Girl and City

I am sure I will never forget the day I arrived in Singapore.

Nearly a year ago, I signed a contract for a job offer in Singapore without having ever been to Singapore and knowing very little about the nation and its culture. All I knew was that people in Singapore spoke English, and that it was a developed city-state. In the proceeding 10 months, I learned more and more about Singapore until I felt like I knew it, and as I absorbed everything I could about Singapore and Asia, I was also slowly releasing myself from being a “North American.”

On August 26, I flew from Nanjing, China, to Singapore Changqi International Airport, a six-hour direct flight. Although I had only been in Nanjing for two weeks, I felt weird leaving it. I was struck, once again, with the melancholy of goodbye. Even our travels did not go very smooth: at check-in, we found out that we were only allowed 20 kg per person checked-in baggage (as opposed to two check-in bags weighing 20kg each). We had four luggage bags with us. I ended up paying 3400 RMB in excess baggage charges. It was the same as the price of my airplane ticket. It was absolutely ridiculous, absurd, ludicrous! I was fuming but what could I do? At that point, two of the bags had already gone in, and I couldn’t just leave the two remaining bags (they were the most important), and my uncle who had dropped me off at the airport was long gone. We also had trouble getting money out because there was no currency exchange desk after we went passed through security.

Suffice to say, I had a horrendous headache when I landed in Singapore. Everything that should have impressed me – the spacious airport, the clean washrooms, the courteous service, the cheap taxi – didn’t. (more…)

I was in Hong Kong for a full week, which felt at times too long and at times too short. FBB turned out to be a typical ibanker-douche, so I have absolutely nothing to say about him. His apartment was sweet though, even better than staying at a hotel. However, his kitchen didn’t function, so I had to eat out almost every meal, even when I didn’t have anyone to eat with. Those occasions aside, I spent less time alone than I would have thought.
I spent the first half of the week mostly with WAF and her boyfriend’s relatives, who were all super rich and made me understand some of the “class distinction” my friends had warned me about before coming to Hong Kong. I spent the latter half of the week with various classmates from TheBusinessSchool who were now working in Hong Kong, and whose work hours were so terrifingly long that it made me dread starting work myself¹.

My entire week consisted of two principal activities: shopping and eating. I did far too much shopping for my own good, considering things in Hong Kong are actually more expensive than mainland and I don’t have any luggage space for Singapore whatsoever. I also did far too much eating considering the food was mostly Western food that I could have had anytime I wanted in Canada. I did manage to slip in two dim sum trips, because how could I go to Hong Kong without having some dim sum? I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves².

Lunch at a tiny but busy Japanese joint near Causeway Bay MTR. They are known for their fatty tuna sashimi.

Lunch at an apartment-turned-restaurant near Sham Shui Po, Western-style cuisine, prix-fixe menu that included appetizer and entree. The dessert (every single dessert on their menu) was compliments of the owner, who seemed to know my friend’s aunt.

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1. I often had to wait until past midnight to have “dinner” with them because they didn’t get off work until midnight or 1 am, and even 10pm on weekends! [↩]
2. Unfortunately, there are three fantastic meals I didn’t get pictures of because my camera ran out of batteries. One was the first dim sum meal at a Shanghainese restaurant. The second was a Western meal on an island where they only travel by golf carts (no cars). And the third was a midnight excursion for some street food, including curry fish balls, lobster meatballs, roasted octupus and deep-fried calamari. [↩]

On Saturday night, WAF and I went to M2 where my friends from TheBusinessSchool, MBB and SFG, had a table with some of MBB‘s friends. The club had a decent-sized dance floor and an even more decent-sized crowd. On one side of the dance floor was a raised platform upon which Lady Gaga-esque back-up dancers (I think they were paid dancers) were shaking their booties to top 40 hits. All night long the booze kept flowing, we had an endless supply of Grey Goose vodka and Johnnie Walker Black Label whiskey. Amazing!

LAC was a friend of a friend’s and arrived a little after we did. I saw him standing next to the table with nowhere to sit, so I asked the two girls beside me to scooch in so he could have a seat. I hadn’t even been introduced to him or gotten a proper look at him, and the opened-up seat wouldn’t be beside me, so it was clear I wasn’t doing it to sit next to him and flirt. I was just being nice. I knew what it felt like to arrive at a party and only know one other person and stand awkwardly on the outside. He did notice me for my nice act though, and half an hour later, when a seat opened up next to me, he sat down and introduced himself. It was only at this point that I noticed how cute he was. He was Cantonese but raised in L.A., and now he was working in Shanghai. He spoke Cantonese, English, enough Mandarin to get by, a bit of Spanish (because of LA), and a bit of French (because his grandparents were living in Ottawa). We were only chatting harmlessly for a few minutes when WAF came over to ask me if I wanted to go dance. I assumed I would excuse myself to the dance floor and come back in a few minutes, but he surprised me by getting up and taking my hand. He was coming with me? I led him on the dance floor and when I turned around, I saw that WAF had not followed us. A few minutes later, she appeared with MBB‘s best guy friend. Apparently she had felt the need to grab a dancing partner at the last minute. I couldn’t blame her. Unfortunately, MBB‘s best friend was not into her at all and barely danced; his disinterest was so immediately obvious that I don’t know how she got him to go to the dance floor with her in the first place.

LAC was not a great dancer by any stretch of the imagination, but at least he didn’t create his own rhythm to interfere with the music. Nonetheless, I avoided the dance floor most of the night and we just sat at the table, talking and cuddling. WAF was miffed that I found arm-candy so quickly, but I wasn’t worried that she would be able to find her own. By some strange twist, she couldn’t, and almost ended up making out with my friend, MBB.

