are so many shops and restaurants there, and these are all set amidst historical buildings with stunning late 20^th Century architecture. I confess that I am utterly enamored with the 1920s-1930s Old Shanghai era, and to be in the midst of these buildings, this area, the Bund, which was the heartbeat of that glamorous era is quite a thrill for me. For my Chinese-Am readers out there, you will totally understand when I say that the theme song to the 1980s TVB series “The Bund” played on loop in my head when I strolled the Bund. I half expected to see Chow Yun Fat (when he was a young wolf) in a tux, overcoat, and white scarf, strut down the Bund….and get gunned down by his evil business partner. His true love sobs uncontrollably, cradling his head in her arms, begging him to not leave her. He sighs twice, croaks out his love, then croaks. End scene. I think. I may need to rewatch it.

But I digress. The main reason for my going to the Huangpu District my first week was that I wanted to buy concert tickets. I just learned that Sammi Cheng, a Canto-Pop singer, was having a comeback concert in Shanghai this Saturday, and I wanted to check it out. If I had bought the tickets earlier, say on Monday or Tuesday, they could have delivered them to me at no extra cost. (Delivered by a maniac on a motorbike, I’m sure). However, I didn’t find out about the concert until Wednesday, so I had to go to the ticket sellers in person. I found the office pretty easily, without needing to take a cab or ask for directions yay me); it’s about 15 minutes from the Nanjing East Road metro station. I saw that they were selling Andy Lau tickets as well, and decided to get a ticket for that Canto-pop show, too. I noticed Beyonce and Linkin Park would be in town while I was here…I dunno if I wanna go. On the one hand, it would be quite a bizarre experience to see a primarily Chinese audience rock out to Beyonce and Linkin Park; on the other hand…I’m not a huge fan of either. And I’d like to try to squeeze in events that I can’t see fairly easily in the US. So we’ll see. I have a little time to decide.

I went with the mid-to-low range tickets; about $35 to $40 for both the Sammi Cheng and Andy Lau concerts. Not a huge fan of both, so I’m cool with so-so tickets. They had tickets as cheap as $10…I can’t even imagine what those are like. The ticket seller took Visa, so I was happy as a clam. I like charging when I can. Amazon points, you know.

Other miscellaneous musings:

I think I will overdose on super cheap Pearl Milk Tea. (60 cents!) I can’t stop myself from getting a cup, or two, or three, every day.

Girls here are so slender!! And the fashions…a lot of sparkly things, studded belts, colorful accessories. I guess if I had their physiques, I would wear hip huggers accented with bold studded colorful belts and tops trimmed in sparkly things. And their shoes! I am barely managing to stay upright on some of these straights in my trusty sneakers…yet I see these ladies in teensy little heels dashing around on uneven, unpaved streets. They got skillz. But back to the skinny issue. I was happy to see a young gal who wasn’t super skinny... in fact, I think she was probably my size. She was on the metro, and dressed in athletic wear. She had a gym bag with a Chinese athletic association emblazoned on it. I assume she’s an athlete. Then a thought crossed my mind: have the unsavory peeps been not messing with me because they think I’m an athlete, due to my, ahem, well…husky? Sturdy?..physique? Maybe they think I’m an athlete…a wrestler?..who can kick their arse? Hahahahahahahaha. Seriously, though, my feeling is that Shanghai is fairly safe. People are focused on making a living honestly, well legally. And there are so many opportunities here, it’s hard not to make a living if you’re willing to work. Of course, if you hang out in unsavory places, then the probability of unsavory things happening increases. But for the most part, Shanghai is so big, it’s easy to avoid the “bad” areas. And if you do find yourself in a bad area…cabs abound, and you can probably flag one and get the hell out of there quick enough. Or tell ‘em you’re a wrestler.

I seem to be a puzzle to many locals. They sense I’m not one of them, though I clearly am of Chinese descent. I get some curious glances, but not as many as visitors of non-Chinese descent, I’m sure. (Maybe they think I’m a famous wrestler?! I need a cool wrestling name.) What’s funny is I’ve been approached three times by Chinese citizens unfamiliar with the area asking for directions. So I can’t be that foreign-looking. Navigating the streets like a local certainly helps. I jaywalk and take tool-ish traffic etiquette in stride, just like them. My mandarin is improving a little. I am still very uncomfortable speaking with a local outside of the context of school. I have survived in restaurants mostly by pointing to menu entries (I can read ok) and saying in mandarin “I want this”. Seems to work fine.

