Go West (in english)

September 18, Shanghai

What a strange place Shanghai is. Everytime we have come here, and this was the third this year, time colapses, days and nights mix in a trance mixed by Didje behind his record decks.

The easy going life of whoever flows down the river staring at the beauty of its shores! Here there's so much you can see! Life never stops when you have 30.000.000 chineses in one place: street vendors take turn to feed you according to your will: meat or veggie djiaozi, steamed, fried, boiled? in a soup? Barbeuque of veal, beef, chicken? Rat maybe? Just ask, and if you're too lazy to come down in the streets we'll bring it up to you in your tower! This place is beautiful, for if anything needs to be done, there'll be at least one person who will take advantage of dong it! Chinese are business opportunists, and so far it makes life rather easy in such an disproportioned city! So much life going on at the foot of thoses giant skyscrapers! So many people wondering in a laugh what a white guy could possibly be doing outside of the business district, staring at them for an hour and talking non-chinese! Going underground is the answer! Following our DJ-lirium guide through the clubs in town, we got to visit a few nice clubs, meet a few but very different "foreigners", who share this one love for the daily freedom and the beautiful chinese girls.

Talking about freedom in a so-called "dictature" that we tend to criticise so easily ("we" could also mean our hypocrite governments who envy the chinese so much...) is a delicate exercise: indeed they have internet control, misrespect of human rights, censorship on a global scale... and so do we! But on a daily basis, life is a much more control free than our life in the west!

Things happen in Shanghai because people here have not yet abdicated to a life of process and systems; they work hard because they still have some goal to reach, somewhere they want to go, not only retirement with the minimum surprise rate. That's what i think of chinese people as well as the foreigners i have met here.

It makes me want to keep following my own dream. On the road again!

Today we go back home; we start at least, the long journey that will take us through a whole continent, from Shanghai on the asian Pacific coast, to France, at the western part of Europe. The last journey on this one year long trip! About 25.000 km by land, by lands.

We've decided to go for the easiest route, partly because we were too lazy to go to the russian consulate here in Shanghai (and we don't want to set foot in Beijing this time), partly because it will take us through the beautiful deserts dunes of the Gobi desert, west of China, and then through the immensity of nothingness in Kazakhstan! Nice program we've got before reaching Europe via Ukraina!

Hopefully that will happen in the beginning of November, if my two mates Crizz-the-fucking German and Angel-the-fucking-spanish are to meet their fucking-french in Berlin! How are we about that guys? Let me know before i show up!

Michi, i'm planning to come right after Berlin if prices are ok with my budget!

I might not give a lot of news in the next month or two before i come back. Maybe none at all but dont worry!

see you all sooner or later, here or there, but with a smile!

damien