June 29, 2010
2010 Asian odyssey: Shanghai World Expo, Kuala Lumpur, and more! (Part 9)
By Simon J. Lau
Today is my last morning in Shanghai and, similar to how I felt when I left Beijing, I’m also sad to leave Shanghai. It’s amazing how in such a short period of time you can grow to know people and enjoy their company so much. I think that’s one of the main reasons people decide to go backpacking. In the real world, we usually interact with each other in the context of our mundane everyday tasks. Here, however, you tend to only see a small slice of someone’s personality – the portion that’s not obscured by the inconveniences of day-to-day life.
Clearly, this makes for a very spotty image of the “real world,” but it’s exciting nonetheless. I hope I’ll have many more of these experiences throughout my life. Moving forward, I’ll be making my way to Kuala Lumpur for several days before I end my trip in Singapore. In the meantime, enjoy what few photos I’ve been lucky enough to take in what has turned out to be a terribly muggy and rain-filled week in Shanghai!
Welcome to the Blue Mountain Youth Hostel! This is where I spent numerous hours updating my webpage, mingling with fellow travelers, and soaking up the soccer fever, especially during the World Cup! Pictured with me is JJ, one of the hostel hosts. She helped me settle in and provided valuable tips on sightseeing venues in the city.
To the left is Cindy, and to the right is Amirah. Amirah is a college student in Pennsylvania and has been learning Chinese since junior high. Cindy is a recent college graduate who works at Blue Mountain.
Funny story: One evening, Amirah and I went shopping at Yu Gardens. Since her Chinese is better than mine, I had her translate and negotiate on my behalf. It was great to see the confused look on all of the vendors’ faces. In fact, one vendor kept expecting me to talk and refused to speak to Amirah. Now that was a hilarious shopping experience.
As for Cindy, she’s been working at Blue Mountain for the past two months and is a good friend of Amirah. Cindy prides herself on being a traditional Chinese girl and is adamant about finding a traditional guy (Chinese or not), and we’ve had plenty of fun conversations on this topic! When they are out together, these two have such great chemistry that I love being in their company.
Finally, here is a picture of me and Amy. Amy was one of the first people I met at Blue Mountain. She’s been living here for the brief duration of her most recent job. Now, she’s spending some time relaxing before she jumps back into the job search. One fun quirk about Amy is that she’s really into Japanese anime. On more than one occasion, I’ve seen her watch over 40 episodes in just one day. As you can see, Amy doesn’t joke around when it comes to anime!
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