Tipping. I love that I don’t need to tip, especially since the “double the tax” rule wouldn’t work here since there’s no tax…and then I’d actually have to figure out percentages, and believe you me, I suck at numbers. But back to tipping. Service industry peeps here will not accept tips...cabbies will give you exact change back, and don’t expect anything beyond what the meter says. My bellhop left immediately after leaving the bag in my room. No awkward pause for a tip. I haven’t been to a place that caters primarily to foreigners yet (like a huge Western hotel chain), maybe that will be different. Some larger, more Western restaurants add a 15% service charge, but they say so at the outset.

My hotel. The New Garden Hotel is pleasant. It seems to be a popular place for weddings, as the hotel houses a large lavish restaurant for wedding banquets, then has a dedicated set of rooms for wedding couples. They decorate those doors with the “Double Happiness” signs and lots of pink tulle. I thought that was cute. There are a couple of garden pools or ponds that house some koi and water plants. The ponds are pretty at night. I am not going to take any pictures, since any pics I take will pale in comparison to the gorgeously lit pics on the hotel’s website: http://newgarden.jinjianghotels.com/en_index.asp. There is a lush, bamboo-laden garden that you can easily imagine a cuddly pandie bear or two residing peacefully in. The garden is pleasant to sit in, though as I am not a huge nature person, the crickets and birds start getting to me after a little while. Why can’t you mute ‘em like a spa CD? The hotel also hosts conferences, so there’s a nice mix of Chinese and non-Chinese business people and tourists. There’s also a spa onsite. Though the word “spa” is a little misleading for me. It’s basically a small, serene space that houses a Japanese sauna. They have a relaxation lounge and a juice bar, and can only accommodate six guests every hour. And that’s it. No massages, no facials, no wraps. I need to find a spa that gives massages…that’s on the to-do list…over the next week or so. The hotel also has a beauty salon and a foot massage parlor. I haven’t had a chance to check out the foot massage parlor yet, as they are only open from 1pm to 7pm, basically the same time that I am in class or at dinner. I’ll try to check them out over the weekend. The rooms are okay…think slightly nicer than Best Western. They have a huge hotel staff. I saw more staff then guests the first few days. Breakfast buffet is included, and I guess it’s pretty comprehensive…including continental, western, and Chinese and Asian fare. There’s even a simple salad station, though why anyone would want salad in the morning (or ever, actually) is beyond me. I thought it interesting that they had two dining areas in the breakfast buffet: one with large, round tables, and one with smaller, square tables. The round tables were by the Asian foods station, where they had jook, miso, tofu “flower” (silky tofu in syrup), steam baskets of dim sum, fried rice, and noodles. The square tables were closer to the continental foods and salad station. Cultural eating habits study, much?

My First Full Day in Shanghai

Shanghai, October 14, 2007 (Sunday)

4am. I awake ravenous. Of course I would wake up and want food when NOTHING is open. I chug boiled water and scarf down the energy bars I packed. Never has an energy bar tasted so good.

5am. Shower, unpack. Check for free wifi. Piggyback on an unsecured network briefly before battery beeps again. I try to use my cool Kensington international travel adaptor in the outlets but it doesn’t work. Grumble grumble. Stoopid product.

7am. The breakfast buffet is open! I present my breakfast voucher and hit the buffet. I pile my plate high with noodles, rice, sausage, dim sum. I grab a couple of Danishes, a bowl of jook, and a cartoon of yogurt (called sour milk) that you drink with a straw. And coffee. Lots of coffee. Oh yeah, life is good.

8am. I consult my map, and decide to explore the area. The school is a ten-minute walk from the hotel, so I decide to swing by to make sure it really is a ten-minute walk. Well, kiddies. You know me and maps. I promptly walk 20 minutes in the wrong direction before realizing it, and then hightail it back. Thirty minutes later, I locate the commercial building where the school is located. Even better, I locate the awesome 6 story mal/supermarket Carrefoure. (Think China’s version Target). The place sells everything…from housewares, electronics, food, toiletries. And it has its own produce section, hot prepared foods section, and bakery. Heaven! I prowl the place for hours, sampling free BBQed squid and pork, ala Costco. Can I just live here, like Al Bundy? I stock up on tissue, instant noodles, snacks, drinks, etc., and also buy an adaptor. I am so proud of myself. I actually spoke with a sales associate, in mandarin, and we figured out which adaptor I needed. And I managed to not get suckered into buying a converter, since my laptop and other chargers are dual voltage. Yay me. I am astounded at how packed the market is. People everywhere, hungrily consuming. Consumerism at its finest.

