On a lazy afternoon, it's nice to come out here and enjoy the view of the Bund, the symbol of the colonial Powers. This is one of the best places for us to reflect upon the past and the future.

What are you guys chattering about? Your job or boyfriend? Whatever you're discussing, this city seems to be offering you a whole bunch of opportunities in work and love, probably.

Happy, smiling, and friendly Chinese. They could give you so much fun, but they could be a real pain in the butt from time to time, depending on the occasions. As long as you don't have any financial stake that could collide with theirs, they could be an angel, who's willing to help you as much as they can. If you did have a stake, well, that could be a totally different story. Right? My fellow laowai?

It's good to be "laowai" (foreigner) here in Shanghai. Virtually all of them, poor or rich alike, are usually endowed with laowai privilege. Food is cheap and great. Tons of good movies and cheap CDs at local stores. Life is good and fun for laowai, who doesn't have to toil hard to make livings. For poor laowai, well, life could be really trying here.

Rain, rain, and rain.

When will it stop?

No one knows.

But I liked the view of these apartment blocks in Pudong, the once-farmland-turned-into-a-newly-developed-area, from the high-rise office.