Hello, all.

It's been almost 18 months since I last departed from the Middle Kingdom, so it gives me great pleasure to announce that I'm headed back that way next week!

While this particular trip is primarily a personal endeavor, I have a handful of meetings lined up that could result in more action in the near future.

Anyway, in the event any of you fancy meeting up, here's my tentative schedule:

10/15 -- arrive Shanghai
10/18 -- go somewhere else
10/20 -- arrive Beijing
10/23 -- return to Portland

Good luck!

Ditto from this corner. Reserve enough time for traffic in Shanghai, the Expo construction frenzy means serious congestion.

Many thanks for the kind words (dtsm also, of course). Thankfully, nothing in my current Shanghai schedule is east of People's Square.

safe travels! be sure to eat some 串儿. Was just in SZX with friends last night for some spa and some brilliant food. Man I miss that stuff.

It should go without saying that spas are on the agenda (and my chiropractor isn't happy about that; outwardly, he fears that the hands of the untrained could derail his work; inwardly, he acknowledges that solid results can/will be achieved for a fraction of his costs).

Insofar as 串 is concerned, I remain spoiled by my Xinjiang experiences, but still have faith in handful of Beijing vendors.

Get some duck at Hsiaowangfu and update us on the food!

I don't think anything's matched my 串experiences in Xinjiang a few years back, but I have found this spot run by Uygers in SZX in LoWu and they make fresh nang daily, and it most certainly rivals what I've had in Xinjiang.. Now if only I could say the same about the 串... Good but nothing brilliant.

If this discussion keeps up, we China novices are going to have to ask you old China hands exactly what <unknown Chinese characters> means.

串

+1.

moondog, good luck from this corner too.

The Xinzhuang area in Shanghai also has a substantial Yugur population with restaurants to match.

here's a little more info on those "shish kebabs".

http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/106824284.html

PM me if you fancy meeting up in Beijing next week.

Yo, all. The primary reason I'm posting at this insane hour is that I aspire to avoid replicating yesterday's mistake (i.e. missed my flight by a mile and a half).

At that particular point in time (10a, yesterday), I felt like I was the stupidest person on planet.

However, upon further reflection, it wasn't all that bad because I earned myself Friday night in BJ. What's more, the part of the night that counts as Saturday is my b-day, which means I will be able to revel over the aging process for a really long time.

Furthermore, I'm flying F back! While I'm not normally one to boast about such stuff, I'm doing so now simply because that 767 I took from PDX to NRT a week back was really crappy.

Since it would be rude for me to complete this post without saying a few things about China, I would like to that now:

-China is an amazing country; while the growth stats might be overblown, they beat the hell out of Portland
-I spent y4000 in Shanghai over 3 days and didn't do anything cool (at all)
-The dim sum place I went to on Sunday messed with my stomach, big time
-I met with jiejie on Wednesday and she gave me the lay of the land
-I'll be back

It's 5:13a here and I have to crash for a few minutes (taxi arrives at 625a; I wanted 640 and the dude was offering 6; I'm pleased with the result,.... won't let him down, ......). I hope to post again from a fancy lounge in NRT within the next 12 hours (interesting, even snide, replies during the interim would be appreciated). 晚安