14,112

That's how many miles I logged between Wednesday and Sunday.  Needless to say, traveling is hard.  I should be thankful for things like planes and technology.  I couldn't imagine being born in a time with only boats and telegrams.  It's hard to complain about sitting down for 14 hours and showing up halfway across the earth, or using facetime and ipads to talk.  Still, doing the Chicago-Shanghai flight twice in 5 days is rough.  It was nice to get home even just for a few days though.  A little vacation with some coworkers is on the itinerary this weekend, so here's to hoping they kick their tea habit for some pijo (beer).

Marco!

If you didn't think “Polo!” you missed out on one of the best childhood pool games.  Marco Polo was the first expat in China (if you forget all those other people that migrated over but we don’t count like most of history).  He went to West Lake in Hangzhou, and proclaimed the city was “greater than any in the world”.  I was not disappointed.  Just one hour outside the city by high speed train, Hangzhou was the perfect weekend getaway.  It had everything in abundance: mountains, water, temples, old boats, tea plantations on hillsides, and people.  So many people.  There’s an expression in China that roughly translates to “people mountain, people see”.  Anywhere that's scenic will be overrun with tourism.  It wasn't a big deal though.  The lake was still relaxing and beautiful.  As hard as I tried to get good pictures, it doesn't come close capturing what I saw.

 

I actually kicked off the weekend the exact opposite of relaxing – at a beer festival.  I was expecting parks, beer tents, maybe some folk bands, and people in plaid.  Instead I got dj’s, models, and blow up Disney characters, but there were also a bunch of great local beers.  They had De Halve Maan, which is a sentimental favorite from Bruges. 

Back to the US this weekend!

Art

My New Year’s resolution was art.  Well, more specifically, more of it.  When things get hectic it’s hard to make time for reading, concerts, and art…things.  So far I've done pretty well.  I’d say this blog counts for writing.  I haven’t read nearly as much as I’d hoped.  As of this past weekend I can add a music festival to the list though. 

The 3-day Strawberry Music Festival was going on, and I took full advantage of a Friday holiday.  I’ll cut to the chase – the music wasn't good.  Most of the music was either way too clubby or just plain bad.  There was one band that reminded me a little bit of the chili peppers, but it was hard to get in to it with the language barrier (my fault, I know).  The headliner was The Hives, who I liked back in the day.  Fifteen years does things to people though.  The lead singer’s constant “do you like rock and roll?!” chant was a little silly.  However, it was a perfect day to be outside in a huge riverfront park, listen to live music and drink $2 beers.  I went with a couple friends from work, and they knew some people there as well.  It was good to get out, meet some people, and take it easy on the three day weekend.

Boardwalk between two of the stages

 The main stage early in the day

Hipsters and selfies in the way of the skyline 

To be honest, I don't always understand the “it’s too crowded I won’t go there” crowd.  While I’m first in line to duck out of an 8^th inning baseball game that looks over, the crowds don’t stop me from coming.  Whatever it is: parking, tickets, lines, etc. usually isn't that big of a deal.  So here’s my “it’s too crowded I won’t go there” moment.  The brand new History museum and sculpture park opened up last weekend.  I showed up, walked through the park, and made my way over to the museum.  Evidently so did half of Shanghai.  The lines were comically long.  I’m fine waiting and dealing with crowds, but every person has their breaking point.  History museum wasn't worth it.  There are no black Friday specials at the end of that line – just taxidermy.  I did get some good pictures of the park though.  The museum and everything around was pretty amazing.  I’d say the running theme so far is best laid plans go awry, but whatever they become is still pretty fun.  

Excited to get home next week for a few days! Fingers crossed I'll have a travel update before then.

Habits

There’s a great tradition of sharing here.  My coworkers regularly rotate who buys lunch, coffee, or gifts for the team.  Most weeks someone on my team gets juice fresh juice for everyone.  I've tried and tried to get in the rotation of buying, but they just won’t let me!  Everyone’s too nice.  So if they won’t let me buy juice, what’s the American thing to do?   Cookie delivery.

It’s the one habit I can’t shake.  There are so many desserts, and they keep ending up on my plate.  It doesn’t help that I had an Easter basket delivery from someone a few weeks ago...

My favorite place even started carrying cupcakes.  What kind of person would I be if I didn't try one?

