Shenzhen travels and Hong Kong Adventures

Hello hello everyone,

Well school is about to start next week, so I decided to go see my friend Kevin in Shenzhen for a short vacation trip. It makes it really convenient to go to Macau  where I'll be Bungie jumping on Monday. It was also nice of the family his living with to welcome me to there home. Saves a lot of money on lodging. 

But anyways, flights to Shenzhen where much more expensive that I thought. So in order to save some cash I decided to take the train... A 18 hour long trip. I was fortunate enough to upgrade my seat to a sleeper cot unwise the ride would have been hell. (My flight from the US to China was only 17 hours. )

I've been having a wonderful time catching up with Kevin and meeting his friends here. The girls are so cute here, I don't want leave. Haha. We decided to go to Hong Kong as a spur of the moment thing. I've never been to Hong Kong so I thought why not. 

This is Jerald Kevin's little brother, we're crossing the bridge to get to Hong Kong.

 Busy busy streets in 九龍 Hong Kong. It really reminded me of New York. As we were waiting, Kevin and I took pictures of each other taking pictures of one another. Haha :)

 

On the Hong Kong island side. It was a lot alike the 九龍 but with a touch of San Fan because of the hills. It's really interesting to see the British influence, and it doesn't seem like a Chinese city at all. Imagine Chicago China town but the size of Manhattan island pack like this:

That's HK for you. It's a great place to visit. Highly suggest everyone visit at least once. I'm hoping I'll be able to go back again soon. 

Bungie jumping in 2 days. Can't wait!!! Be on the look out for the next Vlog there will be a special guest appearance. 

-MC

80% Chinese nationalize now

Hello everyone!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've last posted, I haven't been recruited to join the PLA (People's Liberation Army) or anything.  I've been lounging around for a couple days, trying to rest and get over some running pains.

But, most recently I've been doing some light traveling.  I went to Hangzhou for a day to see my friend, and was fortunate to have her tour guide in training friend to take us around Hangzhou and see West Lake. I just got back from Nanjing today.  I spend two days there taking care of school business and what not.  So let me elaborate on my short excursions.

Hangzhou:

It was kind of an impulsive decision to go, I called up a friend asked her if she would be the next day to take me around.  I must praise China for it public transportation infrastructure, it so convenient to travel from one city to another, and even inter-city travel is convenient to an extent.  I took the high speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou which took roughly about two hours.  When I got there, I was unsure what I wanted to do exactly, not the best idea, but not the worst.  Luckily, as I mentioned before, I had an local Hangzhou'er take me around and explain the history of Hangzhou to me.  I forgot to mention, I took a 3-people tandem bike ride. I'll have a video of it when I do my next vlog.

Nanjing:

Hot, Hot, Hot, along with a nagging mom.  The city is not what I expected, it's a lot more developed. Fun fact of the day, the 2014 Asian youth Olympics will be hosted by Nanjing.  Anyways, I spent two days looking for a suitable apartment.  I'm not too pick, but the most important thing I looked at was a clean and decent sized bathroom.  After the fifth apartment, I loved the bathroom,  new and clean.  I had to have the apartment. After about an hour of discussing price and other conditions, it was settled.  The price isn't ideal but I had to have it.  I'll have picture or a video tour of my apartment soon. I have a cell phone and bank account.  All I need is to register with the police office for a long term resident or whatever, and I'll be an almost Chinese citizen.

I'll be leaving for Shenzhen in a few days, so I'll be sure to take lots of picture.  Bungie jump on the 26th!!! There definitely will be a video and pictures of that.

School is starting up for all my senior friends, sorry I can't spend our senior year together.  Have a great start of the semester everyone!

-MC

Chinese Recreational Running. It Exists!

Hi there everyone!

Well I haven't died of heat stroke yet. It has been around 40 C the last three days in Shanghai, that's around 100 F for us white American folk.  I've gotten smarter since I've been here.  I'm learned to not run at 2 in the afternoon, but instead at around 6 when it's much much cooler.  Before you say anything about me being crazy stupid for running in 100 degree weather let me do something explaining on the Chinese environment.  

1. I run in hot weather to get a sweat on and I think it builds mental toughness... bad choice I know.

And 

2. There's an opportunity cost with running outdoors in China.  Early mornings and later evenings are some of the cooler times during the day, making it ideal to run outside right? Wrong! Those are actually the times when it's the worst to run because there are way too many cars, constant traffic jams. It's literally like LA. 

