Powerless in Shanghai
June 13, 2013
Last night, the power went out in my Shanghai apartment. And it brought me back. The fuse box blew and I called the repairman. For all of Shanghai’s annoyances, one amazing thing is that even at midnight, someone is ready to come fix problems and make a few extra RMBs. For the next hour, I lit all the candles in…
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Life in Shanghai: Six-month Review
April 28, 2013
In a blink of an eye, I have been in Shanghai for six months. Wow. Boy, what exactly have I been doing? Life can often feel like big blur of nothingness until you sit down to think about it. So, sitting down and thinking about it I did. I looked up what I had written at 38,000 feet in the…
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Lantern Festival at Yuyuan
March 17, 2013
Lantern Festival was a few weeks ago, but the event was such an interesting part of my China experience thus far, I figured writing about it is a better late than never endeavor. Lantern Festival (元宵节) is something that I vaguely remember celebrating as a child. Mostly, my mother would make delicious 汤圆 (glutton rice balls) and we watched some…
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Chocolate Wonderland
February 23, 2013
After the epic poo-eating experience, I encountered another amazing chocolate related event here in Shanghai – the Chocolate Wonderland exhibition. I had read a review about it on TimeOut Shanghai, and had to go witness this for myself. The exhibition is held at an exhibition center near Shanghai Indoor Stadium, and can be best described as a hodgepodge of children’s museum…
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First Prayer at Longhua Temple
February 17, 2013
After a wonderful feast to welcome the Year of Snake, I paid a visit to Longhua Temple just before midnight to pray for good fortunes for the upcoming year. Among devout followers, this first prayer (烧头香) is very important. The taxi dropped us off a few blocks away from the temple due to the heavy traffic. I really had never…
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Year of the Snake Feast!
February 16, 2013
The last time that I spent Chinese New Year in Asia was 15 years ago, so I was awaiting CNY in Shanghai with much anticipation. I’ve always heard about the Great Migration that happens over the holiday. Starting on February 1st, I began to witness an exodus out of Shanghai. The city began to clear. By New Year’s Eve, my…
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The Whoa Factor
January 22, 2013
Shanghai, so far, for all of its daily annoyances, comes with some pretty amazing Whoa Factors. Last week, I walked along Nanjing Road by my subway station, looked up, and saw a giant Sephora. One so big that you literally think, whoaaa where did THAT come from?! When I moved to the area just over two months ago, I vaguely…
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More Than Toilet
January 7, 2013
When thinking of a dessert bar, one typically has an image of a romantic atmosphere with dim lighting, roses and beauty. Yet, when someone told me you can get dessert that ressembles poo served in toilet, the irony and the pure strangeness had me jump on it right away. Upon entering the restaurant, everywhere you turn, you are reminded of everything related…
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January 2, 2013
I was never good with New Year Resolutions, so I stopped making them many years ago. This year, I decided to make a bucket list. I’ve been living in Shanghai for about two months now, and I have noticed that all of my foreign friends are MUCH more knowledgeable of hip and interesting places to go than I do. This…
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2012 Year-in-Review
December 31, 2012
Somehow, I’ve been blogging for over four years, and my favorite year-end tradition is looking back on the year and reflecting the wonderful events that took place. 2012 came and went swiftly. It was a challenging year on a personal level, but the year is ending on a very positive note! January: 2012 began on a rough personal place, and I…
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