Stop 29: Shanghai and LA

One of the initial reasons to travel is to see other cultures because I was in doubt on certain things. I have seen Southeast Asia, which is still relatable to other Asian cultures, and that leaves me either with Africa or South America (other I consider western cultures, but now thinking about it, Maori would be an interesting one. Considering the health conditions, I chose South America and also because I have a friend in Bogota). So from Singapore, it does not really matter in which direction I go in order to reach South America. To see some more families and friends, I decided to quickly go home.

Shanghai, a place I call home but sometimes does not feel like home. Since 15 years, I have mostly been living at my aunt/cousins place when I go back. But every time when I am back, except visiting, there is not really many things to do in Shanghai. Maybe I can visit some museums, go for some shopping, but that is mostly it. After 4,5 days, it gets boring. I guess feeling home also means to have some routines and feeling of belongingness when you can find a place where you are needed.

Except the ones I saw in Singapore, I also visited other aunties and grandpa. But really, the relationships between generations in China is somewhat a bit weird. It never feels like a real conversation and maybe I am just too used to the old way where relatives ask you questions and you just try to answer. Maybe there should be more things coming back from me.

Friends. This is something that you can choose. I used to meet the childhood friends from Secondary school where we used to play together. But this time, I decided not to say anything. It would have been a good thing to catch up, but it just feels weird that I am expected to invite them every time … So I only met with Nana, who is running a tattoo shop now, Tao, whom I met already in ShenZhen and JingWeng with whom I travel sometimes. Besides, I also quickly met up with the girl in the bus from NanNing to Hanoi. That was actually a quite funny encounter again. She studies at the sports academy and showed me around the campus. Apparently, the PingPong facility is super rich and has its own hotel facility (the champions mostly come from here).

There is not many pictures to show from Shanghai. I guess the Bike rental business is going out of control and see below …

The roastery is quite nice and considering Shanghai’s reputation, it is actually on par with New York, London and etc.

Los Angeles.

I opted for the more expensive flight to change only once in LA. The option is to change once in Dallas, once in Fort Lauderdale (close to Miami) and each has a layover of 9+ hours. No, I should treat myself a bit better and save the troubles.

The airport is quite weird with 7 terminals. The united flights were in one and I needed to go out of the airport to transfer. Well, then consider I did LA this time as well.

I actually needed to buy an outward flight ticket for Colombia and this is what made the 5h layover less boring. I went for a ticket from Bogotá to Zurich around end of July since it is one of the cheapest airports apparently in South America.

Me, just arrived in Iquitos after a 14 hour long boat ride on the Amazonas, and surprisingly found a computer in the hostel and acceptable internet connection. And 1:1 BRA-SUI wopwop.

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