Hello From Palo Alto

Just want to wave and tell everyone that I have safely and smoothly arrived at Palo Alto via United Airlines UA858 (seat 41B through Gate 95 at SFO), and drove all the way down from the airport to downtown (via AVIS Pontiac G5 car, via US-101, Oregon Expr, El Camino), and arrived at Travelogue.

This is the airplane that took me here (at the time of the shooting, it was still parking at Gate D77 at Pudong Airport).

Photo by Jian Shuo Wang

Hotel – Travelodge

It seems it is too noisy here, and I need to actively look for a better place to stay. Although I Now Prefer Inexpensive Hotels, and I never lived in five star hotels on business trip, and always find the cheapest hotel possible to save cost for the company, I just realized the hurt to productivity may not compensate the little saving. I stayed for some days in the Super 8 at the opposite side of the street – was not very good (the smell!). This time, I moved here, still not a good option.

The Bay Area is not Sunny!

It is the rare time, that I don’t see a shining sunny California at my arrival.

Big face of me

Twitter?

I can use Twitter without a proxy, and feel… hmmmm… strange. Although I can access Twitter either in Shanghai (via a proxy, of cause), or bay area, the difference is huge. It is not just convenience or not… I am just not used to it. Need some time to get used to.

7 thoughts on “Hello From Palo Alto

  1. Jianshuo,

    Welcome to Bay Area. Now it is the raining season in California. Typically it rains often in Winter and Springs. I would recommend you to visit Napa Valley or Monterey Bay if you have time – it is the perfect time to smell the green there.

    I live in Fremont, 25 minutes driving away from where you stay. Give me a ring if you want to hang out.

  2. Hey there — It’s funny. I’m at work, reading a draft of a story about you. Congrats!

    You get alot of traction from being one of the few mainland Chinese bloggers writing decently in English! Hope you get a bunch more hits after the article comes out.

    Meanwhile, we English-language Hong Kong bloggers are a dime a dozen…

  3. You don’t have to stay at a 5-star hotel a business trip. But you don’t have to stay at a cheapest hotel either. As you realized, the loss of productivity due to the poor condition of those motels/inns is usually way out of proportion to the saving you get. That is why you rarely see any business travelers at those places. Most companies allow employees to stay 3-star or 4-star hotels for business purpose.

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