VEGETARIAN SAUTED CLOVER WITH PIG'S BOWELS
PuXi, Shanghai (East of the new city)

Three days into it and the lag is getting extreme. My mom and I are fighting it with a strict sleep schedule, but the problem is that our internal clocks override our bodies' exhaustion. We go to bed with melatonin and prayers and wake up at 2, 3, 4, and 5 am every morning unable to convince ourselves that it's night here.

But enough of this. After some initial confusion the first night of my arrival (wherein I forgot the notebook that I had written all of my important contact information at my friends' house in Sacramento and--with a full bladder--got on a "shuttle bus" to the Radison on the other side of the city, an hour's ride from the airport. Frantic calls to my mother after a late-night emergency opening of the hotels "business center" where I checked my email and got the hotel's number and I was on a $20 taxi ride to the Ramada that was five minutes from the airport to begin with.

Luckily, things have turned around. My mom is "overwhelmed but happy" with China and we've enjoyed getting our bearings together. We soon got out of that airport hotel and downtown into the towering Metropole Hotel. I was able to buy a new battery charger for my mobile "hand machine" phone and the card still worked despite my friend Jim's warning that the thing would expire after six months. We went to the post office and they let us lick our own postcard stamps.

That night we ate dinner at a famous vegetarian restaurant where every dish is designed to look like meat. We ordered fake meatballs, "delicacies of every kind in skilly," "sauted rolls sliced chicken with" and fake shrimp. Down to the texture and color, those gelatinous goobers looked like shrimp. We retired to our room and slept five more hours (all our internal clocks would allow) and caffeinated our exhausted selves for another day of wandering. "No shopping today," Mom said. "I'm still not ready to deal with everyone getting in my face." But still the bargains called.

Today, we explored the southern part of the city, near the campus of the Shanghai Music Conservatory. I was amazed that a place of such quiet contemplation existed. We could hear the sound of Chinese trumpets, violins and erhu without having to strain above the din of honks and motors and shouts. We strolled the narrow, dusty streets in search of a net bar, getting conflicting advice and "why did you come into my store and ask me for directions you silly foreigner?" kinds of looks. Neither could we find the art gallery we were looking for.

Finally, we gave in to a cup of Cafe Americano and a fantastic convergence occured. The barman told us the art gallery was ten meters outside the front entrance of the bar and said we had walked by a net bar on the way to the restaurant.

The art gallery www.shanghart.com was owned by a Swiss man and I think we witnessed something rather unique. The exhibition hosted the artwork of a famous artist whose best work sells for about $10,000 each. But in this exhibit, everything was 500 RMB (about $60). And actually, he had done none of the art himself. Instead, he found a street artist and declared the art was of equal worth to his own, bought the pieces, and sold them at cost. By "bought the pieces" I mean that the man plastered his identity onto the pieces , signing a contract with the real artist that the paintings would be in effect his for ten years. It was really weird heady concept art, yet the artist described the exhibit as "'contract' instead of 'concept'" and as an "'adoption ceremony'" where "Every visitor is a witness of the adoption." You can read his statement here. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any of his real work online. Too bad, cuz it was hella better than the art on the walls of the gallery.

All for now. I hope I write you again on the other side of a Shanghai MagLev ride. =)