12pm. I buy a cooked meal from the prepared foods counter (BBQ pork and squid) and take my huge load of stuff back to the hotel, where I plug in my laptop and have lunch. The hotel has HBO, so I watch The Lakehouse. Uh no comment. Wait, comment. WTF?

3pm. I make another sojourn into the neighborhood. I find a park, an art museum, a couple of schools (one for the visually impaired, one a dance academy) along with a hospital, and a pub. I am proud to say that I have already picked up the secret to navigating as a pedestrian in Shanghai. Just walk fearlessly. They will stop for you. If they see you pause, they will proceed. Now, that’s a little simplistic, but accurate for the most part. People obey lights, though if they can cheat, they will. Another tip: When crossing an intimidating intersection, shield yourself by walking behind a scrappy old lady. She knows what’s what.

5pm. My sleep pattern’s all shot. I want to sleep NOW. I force myself to stay up for a couple more hours before drifting off to sleep.

In Transit

October 12-13, 2007. (Friday and Saturday)

1am. OK, now this trip seems real. Boarding a plane makes it real. I find my center (sigh) seat. In the window seat is a young-ish (let’s say under 40) lady bundled up in a warm coat and mittens, a huge tote bag stuffed beneath the seat in front of her, and another bag stuffed into the seat pocket. I smile at her tentatively, thinking (let’s not antagonize the crazy mittened bag lady), and she gives me a blank look. Okie dokie, we’re off to a great start. The aisle seat next to me stays tantalizing empty until five minutes before take-off, when the arrival of a middle-aged guy dressed in all denim (matching denim shirt and jeans) puts a kibosh on my master plan to steal the aisle seat after take-off and put some much needed space between me and Crazy Mittened Bag Lady. The Row 63 Trio is complete. And so my journey begins – Snarky Mable with sidekicks Crazy Mittened Bag Lady (CMBL) and Denim Man (DM).

First order of business: Establishing armrest territory. To her credit, CMBL gave up her armrest without a fight. DM, on the other hand, tried to hog his left armrest. After some not so subtle maneuvering on my part, I was able to uphold the unwritten rule of “center seat gets the armrests”, and declare victory in the Row 63 Armrest Conflict. Mission Accomplished with Strategery.

Thankfully, I slept for the first three hours before dinner is served. Our options? Beef, chicken, or pasta. CMBL wanted a vegetarian meal, but didn’t order one in advance. She began getting a little shrill (into my left ear, mind you). The flight attendant saved the day by assuring her that the pasta had no meat. CMBL (henceforth known as CMVBL, Crazy Mittened Vegetarian Bag Lady) grudgingly took her meal, and I gleefully choose beef, as does DM. The beef is dreck, aspiring to be a TV dinner, but falling short. That doesn’t faze me, though. I make a point of finishing every bite, stabbing the beef pieces with ferocious gusto, all for CMVBL’s benefit.

Refreshed from Passive Aggressive Beef Consumption (along with a passable strawberry mousse cake and a yummy dinner roll – really, how could something slathered in butter, NOT be yummy --), I explore the in-flight entertainment options. I am happy to see that we all get our own screens, and that we have a nice mix of Western and Asian movies and mixed entertainment. I catch Knocked Up, along with bits of Pirates 3 and Die Hard 19, before drifting off to sleep.

I awake to the comforting aroma of Cup o’ Noodles. I notice a lady in the aisle catty corner from me has a steaming Styrofoam cup of rehydrated goodness, and suddenly I am ravenous. I push the attendant button, and within a minute, our impossibly gorgeous Chinese female flight attendant is attentively at my beck and call. I decide to mix things up a little (I had spoken in English the last couple of encounters, as CMVBL spoke English to her) and try out my mandarin. I ask for “bei men” (cup noodle). She smiles and brings me back my very own MSG-laden cuppa shortly. And as luck would have it, a Canto-pop Charity Concert is beginning on the TVB channel. Bliss. I feel a bit like a Hong Kong local – slurping cuppa noodles with chopsticks while watching a TVB charity concert.

