i’m back.

it was surreal stepping foot inside my apartment, especially since it felt more like two and a half months rather than two and a half weeks that i’d been away. being in my room for the first time was a trip.

now i’m nestled back into the “safe” familiarity of home and thus, the coveted company of loved ones. it feels so good. while in china, appreciation for my amazing friends and family never diminished. if anything, it skyrocketed. how am i so lucky to have such solid people in my life?

still a bit culture shocked and disoriented, but luckily the jet lag is not as severe as anticipated. for now, i just want to relish my last day of freedom and make it really work for me before i return to work.

there’s plenty to mull over and digest.

jesus, look at me, writing as if i’d been away on six-month sabbatical or something. am i really such a drama queen?

yesterday anthony and i went to clement’s new mei wah to pick up groceries for brunch, and in my mind i was comparing and contrasting, bemused by the fact that i was in china and now in sf’s “other” chinatown.

i’m disciplining myself to give this “series” proper closure, however tempted i am to give in to laziness.

i am eternally grateful to be able to experience china. it was more intense than one can imagine. overall, the trip was incredibly emotional — not because i had a few breakdowns and was susceptible to loneliness and alienation. those episodes were merely symptoms of my hormonal imbalances and character flaws/weakness.

the meat of the matter: i thought a lot about my parents and grandparents, where they came from and therefore where i’m from. it incited a lot of disbelief (i feel like an alien here, i can’t relate with these people) and yet a lot of pride (wow, i hope i inherited some of this badass hearty, sturdy, gore-tex-of-genes stock).

i thought of my grandpa, and wondered what he’d think of my trip – would he be proud or exasperated by my naivete? when i was in the park delighting in the ballroom dancing amongst the older folk, things clicked into place. my grandpa loved dancing and was quite the man about town at chinese community senior centers, where people would revel in karaoke and the foxtrot. growing up, he’d teach us all the smooth moves that he produced with swerve and verve on the dance floor. and here i was seeing this same plucky enthusiasm for dance, but in a completely different world.

there were many priceless, humbling moments that gave me pause. endearing simple stuff, like seeing weathered ol’ tough guys laugh and catch up as they unzip “jackets” away from their bird cages and hang the cages up onto tree branches. or other tough guys chillin’ in lawn chairs in parks, at dusk, to send their big kites to the sky. in tian’an men square, walking behind the adorable tots who would gleefully lumber around and suddenly, blindly reach his/her little mit up for some affectionate hand-holding, guidance, and shelter. the nearest grandparent/familial unit would oblige with tenderness.

and i am dead serious: there were some CUTE baby humans there. the ones that really got me were the little girls with boy haircuts who really reminded me of my toddler-era sister.

SO YEAH, your usual mawkish amy tan fare.

for now, residual photos from shanghai…

the coolest dude in the world – a gregarious and talkative driver. he’s restrained in his photo, wish he could’ve flashed that big smile

bustling nanjing street at night

lobby of the whampoa club, one of the few lavish restaurants where i indulged in a fancy feast. this was a most memorable meal (elegant shanghaiese) in an art deco setting

one of the divine dishes, blue river prawns with shrimp roe braised noodles. don’t get me started on this. the flavors were unlike anything i’d ever tasted. you know how when you suck the juices out of shrimp heads (for the uninitiated, don’t knock it), there’s this pungent powerful taste? well with these guys the taste was BIG yet diminutive. delicious! you could also see flecks of roe in the perfectly al dente noodles

hands down the best luo bo si bing i’ve ever had. here’s one with a bite taken out, so you can see the tender, soupy slivers of radish encased in a flaky buttery shell

cool photo gallery. see what’s on the desk?

puffy-eyed MF

leafy street typical of the french concession area…

…where you can visit zhou enlai’s former residence. many consider him one of the “good guys” from the chinese communist party

a lionfish on the bund

love this

in the chic, cosmo area on the bund

i believe this was HSBC. i imagine this is the kind of bank where people casually toss around the phrase: “just wire it to my swiss account”

instant fresh fruit market

heavy with longans and mangosteens

scooters make for dependable makeshift cots

sauntering in jammies

neighborhood watch, on the lookout for some perps

the shanghai subway: gloriously efficient, clean, modern, and hi-tech monitors informing you of the next train. the drawback is that during rush hour it transforms into the seventh circle of hell. when it’s time to board or alight, push and shove means nothing. it’s more like conquer and destroy

shaved ice bar. and why don’t we have one here in sf yet?

ominous graffito, almost too predictably juxtaposed with the pseudo-apocalyptic backdrop

this tips the creepiness scale; found on a construction site that appeared abandoned by the wrecking ball.

decorative window peering into din tai fung, a renown chinese restaurant with locations throughout east asia. on the wall are caricature-like portraits of celebrities eating the restaurant’s famous dumplings

…and it don’t stop

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 12:35 pm and is filed under asia, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.