Falling asleep on the couch the night you are suppose to pack for a trip is never a good thing. This is probably the only time that i travelled without a check-in suitcase, so lounging around with a backpack and a suitor (SG’s suggestion, good one in that) was not exactly convenient but it works for a solo run.
Korean Airline’s air hostesses are HOT. HOT HOT HOT!!! In general anyway. Having forgotten to bring any sort of entertainment along for a long haul trip, that was the only thing that kept me sane for the whole duration. Having a full row of korean air steward trainees help as well. But what doesn’t help tho, is the fact that i was sitting right at the back of the plane, right next to the bathrooms. The constant flushing drove me nuts and not forgetting the inflow of bathroom users. How can you sleep when there are people literally staring at you while waiting in line for the bathroom?
Hazy Nanjing. This is on a good day.
Since it was my first time on Korean Airline, i didn’t realize that they serve Bibimbab for lunch (with the paste and rice and everything) and some weird burger for supper. Beef was quite prominent in their dishes. Or maybe because by being assigned to the very back of the plane means having the options of having only leftover food on the tray, which usually means the shittier option. Not sure about the pickles that came with it tho.
You do what the locals do. Walk when they walk. Stop when they stop.
Arrival hall in Shanghai airport is quite confusing. The minute you walk out of that place, there are literally countless hands and cardboards with names waving everywhere. Combine that with a winding exit, it’s pretty hard to find the cardboard with your name on it. Jack, the driver from the other company i am visiting, was kind enough to drive 4 hours down from Nanjing to Shanghai to pick me up. He was expecting someone who is towards the 40yo mark. Sorry to disappoint.
Meeting room, where we worked for the week.
As expected, at 9pm, we headed towards Nanjing in our 4 hours drive. Communication was ok, at least that was what Jack said. He “understood” my “mandarin”. With that, we drove off into the night in an almost consistent 120kmph speed on the freeway (wow, never have thought China has speed cameras), with Jay Chou in the background.
On our way to Nanjing, Jack suggested to drive thru Shanghai city to have a look at the night view. With 24million people residing in the city itself, thats more than the whole population of Australia. I don’t know about you but to drive through the city at 120kmph for more than 20min, and STILL in the city, thats impressive. We are talking about constant high rise buildings all the way, its pretty amazing.
By the time i checked into the hotel, it was 1am. Understandably, i was knackered but stayed up for most of the time because of the time difference. I knew it would be a long day ahead tomorrow. By the way, the bed was so big that i slept horizontally across the bed, almost in full stretch.
It was great to finally meet up with the few people we’ve been working with in China. Communication is definitely hard, but not undoable, it just takes time and alot more effort 
. One thing for sure, i have never been forced to speak this much mandarin for a long long time. So much so i had trouble adapting to english when i got back to San Francisco. The way i think and the way i speak had to be altered when i was away, so i ended up mumbling half the time in the taxi on my way home. But hey, i learnt alot of mandarin while i was away, regardless of how much they were laughing at my chinese standard.
The first night i was there, a couple of us went to dinner, courtesy of the company’s CEO. I feel bad being so under-dressed for it, but hey, i’m just an engineer, can’t really expect proper pants and collar shirts, but rather, you get tees and jeans. The only time i’ll dress up (albeit more towards the other extreme) is when i’m attending a wedding. Thats about it. Anyway, restaurant is a nice one, with nice views and lovely settings. When the first dish came, it was abalone slice with something else. I couldn’t help but prepare myself for what is installed for the rest of the night. I think about 12-15 dishes later, i looked at Sunny (my co-worker) and we both gave each other the “i’m stuffed” look. That whole mini crab half way through dinner was the killer i swear. After that, we went to the pub/club/bar strip, called, i think, 1912. I think its just the road name.
My trusted guides for my whole stay.
The one we end up getting pushed to was a little dodgy, its ok, maybe i’m just not really accustomed to it. There is a stage inside, with tables all around. Main drink, it seems, is Budlight (i kid you not). Its some local beer or something, but it tasted like a fusion of everything. Light colored beer. Finger food is popcorn. Yea a far cry from the wedges im used to. Few nights after that we had fruits to go with the alcohol in another pub. thats something new to me as well. Anyway, most of the night reside on listening to singing performance from stage, with 2 long hair dudes, one playing electronic organ and the other electric guitar, singing to some taiwanese tunes. Theres really not much room to talk since its so bloody loud, so it was really down to listening to the singing and trying to stay awake from the jetlag. Another thing was, there were a bunch of ladies sitting in the bar area, most of them don’t look over 20yo, which i gathered were people you can pay for to talk to (better word is maybe, as a company). Maybe this is just the way it works in China, to cheer up the guests. *shrugs*
They love their food. Lurvveeee.
