THANK YOU

Well, well, well... After 3 years and nearly 4 months this will be my last post in this blog. It all started as a funny way of explaining my experience in China, on the other side of the world. When I moved here everybody thought I was going to unexplored lands where chaos reigned, whose people spoke an indecipherable language and the English language is spoken worse than in Spain...

Before coming and maybe for the first weeks I also thought this way, but here I am now: 3 years older, with a bit more beard and grey hair (on the way to look like George Clooney) and having lived the most amazing experience of my life! This so called chaos has become my home, Chinese people have welcomed and treated me better than I would have ever imagined and I even speak the language now. So I have a big mix of feelings inside me right now, sadness about leaving for good a city that I'm proud to call home but happiness to move back home, to my family and childhood friends, after more than 4 years. The best is that I will never lose the most amazing thing I have experienced here, and these are my friends, who along these 3 years have become my family:

• The Suzhou crew:  what a hell of an experience! Nearly 10 months surrounded by the most awesome people you can think of, probably partying way too often and not studying as much as we should, but we made the best of our time together. So when do we organize a reunion?
• My South African family: they literally adopted me, made me feel like I was part of the family, sharing confidences, parties, family meals and excursions, etc.  In here I would like to make a special mention to two people:


• My brother, who was my best friend and confident and with whom I've lived the best and the worst in China. Unfortunately time and circumstances tore us apart but I am so thankful I got to know you. I wish you all the best bro.
• My Shanghainese South African: she’s a teacher in Shanghai and indeed taught me many things about this city, starting from the streets (I had a tough time trying to remember the names) to how to overcome the not so good moments. Due to work we have not met often this year, but it’s been a pleasure knowing you and you have a house in Barcelona now!
• Mis hermanos and the Spanish crew: short time that we've shared, but indeed intense. Guys, you have showed me one side of Shanghai I didn't know yet. The list
  of anecdotes lived is infinite, but I would like to highlight just one: two days before leaving China for good they helped me accomplish a 3-years long mission. Even I had given up already but finally I did it! Thanks bros!
  
• And last, because she’s been by my side the longest, in the worst and best moments and hasn’t kicked my ass yet (for what she deserves at least a golden statue)... MY SISTER! Some of you may have had the privilege to meet her, others back in Barcelona have just had this privilege, and I'm sure you all understand why I love her so much!

Sorry about no naming anybody but the list is way too long and I’m afraid you would get bored. But at the same time I’m sure you all know who I am talking about, as I've either lived with you or explained you thousand times my stories here. And there are so many more people I have not listed but then I'd never end...

So guys, now a new adventure starts... back home, yes, but doing a 180 degrees turn in my professional career: joining a start-up with the best mentor and advisers team that I can think of! Time to work my ass off, to keep on learning every day, and I can already tell you this: it is going to be a great success! And then maybe someday I will have some days off and I can come visit you all! But until this is possible just know that you all have a house in Barcelona!

See you soon!

The Chinese

Thailand - Part I

Well here I am again! Today I decided to go to a coffee shop at Zhongshan park, where I can enjoy the nice day out (although it's cold) together with a good coffee... Because yes, that does not happen often! Especially the part where I get a good cup of coffee. Waking up with a cup of Nescafe everyday is not the best, to say it somehow. And I know, you are all probably thinking how easy it must be for me to go to the supermarket and buy a good coffee machine. Yes and no, it is indeed easy to find some, but it is one of those things that you keep on postponing because every time you see a nice one it is soooo expensive... And Nescafe isn't cheap either, it costs like 10€ for a mid size pot, but come on, who can live without coffee? Me definitely not! And I guess after 2.5 years (Vienna, Suzhou and Shanghai) I've got used to instant coffee. Though I tell you, first thing I do when I settle down somewhere is to get the best coffee machine and spend a day getting high on good coffee!

But that's not the thing I wanted to talk about today. Indeed, today I wanted to give you an insight on my good life (yes, I have to admit it, I find some time to enjoy life in between the long hard working journeys... surprised?). And I thought... What is better than the 2 weeks I spent in Thailand just one month ago?? In October, when everybody is back to work, weather is getting bad, post holidays bad mood and so on, I was there, in paradise, with a great friend, laying on an incredible beach, with the sun shining, a beer on one hand, good music in the background and...the 150cc bike waiting on the parking lot! Not bad, right?

