Day 2 - Sept 30

Jetlag woke Alex up at 3am. He started endless lines of questions that kep Andy up and finally woke all of us. Being hungry while the rest of the household is still asleep, we decided to venture out on our own for breakfast around 6:00am...

There are lots of senior citizens exercising in the common areas of the complex, on the side walks of streets, just about every corner. Some of them line up by the dozens and follow one leader, others are on their own. Some group is doing the typical Tai Ji Quan and others are waving around wooden swords or even doing latin dance. Yes you heard me right. They were dancing in the street to mamba and samba...

The traffic on the streets are still light. Most stores are not open yet. The air has the familar sweet scent from the Huang Pu river's water. I can always taste the fragrance even in their faucet water here. Although the water here is harder than I remembered. My hands feel reall beat to wash in it for long. It's a good thing I don't have to do dishes here. The house keepter/cook comes daily and takes care of all the cleanning, gorcery purchases, cooking and laundry. I always have to get used to the fact that someone else is busy doing all these while I'm just sitting around chatting or watching TV. I never have this kind of break in the States. So I have to keep reminding myself that she is paid to do this. But I digress.

Comparing to 2001, there are many more new stores on the streets near where my parents live. They reminds me of Taipei and Tokyo streets with all the advertising posted in the display windows showing all the too-familiar brands' logos except with Chinese names. There are Sprite mascot painted buses, Danon yogurt in the corner convenient stores, P&G shampoo/conditioner products lined shelves, Herbal Essence, Vidal Sasson, Johnson & Johnson...the list can go on and on...

The area on Xian Xia (仙霞) Rd. is known as the little Taiwan of Shanghai. However, the latest shopping center is actually named "Los Angeles" where they copied the format of a typical L.A. Chinese center where stores and shops lined up in a semi-circle with parking lot in front center of the center. Aside from the smaller scale parking lot, the rest quite resembles the center we see on Valley blvd. of San Gabriel area of L.A.

We found a local street vendors who make bao-zi and pot stickers fresh in the morning whee hours. The pot stickers are sooo good, Alex must have ate 5 of them before we got home. However, I'm sure there are plenty of animal fats or grease used in it.

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The first order of business on my agenda, planned out by my mother, is to hit her favorite salon to get a hair cut. Me being me and working at Siebel, have not visited my barber for the last 3-4 months. I'm due for a cut no matter which way you look at it. So I went. Her hair dresser is a young man in his mid-twenties. He is extremely thin, too thin to be a male fashion model. His thinness made his long slender fingers look even more extreme and un-natural. But those fingers must do great with sorting hairs. Both of my parents go there always once a week. Since it's so cheap to get your hair wasthed and blown dry, prepped for RMB10, they use their service just for that once a week even when they don't need a cut. However the girl who washes their hair and the hair dresser really don't know much about my parents. According to them, I'm a chatter box compared to my folks. I guess I am an open-book to them. I know this is something my mother would advice me against. "Keep things to yourself." She always say, "Don't tell people everything." She is always on the defense. I don't blame her being so. I don't think I can survive as well here as she did. But I enjoy chatting with them. They're also insterested in asking me all kinds of questions once they found out that I'm visiting from America. There are silly conversations ranging from 'why air planes now-a-days really could flight all the way across Pacific without having to stop half way' and 'America's aircraft carriers lingers near China not because the fighter jets cannot make it across in one flight' to 'how astronomical the amount of money an average software engineer makes in California vs how much of that money can really be saved...'

If you're wonderring what I did to my hair, you will have to wait for my latest picture posting... :)

The Flight

We took Air Canada from SFO to Vancouver. Then transferred from Vancouver to a 767 for the leg to Shanghai. I chose this route because what we learned from our last trip. Transferring flight at the end of a 15-hour flight is not fun at all. So transferring at the end of a short 2-hour flight is a much better option.

There were 2 lessons learned during this flight. First, Air Canada is not part of the international terminal at SFO. We learned the hard way by walking over to Terminal 1 from International terminal after our ride has left us at the curb.

