This is the start

At home. This is my first blog. Ever. Two days away from travelling to Shanghai. Now I start thinking about the trip. Can  I charge all my devices? Here is the first difference, whereas in the western world you travel with adapters, in China you find a harbour for every power plug. Very convenient.

My peer in Shanghai asks me "Where have you been travelling so far in Asia?" "Japan and India", I answer. "That's it?" A pause, accompagnied by a silent smile on the other end of the phone. Then I am assured that "This will be definetely a different experience then."
This is the first time that I start questioning whether I really need to carry along my running shoes. According to a (Disney!) Web page from March 12:
"The quality of air in Shanghai today will be "very close to 'slightly polluted,'" according to Shanghai Daily."

Well, I'll take them anyway. There will be an opportunity. I can't stop running for a week, the Hamburg Marathon comes up end of April.