Hello all!

I admit that I have not been the most earnest updater but the turning of a new year has motivated me to begin fresh and hopefully preserve a good sense of freshness throughout the year for the blog! As you may have noticed, I also decided to renovate with a new layer of furnishing… a retro-themed layout. Hope you enjoy!

Currently, I’m in Minnesota for the Winter Holiday and within a few days, I will be back at Queen’s hitting them books as second semester commences. First semester was definitely not the easiest and it only dumbfounds everyone how yup, we’re already halfway done with the System. While many are still very fond with the System (ie. university/college and the bags of freedom that comes with it), I personally find School to be demotivating at times as in certain subjects, we’re forced to memorize “inert ideas” for the mere intention of scoring on a 3-hr exam. That’s when I start to question the inconveinent confinements of … education, or rather, the method of education.

Nonetheless, I should be very thankful for th 3-week downtime before the cycle starts churning again. It has certainly been nice to experience Minnesota for the very first time. I’m staying at my Aunt’s place which is 40 miles southwest of Minneapolis. I’ve been asked by a few people “what’s in there?” and I think it would be fair to describe the place as being more than just a bearer of Midwest Serenity.  Here are some interesting things I’ve learnt about the city:

1. The most prominent attraction is the Mall of America. Built in 1992, it was the largest mall in the U.S. The place wasn’t enormous (or I came with heavy expectations) and a Nicklodian kids’ park is in the center of the mall. It’s cornered by the 4 department stores; Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, and Sears.

2. Minneapolis borders another city, St. Paul, by 15KM from downtown to downtown and as the most populated urban area in Minnesota, Minneapolis-St.Paul is often referred to as the Twin Cities. The full-name of the airport is Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport, thus the airport code of MSP.

3. Minnesota has the 2nd largest Tibetan population next to New York. Yes, I would know because I care.

3. A skyway is an enclosed bridge between 2 buildings and the Minneapolis Skyway System connects almost every downtown building covering 69 blocks! It is of course jam-packed in the winter because who would want to walk in minus 10 weather when you can walk in a straight line from Saks to the Metrodome?

4. Minnesota is the home to many of the Fortune 500 companies, just to name a few; Delta, Northwest, Target, Best Buy, General Mills…The midwest  also has its own coffeehouse named the Caribou Coffee, which by size, operates on a level second to Starbucks in the U.S.

The above is some defining features, I’ll add more if I do learn!

I’ll end with some photos of my visit to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center where I caught the annual screening of the British Television Advertising Awards – exactly my cup of tea.

Nanjing and Shanghai were my last stops.

I took an overnight train from Beijing to Nanjing (with almost no sleep.. awakard position in trains) and after a couple of days spent in my hometown of Nanjing, I took another bullet-train to Shanghai (only 2 hours apart) and hung out for two days.

Fortunately, I wasn’t part of the mainstream crowd that went to the World Expo – the reason the cost of all Chinese flights and hotels were doubled this year. Tourists from every continent, especially the Chinese, flew to see this big deal. The entire city of Shanghai felt energetic, hip, and just a tad overpopulated and humid during this time. Every citizen of Shanghai was also given a free ticket. That’s some 23 million stubs.

By the end of August, about 45 million people have paid their visits to the 41st World Expo – that’s more than the Canadian population of 35 million – in only 120 days of opening.  About half a million visitors crowd the site everyday with countless hours spent in lines for the 50 or so state-of-art pavillions representating different countries.

So, when asked by literally everyone I know, the reason I didn’t attend the Expo and still went to Shanghai,  I didn’t respond with the same strange looks I was given. The reason is quite casual. I didn’t want to sweat more than I had in the already close-to-40-degree weather; and I spared no interest for the Expo. I wanted to go explore what the city is known for; its international commerce, fancy architectures, and contemprorary cultures.

I also arranged some coffee meetings and agency visits. Ubber worth the two days of absolute restlessness.

Upon arrival, I met with Lin at the Element Fresh outside Ritz Carlton. Enjoyed an overly-American meal in a resturant where we were probably the only locals. Lin had worked as a strategic planner at the Beijing Saatchi and now over at Ogilvy Shanghai. We shared very similar backgrounds – born in Nanjing and went to school in Canada – so it ignited extra interest in speaking to her. Lin was extremely nice to have came out for a very interesting conversation consisting my many questions on her experiences and insights, one of which is to expose myself to the British advertising playground because of the excellent quality and unique thinking there. Perf. Just another addition on my list of places to intern in. Thanks Lin

In the afternoon, I hung out with Jiajie, who I had met on my Europe trip earlier in June. I made sure Jiajie to not bring me to a generic tourist sight that I could probably read a book to or check my photo archive for; good thing she knew exactly what my taste was like and brought me to one of my favorite places in Shanghai – Tian Zi Fang (田子坊), an international creative art park, home to more than 100 designer/artistic shops, resturants, and bars, similar to the 798 Creative Zone in Beijing, but more intimate. Tian Zi Fang made me realize how many foreigners there are in Shanghai, everyone (even the shop owners) spoke English and carried big-shot Nikons. It was very nice to take nightly strolls in downtown Shanghai’s alley ways and hotspots such as Xin Tian Di (新天地).

My second day, and also one of extreme business, kick started with a visit to DDB. I first met with Kellie, the HR director, a very friendly Aussie who’s been in China for almost a decade. The office had a lot of foreigners, even more since they were holding the annual training program for all the Asia- regional executives. It is a bit different from the Beijing scene as Shanghai has a stronger focus on Consumer Packaging Products with more international clients – I definitely felt it. Talking about internationlism, I ate at the corner Subway for lunch and came back to exchange a brief talk with Mr. Motman, the chief executive of DDB, who generously accomodated my visit request.

