I left China a month ago and it already feels like much longer than that. Odd how that happens. Lately I been living the comfortable life of the suburbs of Massachusetts. It’s been fun and the little annoyances of life in Hunan are gone, though only to be replaced with the all together new disappointments of life in America. The air is clean here and you can find yourself in green leafy surroundings free of other people, even in a city like Boston. Overall I’m just pretty bored.

More than any return from China I’ve had this feels like a visit and I am at ease knowing that I will soon be returning to Shanghai to start a new life. Of course, I’m not mentioning the long slightly annoying sludge I’ve made to get my visa. Lets just not talk about that.

I’m so excited about moving to Shanghai I’ve been reading about the city and watching the large amount that can be found on Youtube, now available to me here in the land of the free. Did you know that Commodore Matthew C. Perry stopped there on his way to Japan during his famous 1853 voyage that “opened up Japan to the West?”  Commodore Perry writes:

During the stay of the ships at Shanghai, there was a constant succession of dinners and balls, and the officers were most hospitably entertained everywhere.

Reminds me of my first visit to Shanghai, a booze-filled weekend back in the spring of 2004.

Online there’s a lot of fascinating stuff about this crazy metropolis.

Here’s a video preview of the World Expo, opening in Shanghai next spring.  The whole thing looks just like some futuristic Nintendo world.

Not only is Shanghai a cool city of the future but it also has a vibrant community of graffiti artists.

One of my favorite aspects of Shanghai is the large and healthy community of gay people that call the city home. Its truly is the gayest city in China. Who knows, I think I might just start fighting for gay rights in China. The people that made this fantastic video on gay life in Shanghai have a monthly online talk show about gay life in Shanghai and China: qafshanghai. Check it out.

Part One:

Part Two: