I was in Shanghai, China shortly after the opening of trade and the beginning of the building and foreign investment boom. Being a project leader for a major new plant sight there was one of my three favorite jobs at my last employer. While I never lived there on a long term basis, I traveled there for two to three weeks at a time, about a dozen times over the course of the project.
I have memories that nothing, with the possible exception of time and dying brain cells, will take from me that include working long days and nights with dedicated employees, meeting many new people from a vastly different culture, being forever crowded, especially on the streets with people, bikes and cars, and experiencing so many firsts.
On most of my trips there was at least one day that could be spent as I pleased and this usually meant a trip somewhere with LOTS of people, shopping, seeing sights, eating, listening to music / jazz. This particular picture was a work celebration where our Chinese project leader was happily showing us how to eat crab…and get every last morsel that was not shell!
I would go to Asia again, and plan to in the future, but I’ll probably go to new places with new people and pleasures, because life is short and one must experience it while its available.