Food in Nanjing is tasty, spicy(some of them) and oily. From what i have been told, it used to be very blend because it is poorer in comparison to areas such as Beijing and Shanghai. But as tourism took over, food started getting that extra bits into it. Now, its….god damn oily. As expected, you get to see alot of other food type, like duck head, duck tongue, pig’s ears (very chewy), skinned king frog, dog meat (i OBJECT) etc etc. People love their food here (such understatement). Somehow i get the feeling that waiter/waitresses get treated like shit (just a gut feel).
On thursday after work, AoFei and Shirley brought me along to a shopping area (don’t expect me to remember destination names. My mandarin = bad). The usual rule while out and about in China is always, secure your belongings. Wallet are not to be in the back pockets and cameras get dump in my jacket’s inside pocket. Every few minutes i would make sure that things are still in place, everyone walking pass you becomes a suspect. Its actually quite bizarre. It must have also been my first trip to another destination that i didn’t end up buying anything. Literally, i got back to San Francisco with nothing new but dirty laundry. Things might be cheap, but i wasn’t really into shopping to begin with, i was there to see the place. After that, we decided to go for a drink (or two), so we went off to the same place, 1912, but a different bar. This is alot more happening than the first one i been to. It was packed, the crowd was about my age (or younger), smoke filled place, and plenty of people dancing to the beat. The DJ was going overdrive and every once a while there will be few dancers (from the bar itself) going on to some special platform to shake their thing. The night out was quite fun, and funny. 3 of us had a bottle of red wine, 2 bottle of beer and a bottle of Chivas Regal (mixing it up with green tea). On the side, we have fruits. I remembered chatting with AoFei and Shirley, a lot of drinks and still feeling fine after we’ve finished the whole lot. The next thing i remembered was in the taxt, feeling that i would throw up at any opportunity and feeling extremely sleepy. By the time i realize, i woke up from my sleep and it was time to shower and get to work. Little did i know, i had to be helped back into the hotel room (i didn’t puke, thank god) the night before. Shirley ended up throwing up in my bathroom (i can confirm it the next morning when i went for a bath) and fell asleep in my bath tub (sounds familiar, Jon?). Ao Fei was the one who survived the whole ordeal, he fell asleep on my sofa. The next morning was quite painful, my head was hurting really badly and i seriously thought about skipping work.
So for the whole day, i zoned in and out, but surprisingly i was fine, just short of appetite. As me and Sunny said good bye to everyone (it is Friday afterall), we went back to the hotel to drop our bags and took a taxi to look for a place for a good relaxing massage. 2 heavenly hours, full body and foot massage, for a grand total of 17USD. It was both relaxing and painful at times, and i can’t quite understand how Sunny slept through it all (maybe its the extra body flesh).
My flight out of Nanjing is at 5pm Saturday, so Shirley was kind enough to show me few of the more historical places around Nanjing in the morning. From what i gathered from my parents, i have been to some of these places before. I don’t remember jack shit. I did not realize how symbolic this place is until half way through the tour. By the way, we walked for about 5-6 hours, but it was an awesome day for a walk, cool air and all. Tho it was a little crowded with tons of Taiwanese tourists. Like most chinese monuments and structures, it is highly sophisticated and built in a certain way for a reason. Every detail is not spared. Why is the whole area formed like an alarm bell? Why are there 392 steps? Why is it that when you look up you see the actual steps and when you look down you only see the flat platforms in between the stairs? Why is the marble carving for the coffin one level below where everybody is? There are just so much to learn. And the fact that i went through this with mostly chinese conversations and explanations, i have learnt alot for a day.
Overall, i love that trip. It was beneficial to both personally and professionally. I’ve learnt alot, language wise (eventhough i still suck at mandarin, i can understand alot more lingo). I’ve learnt alot, by communicating different depending on situations. I’ve learnt alot, by understanding different cultures (cultures that i should have been brought up with). I’ve learnt alot, on how businesses are done (to a certain extent, you are going off code if you manage asian businesses the way Westerners do). But most importantly, i’ve learnt alot by getting off my comfort zone. I learnt to just “Do it”. I learnt to be tat bit braver. I learnt to do things myself (i hoped i had done even more), something that i was not brought up with. My whole life was penned out, moving to the States and going on this trip marked a small step for me to really be more independent. Lets just hope i get another chance to travel around to make that second step.
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