http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:02:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's been one year since I quit my job. I'm going to Bali on August 15 for a month to mark the occasion by learning to surf. http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/one-year-anniversary/ The day after the eclipse, Andrew and I flew to Taipei to visit Mike, who was having a housewarming party. Taipei is a fun city, the area where we stayed reminded me a lot of Harajuku in Tokyo, cute shops, short skirts, and colored contact lenses. I think it would ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/taipei-taiwan/ The days leading up to the eclipse on the 22nd were hot and sunny, with no clouds in the sky, but it was all just a big tease.  The clouds started rolling in on the evening of the 21st, and grew thicker and thicker through the night and the next ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/total-solar-eclipse-in-shanghai/ We got back from Hong Kong via Shenzhen on July 13th, and had a week to recover from all the recent traveling.  On the 18th we took a three-hour cruise up the HuangPu to where it meets the muddy Yangtze, the longest river in China, apparently just 15 miles longer ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/yangtze-trip/ Back from Hong Kong on the 13th.  Some time ago I accidentally bought tea-flavored toothpaste.  Even though I can read the tea character, I didn't look at it.  I bought it assuming that the green leaf was mint.  I also found coffee-flavored gum. My favorite so far, though, is the Spicy ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/east-meets-west/ On the 4th of July, we took the ferry to Macau for a day trip. My newest T-shirt. We had Pasteis de Nata, just like the ones in Lisbon, and a tasty Portuguese-style filet sandwich.  We wandered around the many casinos after Andrew's girlfriend helped him find some closed-toe shoes so the ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/macau/ We went out Friday night in Hong Kong and were up late into the 4th of July Saturday.  We had a couple of friends showing us around the bars of Lan Kwai Fong, then a club called Privée, and another called Beijing.  The last two were extremely crowded even though ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/wwjd-what-would-jackie-do/ On July 3, we walked across the border to Hong Kong.  You have to fill out two or three forms on each side, and there is this no-man's land in the middle where you've filled out all your forms to leave China and haven't filled out any to be admitted ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/hong-kong/ It's about a third cheaper to fly to Shenzhen and walk across the border than to fly direct to Hong Kong, so that's what we did. We arrived very late on July 2 (actually the morning of July 3), and stayed at the Queen's Spa, a Chinese version of a Japanese ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/shenzhen/ Andrew and I have been going to the cloth market, and every time we go, we get something made, and then when we go again to pick it up, we order something new and the cycle repeats.  I got a suit made two trips ago, got it fitted today, and ... http://www.shanghaibob.com/boblog/dragons-inside-and-out/