Every journey starts with 1000 miles of red tape…..

Hello everyone, I am back online. Well, that only applies if anyone out there is visiting my blog. :) Let's hope so. Things should really be getting better. After leaving the States, I came back to Taiwan, and felt like I had been hit with the culture shock stick. I couldn't get to grounded, as I zipped around town trying to get things done. It hit me as I arrived that my trip to China a week early was a waste of money because I could have applied for a 14 day visitor visa and stayed in Taiwan. Oh well, then I also realized that I am paying for two months on an apartment that I wont be using. God!! I could have placed all my stuff in storage at Bike Farm. ARGGGHHH!! It seems as if I have a leak tied to the relation of money somewhere in my spiritual area. Anyway, I got on my plane to China, and 1st I had to stop in HK. I thought that would be able to get a visa and then hop on the plane. NOT. I found out that I had to stay overnight and then pay for a hotel. So that was more money out of pocket as well as a lost day in Hong Kong. I think I have been in Hong Kong about 9 times now. So, I stayed in the hotel, got some Popeye’s at the airport,(don't eat it ) and relaxed. Then I got up and got my visa the next day. What was so frustrating about this whole trip was the attitude I was getting from the women. I know I was jet lagged and full of attitude myself, but these women seem to be on life long PMS. And it didn't quit when I got to Shanghai. I was like okay; I am not spending 2 months of my life dealing with PMS. So, I just prayed on it and chilled.

The next day which was the full day I had in Shanghai, I walked around,which is the best way to see any new place you are in. I get that you can really walk all over Shanghai to see what most of it is. To me, Shanghai is like Hong Kong, just smoggy as hell. What Beijing has as big, Shanghai has tall. It probably will be similar to HK in 15 years. The only thing I noticed was that not everyone here was attached to a cell phone. People don't stare as much and they aren't as friendly as you would be told to believe. In fact, you get 'hello' a lot, but that is about it. I only found one place that was worthy of shopping. On Nan(4)jing(2)dong(1)lu(4)and sha(4)shi(4) lu there was a street with junk goods and knock off North Face stuff. They were very aggressive about bargaining and I guess that's the norm. On Nanjing Dong lu, a main street in Shanghai, has a lot of Western things. It occurred to me that the more globalized we become, the less of our uniqueness is available. It's a shame, because then traveling will be pointless. I think the point of traveling, is to be able to see things that one would not be able to see, eat, or buy in one's home country. But that's not the case anymore, as I see the same fashions and styles here as I have in Taiwan, and America. You would have to really look deep to see what is left of what is 'China' or 'Shanghai' as it seems there is the trend to be like 'Western'. I have a couple of hours to spend in Shanghai and will be trying to squeeze in more stuff. Then it's off to Beijing.
Oh if you wonder how my Chinese is holding up? Its gone! 2 weeks in the states seems to have erased all that I learned and reading here! I feel illiterate. Oh well, time to study hard!!!