And, if you didn't know Shanghai isn't known for the great air quality, in fact most of China's air quality is well below par.  So you have the choice of run in "cooler" weather with chance of respiratory problems or die of heat stroke.  Neither sound too appealing to me, but I have to continue my marathon training some how.  (FYI I get motion sick on treadmills so that's out of the question)

This is something to keep in mind in America for those runners.  Afternoon run are normally easier because of less traffic and if the weather cooperates it makes for a nice afternoon workout.

Speaking of running, since I've being running the last two days (during the evenings), I've seen some recreational runners.  I was amazed.  I think between the two day I saw a total of 5 runners.  I'm glad to see that I'm not the only crazy asian in China that runs outside.  I'm slowly learning the road around where I live so I can actually try and take a scenic route instead of following the long boring straight road to the metro line station. 

My mom is coming in a couple of days, so I might be a little busy and not have time to write much.  I'll try to get a video blog up soon, and I'll get some footage of me on a run and show you guys Shanghai from my perspective. 

-MC

Collectivism Dating: modern day arranged-marriage

I'm not sure if it's because I understand the language now that I can communicate and Chinese society is much more transparent to me or its just that China is evolving and I'm just now seeing it in action.  I want to say it the combination of the two.  I mention this because I partake in certain Chinese social apps, such as Renren (Chinese Facebook), Weixin (imagine Instagram plus texting), and finally Momo (means like Stranger-Stranger).  From these apps and personal experiences with them, Chinese culture is completely different from what I imagined only a few years ago. 

It's hard to believe the culture in China is becoming more Americanized, and more specifically I want to focus on dating/relationship.  From how people date all the way to the marriage ceremony itself, everything seems more westernized. When I first started learning about China, I was so naive and simpleminded about the culture, and thought it was so traditional.  After about a year of making some Chinese friends, my mind was like boom (Imagine the AT&T commercial, the infinity times infinity one).

One of my friends recently got married in China and as I was looking through their wedding album, I asked if they did a traditional Chinese wedding.  She replied most people in Shanghai just do the western ceremony now with an asian twist.  Its just like socialism with a Chinese twist but apply that to a wedding. I don't even know all the customs and norms of an American wedding, I'm scared to imagine all the customs and traditions of a Chinese wedding.

As I mentioned earlier, I partake is various forms of social media in China.  I've been here less than a week, and I've managed to join a group chatroom.  Didn't take long until, I was forced into a relationship, I call it collectivism dating. Haha. Luckily she's cute.

Kidding aside, I feel like dating in China is kind of a mess, there's this dichotomy. With the internet, dating has become this convenience thing.  It's like I haven't left America, I'm just in a much dirtier, polluted, Chinese filled America.  Maybe that's why I feel at home.
For those who don't know Chinese: simple translation: 麻将哥，that's me, and basically the group leader wants me and her to be together. Haha : )

I feel like there's lot of aspects of American culture that has influenced Chinese culture.  We all know of hook-up buddies and one night stands. Apparently, they exist in China too (not from personal experience, strictly from reading and hearing about it from friends).  I used to thing that was strictly an American/Western thing, guess not anymore.  Casual sex is ok now in the middle kingdom (I guess).  You learn something new everyday.

Well time to get my day started, breakfast and what not, and maybe find a 小二 haha. I'm getting a facial later today, my first one ever.  I'll have updates and maybe something pictures too.

-MC

Landed and Jetlagged

I'm here in Shanghai, China alive and well.  The flight was one of the most relaxing flights I've ever been on.  I must thank my mother for getting me the business class ticket to China.  Best thing about it is B & B, priority boarding and free booze. Ha! When I asked for an adult beverage, I asked to stewardess if she needed to see my ID, and she, of course, said yes.  Carded at 30000ft, awesome.

As I was flying into the airport, I was looking out the window and saw a lighting bolt strike about 400-500 yards away from the plane. Scary and amazing sight to see.  I was lucky to my aunt's apartment before the rain came, and I managed to get a short run in.

So my reverse jetlag strategy didn't work out too well, and I'm still a little thrown off with the 12 hour time difference.  At least I have work to do when I'm up early in the morning and I get to see the sunrise. 塞翁失马。 That means a bad thing doesn't always mean its bad thing and vice versa for a good thing.

I already miss everyone at home, but I'm really enjoying my time here.  Even being here in China, it still hasn't hit me that I'm gone for a year.

Well, I hope everyone is doing well, I'll probably do a Vlog sometime next week, but uploading might take awhile because of the slower internet over here. I'd love to hear back from all of you. So comment below or Facebook me.

-MC