Shanghai Noon

Dear Tony,

Backpackers are a breed now. You’ll see them drinking excessively to DJ’s top 40s, throwback top 40s, and Losing It by Fisher. They come in swarms to the major cities in Vietnam, Thailand, Utila, San Cristobal, Lima, etc. where they clog everything.

But it’s the ex-pats you really want to get to know.

[Well. Locals first. But language and culture make that a difficult, but rewarding task] [Luckily I have a leg up in both in China]

They’ve come from a variety of places and lifestyles. All different skills, carving out their lives in another country. A lot of the ones I knew are teachers of some sort. But also in hospitality, entrepreneurship, art; they work as pilots [Hi Dirk], yogis, rock climbers, SCUBA divers, cliff jumpers, a doctor or two, plenty of students, software developers, event coordinators, and some are just making their own way.

They’re a fancy breed aren’t they?

Seasoned travelers, they have little presumptions about other people and are welcoming and warming in the near universal language of English to show you what’s good with their city.

They are often a wealth of knowledge from cultural to geographic to community to the different fields of study that they puruse to where the best fruits are sold and the cheapest liquor.

Too many shout outs to do, Mark, Zeke, Tyler, Nat, Coquina, Kenji, Matty, Matty Meat, all my Pai Ex-pats, those in Cat Ba, Cho, John, Alex, Reed, Chaz, Joshua, Tommaso, Nikita, Mackenzie, Caroline. So many.

Some of my favorites, are those I met in Shanghai. Many are English teachers. Pay in China is pretty excellent and they pay more for white skin and blue eyes.

Race here is less of tip-toe ballet and more of a factual brutishness, something similar to how an Asian mother might cheerfully call you fat to shame you to change.

Shanghai is a fascinating place. It has a wild amount of activities of all types. It can be extraordinarily high class on the Bund or French Concession or DisneyWorld Shanghai. But the neighborhood next door, Pu Dong is near old world poor. Besides the great discrepancy, I also didn’t like the relentless pace of millions of people; too expensive, too much, too Chinese-caste-system.

But my friends have gotten to know another face of Shanghai. Where drinks are cheap or free. Food is fantastic. Finding museums or art displays or rooftop parties or book launches or school barbeques or whatever.

I love that. I love these friends. They let me crash a few days each so I rotated around a half dozen friends, plus their dogs. Matty cooked breakfast and I did dishes. Zeke ordered in better Chinese than I did. Tyler and I wandered a strange Chinese market on edibles. Shannon introduced me to found cocktails and breweries. Dirk and I sang happy birthday to a Mexican fellow and his family in a German Brewery. I was interviewed for a YouTube show by Richard and Brian.

What excellent adventures.

The tourist/backpacker distinction is getting fuzzy. I can only imagine what Vietnam must have been like 10 or 20 years ago. Back in the 1990s. Traveling out of a backpack then must have been a radical different experience than the hostel hopping, guided tours, western restaurants that is canned and sold to travelers today.

It makes me regret I wasn’t out here earlier.

But expats are learning about places as globally connected centers instead of the isolated communities they once were. It’s that group of people that are, to me, the most interesting to learn from, build relationships with, and get to know. Not only for their knowledge, but for the similar mindset in looking for experiences in this tiny, but vast planet.

I’m grateful for all my ex-pat friends. Particularly for my those in Shanghai, but also around the world in the past year. They are so generous with their time, their knowledge, their hospitality, and their spirits. It has inspired me to do the same when I return to New York and find ways to welcome world travelers to the place I call home and the things I love in that home.

Thank you, and a big thank you to anyone reading. Take this weird time to work on the things that make you happy. Find discipline. Find purpose. See this as valuable, the crucible to the world you want to create.

Much love,

Winston