But let's start from the beginning, because we were that close to not having these holidays at all! So how come I had 2 weeks off in October? Easy (and not nice): because I hadn't had summer holidays! In fact, since Xmas 2012 I had just had 5 days off in June. So I took the chance that the first week of October is the National week in China (and so everybody here gets a whole week off) and added 5 more days of annual leave and, together with Divan, decided to take the trip we had been so long talking about (one and a half year, indeed).

We left on a Saturday, left home nearly 4 hours before the flight departed (it takes 1 hour to get to Pudong aiport) as we were going to take the bus, which takes a bit longer, and didn't want to take any risk. So we took a taxi to the bus station and, as soon as we got in, you could see in the taxi driver's face that he had won the lottery. Why? So we told him we wanted to go to the bus station, and he was "But guys, you are going to the airport right? I can take you there..." and told us a price, cheaper than the usual rate. We told him, kidding, that it was way too much... So the bargaining began and if you have experienced it, you know once you start you cannot stop. So finally we agreed on a price (seemed cheap but then we realized we were paying 15€ more than if we had taken the bus: TAXI DRIVER 1 - DIVAN&POL 0) and he took as there. So we get to the airport and guess what? Our flight was not on the screen! We first thought it had been cancelled, or the date was not correct... until we asked at the information desk and they soooo nicely told us that... WE WERE AT THE WRONG AIRPORT! As clever as we are, we did not even check which airport (Shanghai has 2, one on each side of the city) we were flying from... So our flight was departing in less than 3 hours and we were stuck at the airport in the other side of the city, f**k! We rushed to the taxi stop, had to patiently (I would have killed all the people waiting in front of me) wait for 15 minutes, and then got into a cab, whom we told to drive as fast as he could to the other airport. And hell yes, he did! I lost the count of how many times we were that close to crash. But you want to know the funniest part? At a point the taxi driver asked us where we came from, and when I told him Barcelona, he started talking in Spanish with me! It turned out that he'd been living in Spain for several years and had recently come back to Shanghai because of the crisis. We had a nice and long talk while driving like he had an F1! We finally made it just on time to the airport, and there our journey began... THAILAND, FINALLY!! Some of our partners in crime were missing but we were going to make something unforgettable out of those next 12 days...

After stopping over in Macao (note: I want to visit it someday soon) we finally arrived to Bangkok and took a taxi to the hotel. On the way he played the music we wanted and as loud as possible, politely invited us to candies (which we thanked him for, but did not try) and finally got us to the hotel (the next days we found out he had charged us more than twice the usual rate from the airport: TAXI DRIVER 2 - DIVAN&POL 0... at this point is when we realized we were really on holidays!). That night we just walked around trying to find a nice bar but ended up buying some drinks at the 7/11 and watching the "Miss World" contest at the hotel TV room, with an old western shemale and a guy who was trying to hit on her...

Next morning we woke up and just walked around Bangkok. I must say that there is not much to see, or at least that I'd recommend. It is a concrete jungle, not clean, with no parks, etc. In the afternoon we took a boat through the river to see a really famous temple and the Emperor's city (although we could not go in as we were wearing shorts), and then walked around what I guess was the backpackers district, pretty interesting and with a great atmosphere. 

But the best was yet to come (or at least the most different stuff)... That night we went to Soya Cowboy, or something like that: in few words, the street where you can find all the famous stripclubs in Bangkok! By the way, we took a "Tuc Tuc" or whatever it is called to get there, a lot of fun and ripped off again (TAXI 3 - DIVAN&POL 0). 