I guess it’s not the only habit.  I keep complaining to myself about not traveling, and getting around China.  Then I go and do stuff like this.

The European tour was in town, and for the first time ever a Chinese citizen won on home soil.  It was a good time, except for my stupid sun burn.  I’m religious about sunscreen back home, and yet completely blew it off here. 

There's one other evil habit.  Uber.  It's how I get everywhere.  As of this weekend Uber China just got upgraded.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty packed.  I actually am planning on traveling soon, so I hope to have some great pictures and stories.  If there’s anything you want to see let me know!  Hard to think there’s only two months left.

Decisions

Malcolm Gladwell once wrote “truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking”.  There comes a point in every person’s life where you have to decide what kind of person you want to be.  I faced one such moment this past weekend.

How much working out will fix what I’m about to do?  Should I get something Mexican, like I always do?  Not this time.  It turns out I’m a Sichuan hot dog, and chili cheese fry kind of guy.

This great new hot dog place opened up in Shanghai, and it didn’t take long for me to show up.  Ever since my beloved Hot Doug’s closed in Chicago, I’ve sought a replacement.  This was really good stuff, and the owner was incredibly friendly.  He kept offering suggestions and samples.  It’s not a stretch to say I’ll be back.

I never thought I’d get to come back to China.  So while it wasn’t the easiest decision it’s been an unbelievable experience.  I’m so freaking happy Rachel was able to come with me, and experience something that might be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.  Her vlog has the best pictures from the week, but here are a few of my favorites.  And in case you’re wondering, the snake from our street food tour was actually pretty good.

Mulan

Greetings, blog readers! Rachel here, finally posting one week after returning from an amazing six days in China. In keeping with Ben’s style, I’ve chosen one word to define my post: Mulan. Mulan is a story about expectations, reality, and surprises. As I’ve thought about our week in China, the thing I loved most about it was that it while it was everything you might imagine, it was also full of big city surprises. You visit one country, but get two China’s. Despite Ben telling us how modern Shanghai really is, I still had very traditional expectations of China. I expected I’d be weary of every meal, but instead we ate delicious dumplings, duck, and pepperoni pizza and even visited some microbreweries. I thought I’d be shopping for tea and lipstick cases, which I certainly did, but we also perused Louis Vuitton and saw more Prada and Gucci stores than I’ve ever seen in one city. (Ben says that trying to stop me from shopping is like trying to stop a freight train.) We explored beautiful temples and gardens, and of course the Great Wall, but also took in the skyline and view at The Bund and had cocktails at the Waldorf. You could say the same about New York, I suppose; there’s always new and old anywhere, but in Shanghai, there’s such a stark contrast between the two. Some of my favorite photos are from the Jing’an Temple where you see the modern buildings in the background.

Or, you could just say that sometimes you see the China you saw in the Disney animated version of Mulan, and sometimes you see the China that looks like a scene from Sex & The City.

Either way, I’ve decided to illustrate this point by continuing this post as a vlog. (Video + Blog = Vlog. I can’t help it, I’m a tech teacher.) Enjoy!

Preconceptions

Never mind all that stuff I said about social inequality and poverty.  Some might say that’s communist propaganda.  I’m in Shanghai, a city dominated by capitalism and the obscenely rich.  See the skyline:

How much better does it look from this angle?!

How about a boring hotel parking lot?  Look how it’s instantly upgraded with a Rolls and Porsche.

Just look at this Bentley.  It’s almost like God is blessing it (as he should).

And I swear I’m not stalking them, but Rolls Royce’s are everywhere here.  It only took me a few days to accumulate these after deciding to show off the cars here.

In fact, Rolls Royce says their best-selling market is China (link).  Maybe this looks normal-ish to you.  That’s the way it should.  I think I had some preconceptions about what to expect in Shanghai.  In 2003 I only saw bicycles and construction when I expected temples and pictures of Mao.  I didn't learn my lesson.  This time around I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn't this.  I hope if anyone reading this has some doubts or concerns on what it’s like to visit china - know that Shanghai is world class.

Rachel came to visit last week, and it was amazing.  We went all around Shanghai and Beijing.  She might guest blog soon, so you can finally hear another voice than mine on this place.  There are hundreds of pictures to sort through, and I hope to have them up as soon as I’m over this food poisoning thing (stupid vegetables).