Day 5; Suzhou to Shanghai(The Adventure)

I get ready early in the morning and was all excited to go to work (The after effect of the previous night)...I knew I would meet some really nice people and Melissa would also be there, so I start of early and finish my work early tooJJJ....I wonder how it happens, Just a few hours in the morning and I’m done...I was actually worried if I have completed all my work or the excitement is making me forget something...Nothing really seems to strike and  so its decided that I’m done with work( all by myself) :-D:-D...

Since it was just too early in the morning and everybody at office just started off (and I’m packing off) I decide to go to Shanghai, My next destination....I was dying to be in Shanghai...A three hour drive with Momo to the most beautiful modern city in the world and I had the whole afternoon all to myself to explore the city...woohoooooo!!I did scream in my mind...I had kinda decided by myself not to bother anyone in Shanghai, so at the hotel reception I get a map of Shanghai with all the places marked and  addresses written in Chinese(that’s for the taxi drivers to take me around) I set off to explore... M first aim was to go shopping...So I take the route to the Shopping Market at the Subway....I walk downtown with the maps in hand looking at the directions, asking people (A lot of times I was just waved off before could ask anythingJ, and A lot of times I was told the directions in a very sweet way) and enjoying the Shanghai street...What beauty!!!...That Market (A.P market) is like WOW! It’s a long underground street with lots and lots of stores on either side with probably every little girly stuff on earth...All the Girls would want to pounce on everything there and the good thing is everybody speaks English and you can bargain a lot...A hell lot of money is quoted and then they give away for just what you have asked it forJJJ..A few Shops here and there, I stop at a store bargaining and pick up as few stuff and when I move out of the store I realize my camera is missing, I Panic!!....

I go back to Check and the lady there says they never found it...And I knew I had it until I entered the Store...Hell! my heart was pounding so hard...I Check all over the store and its missing, I call the security and tell them, they take me out of the store into the control room, I have never done anything like this before...I was walking into a narrow corridor and it was even more scarier..I wanted to turn back and run... what was I doing??!!...Was not sure if I was doing the right thing...Not one of the police could speak English...So I bring them out go to a store and explain what happened to one of the store keeper and then ask him to translate it to the Police in Chinese (Now I seriously wonder if I had to do all this just for a camera..Was I out of my mind!!?)...I guess it was the Panic which made me do all this, though in the corner of my mind I knew I would never get it backLLL...And all this seriously needed a lot of guts, which I have at all the wrong time ...

I literally wanted to scream and cry, but believe me not one drop of tear rolled down (Usually I have tons of tears flowing down my cheeks for no reason and it happens even when I don’t want It to happen)...All I had to do is manage with a puppy face with the Police...As I walk back I happen to look into the mirror in a store, I did not look one bit sad..that is when I realized I’m not getting  my camera no matter what Happens....I continue shopping as I had wasted a lot of time, but kept missing my camera...

I move to another street and then to the electronic market and I finally decide I should be buying a camera...Not knowing the right place for buying electronic stuff I call my Colleague Junyao Ma from Shanghai office...without a second thought he offers to help me and drives to a place about 40 minutes away from Pudong only to realize the place was closed (:-p)...

We go to another place close by and as I enter the market I have completely forgotten about the camera...I start looking for cell phones...( that’s how stupid I got so far) God!...I heard somebody say ‘Camera’ that’s when I realized I was there to buy a camera..It was such an awkward situation you see, Junyao has all the Patience in the world, He insists me not to buy this one and not that one and lot  more reasons popped out, finally I end up not buying a camera KK(yes!!I’m embarrassed too)...meanwhile I shed a few tears as I speak to mamma (that was relieving) and as she asks me forget about the camera and just take care of myself I feel even better...

With all the mess I created I get to see most of Shanghai City with Junyao being my guide (otherwise I could have seen just one part of Shanghai J;-)...Everything has its own reasons I guess)...Shanghai is absolutely beautiful...If not the camera I have no regrets about Shanghai, I did have fun even without it, Just that I missed a few picturesJJ...I can never forget the camera as I hate losing my stuff...

 A nice yummy dinner and then to the Hotel...Flying to Korea SoonJ

P.S: With all this I would want to say I’m a little smart tooJ..I kept copying the pictures to my computer every day, so I dint have to lose my memoriesJJJ...and I do have a few Shanghai Pictures in my Cell PhoneJJ