FRIDAY IN THE CITY: Puxi - Shanghai China

Late night in Shanghai
Originally uploaded by rickvonfeldt

It has been a busy week. I am fortunate to get to travel to China and spend three quality weeks. The company I am working for has office located in the “technology park” area of Shanghai – a place 30-40 minutes away from “downtown” Shanghai. Pudong was once the country side across the river of Shanghai. In 1993, the government decided to make it a “free trade zone” and “technology park” – incubators for global business relocation. In the small amount of 15 years since this decision, it is now home to countless skyscrapers, millions of people and a transformed world.

Since most of my work started early each day and did not end until 7:00 or 8:00 at night – I most traveled the 20 minutes back and forth from work to my “service apartment” (short term living.)

The work early in the week culminated with the first of large 2-day facilitation/training sessions on Thursday and Friday.

But the end of the week, I was mentally and physically exhausted – something I have not felt for many months since leaving HP. Like running a race, it is a good feeling to give it your all for an extended amount of time and then finally cross the finish line. But this is a triathalon – with several more races to complete before I depart this beautiful and exciting country in several weeks.

At the end of yesterday’s race, my hosts took me to dinner to celebrate our first finish line. I had the chance to go in to the central part of Shanghai, and eat dinner in an area called Puxi. This area is known as Shanghai's cultural, residential and commercial centre. It is home to about 35% of the people.

We were all in the mood for something with full flavor and spice. My hosts decided on Korean – which is one of my favorite foods. It is a combinations of picked vegetables, spicy pickled cabbages and meat that is grilled at your table. Standard for all Korean restaurants are complimentary small dishes (banchan) like various forms of kimchee and soy-sauce beans.

After the dinner, my hosts went in varying directions home. Most of them live in the Puxi area. They trade living in the centre of action in exchange for what can be a 1-2 hour commute each day. I said goodbye to them, as I had to travel back to Pudong for my commute back home. At that time of night, it might be a 30-40 minute taxi ride or a combination of subway and taxi. I decided to take the subway for part of the distance, and a taxi for the remaining 15 minutes. But before I did, I wanted to walk around for a bit to see late night life. Despite lugging a briefcase, backpack, and clad in dress shoes and tie, I walked around back streets breathing in late night life and food.

I put together a few video clips for you to look at. And this time, I skilled up and incorporated some audio to my video. Come along with me!

(You can either look at the small embedded video here – or go to see a better sized video here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29563531@N04/3556158190/)