Shanghai

"What did you say?" The flight attendent looks at me puzzled. I point to the tray and smile. Next thing I know I get a roll of bread and salted peanuts. But wait, where's the main course?

"Oh she was asking whether I wanted beef or chicken," I thought to myself. By this time she's five rows behind me. Despondent over my lack of Mandarin language skills, I eat the stale bread and salted peanuts. "Well I guess I can eat when I get off the plane."

I just arrived in Shanghai. When my friends said mainland China and the SAR Hong Kong were different, they were definitely not joking. Literally no one speaks English here. After my numerous attempts to communicate with the flight attendant, I realize this is just a taste of what I will most likely experience for the next 17 days. However, with that said, I will hopefully be able to pick up a few words here or there. Essentials would have to be "hello, thank you, toilet." Luckily, I have two of the three down. The other, well, lets just hope I learn that one before I need to use the porcelin god.

I'm at a hostel in Shanghai's Bund district. It is nice. Pine beds, clean sheets, random Europeans and Chinese. The conditions are btter than most hostels in Europe I would say. It's just about time for me to round up some pork soup dumplings "xiaolongbao". Shanghai is known for it's "xiaolongbao." If it's better than the dumplings I've had in new york, I'll be in Chinese food heaven. After experiencing the tasty local food in Hong Kong, I'm looking forward to the famous local xiaolongbao. I'll be sure to take a few pictures/videos of it if you have never tried it. And, if you have tried it in the States, it better have been in San Fran or New York because Chinese food anywhere else is, quite frankly, not real Chinese.

I hope to update this blog frequently, but videos will have to wait until I'm back in HK.