What an interesting night! When we got in the first stripclub, that was a strange view: all these naked girls, dancing, some really hot, most of them not... So we got a beer and stared at the show for a while. We saw such crazy things, from girls getting needles or pingpong balls out of their ******* to bodypainting dances and other stuff I cannot explain in case there are kids reading that (If you want to find out, go to Thailand ;)). After a while it got boring though (and it is shocking to see the attitude of most of the western people, like they were the kings of the world, their money could buy anything, those girls were just objects... pretty repulsive...) and we decided to try a shemale bar... Not the cleverest of the choices, on our way in we got surrounded by these hot "girls", each and all of them taller than us, saying with their deep tone "I like you, come in with me". There are things and things (you know what I mean?), so we did what our manhood was telling us... ran away! After that we went home as next morning we had to wake up at 7 (I forgot to mention we had arranged a day trip with a really nice old man we met at the hotel).

So there you have us next morning, at 7am with the i-am-dying-face, on our way to the floating market. It is that market on the channels, where they sell old kind of fruits (and souvenirs, beer, etc), that appeared in one James Bond movie, and it was pretty cool! Besides our boat rider liked to go fast so we had some good times in there. 

Oh yeah, and we had a 7 meters snake put over our shoulders! Pretty funny actually, everybody in the market started taking pics of us.

After that we went for an elephant ride and, finally, to a tiger zoo... I know it is really unfair for the tigers to grow up in such environment but, being selfish, holding that 4 months tiger on my arms while feeding it was... beyond words! I still get chicken skin when I think of it... We also saw some sheep (not Merino sheep, unfortunately I got no family in Thailand) and crazy jumping monkeys without tale. After that we had to head back to Bangkok as at 7pm our bus to Koh Samui was departing. Yes, an overnight bus, 14 hours ride... I don't know what we thought at that point, guess we wanted to have a real backpacker experience and saw a 14 hours party bus. And when we saw the bus, hell yeah, looked like our dream was about to become true: nice and comfortable new bus, full of young people, hot girls... But our dream just lasted for 5 minutes, the time it took the driver to tell us that we had to wait as this was not our bus... And did we get? An old, crowded, boring bus, where nobody said a word (do not even mention party) but instead, watched movies all night long. However, after a 14 hours odyssey (and deciding we did not need to feel like backpackers ever again) we got to the south of Thailand, were a ferry was waiting to take us to the islands/paradise...

But that's another story which I'll explain some other day. China's time zone is a bit awkward, it's not even 5PM and it's starting to get dark... And I have to start heading home, got a dinner with David and his friends in two and a half hours at "Malabar", a great tapas place in Shanghai, far above average (and yes, even compared to the places in Barcelona). Hope you all are having a great weekend and see some of you in exactly a month!! I'm landing in Barcelona the 17th of Dec so get ready!

Cheers!

El xino

PS: alright, I’ve you’ve made it till the end, which I guess it’s not easy as it’s a pretty long post today, I’d steal a couple more minutes of your time. Go to http://nuevacara.menshealth.es/listado-participantes/pol-merino-abello/ and vote for me! Besides, if you have facebook or twitter, share it! Thanks!!!

PPS: by the way, the old man who was our driver through Bangkok got so sentimental when he said goodbye, it looked like he was going to cry when hugging us! And obviously, then he asked for a tip…

I'm back!

Hi everybody! Now it has REALLY been a long time since I last wrote or even thought of my blog. I would apologize for that if my stories were that interesting but we all gotta agree they are not... However, I want to retake it and steal a bit of your time because I know I tend to disappear from time to time so this is the best way to keep you all updated and hopefully make you smile or laugh a bit!

So here I am now, sitting outside in the compound grass and trying to think of the stories to tell you... there are thousands of them! But let me first tell you that finally the cold has reached Shanghai. It's not supercold, just chilly, but it's a big change as yesterday we could still go out on a tee and shorts!

Well I guess the best is to start from the beginning. Guess you all know why I'm back in China after the awesome year I spent in Suzhou and the great 7 months back home, when I had the chance to meet you all, even my best friends from the frozen lands (Niki and Matti, we gotta repeat last summer holidays!), and spend value time with my lifelong friends from back home, especially Edu and Jordi (who is getting married next August!! How can time go that fast? It looks like it was yesterday when we were spending the whole weekends fooling around the town! But congratulations!! I would not miss it for anything! By the way, any volunteer to be my date at Jordi's wedding? It's the 1st of August and it's gonna be a blast!), which was great as, even though when I'm abroad I'm radiosilent, every time I'm back they make me feel like home again, like we were still on highschool (just with some more bear...)!