Immediately leaving DDB, I took the subway to the Saatchi office at the SOHO Donghai Plaza（东海广场). It is conveinently located on the 31st floor and upon coming in, the familiar light-shone logo is the first thing to notice. The Shanghai office is less “free” than the Beijing one; no scooters were available for horsing around and desks were more tightly arranged together. There were around 150 people on the floor and again, the interior design was artistically refreshing, in many shades of the elegant white. While I was speaking with Cecile, who’s also a planner here, guess who sat across from us? The colleague from the Beijing office that sat next to me! He was on a business trip but still, it made me realize how frequent I travelled; for me, it felt like it only took walking into another set of doors, from Beijing to Shanghai.

Then right after the Saatchi visit, I went over to the Starbucks by Shanghai Art Museum to meet with Wu Jinjun, who was responsible for carrying out the New York Festivals (NYF) in Shanghai this June – I had prepared to help out for the event, but Cannes’ time shedule was in conflict with NYF so what a pity! For those that don’t know, NYF is also another advertising award festival, they had a couple hundred big shot guests coming from out of China. Jinjun also produced his own 30-minute series consisting of interviews with Creatives in the Chinese ad scene. This man is full of ideas – he’s working on a ton of projects that I’m extremely excited about and wish him the best for. A very smart guy and finally after months of contact, we had coffee. Thank you for the treat, JJ.

So in conclusion, I absolutely abused the Shanghai subway system for the day; spending at least 30 RMB in subway fares (that’s making around 10 runs). A very fruitful trip with many new faces to meet and conversations to thank for.

My train would leave the next day around noon – I spent my morning more relaxed, paid a visit to the Art Museum (a RARE place to be empty in Shanghai) and wandered around Ren Min Plaza (人民广场), the most downtown-central area.

Great impression of Shanghai this time, a city I’ve come across so many times but for the first time, I felt and experienced its rich growth. Hmmm. Would be fun to return for a job opportunity?

Would be.

I have came back. To typing on a bed that I’ve fallen akin to for a little more than a month.

To home.

And I’ve learnt more about life, love, and beauty than I initially planned to have.

I’ve also learnt that home, doesn’t have to be where your furnitures sleep.

I just know that I have to go back – I have to, I have to. Its people are my people. Its land and water bore my airs. Its skies looked out for me. Its animals showered its stunning landscapes. It’s everything that completes the incompletes parts of mine. I’ve thought for a long time of writing an astronomically long entry on this adventure (because it deserves the time and craft) and I’ve always wanted to only write it when I felt soul-ful (because it deserves all the soul I could feel in the body). I imagined completing this post on a toilet at 4am because that’s the only place I could escape to without disruption. I imagined editing this at an airport gate with a battery bar that is a little more pressing and unignorable than an auburn there’s-only-3-minutes-left icon. I imagined frantically polluting restaurant napkins with scribbled flashbacks, to be stored, deciphered, and recorded on a journal at a later time.  

I need the most inspiration to describe this adventure and I wait for those magical moments because when they happen, they feel beautiful.

I couldn’t sleep for 3 whole days, the night in Chengdu before the big trip, the first day in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, and the last night of the 6 day tour, again, in Lhasa. Was it more excitement than the unfamarilarity of the high elevation, the automatic response of every tourist? I couldn’t tell, it was a fine mix of both. I just never wanted to sleep or waste a minute with my eyes closed, I wanted to run on the open plains with the yaks and sheeps and talk with the red-beaded guys and girls about their perspectives and my perspectives. I wanted to ask questions that came less than ten syllables, capture portraits that you can smell the film grains to, and feel some kind of spiritual uplift – religion is ubiquitous. It defines this place.

I did everything I wanted to. I opened my eyes and hearts like never before.

On the last day, I had my alarm set at 6AM, however, an unexplained uneasiness awoke me at 3. I was alone in a room with three beds – two have flown home due to their fevers. I packed all my goods and left the hotel at 7 to arrive on the square of the most holy Jokhang Temple. I sat on the steps of Jokhang and just allowed the sun and the incensed smoke to bathe my presence. I didn’t feel foreign at all, before lines of faithful disciples grasping onto their spots of getting inside the monastery. Nor did I feel any uneasy from observing a land of people doing the grand kneel. Around me were faithful disciples carrying litres of buttered tea, buckets of flowers, to devote themselves to the holy spirits inside.  

People were coming to Lhasa from all over Tibet. Even as we drove on highways, we would be accompanied by disciples on the side doing the Grande Kneel. On the right, there could be a few wandering yaks unworried by the polite traffic this place has been known for towards its holy members.  

We would drive by large Haiger tour buses filled with yellowed-faced sleepers, with expensive oxygen bottles in front of their seats, just in case they run out of oxygen, as likely their cameras would be out of batteries. Like us, they were new to this place.

Not very often would we feel taller by getting past mini vans that carry the dark-shaded Tibetans. I remembered one in particular. They were a mid-aged crowd, probably in the 40’s. The one guy just looked up – it was an engagement of a mere second, but I could not forget how natural and welcoming his eyes looked.

I want to come back really soon.

I want to understand its religion and I want to embrace its people the same way they have done to me – like family. I want to be without any complaints and I want to be immersed in their perspectives and culture.  I want to capture more smiles than I can offer myself.

It’s daunting how quickly you can fall in love with something that you knew would take you away from the very beginning.

Or even before the beginning.