Good food, Good Alaskans

The first highlight of my day was lunch at Hyatt on the Bund. They've got a new marketing team over there and they wanted to meet us. We had Beijing duck, some sort of delicious fish and a bacon pyramid. Seriously. A pyramid made of coiled bacon. 

The second highlight was spending the evening with my Alaskan friends. First I squired them to the fake market. I coached them ahead of time and we got a fair deal on a fake Rolex. Jenny's little brother bought it for RMB 50 less than the one I bought recently. The saleslady wasn't smiling when we left - that's always a good sign.

My girlfriend and I both bought funky clutches, which I think I drove a fair bargain on - RMB 35 each. We walked around admiring all the crappy ripoffs. But I could tell my friends were a little overwhelmed. The hawkers really get in your face there.

After that we went to a Chinese restaurant near my house and had dim sum. And then I bought them my favorite tropical fruits (mangosteens, dragon fruit, wax apples) and we ate them in the Japanese tea room in my apartment. Jenny and I went through a full "where are they now" of our elementary school classmates. Despite the Facebook revolution, there's still something special about a face-to-face rundown on news from home. Especially when the news is about Alaskan. And it's delivered in a Japanese tea room in Shanghai.

Tomorrow my friend from Taiwan arrives. I'm so lucky to have so many visitors this summer.