Trip that never happened part 3

"Hello, Sitt. This is George."

Then I thought to myself...Who the f**k is George? There was a Czech George here on exchange last semester and there are a few mainland Georges. But as I talked more to this guy on the phone, I realized I was talking to George, the UK guy I met in Shanghai.

"Oh George!! What the f**k are you doing in Hong Kong!?"

...This is going to be a fun night after all

Well Shanghai was fun. I clubbed 3 nights out of 5, but I realize there is no point talking about that since I can just keep doing that in Hong Kong. I did exactly just. When George and Luke came back to visit from South Korea before they catch their flight home.

I wasn't a very good host though. George needed my help finding a nice hostel for Luke to stay in for the night. My Korean friend, Wonjoo, and I went to meet up with them at Causeway bay and went to a hostel called Pandora after 80's. It was a nice place that took us almost an hour to find with Luke carrying huge luggage. We were headed for Wanchai afterwards and met up with some friends. I'm going out again... and that is just too much.

Trip that never happened part 2

'Well fuck!'

I thought to myself after finally reaching my hostel and securing a room there for the night. I could only get a bed for just that night however but I did not care much. It was time to do some exploring...

I got so lost. At one point, I was walking up north looking for a park located down south but Starbucks saved with its almighty free internet connection. Chilling inside for a while instead of walking  in the heat, I still could not believe I was in Shanghai. I made my way to Liu Haisu Art museum nearby from the park I was originally going to before I left to get back on Line 10 of the Shanghai Metro.

The famous Nanjing road was just so busy. I made my way through the crowd and stopped for a nice Chocolate Milk Shake with Egg tart on the sidewalk. They say Eggtarts are different everywhere in China. I've tasted the ones in Hong Kong, Guilin and now Shanghai and still has not found anything impressive like the one I had back on Cheung Chau island.

"Do you want sportshoes? How about Tshirts? We have many Tshirts, many colors you can choose from. Watches? Omega, Rolex... Ah ok, You want massage? Pretty girls massage? You like girls?"

Flooded with questions like this I decided to move through Nanjing very quickly. At the end, when I was approached by the tenth sale of that hour, I stopped her before she could even talk.

"No massage, no girls, no shoes, no tshirts, no watches, no girls and really really no massage," said I with a smile on my face. "Wo bu yao a'" 

She smiled with a grudge and walked away while I started taking some photos of the scenery. Got back on the train at the People's Square and I headed back to my hostel. Waiting to have dinner with Kelsey who later was too tired. The hostel was more lively now with people sitting around using the internet in the lobby. Someone was skyping behind me so I laid low trying to stay away from the camera. Two British guys say opposite of me, George and Luke. I mumbled to them, "George Lucas," without even thinking and they said they had heard that one before.

We talked. We dined at a Hong Kong restaurant with another Austrian guy named Marcus because the Japanese Bar they were telling me about was closed by the time we walked in around 9. We also clubbed a little.





The place was called DADA. It's a nice shady place with a few comfortable couches in the backroom. On the wall, are people's doodle and Old PC's motherboard. My geek side hit me a little bit as George told me that the last time he was here, he took a RAM out of one of the Motherboards and took it home as a souvenirs. After a few games of Jenga, Fusball and 3 shots each for George, Luke and Marcus, the dance floor was more crowded now so we moved in. It was a weird one since there was a drunk topless guy with a little less than sexy body dancing on stage. It might help if he was a happy fat man but he was not at all. He was holding his spot like he owned the place and pushing guys who tried to get up and show their moves. We were just fooling around and wooing the guy. How can you not when he's that big? 2 things I learned that night is that...Shanghainese girls cannot dance at all and I should not be too friendly to drunk douchebags. The girl I was checking out bumped into me after I was talking to her colleague Ian for a while. Spoiler Alert: Ian is a cockblock.

"Hey! ouch!!!"

"I'm sorry." 

"That's not a very nice way to say hi"

"haha... I'm sorry, hi nice to meet you."

We got to talking. I was interested and she was too. She's a Canadian Chinese named Debby who spoke Mandarin a lot more fluent than I do. Then the douchebag showed up. I called him, "Ben," when I randomly introduced him to two other girls I did not care about before and now he came back to almost hug me and push on the floor right when I'm having a nice conversation going on. I let Debby talk to "Ben" for a while before coming back to interrupt them this time. George and Luke offered to kick his ass for me but I told them to calm down. I went back in to get her number which she was much too eager to give.... her colleage's, Ian's, number because she didn't have one. I told her that I'll call them to let them show me nice places in Shanghai. Marcus disappeared so the three of us got back to Rock & Wood on our own. Texted Ian the next day with no reply. Thanks a lot Ian.

Trip that never happened Part 1

Let us assume for a minute that I am adventurous, or perhaps stupid. Let us assume that booking a flight with my friend's credit card the night before leaving with no accommodations was a possibility. Let us assume, that I took a trip alone in the midst of summer carrying nothing but one backpack. If this trip were to happen, then it happened in Shanghai.

