My Apartment in Shanghai

Smog Issue

So you can see some of the bad air quality in Shanghai...

Yeah, I'm a Geek...

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/
One reason I'm in Shanghai is because it's an exciting time for this city's architecture. I'm fascinated by this skyscrapers. I used to check that website even while I'm at work to see the world's latest, tallest skyscrapers to come. When I'm walking back to my hotel everyday, I can see the Shanghai World Financial Center building undergoing construction. It's huge!

I Got the Keys!

So, Friday afternoon I sat down with my agent, Linda and the landlords of the apartment, nice polite people, to sign the contract and lease for my new apartment. I have the keys now and will move in on Wednesday! After all that struggle!

The apartment is the best out of all that I looked at actually. Doesn't have the best view out of all of them, but the apartment itself is great! 1 bedroom, nice modern furniture, HUGE flat screen TV, washing machine... for less than $500 USD/month and in a semi-gated compound with tons of parks and a huge creek/river running through it (a popular compound in Shanghai). I could never imagine living like this in NYC for that price.

Will post pics later on Monday I think.

American Express Travelers Cheques

I'm really upset with AmEx. When I asked them (when i bought them in New York) if I would have any trouble cashing these cheques in for Chinese cash in China, they assured me I could go to any major bank to do it. That turned out to be a lie. Major banks like Citi and HSBC are not in that network system and don't provide that service here in China. I had to call the AmEx in Hong Kong to find out exactly where I could cash in the check and they gave only 3 locations! My agent called these 3 and they did not provide this service or no one answered the phone. I needed the cheques to make the payments for the apartment.

With no help from dAmnEx, my amazing agent, Linda, was able to call around and found out that Bank of China can do it. But the day we went there, there system was down and not working right (just my luck, huh?). So we went back the next day and I was finally able to cash in those dAmnEx travelers cheques.

AmEx sucks! And they're liars!

Playas will be Playas

So, ok... this guy called Hayes was like "hi sexy, what you up to? like to play with you really". Then I was like "um... no. i'm not looking to 'play' ". Then he was all like "ok, date would be nice to me. just need cuddle babe".

First, of all, don't call me 'babe'! Second, just cuddling?... YEAH RIGHT! I might have been born yesterday, but I stayed up all night, God-damn-it!

I guess playas are the same where ever you are in the world...

Job Hunting / Bar Hopping

http://www.vinyl-group.com/
I applied for one of two graphic design positions at this interior design/architecture firm. Check out some of the bars they did in the PROJECTS>INTERIOR DESIGN>BARS&CLUBS...
Cool stuff. I def want to hit those places up for a drink at some point. To those visiting, let's go!

Apartment Hunting

So, today I went apartment hunting in Shanghai with an agent, Linda. Very nice lady. I took my friend, DTR, to tag along in case I had questions or issues he could translate better and also for his advice. Linda, showed us 3 apts initially. The first, a nice IKEA-like apartment, which i loved after seeing the other two. And the current tenant was going to leave some appliances, furniture, and her internet connection, which she had already paid up to August. I told Linda this was the one I wanted. So, we left to go home and I was all set and happy to have this apt. So, i'm waiting for the train then Linda calls to tell me that the landlord already got a new tenant who paid the deposite right away. F*ing bummer! boo-hoo... Anyway, so it's late and Linda tells me to leave the train station and come back so she can quickly show me 2 more places. I actually liked these other places too. One was a 2 bedroom for about $500 USD. The other, a 1 bedroom for about $400 USD. I liked the 1 bedroom 'cause it has a flat-screen TV on the bedroom wall and a sofa bed (for you guests) in the living room. Only thing is, it's a little farther from the subway - about 12+ minutes walking... but it's not thaaat bad...
Apartment hunting will continue on Thursday. Wish me luck!

Dinner Hong Kong Style

Met up with another friend, Royal, who took me to a place that specializes in Hong Kong style food. Good food. I loved this dish that was a baked cube of bread with chicken and potato in a curry & coconut milk sauce inside it!

Jamaican Me Hungry

"Jamaican Me Hungry" is the title of a menu section at this coffee shop that specializes in serving Jamaican Blue mountain coffee. I know Shanghai is a very international city, but even I was shocked to see anything Jamaican there!

Street Fashion / Codes Combine

Twice I was stopped so photographers could take photos for street fashion/sceen on the streets type of things. First time was on my first day waiting for my friend, DTR at Raffles City. The next time was when i was exiting H&M. Yeah, they have an H&M here (and you're damn right i went there). The close weren't so exciting though. But this store "::Y by Codes Combine" across the street was hot! I mean the clothes were my style. Here's the link to their site, http://www.codes-combine.com/intro.asp , though the site seems to have a bug and doesn't really work in my browsers (maybe it will in yours).

First Meal at Raffles City (Laifushi)

Met up with my friend, DTR, at Raffles City mall to go upstairs to the huge food court. Great food and great price!

View from My Hotel Balcony

Summit Hotel Shanghai Nanpu

Nice hotel. I like my room. And i have a Balcony!!! Close to subway!

OOC Airport Drama

Well, i arrived at the Shanghai Pudong airport 2 hours ahead of schedule. It was like 3:50 AM in Shanghai. The airport was basically empty. So, the money exchange was closed; no one was at "Information". So, i knew getting to the hotel was going to be a challenge seen i could not write the address in Chinese. Anyway, got money from the ATM, went outside to find a taxi. Went with a driver who seemed to know how to get to the hotel, but 2 minutes into the drive he realized he could not. Then he u-turned back to the airport to ask for directions. I'm sitting in the taxi and then my driver gets into some argument with a group of other drivers. One driver even held my driver by the neck and also slapped him hard in the face - WTF, OOC! So i was like "oh i can't deal with this shiz" and got out and got my suitcases and went to look for another driver away from all that. So, i got another driver who was not sure about the hotel either but was confident we could figure it out. So after about 1 hour or so we got to the hotel after driving to the wrong streets, trying to call the hotel (wrong number from Hotels.com), asking other hotel staff... Anyway i ended up paying only about $20 USD. Soooo cheap, huh?