November 12

I am sitting in the airport now in Singapore. A six hour layover on my way to Bangalore. Another KTV in Shanghai last night (Saturday) followed by a posh night club and in bed by 300a…drunk again…and high. Had to get up at six to catch my flight. I set two alarms and called for a wake up call…just in case. My taxi driver was on a mission getting me to the airport in record time. He was dodging in and out of Sunday morning traffic at speeds up to 160k treating the cars, trucks and buses like he was playing easy mode in Grand Tourismo…moving pylons.

Shanghai is a crazy city…so electric. It’s the NewYork of Asia…plus plus plus. There is a large community of foreigners and now with a few friends I fit right in…and the amazing thing is that there are more black dudes here than I see in Vancouver…brutha… We went out Friday night and hit this club on the rooftop of this office building that was insane. No signage downstairs at all…all word of mouth. As the elevator rises you feel the office vibe…but as you go higher the faint beat of music starts to work its way into the elevator getting louder and louder until finally the door opens and POW…pumping tunes and packed club of people. Who would have thought.

A few of us went back to this one dudes place around 430 and smoked a joint and hung out. I am used to Vancouver herb and this is China so how strong can it be…well I tell you…it knocked me on my ass. I couldn’t believe it. Around 530 me and one dude split a cab back to our hotels and the taxi driver was so lost the 20 minute drive turned into almost an hour and we were so stoned we only made it worse. Finally in bed by 630 Saturday morning and up at 11…couldn’t sleep anymore.

I had to do laundry before leaving for India so I went out and bought street food for breakfast and laundry soap. I got back to the room and turned my bathtub into a washing machine. I stripped down and got in the shower and cleaned my T’s and boxers then turned my room into a dryer with my gear hung all around hoping that it dries before I have to pack up.

There’s more stuff about the people of China that make this place super interesting. Like taking the bus between cities and being in a sea of people all hectic and honking horns and the smell of stinky tofu that smells like the garbage dump…how do people get around that smell…apparently it tastes really good, but… And then there is the driving…no wonder the Chinese are in so many accidents in Canada, you should see how the traffic system works over here. It just flows like water…no stress…no road rage…but take this way of driving to another country and it’s a mess. There is absolutely no way in hell I could ever drive here unless it was 500am Sunday morning. It’s hard enough for me to cross the street…I look both ways about a hundred times and still to scared to move. The method is to stick close to the locals. Stay right on their heels no matter how much you feel like that bus is going to run you down…and cross your fingers…and hope your karmic bank account is full…and go. I hear India is even more insane...yehaw!