Only a few days left...

Counting only the work days, there are 4 more days left on this project. Marlon and I still haven't stopped talking about how messed up the project is. I truly doubt if they can get the building in shape. But yet, you never know what can happen in China. Overnight, they can fix the building and open in time.

It has been a great insightful experience. I am glad I spent time in Beijing in addition to Tianjin. That's where you can see the speed of development. Combining news, speaking to people, and just walking around the 3 cities (Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai), I really get a true sense of what's beneath the facade of the country, and what's beyond the apparent consumerism.

One night in Shanghai, I sat next to a table of visitor and expats. The American visitor is obviously first time visitor from New York. He, as a senior level professional in finance, was making excited discussion of what he saw in China. It was painful to hear first time visitor excitement and their dissertation on the country. It was hard to keep myself from jumping up and contradicting him with some negativism.

Don't get be wrong, I understand the excitement. I just have developed a layer of skepticism. If I were stationed in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of Tianjin, I probably will have a tough time prying myself away from this country now. The food, the cheaper stuff, the shops... it's exciting. I need to be back in New York, where is the one few places on earth that is still exciting and have better cultural outlets. If I were going back to Melbourne, I would take the next flight straight to Shanghai and never go back. Sorry Australia.

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