Shanghai 2005

Though I have worked at Intel for more than 21 years I have never traveled internationally for work-related reasons. This is partly because that my previous responsibilities didn't require traveling aboard. Besides, I never enjoy riding plane and especially don't like jet-lag. In the past three years I've turned down several  opportunities to go to Germany and India. However, recently when I was offered an opportunity to go to Shanghai to teach a few classes, I immediately accepted the assignment. 

Sure Shanghai has fun things to do, places to go, things to buy, and great restaurants to eat at. However, at Shanghai it's the place that I have the most relatives! I have 4 uncles, 3 aunts, 4 cousins, one niece, and one nephew! I actually like to proclaim that Shanghai has become my second most favorite city after our own home, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area. Sure, we love the animals at Africa, the beach at Hawaii, and museums in Europe. However, I've become very fond of Shanghai. Why? For all the years that I've grown up I've always been called "Little Brother" in Chinese by my family because I'm the youngest of the 4 siblings. Even though I'm in my 40's I'm still called "Little Brother." Kind of demeaning :-) The great thing about Shanghai is that it's the only place on earth where I get to be called "Older Brother" in Chinese by my young nieces. Being called "Older Brother" just brings a big ear-to-ear grin to my face. Forget about getting pay raises or promotion at work, this "promotion" is indeed very special! So you can now understand why I was very motivated to go to Shanghai.

I was able to take United Airline's daily direct flight from San Francisco to Shanghai. I left Friday afternoon and arrived Sat evening after about 12 hours and crossing the international date line. There seems to be lots of people visiting Shanghai either for vacation or for business because the flight was full. After a 45-min taxi ride I arrived at Renaissance Yantze ( http://marriott.com/property/propertypage.mi?marshaCode=SHABR ). I selected this hotel because it was right next to where I was going to teach at the Intel office at the Shanghai MART Tower.

Since I did not went to go to bed early I decided to walk around. I was impressed by the Friendship Store. I had thoughts that this government-owned and -operated store is old and dingy. Just the opposite. It was very fancy and glitzy.

I walked around and found a restaurant called "Dragon Court Well Village." I decided to be adventurous and tried a bowl of soup noodle with roast goose, which unfortunately was tough and chewy. Forget about sitting in the non-smoking section. I was also bothered by this German businessman who was smoking a cigar at the table next to me! Nevertheless, I did enjoy my first meal at Shanghai.

Due to jet lag I woke up early on Sunday morning. It was just interesting to walk around and look at the street scenes and people.

For breakfast I had a bowl of hot soy bean milk, Chinese donut and bread. I'm not a big complainer. However, the soy bean milk is kind of watered-down, the donut was stale, and the bread was not toasted properly. I guess I have a very high standard of Chinese breakfast donut because I grew up in the town famous for Chinese donut in Taiwan.

After walking around on the streets and also exploring a nice little park, I met with my relatives who came to the hotel to meet me for lunch. It was so nice to see them again after 2.5 years. 

We had a nice Cantonese dim-sum lunch. Ironically we ate at the same place that I went last night. Uncle 12 and I have the same good taste because we picked out the same restaurant :-)

On our last trip Theresa and I did not have the chance to visit the Jade Buddha temple. I was fortunate that Sha-sha, Auntie 17, and Uncle 12 took the time on Sunday afternoon to visit this temple. It was very interesting. I was impressed by all the ribbons that were tied around trees. There was also a special elephant sculpture. In fact that sculpture was just delivered the day before we arrived. I guess that's what I call good timing!

In the afternoon before getting back to the hotel I decided to walk around and do a little shopping of Theresa. There was a knitted sweater that looked pretty. However, when I found out that it was $100 I put it down since I was not even sure whether it would even fit Theresa. However, I did find some interesting tea for Theresa at this tea shop. I was able to buy some jasmine tea flower and also purple rose buds. Very pretty. In fact, I'm drinking the rose tea as I am writing.

The Sunday evening banquet with the whole family was fabulous. It was great to be able to visit with everyone since I have not seen them since Nov, 2002. The food was great also. 

One of my favorite pictures is the one that I took with all my "younger sisters."

  After a full day of teaching a class at Intel on Monday, I went out to a very interesting Taiwanese restaurant for dinner with some co-workers. It was the most upscale and delicious Taiwanese food I ever had. I intend to take Theresa to Shanghai next year to have some Taiwanese food. Humm, maybe we should go to Taiwan directly!

On Tuesday I spent a grand total of 50 cents to buy soy-bean milk, one BBQ-pork bun, and one sweet bean paste bun. Delicious breakfast. Here is a picture of my crossing a busy street on the way to lunch. Notice that there are cars going in both directions as I was standing in the middle of the street. Believe me, I walked very closely with my co-workers as not to get hit since cars have the right-of-way here.

After another full day of teaching some classes on Tuesday, I was invited to Uncle and Aunt 14's home. This is also where their grand daughter stayed while in high school. We then met their daughter and her son for dinner. It was a nice treat. The good was excellent. Hoang-Hoang (spl?) sister, Thanks for the dinner!

Bau-bau (spl?) is such a character. He is so active and lively. He is fun to be with. I claim that he is now my best buddy Shanghai! After dinner we visited a little bit. It was really nice. Too bad I had to leave in order to get some rest for my third day of teaching.

Fortunately Wed was a short day. I took the afternoon off. I decided to visit Jian'an Temple. There were not a whole lot of people. Just like the name of the temple: very quiet and peaceful. This is a very new temple as it was just recently re-built. In fact the main structure is still under construction. Nevertheless, it was interesting to visit. The most exciting part of the visit was the thunderstorm while I was there. I had to find cover. The rain came down very hard. I was hoping that it would stop. After waiting for about 20 minutes I decided to hail a taxi in the rain. Fortunately I only have to wait for 30 seconds before a taxi came. I did get pretty wet, but it was a memorable experience. These few days have been very warm. On Tuesday the thunderstorm in fact was very impressive. At 4pm the sky was as dark as mid-night because there was a dark rain cloud as thick as several miles!

On Wed night I was another great meal. This time with Uncle 12, Uncle 16, Uncle and Aunt 17, and their two daughters and son-in-law. You guessed it. Another great meal. However, next time I'm going to sit further away from Uncle 12. Theresa and I are very fond of Uncle 12. He is very gracious and friendly. However, he loves to bring more and more food to my plate. I was really stuffed. However, how could I refuse a roast-duck mini sandwich that he personally prepared! So I kept eating, eating, and eating!

I cannot believe it's already Thursday. Special thanks to Sha-sha for bring me to the airport after having breakfast together at the hotel. Such a short trip. Such sweet memories. I'm looking forward to our next trip back--planned for October 2006. I cannot wait! In the mean time I want to thank all my relatives for their warm hospitality and thoughtful gifts for Theresa and myself. Theresa is looking forward to use this special Chinese brush to paint her pottery.

After I got home, I was pleasantly surprised to receive this picture :-)

哥哥 嫂子
宝宝从幼儿园毕业了 他一定要把毕业照给舅舅看 哈