Oh got up early, ate and left for the limousine to the airport. First trip to China. He’s been told a lot of horrible stories about China. For example, an old Korean couple on a tour in China was abducted, put to sleep and robbed of their organs. Anyways, he was anxious, nervous and excited at the same time. Going overseas and going to the airport always makes people feel eerie Oh thinks.
At any rate, at the airport, Oh met a bunch of people from all over the country wing ing down to Shanghai with him. They are from different organizations and are participating 2008 Shanghai Seatrade All Asia Cruise Convention. Since Oh’s job description covers cruise industry, Oh’s team captain decides to send him over to China.
After going through the exact same gate where Oh sent off the girl that he had a crush on about 3 years ago, and his ex girl friend about 2 years ago, he wandered about a school of duty free shops without buying anything.
Hopping on the plane, Oh is flying to China. Red. Mao Ze Dong, Red Book. Population. Fast Growth. Pollution. Flamboyance. History. Great Wall. There are too many adjectives to illustrate the country of en masse.
Touching down the airport, he found the air very smoggy and dirty. Indeed, there is a lot of construction going on at the moment. According to the tour guide, since PRC a communist country, the land is organized and managed by the government. So, no one owns even a piece of land. Still death penalty (hanging or public execution) is still carried out here in China. Eerie
After spending almost an hour on the bus, Oh and the mop reached the hotel that they are going to spend next 5 days and 4 night. Oh’s got a single room. Nice. No disposable razor, by the way. Great.
Then they went to the convention venue and checked out the booth that they are going to be stuck at for the next 3 days.
Afterwards, some of the participants decided to go to a welcoming dinner in the middle of Shanghai. Cooped up in the shuttle bus from the hotel, only 5 out of 20 participants headed to the dinner, which was pretty awesome. Chinese cuisine such as Peking duck, lobster, Chinese Kimchi!!, and some greasy local food that Oh could not even swallow. But what was more amazing was the rapid civilization and the bipolarization of the city’s outer aspect. On the outside, Shanghai beats the crap out of Walstreet or even Manhattan. However, if you took a good look at it, it is worse than Harlem (not securitywise). Oh thought he was in the middle of projections in Queens or Brooklyn. Shanghai is grotesque. It is a two faced city. On one hand, you see the facny and flamboyant skyline. On the other hand, you see slum areas where people hang their clothes out in the street, spit and pickpocket. And the smog and the overcast weather adds up to it.
Coming back to his room, he received a text message from a good friend of his. She lives in Beijing now. Although she did not want him to call her, Oh called up. Oh and she met back in Korea about 3 years ago. They fancied each other, but nothing happened. Strangely enough, they remained good friends since then. Anyways, a single phone call, although it will cost Oh’s company substantially, would not get him fired. So, they chatted up and hung up.
Oh took a shower and got ready to go to bed. Tomorrow the convention starts and Oh needs to get his job done. Participating in a couple of conference and go on sales calls. In the evening, he plans on exploring some hot spots in Shanghai. Night life of Shanghai awaits him. Now he regrets not taking Chinese so seriously back in college and high school.
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