Yuppies in Shanghai

It's been already two weeks since I've rushed away from work so as to catch a plane to the vibrant economic center of China, the "Whore of the Orient", the "Paris (*) of the East" - Shanghai.

"Telegraph - random thoughts style"

... No horror stories with regards to my first flight within China ... Plane de luxe, stewardesses (constantly) smiling and food crap... >normal ... The gang from the beginning ideal and sometimes harmonious ;) who:


... Devrim: Man, Godfather and King of Hospitality ... Give him a steak and he will think of BJ (Beijing..? ;) Lady Echo: A charming princess directly imported from Thailand. Queen of Hospitality and fanatic about Men's talk.. Nick: The Australian Mr.China spitting already like one of "them"... Ad some Swiss laziness and tons of hair (on the head..)... et voilà: the Shanghai Gang! ... Program: Welcome drink in Devrim's fridge, aka apartment ... Room party at pretty accountant's ... with wine and white sofas ... (Nick) Meet(s) "the beast"... Dancing Coyote and especially ugly style on the counter of a small bar... Watch Echo change "boyfriends" 3 times in only 5 minutes ... Heading for the palace and the royal toilet ... Random talk at random places ... Sleep and Snore ... Getting ready for THE Brunch ... Azul is the place one shouldn't miss ... flex in comfy cushions while savouring sausages, scrambled eggs, bacon, scones, etc Smoothies or bloody Maries ... take and talk 3 hours: Nick(ita)?, Brunch-up Bj? and even: Cartoons - everything goes? ... Get up, take taxi, walk - well, rather stroll -, talk, think of where to eat next, eat ... get a massage (first professional one in Dum Di Dom's life) ... ah, uh and the guy saying in the end "bu hao" (not good) while pointing at my back ... well then ... getting ready for house party at Triins et all. ... Learn some Estonian, Talk with Rohit about our meeting in "Les Brasseurs" in Geneva, talk with Carlos about "Chinese SN in Colombia" experience while dreaming of the latter, eye-up a clothespin and marvel at Lady Echo's attempts to sit down ... Hitting the road again so as to go to a fancy bar on "the Bund" ... marvel at the skyline in the dark and the dust ... Drink, chat, ... heading back home to our camp ... Sleep, snore, shower and get ready for another ample and mouth-watering brunch ... Digesting while strolling along the "Bund" ... Marvelling at the rush hour on the Huangpu River with a mystic (well, or simply smoggy..) touch to it ...


... crossing the River and "WOW": Pudong ... How was it again? Wasn't Shanghai the "Paris of the East" (amazing, I could finally read signs in the street, as loads of them were written in the language of JC and all the other "nombrilistes" ;) Ah, les Welsches, le "toto" vous adore!) ? ... But hey, Pudong feels rather like Manhattan ... well at least what the latter must have looked like some decades ago ... Skyscrapers mushrooming ... Driving ranch just next to the 420.5m Jinmao tower ... Hype ... Wow ... bloody hell this is amaaaaazing ... or scary? ... The "New York of tomorrow"? ... or rather like Thailand before 1996? ... Crazy contrasts also, and over and above, in Shanghai / Pudong ... 1RMB snack in the foreground...

... Driving ranch, Jinmao tower with Grand Hyatt and 300USD+ bed in the background ... Heading to Jinmao ... taking the elevator up to the 54th floor ... jaws down ... god damn ... wow !!!? ... Lobby of the Grand Hyatt (seen from the roughly 80th floor. eg below)

... Lobby? ... Zion in the "Matrix" ? ... Off we went to the bar on the 84th floor ... Dom was speechless (guess others liked it) ... absolutely surreal ... Some great drinks and spicy chats ... Jippie we are hobby-Yuppies ! ... Off we go, down from the 9th heaven to Pudong and from capitalist Pudong to the House where the first Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held ... Like Devrim's expression: red like a radish ... After some more - how do you know? - great food, drinks and talks back to Beijing - Dom train, Nick plane ... what a shame: a superb week-end was over ... Pretty "Yuppie", but guess that's what Shanghai is / can be all about ...
Godfather, Princess and Chick - High 5 and Thanks a lot !!!