A journey that started exactly one year ago, has come full swing! After "being asked to leave China", I have now come back to Shanghai! Many have asked me, how did I do it? Easy: From Pakse, Laos I took a night bus to Bangkok and flew AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur. I applied for a visa on April 30th, the day before China's May holiday. I paid extra to get the visa that same day. I went back to the Chinese consulate that afternoon, and with weak knees and quivering stomach, I was handed a 6 month, double entry, gateway to the middle kingdom.
Cartwheels ensued.
I bought a cheap flight that night from Kuala Lumpur to Hangzhou, a popular tourist destination a few hours southwest of Shanghai. The only potential problem was at the health check - they really wanted to make sure I had not been to the US in the last few weeks due to the swine flu scare. I did this instead of flying directly to Pudong/Shanghai for two reasons: I wanted to make sure there wold be no record of me at immigration, and the flight was much cheaper to Hangzhou. I didn't want to falsely claim "I'm coming to Shanghai!" before I was 100% sure I could get my visa and get through immigration, So I only told one person - Oulin.
OuLin met me with a friend's car at the airport and we spent the next few hours trying to navigate back to downtown Shanghai. The street signs here really don't make much sense to either of us (she learned to drive in the US). The first thing I did when we arrived was to hunt down my favorite JioaZi (dumpling) restaurant - ShanDong JiaoZi Wang (Shandong dumpling king)!
The next several days were spent catching up with friends! I was able to surprise most everybody! Nobody at my old company knew I was coming, so it was particularly exciting to see everybody's reaction when I showed up on the scene. Dan, my old boss, had kept my old bicycle for me...and I would be lying if I said I wasn't wondering if I would be able to use it the next few weeks during my stay in Shangahi.
Right now, I'm couch surfing at friend's places around the city. My "plans" are constantly changing. OuLin recently quit her job and is moving to the US after 5 year in Shanghai. On her way out of Asia, she will spend the next 8 months backpacking. I will accompany her for her two month trek through western China:
In July, I will dip down into Hong Kong (as I am limited to 90 day stays in China), see some friends, and either continue traveling SE Asia for a few months (Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia) or go back to Shanghai to consider settling down for a bit.
Shanghai Sunrise from inMotion on Vimeo.
After all of my travels, returning Shanghai has felt the most like "home". My friends here have been so warm and welcoming, and the daily excitement and energy of being in Shanghai is still here. As I look back at the last year, an epic journey of both personal discovery and enlightenment, I wonder if it is now the right time to stay put for a while. That one week in jail in China led to more changes than I could have imagined.
In the last year, I have spent a week in Chinese jail, was forced to leave my home, friends, and girlfriend and left my job to bicycle mostly alone across the United States. I spent a month cutting down trees with a chainsaw and split them into firewood with my Father in New York. I wrote down a list of things I wanted to do and see and I spent the next few months doing them and blogging about it. I bought a one way ticket to Hong Kong and trained capoeira and experienced what it is like do be a fashion model for a short time. I reunited with my sister and her fiance in Bali and learned to surf together. I trekked jungles, up volcanoes, swam with whale sharks, slept in remote villages, and ate all kinds of incredible food (water buffalo brain anyone?). I spent a week on a motorcycle in the remote mountains in Laos. I experienced fine dining and luxury hotels in Manila and Kuala Lumpur. I have been sick, exhausted, lonely, excited, in love, awkward, burned, bitten, scared, high, low, and everything in between. I also took a LOT of photos!
No matter what the choices are, I know one thing: I want to continue to live an experience oriented life. I will live with passion.
2 comments:
Ah, but how empty you will feel when the passion fizzles out.
JUST KIDDING! LOL
I know you were highly dubious when we had our conversation in HK about the value of an "experience-driven" life, as I was wondering whether life is worth living for memories.
Well, I'm glad to tell you that I have finally arrived at an answer to that question for myself: yep, its totally fucking worth it. Surfing on memories is awesome.
Glad to hear that you're feeling home, its a precious feeling. You should also totally consider taking up some kind of writing job, might be a way to fund your travels. You have a very good pen.
Look forward to hearing your stories in July!
:) It's good to hear you have had such a good trip so far man. I did not know what you would do after getting kicked out and I have to say I was a little worried. It's good to see you found yourself in China. I always had a feeling you would stay in Asia for a long time man. I'm heading off to South America. You know me, still looking for that perfect place. I'd hate to follow you back to China...it's just getting a little old! haha I'll probably chill somewhere and get a job. I met a lot of Couchsurfers that offered me a job, so I have options down there now and it's a great place to weather this time. I'm still really passionate about solar energy, but I guess that's a passion you might have missed out on - I'm passionate about solar energy btw. I'm going to learn Spanish fluently, then try and get into a solar company in South America and then do what we always do, try to take over the World! I'll let you know how the surf is in Costa Rica man. Maybe you can join me for a surf there or in Brazil :)
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