I slept rather late - I could not take the early train to Shanghai

• I slept rather late - I could not take the early train to Shanghai. I managed to take the 10.56 am train. It was almost empty in the soft seat cars.
• I had reserved a room in the Ruijin guesthouse in the French concession. It is an old set of buildings in a private park. Really nice place, a quiet oasis in the middle of a cosmopolis. I got a room in an new building, which was not so nice, but very clean, spacious, and even luxurious.
• Ruijing guesthouse could not serve lunch for me! I had lunch (salad, garlic bread, garlic soup, seafood curry, caramel pudding) in Sandoz, a Portuguese restaurant in Maoming Lu. Rather nice place. I regret a bit that I did not try their really Portuguese dishes. The real Portuguese food is good and simple (fish, potatoes, green wine).
• After working on the other application for a few hours, I went out for a few drinks. I had strawberry margarity in the Colors bar (great place over artificial bond) and manhattan in some other bar. I was reading the book called "Life and death in Shanghai", which tells a story of a woman during the Cultural revolution. She was working for Shell and for that the revolutionaries put here in prison in solitary cells for 6.5 years. Not even Kafka could ever write so absurd things as Mao and his cronies created in China. The book would be really fun, if it would not tell a true story. I think everyone should read this book too.
• Weather 23C, sun.

Alun perin julkaistu koosteessa "Diaries 2003 Q1".