Further Impressions

Hibiscus and hydrangea,
butterflies and little brown birds,
a seamstress sewing clothing on the corner of a street.

Traffic and a temple- quiet time under plane trees in the park (sponsored by KPMG for a year- whatever that means).
The endless fog/smog that surrounds the city,
lunch in a Cuban restaurant.

Yesterday was a day for doing concentric circles around the hotel in an attempt to familiarize myelf with the area. Lots of shops and restaurants. I found a hardware store that sold wooden beams, bakeries, fruit stands on the corner (it is peach and watermelon season here). There was graffiti on the trunks of plane trees that were removed about an hour after I originally saw them. We had dinner with an aquaintance that C. made on his last trip here. She took us to a Shanghainese style eatery that serve us shrimp with crab, a special type of vegetable only grown here (green veggie that is probably a brassica, and has a Chinese name that make reference to the fact that it looks like a feather), a pork dish with crepes, a pepper beef, lotus root slices stuffed with sweet rice in coconut milk, and shanghai noodles. We ended the day with a long walk- and fell into bed exhausted. Jet lag is with us.

Here is my shirt at the end of the day (before the work out and dinner)- check the sweat patterns. The weather is super humid here. I have changed my weather pixie to reflect my temporary home- keep an eye on the humidity level.


On another note- while I can add posts to my blog, I cannot view them. It seems as though the government here screens the internet and blocks potentially unsavory sites. Too bad for them- I'm only planning on writing about the good things here!