Well this blog is supposed to be about my adventures lost in China, so let's go back to it! I moved to Shanghai last February, thanks to a great job offer from Telstar. I signed for 3 years and my role in here is to develop Telstar's engineering division and to coordinate the different engineering disciplines involved in a project. So far it's been a year completely different from what expected originally, but a great year!

And now let's go to what all of you are probably wondering... How is life in here? Easy answer: AWESOME. There's something going on every day. Since I'm here I've been to Thailand, Vietnam, travelling around China, to party/charity events (casino night where we won vouchers for 1200RMB!), I've done a lot of sport (alright, there goes a secret: I've joined a contest to appear in Men's Health cover, so please, starting tomorrow, follow the link I'll post on my facebook or visit the site http://nuevacara.menshealth.es/listado-participantes/pol-merino-abello/ and vote for me! hahaha I thought for a while whether I should make it public or not but well, I've already joined the contest so might as well try my best!), obviously a lot of party (that's the reason why today I've been just chilling on the couch... Well that and the cold, which turned the couch into the best option for a lazy sunday) and many more things. I'd post pics but they could be a bit compromising...

Oh and David (aka Big Bro) is living here with me since last July! After living on my own for the past 2 years it actually feels good to have a flatmate, even though sometimes we would kill each other... Just needed to set some house rules and then it's awesome! We do a lot of sport, party every week, work hard (especially him, I've never met anybody so focused and working that hard!) and the most important... he is a great cook!!!! I tell you, after 2 years of "cooking" rice or pasta, having somebody who actually knows what to do in a kitchen (no offense to anybody but cooking is not in my favorite activities' list) is such an improvement in my life quality!

Alright, enough for today. Back in the days when I wrote more often I was told not to write too long or people wouldn't read it all! And I thought I was funny and interesting... Hope you all are good and ready for Xmas, I'll be back home from the 17th Dec to the 5th Jan so you all better save some time for me!!

Cheers!

el xino

PS: hey you all must listen to this song: Bakermat - final mixtape, it is awesome!

Saint Patrick's Day!

VISCA EL BARÇA! Ho havia de dir... A causa de la diferència horària no vaig poder veure el partit contra el Milan -es jugava a les 4AM- però us ben asseguro que quan em vaig despertar i vaig veure el resum i llegir els diaris, se'm va alegrar el dia de cop! I mira que era un dimecres plujós i fred...

I què tal tots? Com ha anat el cap de setmana? El meu ha estat ben curiós, tot improvisat. Porto dies pensant en com fer-ho per netejar el pis. A Xina és molt comú contractar una "Ayi", una iaia xinesa que ve a casa un o dos cops per setmana i fa una neteja general i planxa -aquest darrer punt és el clau! Jo netejar cap problema, però planxar??-. A més, el meu nou pis -a la pròxima entrada penjo fotos- necessitava una neteja a fons, sobretot el terra i la cuina... I al final vaig decidir fer-ho jo! Allà em teniu, amb un drap al cap, desmuntant-ho tot per deixar-ho ben net...  quina feinada! Però ara el pis està molt millor!

I després vaig marxar a córrer 30 minuts, que des que vaig arribar encara no havia fet res d'esport -i com ho noto avui, em fan un mal les cames...-. Mentre corria em vaig creuar amb una entrenadora de tenis. Resultat: demà entreno de 9 a 10 del vespre! En tinc unes ganes, porto massa temps sense agafar una raqueta!

Fins aquí res de l'altre món -perdoneu pel discurs sense cap tipus d'interès que us he deixat anar...-, però sabeu quin dia és avui? Saint Patrick, patró d'Irlanda! I què els encanta als irlandesos? La Guiness! Així que ja us podeu imaginar "por donde van los tiros...". He de reconèixer que jo no ho havia celebrat mai fins que vaig arribar a la Xina però aquí és un dia marcat al calendari, hi ha moltes festes organitzades.
Amb els amics vam decidir agafar el "Partybus". El nom ja ho diu tot, no fan falta gaires explicacions oi? I ahir érem més de 200 persones! Us podeu imaginar on vam acabar? Després de fer una ruta per tot Shanghai i parar a diferents clubs, a les 3 del matí no se'ns va ocórrer res millor que anar-nos-en cap a Suzhou, a 90 minuts en autobús de Shanghai. Però quina bogeria de passeig en autobús, va ser divertidíssim. En resum, avui m'he despertat a casa d'un amic a Suzhou, a una altra 1 hora de Shanghai, i ens hem passat el dia xerrant, cuinant, mirant pelis...

