Mass Exodus

It turns out my sore throat was a throat infection.  I braved the storm and even went to a hospital here in Shanghai to get it checked because I thought it might have been the dreaded disease.  But hey, I knew all along I was a strong boy. 

Well, it's officially begun, people in Shanghai are starting to leave.  For various reasons, our friends are slowly starting to leave.  SARS is definitely a reason and it's affecting businesses here in Shanghai in a major way.  Someone I know who owns two restaurants is closing two of her restaurants for 2 months because she'll lose less money that way.  And I'm afraid the worse is yet to come...

In Beijing, my friend tells me the bars and clubs are pretty empty.  Already in Shanghai, the entire street of Mao Ming Lu bars has closed for the last two weeks.  Park 97, a club known for its guanxi also closed, although only on Friday night.  Restaurants at Xintiandi are a lot emptier than before and in Shanghai, you're starting to see people wear masks.  Although WHO officials confirm official Shanghai numbers, I'm convinced that there's a shitload more cases of this disease in Shanghai.  Toronto, a city half way around the globe has more cases than Shanghai?  Not bloody likely!

So it has affected our business in a major way.  Since we run events and hold parties, things have either been cancelled or postponed... and we have no idea when this thing is going to blow over.  I think it's going to get worse in Shanghai when more cases unexpectedly pop up.

So now I'm planning for September.  It's fitting that my plans are for an entrepreneurial conference too since I've had experience on that front before.

And you bitches in Toronto, I can honestly say I was a little jealous when I saw all your pictures of you Xangans hanging out with each other.  But now I have my own Xanga friends in China.  It turns out some of my friends here either have or are considering putting up sites.  Some dude approached me the other day at a club and said he recognized me from my site!  (BTW, if you're reading this, please comment or something, I forgot your Xanga name).  So eat that Marv, Kirb, Ced, Boy, Kayoko, Lexxus etc.  I've got Xanga friends in China.  And I even joined a China blogring.

All of you China bloggers out there, now is the time to UNITE!  And party together!

Having said that, no more will I be able to make fun of people I know here, or talk about all the hot chicks, or exaggerate about shady KTV.  And you'll now be able to cross reference my stories, because why would I ever lie?

Happy Birthday to Shihwen, Linda, Sue and Kevin.

The Power of Big Brother

I've got a sore throat...

BUT, there's mucous, which is apparently not a symptom of SARS.  I'm also praying for mucous to seep out of my nostrils, because runny nose is also not a symptom.  Perhaps I'm just paranoid, but this shit is scary.  I'm trying hard not to cough, so people don't think I've got SARS.  How will I pick up the honey's?  I've bought a thermometer, I don't have a fever, let's hope it's not the calm before the storm.

My friend in HK, she was an intern at the hospital where it broke out.  All the interns got sick.  I wanted to get in touch with her, but I had to find her email from an old friend that I had a spat with a couple years ago.  I'm very happy we're talking again.  Here's that intern's email to me:

Of course I remember the week when I was sick. It was my worst nightmare.  People usually use fever as the definitive symptom for SARS mainly because many people in the population would not notice other symptoms and because everyone knows how to take a temperature. The disease presents more or less
like a flu - fever, muscle aches and stiffness, tiredness, cough but no sputum (dry cough) and headache. There is usually no runny nose. I was actually really scared at that time because I had every symptom on the list and more than 50 medical staff were hospitalized at that time. I had to report to the emergency dept everyday for a chest x-ray and check-up and everyday I would get a phone call or email saying that another student from the class was hospitalized. There was a special team from my university to look after medical students who have contracted the disease and so everyday, I have to contact the prof in charge to tell him about my progression but the bad thing was that they didn't know what caused the disease and so they didn't know how the disease would progress. They were mainly keeping in contact with us to comfort us and give advice.  I was given anti-viral drugs and antibiotics but whenever I took them, I would feel so nauseated that I couldn't sleep. My fever never came down during that week so every night I had to wake up at 3am for another round of tylenol. I finished a bottle of tylenol during that week!  And in the middle of the week, my roommate was admitted to the hospital because her chest x-ray showed shadows on her lung fields. She had every symptom that I had and she actually thought she was feeling better that day.  So I was really scared that night worrying about her and that I might share the same fate.  That was the worst disease I ever had because I was so weak that I couldn't walk properly and I felt dizzy after taking a few steps so I spent almost the entire week in bed. It was horrible! 

So looking through headlines for the disease, I think it's hilarious how nonchalant big brother is being.

Not all cases of SARS in China are being reported, experts say  -  Baltimore Sun  (Apr 17, 2003)
Virus Badly Underreported in Beijing, W.H.O. Team Finds  -  NY Times  (Apr 17, 2003)
Beijing pressured over SARS crisis, five more die in Hong Kong, China  -  AFP  (Apr 17, 2003)
China Is Faulted on SARS  -  LA Times  (Apr 17, 2003)China Let SARS Death Toll Climb-U.S. Official  -  Reuters  (Apr 16, 2003)
Experts Say China Has Greatly Underestimated Virus Cases  -  NY Times/Yahoo! News  (Apr 16, 2003) China Develops Fast SARS Detection Technology  -  People's Daily (China)  (Apr 16, 2003)

Basically, everyone is saying Big Brother Fucked up.  And then we get one report from a Chinese newspaper saying that they've developed Fast SARS Detection Technology.

So Oakenfold is spinning tonight, and apparently Zhang Ziyi is gonna be there.  Should I flirt with SARS and go on a rumour that she'll be there?  Maybe she'll let me hold her hand!  I'm so shy.

Here are some drunken pictures.

April Updates

[SARS]
Well, apparently, a Chinese official has apologized for the slow release of information from China on this nasty disease.  It is doubtful how serious this damn thing is, and although reports of it currently have it pegged at about a 5% death rate, we cannot be fully sure how truthful this 5% really is.  Call me a worry wart.  Anyways, a recent article I read about SARS has a health official saying this thing is not likely to go away in the next few months.  More like years is what he was quoted as saying.  That has strong implications for people in the field of business that I'm in.  Less people traveling, going to events, partying...

[War in Iraq]
The only pictures that I see about the war in Iraq on mainland television is of women crying, children all bandaged up (poor souls) and the words "Give Peace a Chance" smattered across the screen.  For the first time ever, China has opened up its media to report minute to minute info on the progress of the war.  However, it's quite biased, I must say.  All the specialists and professors brought in for their expert opinion slam Bush and Blair for everything that they've done.  I'm not saying that what they've done is right, but there is not even a debate on TV here.  Everyone I talk to on a local level says the US is doing a bad thing by going ahead with this.

[Shanghai]
News of SARS hit the streets on Friday pretty hard.  It's still not reported in the newspapers at all, but it's definitely here.  Courier companies wouldn't deliver to certain companies because their buildings had SARS reported cases.  The clubs are a lot emptier, especially ones that HK cats hang out at.  But no one on the streets wear masks, not as crazy as Hong Kong yet.  Nothing else much is going on... I'm getting bored and want to travel somewhere.  Maybe Thailand or Indonesia... gotsta save some cash tho.

Some of us at Andy's B-Day at Mei Bar

Happy Birthdays to Alastair, Colman, and Angie.