Today is my first day in Shanghai for this trip, it’s also the Chinese New Year’s day. Obviously I don’t have a good start with a sleepless night. Also with majority of my friends spending time with family members, I felt I am a little weird. I can tell when I go to the caferia by the motel: I am the only one for the buffet style breakfast. But it was a good deal for RMB 10, I think it will cost USD 10 in St. Louis and the quality will not be as good.
I got to do what I got to do. First thing to the list is to fix my cell phone. I bought a China Mobile cell phone on my last Summer’s China trip. But the SIM card was expired. I was not aware of it initially. I should have read the fine print of the instruction but I did not. To make things worse, I bought a RMB 100 phone card at the airport and added it to the expired number. Because this number is already being used, which means somebody got 100 from me as new year gift. The end result is I bought another SIM card with a new phone No. and I complained China Mobile for my missing money and they promise they will get back to me in 3 to 5 days. I also found another technical glitch: the power outlet does not take my laptop adapter. So what did I do? Go to the reception desk and got an adapter. It worked.
When I was walking on the Shanghai street in the morning (on my way to cell phone place Metro City at Xu Jia Hui), the visibility was not very good. I don’t know if this is weather related (fog) or environment related (dust). Anyway I heard it’s hard to see blue sky in Shanghai nowadays. I can bear with it. But I was unhappy with the facilities in the Metro City, one esclator does not move (safety hazard), the rest room is small, just those small things.
After I got my cell phone, I was really tired. I was debating about to sleep or not: my worry is if I sleep during in the day, it will be hard to adjust my bio clock to China time. I talked this to a good friend of mine, his theory is “what the heck, if you are tired just go sleep”. I know I was physically strained because I did not have good sleep the night before the trip, spent 20 hours on the plane, and then the time difference. Eventually I took my friend’s advice.
I felt much better after the 5 to 6 hours sleep. I went to a few places with good bars. The first stop is Heng Shan Road, I was there last night but this time I am alone. I found it’s easy to become a target for people who tried to sell you certain services, I met two of them and I declined them politely. I went inside “Bouborn Steet” and the music was good. Seems like foreigners like it. There are also some restraunts like TGI Friday. I went to “Han She (humble house)” which is a Taiwanese style and they don’t have food at the time (about 10 PM). I decided to go to Xin Tian Di (new place), which I visited in year 2002. I think I like Xin Tian Di better. It has better music, many food selection, and good architecture. I ordered a “Jiu Niang Yuan Zi”, it’s not as good as the “Ningbo Tang Yuan” my grandmother used to make, but I felt good when I sit there, listening to the music by “Paradise”, and just relax.
I felt much better now. Hope tomorrow will also be a nice day.