Però així és Shanghai, una ciutat on vius a 2000 quilòmetres per hora, on les paraules rutina i descansa no existeixen, on has de ser totalment flexible perquè cada dia et trobes davant de situacions noves com...

• Començar una nit de manera tranquil·la, prenent una cervesa amb els amics... i acabar-la en un club gay!
• Anar al lavabo d'un restaurant i que l'home que l'està netejant se'm quedi mirant fixament i em demani d'on sóc, quina és la meva feina... Hauríeu d'haver vist quina cara de curiositat!
• Anar a l'H&M i mentre espero per entrar a l'emprovador, notar que quelcom em toca el peu, baixar la mirada i trobar-me... una rata de 30cm corrent per allà! I directa que va anar cap a dins un emprovador, cosa que no els va fer gens de gràcia a unes xineses que hi havia dins... I acte seguit, per escapar del de seguretat i la seva bossa -sí, l'home pretenia atrapar-la amb una bossa, encara no ho acabo d'entendre...- escalar una paret totalment llisa, saltar sobre un d'aquells tubs on es pengen els penjadors i, després d'arribar al final d'aquest i trobar-se sense escapatòria, saltar al terra des d'una alçada de 2 metres i fugir corrent! Sense paraules!
• Sortir de festa i que em robin el mòbil...

I moltes històries més però ja va sent hora de plegar per avui. Quan arregli una mica el pis -vull comprar algunes cosetes perquè tingui millor cara- prometo penjar fotos. I per cert, és molt gran i té 2 habitacions així que no teniu excusa per no venir-me a visitar!! Espero que tots hagueu passat un gran cap de setmana! Una abraçada!!

El xino

China - Part II: This time in Shanghai

Ladies and gentlemen, finally you can relax and enjoy, the event you have been looking forward to since a long time ago finally takes place... I AM RESTARTING THE BLOG!

Now that I'm back in China I believe it's the best way to keep you updated. For these who may not know, I came back to China to work as a Project Engineer for Telstar. Well, this first year will be more like a Business Developer and when we get projects, then I'll be involved in the Engineering. It's a great chance, the one I was looking for when I decided to come to China and learn Chinese, so I'm going to work really hard to succeed!:)

And about life in Shanghai, it's something completely different from Suzhou... Last year, when I first arrived to Suzhou I thought it was huge, noisy, stressful... but guys, now I know Suzhou is just a small town. Shanghai is THE city, life goes so fast in here... And as much as sometimes it may be stressful -do never take the metro at a rush hour-, it has so many things to offer: great people from around the globe, interesting -and massively crowded- Chinese festivals, restaurants from everywhere, a really good public transportation which allows you to move easily through this huge city, cheap shopping, etc. I know that when you get here for the first time it is such a shock -I experienced it myself, and twice!-, but after a while, when you really open your eyes and get rid of the prejudices, you start to realize all the nice things that surround you.

And what have I done until now? Well, I guess the right question would be what haven't I done, because after spending over a week -2 complete working days, a weekend, and then every single evening this week- I still haven't found a place to live! It's really hard as Shanghai is a really expensive and huge city, and all the apartments I have seen so far were too expensive, shitty or far away from the public transport. So my plan for today's evening is keep on looking and afterwards go for dinner and a drink with some friends.

Back to what I have done, I spent the whole last week working -went straight from the airport to work...- and with some old friends that are living in SH right now. Thanks to them life in here is much easier and nicer! :) And last weekend I went to Suzhou to see my little African brother Divan!! hahaha was a long time without seeing him, over 7 months, so we spent the whole weekend celebrating! Unfortunately I cannot go further into detail as there may be minors reading this... ;)

Well, that's it for today. I hope I find time to write more often, and funnier things, but so far everything has been a bit stressful so I'm not in my best narrative mood. Hope all of you are doing great back wherever you are!! Cheers!! I visca el Barça!

