The World Needs More Ninjas

So far I’m having a good trip! Yesterday the wife of one of our alumni (Michelle) took me out. She met me at the hotel and then we took a taxi to a nearby temple and market. We went in the temple briefly (it was pretty small) and then we did a lot of shopping. Seriously, I don’t know how my luggage is staying zipped right now.

It was so nice to have Michelle to help me out. She would always bargain with the people for me, and it was nice to not have to worry about trying to communicate with taxi drivers and such. We also had a nice Chinese lunch at the market…it was all very yummy. I think China definitely has my favorite food of any country that I’ve traveled to so far.

Michelle also took me to her salon to get a massage. She is a member there so it didn’t cost me anything! She gets a massage and facial there every week…can you imagine?! Unfortunately I didn’t have time for the facial part, but I did get the traditional Chinese massage. Let me tell you, it is not like the American massage, haha. Let’s just say that there are bruises down the middle my back in the shape of my spine!!!!

At times when she was doing the massage, it kind of hurt but felt good at the same time. I had no idea it was making such bruises. I guess that is what is supposed to happen though. Michelle told me that the most “healthy” people don’t get any bruises…she told me that I did very well because I only got a few bruises. She said the first time she got a massage her entire back was bruised. Hmm, I guess I can be happy that I’m pretty healthy. She said it should go away in about 2-3 days. I must say that I did feel relaxed like a wet noodle by the time she was finished.

After that we went and walked around this area called the Bund (I think) which is a river going through Shanghai. It is very pretty during the day and the night. After just a few minutes there we had to head back to the hotel so I could get ready for work. (By the way, it was really cloudy all day, but fortunately it never rained while we were out so that was nice.)

Once I got to the hotel I changed clothes and freshened up and then met up with some alumni and a prospective student for a little while and then we had the MBA fair until 9:00. After the fair, 3 of the alumni took me out to a nice Chinese dinner. Again, the food was wonderful!!! It’s not like American Chinese food where they mix everything together in one dish, but instead you get a ton of little dishes that everyone just shares…kind of like family style. It’s all very good. And no, there aren’t egg rolls or fortune cookies, hehe. We had veggies, shrimp, fish, soup, and a few other things. To drink we had hot tea and also a kiwi drink (kind of like a kiwi smoothie).

After that I went back to my room and packed up all my stuff…it was quite a challenge with all of the new stuff that I bought at the market. I was thinking I’d like to go back to the market this morning and get a couple of other things (like another knock off purse), but I really don’t know where I’d put it and also I don’t think I have time. I have to leave in less than a hour now to head to the airport.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up what I’ve been doing so far. I’m flying to Taipei all day today (by way of Hong Kong).