LAC wasn’t very talkative and I noticed that he asked very few questions about me. But I had no doubt he was into me because he asked for my number very quickly and was physically keeping me next to him. Maybe he wasn’t a talker but his actions told me enough. He was among the hottest guy I’ve ever picked up, and he was also among the sweetest. When I couldn’t find my clutch¹, he walked around the whole club with me twice to look for it. He didn’t seem as concerned as I was, but in the end, it was still he who found it. He asked me to go outside with him, and we sat outside the club for a long time just talking. When he kissed me, he didn’t try to stick his tongue down my throat. Instead, his lips were soft and surprisingly gentle. (more…)

1. I had left it with MBB and they had moved tables and I couldn’t find the new table. [↩]

I arrived in Hong Kong a few hours ago, and already, I’m impressed. Hong Kong is busy, yet so much less chaotic than China. I’m staying with FBB for a week, but I will only see him for one night, because he’s traveling for work right now, and then he’ll be going to Shanghai with friends for the weekend. I had to go to his work place to pick up his key from a co-worker. A strange arrangement. Even stranger is getting to know someone through their apartment, before even meeting them. He has meticulously prepared for my arrival, giving me incredibly detailed instructions (to get to his office and his condo), and even left a HK SIM card and subway for me so I wouldn’t be left stranded. His condo is gorgeous, like most buildings in Hong Kong. It is a super high-rise, the likes of which I’ve never seen in Canada, and has marble floors not just in the lobby but in the apartment as well. It’s in an excellent location, with a convenient store right downstairs, and is only one subway stop from Central. I can’t wait to start exploring Hong Kong!

But Shanghai is still on my mind.

WAF and I stayed with The Girl was Goosed for five days and she was an absolutely fabulous host. The first night we got there, we went on a pub crawl that was themed “Around the World” with mostly expats. The first bar was an Irish bar, not that exciting, but I wasn’t going to complain about free food and drinks. We then went to an Australian bar, Dada (I don’t know what part of the world this was supposed to represent), and finally an insanely cool club called D10 Departure Lounge. It was shaped like an airplane, with a flight attendant that opened a sliding door and little airport windows looking out onto the hallway. It also came complete with overhead cabins, a first class area (VIP lounge), and a luggage hangar (dance floor and DJ area). During the pub crawl, WAF and I met ShanghaiShorty, a very cute Shanghai-boy who grew up in the U.S. and was visiting Shanghai for the summer. He was not very tall though, so although WAF was flirting with him first, she told me I could “have” him because she didn’t want a short boy. I started chatting with him at Dada and realized he was actually two years younger than us. I don’t normally like guys who are younger because their perspective on life is still undeveloped and I can’t stand trying to have a conversation with them without breaking their naivety. Unfortunately, he was the rule, not the expection, but he told me he liked talking to me, and I was pretty tipsy, so I stuck with it. There weren’t any other good-looking Asians on the pub crawl anyway. Although he didn’t make a move on me at Dada, we sat together on the bus on our way to the last stop, D10 Departure Lounge, and he put his head on my shoulder. Not the manliest move that’s ever been made on me, but again, I had to remind myself that he was a 20-year-old that didn’t party much in Shanghai and couldn’t even legally drink in the U.S., so meeting a girl in this context couldn’t have been a practiced act. When we got off the bus, WAF kept flirting with him, and when he went to buy another drink for me at the bar, WAF started grinding him. Instead of moving away, he danced with her, right beside me! I was miffed, but I didn’t care enough to do anything about it. He was really cute, but other than that, not a great catch – if he was more attracted to WAF, she could have him.

After I moved away, he came and found me, and asked me to go dance with him. I don’t know what happened, why he didn’t just go dance with WAF, and I was reluctant to be his ‘second choice’. So I asked him nonchalantly, “What do you think of WAF?”
“She’s pretty wild,” he said, “But not my type.”
“What is your type then?”
“You’re my type.”
It sounded like a line to me, so I pressed him a little more. “Why?”
“You’re fun, energetic, interesting. I like you.”
That was enough for me. With a last swig of champagne, I let him lead me on the dance floor. I knew that by appearances alone, WAF was hotter than me. I’m cute, but I don’t do sexy very well. She does sexy. So first impressions at a club, WAF is usually always picked up. I always expect her to be noticed first, and she is. I never expected that anyone who noticed both of us would pick me over her. (more…)

Arrived in Shanghai three days ago and been having the time of life. Only have 5 minutes to write this post but I am bursting with news so I thought I’d write a quick update:

- Been staying with The Girl was Goosed, and she is awesome!
- Went to a pubcrawl an hour after arriving, met tons of expats, went to so many funky bars and all the drinks are so cheap! And met a cute Shanghainese boy, let’s call him ShanghaiShorty – more on him later
- Spent most days shopping, got sooo many adorable dresses, jewelry, purses and even a wig! The Girl was Goosed was raving about the wigs she got from this one lady, which look like real hair, so WAF and I went and got ourselves long-haired wigs too!
- We all got sick manicures, wish I could post a photo but this isn’t my computer :( Mine is a pale pink base with silver glitter tips and one horizontal line of white dots – like a dressed up french manicure
- Two of my friends from the BusinessSchool invited us out clubbing last night at this massive (amazing) club with tons of hot Chinese and expats. They had a table so we were drinking Grey Goose all night long and I didn’t have to drop a dime! Met a hot Chinese-born, Los-Angeles-raised boy working in Shanghai now. He was unexpectedly perfect – more on him later too

And that’s it! Gotta run, we’re going to the fabric market today for custom-made dresses and fabulous jewelry. For dinner, we’re going to a converted-slaughterhouse-turned-restaurant, and later tonight, we’ll be cracking open that bottle of Grey Goose that WAF and I got The Girl was Goosed.