PS: Look at what we found yesterday night in front of a supermarket. Not the most comfortable way of sleeping, yeah? Guys, this is crazy Shanghai!

Palawan

Good morning ladies and gentlemen! Per fi he trobat una estona per escriure...

No sabeu lo difícil que se'm fa últimament trobar un moment per dedicar-me al blog; entre el xinès, buscar feina i els amics, gairebé no paro mai! Però sé que em trobeu a faltar, així que aquí torno a estar! -rodolí ;)-. Bé doncs, com que "lo prometido es deuda", avui seguiré amb la història del viatge a les Filipines...

Així doncs, prosseguim des d'on ho vam deixar, la nit en què vam acabar en un show "diferent", on vaig haver de lluitar -i guanyar!- amb en Todd per l'amor d'en Phillipe, que com a premi -o càstig- em va regalar un parell de petons -a la galta, no sigueu malpensats! Encara que haver d'esquivar l'epicentre de la seva cara...- i un intent de striptease... Va ser una nit ben divertida!

I al dia següent, cap a Palawan, una de les illes més maques de les Filipines. Pel camí, gairebé perdem l'autobús cap a l'aeroport -de fet el vam haver de parar amb el cotxe, posant-nos davant seu-. I què tal Palawan? Genial. Vam estar en un hotel que estava al mig del no res, davant d'una platja paradisíaca i amb la selva a l'esquena. I quina selva, tan verda i tan densa... I com que estàvem aïllats del món, doncs vam dedicar els 3 dies que vam estar allà a fer excursions: a unes cascades al mig de la selva, island-hopping, a un riu subterrani, un dia vam llogar unes motos i vam fer carretera -quins paisatges!-. Però una imatge val més que mil paraules oi? Doncs aquí teniu l'equivalent a uns quants milers de paraules...

Quan torni a tenir temps segueixo amb la història. Serà el torn de Boracay, the party island...

Fins aviat!

El xinès

Let's go to paradise!

We survived 12 days in the Philippines... and here I am, back and ready to explain you everything, including the dirty details!

So everything started... with a delay on the plane. They kept us inside the airplane, with the air-con off because it used too much petrol, for 3 hours! During this time I had some interesting talk with the hostesses, who explained me why, from their point of view, the reason we were stuck in Pudong Airport. Unfortunately I have to censure it, can't make it public... :)

Well, after sweating all the water we had inside, walked from one side of the plane to the other, have some funny talk with the hostesses... we finally left! It was just a 3 hours flight, so before we realized we were already in Manila, where Boyet, a Philippine friend, came to pick us up from the airport... together with Dani, her daughter... God, that girl had energy... She is 8, and in the beginning she looked shy but as soon as she felt more confident, there was nobody who could stop her!

Boyet took us to her mother's place, Yolanda, were we had dinner and slept. We can't thank them enough for all they did for us those last days. :)

As the trip was kind of improvised, we had no plan at all, we had to spend the next day planning everything: buying plane tickets, booking hotels... I FREAKED OUT! But we succeeded and when the night came, after a great Turkish dinner, we went out. First, to a club that was empty. Literally empty, we were the only ones so, after a while, we left and walked through Manila's streets till we found a club were a funny show was being performed. First I was reticent to go in -and that night would prove I had better stayed home ;)- but, following the girls' orders, as always, we bought the ticket and found a table next to the stage. The first show was performed by Philippe... Can you imagine the rest? We were the only foreigners, so as soon as he saw us, he told us to go to the stage. How did it all end up? As expected... Todd and I had to perform a show where we fought for Philippe's love. God, that was funny and embarrassing at the same time! There are videos and pictures, but they're censured by now! ;)

Ladies and gentlemen, I have to go. I arrived yesterday and I still have a lot of stuff to do, from catching up with the classes to look for a job. Tomorrow, more!! Have a nice day!!

PS: Yolanda, Boyet, Rita, Shirley, Jordi, Dani, David... and all those who've made of this a great trip, THANKS!!