After my snack, I channel surf again catching bits of a couple of Hong Kong movies, an old episode of 30 Rock and Fraser. I am slightly drowsy, and think that I’m watching a special 3-D version of Fraser when the image begins to move towards me. Three seconds of “how cool” before I realize that it’s actually the dude in front of me, deciding to take full advantage of the “lounge back” button. Resignedly, I begin the seat back daisy chain, and lounge back as well. I picture every center seat occupant behind me longing back like dominoes.

Our captain, in his purring British-accented voice (he sounds quite dashing, like a bit of James Bond – Daniel Craig, mind you – with a touch of Wesley from Angel) announces that we are a couple hours away from Hong Kong. We are served breakfast (choices: seafood congee (jook, or rice porridge) or ham and eggs. I decide to go local and have the jook. CMVBL, who again, did not order a vegetarian meal in advance, must make due with no entrée and an extra banana-nut muffin and fruit cup supplied by the gracious flight attendant.

We’ve arrived! In true Hong Kong spirit, the seatbelts go clicking off the second we land, with no one paying any attention to the flight attendant or the lit “seatbelt” sign. We all hustle to get our bags from the bins, as if there is no time. People, we’re in Steerage, Rows 60-80. If we get our bags now, we will have to hunch uncomfortably with them for nearly 15 minutes while Rows 1 to 59 de-plane before us. Of course, CMVBL is determined to get her bag NOW, so I join the fray and grab my bag, hunching uncomfortably for a good 10 minutes before we can begin inching forward.

6:15am. Hong Kong Airport. I have a three-hour layover here. My connecting flight to Shanghai doesn’t have a gate assigned yet, and the main Transfers gate isn’t even open to allow for the security check yet. I hightail it to a restroom to freshen up, then re-join the grumpy line at the Transfers gate. At the security check, my $3 bottle of water purchased at SFO causes me to have my bag pulled off the line. Thankfully, all they want is for me to surrender the water. I would have hated to be wanded and what not. You do not want to wand me after a 14-hour flight, guys.

I wander the terminal, waiting for the stores and food court to open. This is a huge, gleaming terminal. The shopping is pretty impressive, with high-end boutiques galore. And the food court is pretty cool, too. Western brands like BK, Popeye’s and Pizza Hut, but also some great Hong Kong chains like Café de Coral, which is a franchise of “tea restaurants” that serve awesome coffee and tea drinks, along with comfort food like sammies and noodles, at affordable prices. Many locals were eating there, because, as it turns out, while everything at the food court was inflated in price, this local Café kept their prices at pretty much the same level as their other branches outside of the airport. So for $4 US (which would have barely gotten me a cup of coffee at the Starbucks counter nearby), I had a steaming bowl of noodles, a pineapple butter roll, and a cup of hot, yummy “Mandarin Duck”, a drink with half coffee and half milk tea. I heart Hong Kong tea cafes.

After that lovely interlude, I take advantage of the free Wi-Fi and log on. My battery beeps weakly, and I dash off a couple of emails before shutting down.

9am. I board my Dragon Air flight to Shanghai. I love the name Dragon Air. It could be impressive and majestic (as it is meant to be), or it could be juvenile and giggle-inducing. Guess which one it was for me. The 2.5 hour flight, well, flew by. We were served brekkie, and I decided to try the dim sum. Not bad. Though the pork bun was as hard a rock. As we descend into Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, my window seat gives me my first glimpse of Shanghai. I see much green land, canals of water, charming single story houses, and large buildings, which I suspect are factories. Pudong, the area where the airport is, is madly being developed, but there is still a lot of open space on the outskirts, and it’s a nice site to see.

12pm. De-plane onto the tarmac. How cool and retro. Hop onto a shuttle bus to the terminal. After I hand in my form declaring that I did not have improper relations with livestock or chickens, I get in line with my entry card at the immigration desk, “Foreigners” section. I am a foreigner! How cool. I get some weird looks when it’s my turn at the desk and they peruse my passport. I guess they can’t believe I’m that old. I’ll take that as a compliment.

