got off my flight a few hours ago and dropped my bags off at friend's place. am sitting at a whiskey bar waiting for a meeting right now. it's been nearly 3 years since I've been properly back in shanghai. this time we are here to meet investors, designers, and fashion people in general. hoping it will be a productive week ahead. some initial thoughts:
*hearing a lot more english, and not just of the American variety
*efficiency has picked up- no traffic problems to report of thus far, airport immigration took literally 10 minutes
*weather is unseasonably warm, brisk but quite pleasant in almost a fresh way (we'll see about that tomorrow in the daylight I suppose)
*people are less crass than I remember
granted, i have only been in the city for a few hours and am on the high after being upgraded to business class on a flight I paid discount fare for and looking forward to catching up and staying with my good friend from college.
china trips are special because each visit has always been associated with a slightly different mindset. the first time as a student and complete tourist, subsequent times as a banker and at one point to potentially work for a growing company that needed someone to expand their business into 3rd tier cities in china. fortunately that didn't pan out, leading to where we are today. this time yet again things have changed, and while I am better prepared for the cold and spit-hacking citizens, I don't know what the angel investor and startup world have in store for us in the coming days.
wish us luck!
