It’s been so long that I was in China that I feel almost removed from July, when I first boarded the plane for my pre-college trip there. Since I did manage to write daily and fill about 200 pages of my diary with accounts of the trip, I’m going only to briefly summarize it here.

We took a United direct flight over; the plane was almost empty, as you can take a look-see here. We had the aisle seat empty, though my brother who is more motion sick than a drunk flamingo would not let me move so we were stuck still squished in our seats.

We flew into Shanghai’s Pudong Airport. Shanghai is extremely busy getting itself ready for the World Expo in 2010. It’s ugly little blue mascot is everywhere in the city, though I refrained from taking a snapshot of it for its sheer unattractivenes. Half the streets are being fixed or repaved and the city’s really pushing to finish its subway system. Construction is a frantic and constant activity all throughout the city, since the aim is to be done or just stop by March for the initiation of the Expo.

In Shanghai, we stayed with one of our mother's old college friends and her husband in her 13th floor apartment just inside the Inner Circle. This is the view from her balcony, and as is typical, clothes hang dry in lieu of dryers. If one city in China really needs dryers, it would be Shanghai around storm season, when essentially you're breathing vapor.

Nevertheless, Shanghai is China's New York City, beautiful waterscape and all. We went down to see the cityscape at night and it was amazing. Haagen Daz had a shop right down by the waterfront, and as already one of the most expensive ice-cream brands in China, I didn't even dare wonder what the price was on actually going to the 'restaurant'.

Left: My favorite building in Shanghai and also one of its newer ones. It also happens to be the tallest one at the moment in the city, though I never did get to go in and do the wide-eyed tourist thing inside. Right: street singer with a beautiful voice.

The aunty we were staying with totally explained all the buildings to me but honestly, I didn't catch their Chinese names well enough to store and memorize, nevertheless think of translating. Maybe sometime before I try to attend the expo I'll do more research and catch up on my empty bucket of knowledge, but for now, enjoy the view.

On Sunday, our third and final day in city in July, another one of mom's old friends came and took us to Old Shanghai, more tourist-trap than anything truly authentic. Nevertheless, the vibe was still great.

China should look like this everywhere.

We went to Yu Yuan, a small garden in Old Shanghai and dined at a quiet restaurant.

So in the last two months since posted, I’ve been from California to China and back and then to New York, where I am currently. It’s been a hectic two months that still hasn’t settled yet, because now, 2 weeks into college, I’m already backlogged with work and readings. Half of that is because as of this morning, 1 hour ago, I still only have about 60% of my books and am missing some key, very necessary, books for my macro class.

Today also happens to be one of my friend’s birthday, so as she is the princess of the weekend, gets to dictate where our fate goes for the remainder of the day. We will be off to central park in a few hours, thus making me more broke than I already am, it being not even halfway into the month and me already being perilously low on funds.

Of course, it must be taken into consideration that I purchased 4 pairs of shoes and a new jacket in the last week or so.

Perhaps soon, when I’m procrastinating, I will reminisce my trip to China and my ardent desire to go back again next summer. For now, I need to clean my quarter of the giant quad that is my dorm room.

Will be vacationing in and around China from July 13th-August 14th!