12:30. Nothing to declare at customs, so I sail past into the Arrival gate, where mobs of people waiting to greet the arrivals are. No paps, so no stars on board. Check. Lots of peeps holding signs. I spy a woman holding up a sign with my name on it. Oh I get a sign, too! After exchanging awkward “Ni hao”s and Hellos, my school liaison, Seven, takes me to the taxi stand and we a hop a cab from Pudong, to the Hong Qiao District, where my school and hotel are located. It’s a 45 minute cab ride. A prayer-inducing, white knuckled clutching, “oh my God I need Dramamine” yearning, “I will not die like this” chanting, cab ride. You know how I said you need a pair of brass ones to drive in Costa Rica? You need a huge pair of brass ones to drive in Shanghai. My lord. They drive with abandon, cutting each other off at the last second, making multiple lane changes in one sweep, navigating sharp curves at full speed. I would start cussing/honking my horn/flipping a birdie if I got cut off the way my cabbie did. But he took it in stride. I think the fact that he in turn cut off another car made me think that this is normal. And in fact, it is. Horns are for alerting people that you are about to do something wacky, and that’s that. Between the praying, the white knuckling, and vomit suppressing, I manage to catch glimpses of the high-rises, and the bustling city. We stayed on the expressway the whole ride, so I couldn’t see much except for the high rises. The Pearl Tower, a wacky, tall, slightly phallic structure jutted out amidst the speeding blur, as well as the various construction cranes.

1:30pm. I check into my hotel, New Garden Hotel, a charming place with a Suzhou style garden and ponds. After handing me my welcome pack with itinerary for orientation day on Monday, escorting me to my room, and making sure I have her cell phone number, Seven takes her leave. I collapse on my extra firm bed in exhaustion. I barely have the energy to call home and report that I made it there ok, before I begin sleeping off my jet lag.

And we're off!

October 11-12, 2007 (Thursday and Friday)

8pm. Two hours before I need to leave for the airport. I am sitting atop my rolling duffle (well, actually, sprawled not-so-gracefully on it) grunting (again, not so gracefully, more like gutturally) as I try to flatten it just enough so that the zipper will close. I congratulate myself on managing to pack all my things into one nifty rolling duffle (thank you dear pals from Berkeley for the gift cards that paid for this duffle). The duffle isn’t huge, so it’s manageable. I compressed two weeks worth of clothes with those wondrous space bags, and brought a mini library of stuff to read, along with various other necessities. I will have two carry-on pieces: a backpack stuffed with my laptop and reading material, and my traveling mascots, Kevin Bacon the Predator Pig, and Peking Rubber Duckie; and a tote with an awesome “flight survival kit” courtesy of my pal Sau Lai (she thought of everything – from Oreos to ginger pills, from Airborne to facial cleansing cloths), a change of clothes, and more reading material. (Sidebar: I have an irrational fear of being stranded with nothing to entertain me.) See, if you plan well in advance (all hail my master packing list), it’s ok to procrastinate execution until the day you leave.

9pm. Dammit. Did I pack my vitamins? Did I bring extra sunscreen? An umbrella? Why the hell did I procrastinate packing? Stoopid list.

10:45pm. Checked in aok. (Cathay Pacific has wonderful service…they emerge from behind their check in counters to graciously invite you to their counter…then they emerge again after you’re done checking in and present you your boarding pass with two hands, bowing ever-so-slightly, very respectfully. How nice. They would get A+ for service if not for the fact that they couldn’t finagle an aisle or widow seat for me.

11pm. Passed security aok. At this point, I am cursing the two carry-on idea, especially since the laptop needs to be in its own bin, toiletries need to be pulled out in their ziplock bag, shoes and jacket need to be removed, etc. All in all, I monopolize three bins, in addition to the two freestanding bags. I do a mad scramble after everything goes through the machine. Shoes, laptop, and all my other crap. Check.

11:15pm. And now we wait. I am going through Daily Show and Colbert Report withdrawal. Need. Snarky. Comedy. Desperate, I pull out my brand new copy of Stephen Colbert’s “I Am America (And So Can You)” and try to get a Colbert fix. While funny, it’s just not the same…I pull out the iPod next, which is loaded with an audio version of the book, read by the wonderful Mr. Colbert himself. Better, but still not the same…oh Stephen, I miss you so.