Power to the people!

Today my brother, two friends and I decided we would try and shut down Xietu Lu (a major street one block from our apartment) in order to raise awareness of the tragedy going on back home in Toronto -- a group of foreigners shut down a major street to raise awareness of another tragedy going on somewhere else.

It didn't work out that well. Most cars just honked and kept driving towards us, others kept driving towards us without honking... We almost died, so we left.

Massag-E

I love massages. I've been here, in the land of tea and rice, for just under a week and have gotten two, so far. I really do love 'em. In fact, the availability of cheap massages weighed heavily in my decision to travel half-way across the world to Zhong Guo -- or 'Middle Kingdom', as the Chinese refer to their country.

For just under $8.00 CDN you can get a one-hour full-body massage, complete with that stepping on your back thing you'd only want a petite Asian girl doing.

As soon as I get my employment situation figured out (a job), I'm thinking I'll step my massage-going routine up to every other day. They're that good, and I love massages.

Chinese efficiency...

After one week in the big city we've had the chance to visit several big department stores.... Let me just say that the belief in the fact that the Chinese have the best and most efficient work ethic is BOGUS. In a store similar to Walmart (Carrefour) we went looking for a simple hair trimmer. The aisle in question had 15 employees standing there waiting for potential customers. Walking down the street yesterday afternoon, we came across a cell phone promotion booth on the side walk. The booth was no bigger than your average lemonade stand in Canada but still had 8 Chinese people manning it.

Dache!

Dache is the phrase you use to flag a taxi. Taxis in Shanghai are all Volkswagon Santanas from the mid '80s. There are about 10 different taxi companies that can be found around Shanghai. The only factor to differentiate between taxi companies is the taxi colours.
In less then one hour I was able to grab the following taxi numbers:
taxi aqua - 96822
taxi blue - 96933
taxi gold - 62580000
taxi green - 96840
taxi red - 66606660
taxi white - 96961
taxi truck - 96811
We have nearly been hit and killed by most of these taxis and weve only been here for 1 week.
Wish us luck.

WHERE THE BROTHERS AT?

alright, so before I came to shanghai I asked myself 2 important questions.

1st) Considering that I will be here for almost for months a brother needs to get his hair cut some how some way. China is a country of 1.3 billion people, the most heavily populated country in this world, which means that I know very well black people are out here...we are everywhere! and that also means that there are brothers in the same predicament as myself, which in turn means that some where (and i'm hoping somewhere close to me here in Shanghai) some innovative brother has set up a barber shop to service one of the most important needs of a black man. With that being said I have made it my mission to find that barber shop by any means necessary.

2nd)Just exactly how many brothers and sisters are there in Shanghai? so far the random brother count is at 11 and the sister count is at 2...not bad it's about my 5th day here so the numbers will surely increase

CONTINUE READING THIS BLOG...I will keep you updated on my quests!

Zai Jian or in other words Bye!

As is believed in Canada, THEY ALL LOOK LIKE JACKIE CHAN.......

Workplace Safety

Workplace Safety in China is very strict. These building painters are supported by home made looking string swings, if the string breaks they die.

It's not a stereotype!!

Okay, so you guys already know we are in Shanghai. So naturally we have to explore, as we were walking in and around I had my camera in hand and all I hear is "allo hi" I turn around and this guy sees my camera and strikes a pose...the result was:



HAHA!

Quarantined, almost.

Yesterday, Tuesday May 5th, we arrived in Shanghai after having spent a little over 17 hours in flight. Before being let off the plane, these fine ladies and gents greeted us:





They came on board to check every passengers temperature, ensuring none of us were infected with swine flu.

For a country that still grows most of its vegetables using human shit as fertilizer, they sure seem concerned with public health issues. The whole thing felt a bit like the scene in ET when the house gets raided by the alien-chasing FBI. Crazy Chinese people... Should be an interesting next four months.

Stay tuned.

Test

1, 2...