Hello from Hong Kong

So as it turns out I can't access my blog in Shanghai, which means I will update during my short time in Hong Kong! I'm mainly here to see my two cousins, Vivian and Livia and their families since this is my third time in the city. There won't be much sightseeing on this trip, which is fine because the exhaustion of traveling through SE Asia has finally caught up to me and I've been tired all day today.

I've spent my first few days back in Shanghai with Jaimie, who just finished a month long internship in Singapore and has been living in Taiwan pretty much since she graduated from college. The weather has been pretty sad and gray so we have been taking sightseeing pretty easy so far. We've visited the Super Grand Mall to eat some xiao lon bao, Shanghainese soup dumplings and walked around The Bund on the Pudong side to see the French Concession on the opposite side of the Huanpu River. It's pretty foggy out so we couldn't get the greatest view of the skyline but I can only imagine what it could look like. Shanghai has been gearing up for the World Expo 2010 starting in May so they have been doing some heavy duty landscaping and cleaning of the city. Haibo, the adorable little blue Expo mascot can be spotted at pretty much every corner and block of Shanghai, and now people on the street are selling stuffed and keychain Haibos.

The architecture in Shanghai is modern and glorious. The buildings just keep getting taller and more extravagant, definitely a sign that this city is growing and developing at a crazy pace. Maybe that's why the people here are rude. Yes, I said it. I don't think the people in Shanghai are very nice at all. I realize its part of the city's culture and I am uncomfortable with it because I am obviously not used to it but I've only been in Shanghai for a total of 4-5 days so far and I'm already sick of people cutting in line, refusing to help with directions, and walking around like they have a huge stick up their you-know-what. The most frustrating part is feeling helpless about it because my Chinese is not advanced enough where I can express my disdain for the rudeness (or at least tell off a person who just cut in front of me). I suppose it's not my place to say anything but isn't it also a universal thing to treat one another with respect?

Other than that, Jaimie and I have been able to practice our Chinese. We've known each other for a really long time (about 19 years!) but I don't think we have ever heard the other speak Chinese before. The first night we decided to go out the other night to the Jiang Temple train stop to grab dinner and check out the nightlife. It was a bit difficult to find a bar for some reason but we went into a club called Fame which had really good American hip hop music but no one spoke English there. Instead we sipped on Long Island Iced Teas and sort of talked to a friendly bartender who tried to teach us this dice game, which I still don't understand the rules to this day.

So no concrete plans in Hong Kong, except to spend time with my cousins and their little kids. It's supposed to rain for the duration of my stay so I'm not sure how much we will be able to do but I did leave some room in my luggage which means, I should go shopping at some point!