On The Shanghai Express

-3/24/08-

Hey guys!

Internet was a bit sporadic our first week here but we've discovered a coffee place with free access! China is not so backwards after all! Well, I take that back. I did have to SQUAT to pee in every bathroom in Beijing except for the hotel. I hope that won't be the case in Shanghai because it's pretty evident I'm unable to grow a penis and well.. a girl can only take so much degradation. (I'm still mentally sitting in a corner and hugging myself.)

Just survived our last big weekend here. Hong Kong is totally a day camp for adults! They take the "work hard, play hard" mantra pretty seriously here. They have as many party districts as they do shopping. How lucky for me that we're right smack in the middle of three of them! My favorite so far is definitely Lan Kwai Fong. It's very Gwailo-fied so my meager Cantonese is more than enough to get me by. But SoHo comes close, especially since it's a quick ride (or stumble) up the travelators to get back to the Mid-Levels where we're staying.

We spent yesterday on the boat at Repulse Bay. The gang wakeboarded and I enjoyed the sun. Then we were off to a hike called Dragon's Back (because of course, everything has to be named after a mythical creature of power over here. Dragons, Phoenixes.. geeks will love it here!). The apex can only be reached after a thousand steps! But it was worth it for the view, and I can't complain about getting a base tan early either. haha. Actually, the three of us are a little more like lobsters right now - yes even this brown girl got sunburnt - but we just couldn't waste the sun. So we went to the birthday party with raccoon eyes, red noses and random tan lines. We didn't try our hand at mahjongg but ate some pretty weird food. I think that my threshold was crossed at the sea cucumber course.

Hoping to get a lot more shopping done in Shanghai. Mong kok proved fruitless. I went away with nothing more than the lingering stench of sewer mixed with deep fried stinky tofu. More to come... Hope all is well back home.

Love,
Maxie