I'm a little hesitant to write because I have been having the worst time getting onto my site because of the great firewall of China. Needless to say I am on and I will continue to write. Sarah says that she does not believe in sharing personal thoughts with anyone that she is not close to or chooses to do so. I can see her point which leads me to think about why am I doing this? I have been in China almost 10 days now and I know how are you thank you and almonds... not much of a vocabulary. I also did not have internet in my apartment so doing anything on the computer was a pain to say the least. I tried an internet cafe at one point and ended up not spending much time there... There are a couple of reasons I want to do this. One of which is I want to improve the way I write. I am a marginal writer to be sure but I can always improve that comes with practice, practice etc... the second is I am looking at the work that I have done and am searching for a fresh way to see the world. I thought going to China would help that. Kitty says it's not the work that's stale, it's my marketing... you think Kitty?
Well the last time I wrote I was still on the west side of the Pacific Ocean. That Tuesday I took a flight back down to LA with my visa in hand and about 500 bucks poorer for lack of organization. Yes the cost of not having a visa when I needed to have it was stiff. Plane ticket to SF around $200 usd round trip. Cost of the visa $160 for same day service. I could have waited but my cousins were preping their apartment for sale and they needed me to go. I also felt the need to move on. The cost of getting a new flight to Shanghai an extra $100... Plus if you account for the hotel bookings that I missed the taxi ride through Shanghai etc tack on another $100. Haste makes waste, and in this case expensive waste. If you end up going anywhere outside the US any more check to make sure about visas and when you need to have them. Try not to make the same mistake I did. Though seeing my cousins was a hoot to boot, it was not the way I wanted to do it.
Once on the plane I settled in to a long long long flight. The first pic shows how comfy it all was. Does this bring back any memories? The only thing memorable about the trip was nothing. Airline flight has become more of a hassle than a comfort. I lost a day getting into Shanghai and we arrived to coolish weather at about 8:30 at night. Before I got on the plane though I made reservations with The Green Tree Inn not knowing anything about it except that it was cheap and supposedly close to the airport. What I didn't know was that it sat almost underneath this huge cable stay bridge amidst all this construction. so much so that my taxi driver spent a half an hour getting to the area... another hour trying to find it. this is where I stayed my first night in China... you be the judge... the room was adequate enough and all I did the rest of the night was get horizontal and sleep... These are the first impressions I had of China... enjoy
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