Chapter 19
And so October rolled into November, and I traded in the sparkling summertime weather of Sydney for the decidedly autumnal atmosphere of Shanghai. The city, and specifically the neighborhood where our layover hotel was located, had changed quite a bit since I first started flying there about seven years ago. When the Olympics came to Beijing in 2008, many of China’s cities had poured on the urban renewal, and where years ago the hotel’s environs had consisted mostly of vacant lots, decimated sidewalks, and dilapidated storefronts, now the hotel was suddenly situated on a broad tree-lined avenue surrounded by tiny, shiny lunch counters and coffee shops, refurbished hair salons, and even health clubs. What struck me most on the ride to the hotel during my first trip of the month