Landing in Shanghai Pudong International Airport, I rushed out of the airplane only to be stopped at the long line at immigration. Next in line with me was an architect coming to Shanghai for the third time, but this time was no ordinary one. She told me that she will now be living in Shanghai for the next three years, working at Disneyland, Shanghai branch. I was intrigued, but the line was moving fast than expected. We parted ways before I could tell her the whole story of how stupid I was coming with nowhere to go. Luckily, I slightly had a clue of where I was going and who I would meet. After purchasing a 150RMB-worth China Unicom simcard, the first person I sent a text to was none other than my, "bao bao," Kelsey. She had just finished work for the day so we agreed to meet at Yanggao Middle Road Station. Shanghai Metro was interesting. I was texting Kelsey all the way through while listening to music on my phone. The one thing I can't help but noticing is that the number of people staring right at me.

"I feel like a star," I said to her.

Kelsey showed me the area which she lived with her uncle, aunt and cousin. At a nearby restaurant, we had dinner and talked for a very long time. She convinced me to stay at Hotel Ibis right behind that very mall, after I got rejected asking for an empty bed at my preferred hostel. That night I slept like a king in my very own room. When the rainy night ends, my adventure would finally begin.

"Hey. I'm not gonna make it by 9. Wanna meet up tonight or something? And there's 2 typhoons today, so be careful"

We agreed to meet at around 7 that night instead for dinner which turned out to be another raincheck. At 9 straight, I was at Starbucks having breakfast. Before I left, the cashier people who barely spoke English were kind enough to write down 'Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Station' in Chinese characters so I could show it to the taxi driver. On the Metro to Jing An Temple station, I carried my precious backpack with me that just got heavier as the temperature in Shanghai rose that day. I walked around the station looking for Le Tour Traveler's Rest Youth Hostel for a long time before I found it hidden in alley on Jiaozhou Road. Alas, when I got there, the beds available the night before had already been taken and I hopped back on the train to West Yan An Road station. By that time, the sun was staring down from on top of me and I was lost. It took quite some time before I arrived at Rock & Wood. Traveling without booking things in advance can be quite a bitch, but I was having too much fun with it.

Chocolate Milk

Well, the summer heat sure makes me a lot... active.

After talking to a friend over afternoon tea, he asked me if I wanted to go out for dinner with his friend, Roxanne. I met this girl thrice already, once at her house warming party when I remember dragging my drunk friend out from her bedroom. I did not think much and just said yes.

Last I met her I was in a club on top of LKF tower called, Azure. She was out with her colleagues and a guy I knew. A well behaved night for her, that night was. I thought it would be fun meeting her again because I remember her pretty colleagues that night. I went back to hall and tried to go swimming but the pool was close. Sad me, walking to my friend's dorm room ten doors down from mine to see if he wants to join for dinner. Sang, from Korea, had other plans. I tried convincing him but he just kept saying no because he did not want to ditch Ali for dinner in Sai Kung. I still ran into both of them later at the bus stop since we were leaving around the same time. Sang smiled when he saw who I ended up going out with instead of him. I did too.

We met Ellery after getting some money from the Hang Seng Bank ATM. He brought with him another friend who I met for the first time. Her name was Naomi, a local born Hong Konger with a Japanese name. She was an interesting one being really talkative to us right off the batch. I followed Ellery and Roxanne to go to this secret restaurant of his. It was rather low-key local style food which we all enjoyed, all the vegetarian(s) on that table too.

We were alone back on the MTR. I said good bye to Ellery who left with Roxanne to go to play cards at someone's house. Naomi took the opposite train as I got on the Red Line down to Admirality. Walking into a bar in Wan Chai called Carnegie's, the night really began. I walked through the crowd and one very creepy looking Filipino lady dancing on the bar wearing a 1970's style leopard dress. As eye-catching as that was, I was not much interested.

The taxi driver was leaning on the bumper of his car smoking.

"Fo ge dai ho!" I told him.

"What!?"

"Fodai!"

"Kowloon?"

"Yes yes, Kowloon...Fo Ge Dai Ho," I repeated it to him slowly. This time he understood and we both got on.

The Taxi driver's name was Samuel. He was a friendly guy whom I enjoyed talking to as my companion lied there not feeling well. As we arrived, he was giving me tips from his personal experience.

"You should go to 7-Eleven and get your friend some..."

"Water yeah, I'll go there in a minute."

"Yes, and maybe some Orange Juice."

"Orange Juice?"

Samuel told me that he used to be an alcoholic and his personal used to be fresh oranges in the morning. I thanked him a few times for a nice conversation and a few stops we had to make. I bid him good night and I really hope I run into him again. I walked in the dark toward Tai Po Tsai village and spoke a few words. I really can't help but smiling.

"Good night, Sitt," followed by a sound of head hitting the door.

...Then I walked to Tai Po Tsai 7-Eleven to get Chocolate Milk. It tasted good as I walked back laughing.