So I didn't explicitly say as much in the ol' blog (though I did hint at it in this post), but I left for Shanghai, China, last week on the morning of the 22nd. (However, due to the lengthy flight -- 17+ hours on the way there -- and the +12 hour time difference in that region, I didn't actually arrive in Shanghai until the afternoon of the 23rd. Yikes!) I got back into the area late Sunday night and arrived back in my childhood home around midday yesterday, whereupon I spent a great deal of time sitting on the couch drinking iced tea and watching episodes of "Boy Meets World" (which was so much better before everyone got older and had their IQs halved) and "Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends". Of course, I will write more about the trip later (perhaps in a multi-part SC article), but for the moment I am still too out of it to do much of anything substantial in that respect. The 15+ hour flight was terrible, but the real kicker was the food poisoning that I came down with towards the 2/3 mark of the trip. It pretty much put me out of commission for the remainder of my time in Shanghai and I'm still suffering from the effects (though I am getting better, thanks). If you're ever in Shanghai and find yourself in the Super Brand Mall, avoid New Age Veggie at all costs. Your intestines and anus and non-spasming esophagus will thank you (unless you get food poisoning somewhere else, that is).

Anyway, here are a few pics from Shanghai!

All for now, then. Hope you had a good last week and a great holiday!

From the Scams section of the Wikitravel China Travel Guide:

Just as you?re leaving a tourist attraction, a friendly couple approaches you, speaking excellent English. They might claim to be tourists, they might say they're studying at a local university, or the story might go that one person is showing his out-of-town friend around. Since you are walking along together, a very polite, pleasant and friendly conversation starts... As it so happens, the relatives/friends were on their way to a special festival, or going for a cup of tea, so wouldn't you like to come along... and after a short walk you end up in a tea house somewhere in a mall, with no special exhibition in sight. If you go along for the ride you will enjoy a full tea ceremony, with your new friends translating, which does end up being very interesting to see and quite delicious to taste, but unfortunately at a price that is way over the odds. ...

Also beware of the scam operating in many of the larger cities where attractive women or a friendly group of students entice you into a tea shop, bars or karaoke parlor. They show you a menu with a price on it and once you finish your drinks and ask for the bill, they produce a completely different price list that lists everything at much higher rates. It's wise to verify prices in writing or simply to pay in cash up front for each round of drinks.

This sounds really messed up! I hope the roving gangs of hot women do not take advantage of me. 🙁

In other news, WordPress 2.2 was apparently released the other day. Not sure whether I will upgrade before or after I return, though!

So on Wednesday I popped up to NYC and came back early Thursday morning. It was pretty fun, as I got to see lots of aminals (intentionally misspelled -- identify the reference if you can!) at the Central Park Zoo and hang out with some folks that I haven't seen in quite a while. Lunch at Pho Tu Do in Chinatown was also great -- probably the best meal I've had there thus far. I generally make it a point to check out a new restaurant every time I'm in town, but PTD is the only one so far to which I'd actually return. Prices are low and portion sizes are HUGE, too. I tend to order two things at Asian restaurants in order to make sure that I get my fill -- especially when the prices are low, since I associate low prices with appetizer-sized portions -- but that is totally unnecessary at PTD. I'll probably say more about the restaurant either here or on Scary-Crayon, but suffice it to say that I totally recommend it to folks in the area. 🙂

Among the many things I saw were also M&Ms in crayon-shaped plastic bags, so you know I had to get a photo of that! I was tempted to buy a bag, but then I remembered that I only buy M&Ms for the purpose of consuming them. There is no way I would be able to eat M&Ms in a crayon-shaped bag, because that would entail opening said bag and causing it to lose its crayon shape. So since I would have been hopelessly unable to do that -- and therefore unable to eat the M&Ms inside -- I chose to leave them there. (By the way, I have a problem using crayons for similar reasons. I tend to maybe use them once or twice and then retire them and either use a different, similar color or buy a new box of crayons altogether. Crayons must be permitted to retain their crayon-like shape, and it is unacceptable to tear their stylish wrappers.)

More about my latest visit to NYC next time, when I will write about all of the cool swag that I picked up! In the meantime, suffice it to say that 4 for $10 DVD deals are very, very good things.

But first, a word about today's interview. I think it went really well! Of course, I've been on interviews that I think went fairly well and then either didn't get the job or didn't even hear back from the company, so one never knows. Unless something comes up in the next couple of weeks, I'm pretty sure I'll take the position if they offer it to me, but no big if they don't -- I'll just skip town and head for NYC! So root for me or don't root for me, NYC area folks, depending upon how soon you'd like to have the Wes living in your midst. 😉 In any case, even if I get the job I'll be visiting again in early September -- gotta come up to meet the Beckster, you know. 🙂

So, NYC! I really had a great weekend there, despite learning some rather expensive lessons! I'm planning to go into some other details of the trip in a Scary-Crayon travel piece, but suffice it to say that, at least for me, fine dining is highly overrated, as apparently I have a rather unrefined palate. I know, I know -- "DUH Wes!", -- but still. Whatever. So after walking arriving in da city, I walked around Times Square and spent $40 on sushi 😐 before descending into Chinatown to buy DVDs and tiptoe around with my legs crossed because I realllllly had to pee. (Expect to hear the full story regarding that on SC, too... it's crazy, man.) My purchases appear above! In addition to the swanky AKUMA statuette, the films I got are as follows: (more...)

Booked my tickets this morning -- I should be arriving in the big city at approximately 11:30 AM on Saturday and leaving at 6:00 PM on Sunday. Time in between there is more/less free -- other than taking time out to buy $3 grody porn at one of those shops outside Port Authority and descending into Chinatown to stock up on Asian cinema, I've got no concrete plans -- so if you live in the area and want to meet up with me, send an e-mail and let me know what's up!

OK!