Shanghai II
I’m at the Shanghai Hilton. It's Nice. Like. Niiiiice. Although I was reminded it's the Shangahi Hilton when, upon having a seat in the bathroom I was greeted by a cockroach running up the door.
"OK, I’m definitely not going to drink the tap water".
I was thrilled out of my mind to discover that the workout facilities here have not just one, but two Concept II rowing machines. They're model C’s but who cares. I can erg. I'm thrilled. So I got in a good 40 minutes this morning (Monday). Of course, I'm not dressed for it, so I sweated my ass off, which didn't help me given how under hydrated I was already feeling from the plane. So I bit the bullet and got into the 45 RMB (about $5.50 US) 1L bottle of water in the room bar. I spent the morning eating and drinking to re-hydrate myself. I think I'm better.
The nice thing is my room comes with a little hot pot for boiling water for tea. So I'm boiling tap water while I spend time in the room, letting it cool to room temp, then putting it in the 1L bottle which I'm then putting in the mini fridge. Am I a cheap bastard? Yes, but that's not what’s motivating the behavior. I just don't want to try to go find more sources of water.
On the bus trip to class this morning I noticed many things, among them were some guys working on a building. Their "scaffolding" was a bunch of sticks aspiring to be boards nailed into a slanted structure which looked too airy and light to support any real weight. I thought "No OSHA in Shanghai". In California, there'd be Union rules and OSHA standards about the kind of scaffolding and how high and warning pedestrians and lawsuits blah blah. As I've been learning, the legal system here is pretty unreliable. Even legitimate and strong cases can't get heard, let alone won. This really screws up contract-based enterprises like joint ventures, but at the same time, it enables people to hammer 6 boards together and get to work, since there are no lawsuits to worry about.
Met with members of the US Consulate here in the afternoon to talk China and politics and economics. I had gone in with very low expectations, given that they were government folks. Damn, were these people sharp. Made me really proud to know that they're the ones here in Shanghai trying to help American interests. Ironically, they practically told us that Americans shouldn't invest in China. All the macro economic info I'm seeing tends to agree.
My adventure for the day consisted of going to the cloth market with my classmates who were all eager to have custom clothes made for insanely low prices in USD. I went thinking I'd like some shirts. All the shop keepers know what you're there for and want you to look at their fabric. We had been advised ahead of time by classmates of Chinese understanding what prices to expect to negotiate for. Guys were told they could expect custom made cashmere suits for $100 USD.
I suck at haggling. Don't like it. I'm a softie. But, with no more than 10 English words used between us, I managed to get myself measured for 4 custom made shirts for 90 RMB each. That's about $11.00 USD a piece. Hand made for me. French Cuffs. Fitted. $11. Why haggle? Sold. I got another one made with some cool material and a Mandarin band collar. It’s cool. It costs me more, but I don’t care. Like $18 US. Fine. I’d pay more than that if I found it at TJ Maxx and it didn’t fit perfectly. It was a cool experience communicating. I go back on Friday to pick them up. Maybe I'll wear one out that night?
Jet Lag is kicking my ass right now. It's 7:30 PM as I write and I just want to sleep. But I'm going to go to dinner with classmates. I'll post this Tuesday morning.
I found out that the internet in my room isn't free (Ooops) but it's available at the school, so I'll upload this from there, I think.
Oh, and Allison at Beautiful Surprise sent me some new word association words. I took them at 5 this morning, and my answers were rather boring, but I figured I'd go with the more than one word answer to describe the image that comes to mind with them, since most of my one word answers were colors. I'll post that later.
"OK, I’m definitely not going to drink the tap water".
I was thrilled out of my mind to discover that the workout facilities here have not just one, but two Concept II rowing machines. They're model C’s but who cares. I can erg. I'm thrilled. So I got in a good 40 minutes this morning (Monday). Of course, I'm not dressed for it, so I sweated my ass off, which didn't help me given how under hydrated I was already feeling from the plane. So I bit the bullet and got into the 45 RMB (about $5.50 US) 1L bottle of water in the room bar. I spent the morning eating and drinking to re-hydrate myself. I think I'm better.
The nice thing is my room comes with a little hot pot for boiling water for tea. So I'm boiling tap water while I spend time in the room, letting it cool to room temp, then putting it in the 1L bottle which I'm then putting in the mini fridge. Am I a cheap bastard? Yes, but that's not what’s motivating the behavior. I just don't want to try to go find more sources of water.
On the bus trip to class this morning I noticed many things, among them were some guys working on a building. Their "scaffolding" was a bunch of sticks aspiring to be boards nailed into a slanted structure which looked too airy and light to support any real weight. I thought "No OSHA in Shanghai". In California, there'd be Union rules and OSHA standards about the kind of scaffolding and how high and warning pedestrians and lawsuits blah blah. As I've been learning, the legal system here is pretty unreliable. Even legitimate and strong cases can't get heard, let alone won. This really screws up contract-based enterprises like joint ventures, but at the same time, it enables people to hammer 6 boards together and get to work, since there are no lawsuits to worry about.
Met with members of the US Consulate here in the afternoon to talk China and politics and economics. I had gone in with very low expectations, given that they were government folks. Damn, were these people sharp. Made me really proud to know that they're the ones here in Shanghai trying to help American interests. Ironically, they practically told us that Americans shouldn't invest in China. All the macro economic info I'm seeing tends to agree.
My adventure for the day consisted of going to the cloth market with my classmates who were all eager to have custom clothes made for insanely low prices in USD. I went thinking I'd like some shirts. All the shop keepers know what you're there for and want you to look at their fabric. We had been advised ahead of time by classmates of Chinese understanding what prices to expect to negotiate for. Guys were told they could expect custom made cashmere suits for $100 USD.
I suck at haggling. Don't like it. I'm a softie. But, with no more than 10 English words used between us, I managed to get myself measured for 4 custom made shirts for 90 RMB each. That's about $11.00 USD a piece. Hand made for me. French Cuffs. Fitted. $11. Why haggle? Sold. I got another one made with some cool material and a Mandarin band collar. It’s cool. It costs me more, but I don’t care. Like $18 US. Fine. I’d pay more than that if I found it at TJ Maxx and it didn’t fit perfectly. It was a cool experience communicating. I go back on Friday to pick them up. Maybe I'll wear one out that night?
Jet Lag is kicking my ass right now. It's 7:30 PM as I write and I just want to sleep. But I'm going to go to dinner with classmates. I'll post this Tuesday morning.
I found out that the internet in my room isn't free (Ooops) but it's available at the school, so I'll upload this from there, I think.
Oh, and Allison at Beautiful Surprise sent me some new word association words. I took them at 5 this morning, and my answers were rather boring, but I figured I'd go with the more than one word answer to describe the image that comes to mind with them, since most of my one word answers were colors. I'll post that later.
posted by Kenneth at 7:50 AM
<< Home