Thursday, October 26, 2006

I'm back...didja miss me?


Yes, back from the mystic East. NOT! Shanghai is a big, noisy, dirty city in a big hurry. And this is coming from a New Yorker! I'm still sorting and analyzing my impressions. But for starters, Shanghai is not a very charming city. In fact, it really has no personality at all. Not surprising considering it's in the process of reinventing itself. Shedding its skin. Molting. Half the city is under construction and the other half will be soon. In another 5-8 years there will be precious little left that's more than about 20 years old.

This is a view from a very chi-chi bar on the roof of some building or other along the Bund, which is kind of like 5th Avenue if it were along a river. This bar had sand on the floor and beach lounge chairs out. This city lights up like Vegas at night. It was kind of like Blade Runner on steroids. Except it wasn't raining.

Full of contradictions and weird juxtapositions. More later.