Second, $100 US currency is deemed worthless on the flight. We couldn't even buy a breakfast with that money until we found a $20 bill in Andy's camel pack.

The 15-hour flight from Vancouver to Shanghai was fairly uneventful in contrast. It turned out to be a good thing to order vegetarian meal and kids meal along with our tickets when we booked the trip through Expedia. Alex and I always gotten our meals first before they started serving the rest of the economy passengers. And the 3 laptop batteries all got used up entertaining Alex for almost 6 hours plus portion of the flight with video games we brought along.

Pudong airport is the newer one of the two international airports servicing flights into Shanghai. Yet, there are already signs of aging and deteriation from how I remembered it the last time I visited in 2001. Almost as soon as we entered the terminals, the familiar sense of hostility hit me. I felt this way whenever I'm back in China. The feeling of insecurity. My inner voice nags at me to stay alert and be prepared to fight. Not literally go punch someone in the face, but the anxiety of it is true enough when most everyone else around us are so much more "asertive," to put it nicely. You cannot afford to be polite because none of it will be given back in return. Especially when it comes to standing in lines. A word of advice, "Don't leave a gap in front of you at any time." However I must admit Shanghai is not the worst place I felt that way. Afterall, Shanghai in China is like Paris in France. Its people are not yet 100% about competition and profit at all times, although it's getting pretty close to it in recent years.

Departure from SFO

So we have tickets for 8:00am flight from SFO to Vancouver which means getting to the airport at 6:00am in the morning the latest. And there is the lucky someone who signed up to drive us there. The plan was to get to bed early tonight... but you know how it goes... the last 10% packing took the most time and the rest of hours flew by just picking things up around the house and getting the three of us washed up. At least Alex is finally in bed.
---- just a few lines to test out the blog page for now -----

2 days before departure

As we prepare to take Alex back to Shanghai the 2nd time since his arrival in our lives, the long dormant writer inside me awoke. I can't deny perhaps this is brought on by my recently found interest in reading politically charged books which my left-wing sister keeps leaving behind intentionally or order for me (i.e., Fast Food Nation and Micheal Moore's best sellers). Whether you view it as a journal or a blog of our journey, I plan to bring to you the daily (or every other day) accounts of the events as an extremely subjective (entertaining) journalist (a dream assignment of any journalist, no doubt).

As globalization quickly engulfs the small planet we inhabit on, homogenizes every country and city with the same stores, merchandise and value system, I find myself incapable of choosing any commodity either in China or in the U.S. to bring with me as suitable gifts for everyone here or in Shanghai. What can't you find here in California's ever-growing chain of 99 Ranch market and Asian gift shops that you cannot find in Shanghai? Afterall, if it is not FDA approved, do I dare to risk anyone's health here with potential SARs or bird flu infection... And what practical gifts can I possibly find here in California that you cannot find equivalents for in Shanghai's US or other foreign establishments? The best option I came up with is Sharper Image's ionic air filter for my all too health conscious parents and the infamous US grown Hua Qi ginseng for my grandmother who lives in China. Wasn't it used to be people brought ginseng from China to America? My parents, on the other hand who specified the make and model of their gift, are more Americanized than I am these days. They're afterall, business owners now, who must play by the rule of a extremly energized capitalistic and corrupt economic system.

Therefore, my best offer is to simply share with you my trip itself accompanied with all my 2 cents of opinion on everything.

If a picture can really tell what a thousand words can't, then maybe I'm wasting my time. I will for sure have plenty of pictures from the trip that I can share with you all. However a picture is really nothing more than a picture these days. As if our lives are not so bombarded as is by hundreds and thousands of pictures daily from every possible media channel we're exposed to, including our own family members who refuse to write instead just snap with their latest acquisition from BestBuy or The Good Guys, me included. Words, personal letters, however have never seemed more precious to me these days.

Obviously, this choice of gift requires more precious time from both side. If you choose not to read this blog forced upon you, please tell me and I promise my feelings won't be hurt and I'll cross your name off of my address book forever....! J/K :)

--------------2 days before departure, Sunday, 9/26/2004, 4:00 am --------------------------
Maybe now I can finally go to sleep...