Another Jack/Mom Joke
Jack: Mommy, Mommy? How far is it to America?
Mom: Shut up, kid, and keep swimming.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
The Other Jack
I must take a moment to discuss the other Jack on the trip. I've already mentioned one of the Jacks, our table captain who charmed us with his shy smiles and his performance skillz.
The other Jack was a four year old tow-headed Australian with an upturned nose who captivated every single person on the boat, guest and crew member alike. I am hard pressed to describe how very adorable this child was. Now, there were two families with small kids on the boat, and they were all good, bright, neat, friendly kids but Jack was the friendliest, never-met-a-stranger child there. Also, since his family was stationed in Beijing, he spoke a little Chinese, and was a favorite among the crew members. He would wander around the boat and whoever was there would snatch him up and adore him as was appropriate. I fell under his spell as well when he was my Mah-jong "partner" and would peek over the shoulder or another player to try to check out their tiles.
Plus, he told good jokes. One that he and his mom did together: (Jack has one foot planted down, and spins around in a circle)
Jack: Mommy, Mommy! I can't stop spinning!
Mom: Shut up, kid, or I'll nail your other foot to the floor!
They had a whole variety of these dark little numbers that apparently went over like lead balloons with their Chinese friends.
My favorite joke that Jack told me was this:
Q: What do you get when you pour hot water down a rabbit hole?
A: Hot cross bunnies!
How great is that? Check out this photo, though. This kid is way too damn cute.
I must take a moment to discuss the other Jack on the trip. I've already mentioned one of the Jacks, our table captain who charmed us with his shy smiles and his performance skillz.
The other Jack was a four year old tow-headed Australian with an upturned nose who captivated every single person on the boat, guest and crew member alike. I am hard pressed to describe how very adorable this child was. Now, there were two families with small kids on the boat, and they were all good, bright, neat, friendly kids but Jack was the friendliest, never-met-a-stranger child there. Also, since his family was stationed in Beijing, he spoke a little Chinese, and was a favorite among the crew members. He would wander around the boat and whoever was there would snatch him up and adore him as was appropriate. I fell under his spell as well when he was my Mah-jong "partner" and would peek over the shoulder or another player to try to check out their tiles.
Plus, he told good jokes. One that he and his mom did together: (Jack has one foot planted down, and spins around in a circle)
Jack: Mommy, Mommy! I can't stop spinning!
Mom: Shut up, kid, or I'll nail your other foot to the floor!
They had a whole variety of these dark little numbers that apparently went over like lead balloons with their Chinese friends.
My favorite joke that Jack told me was this:
Q: What do you get when you pour hot water down a rabbit hole?
A: Hot cross bunnies!
How great is that? Check out this photo, though. This kid is way too damn cute.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Too Much Cuteness....Can't Process
James has a picture of the world's smallest cat on his blog. It hurts me.
James has a picture of the world's smallest cat on his blog. It hurts me.
Boat Food
I need to add something about the copious amounts of food on the boat. I had heard before that they feed you on cruise type things, and they weren't lying. There were breakfast buffets, lunch buffets, and large fancy dinners. I managed to stick to SBD for the trip (unbelievable), but I missed out on lots and lots of pumpkin cakes and apple pies and breads, and dumplings and I was very, very sad.
In true style of me, I will report on my favorite foods. For breakfast, I loved their sauteed cabbage, and their cheese omelettes weren't bad either. For lunch, their chicken curry kicked ass, and their sweet and sour pork rocked (okay, non-SBD, but I gotta live!). And for dinner, I guess their various kinds of sauteed spinach? I'm blanking on dinner dishes, to be honest. They tended to be of the fancier variety, whereas I dig more simple Chinese food.
The kitchen crew honored the resident Murkins by making a cake for the Fourth of July, and the each table got a birthday cake to honor the July birthdays. Funnily enough, Erik's birthday was the only July birthday at our table, but by the dessert time, he had slunk away to go to bed, so we celebrated without him and mom blew out his candles. Here's a photo that Ray took of Peter receiving his cake (Peter and his wife were Americans who live in Lahore now--very nice people).
Because my family's group was so big, we got our own table. Here's a dinner photo of our group posing on the last night. Our table captain was this very tall, handsome young guy whose English name is Jack. He was also apparently the go-to man when it came to boat entertainment. He was the main guy in every show that they put on (more about the shows later). [All RY photos]
I need to add something about the copious amounts of food on the boat. I had heard before that they feed you on cruise type things, and they weren't lying. There were breakfast buffets, lunch buffets, and large fancy dinners. I managed to stick to SBD for the trip (unbelievable), but I missed out on lots and lots of pumpkin cakes and apple pies and breads, and dumplings and I was very, very sad.
In true style of me, I will report on my favorite foods. For breakfast, I loved their sauteed cabbage, and their cheese omelettes weren't bad either. For lunch, their chicken curry kicked ass, and their sweet and sour pork rocked (okay, non-SBD, but I gotta live!). And for dinner, I guess their various kinds of sauteed spinach? I'm blanking on dinner dishes, to be honest. They tended to be of the fancier variety, whereas I dig more simple Chinese food.
The kitchen crew honored the resident Murkins by making a cake for the Fourth of July, and the each table got a birthday cake to honor the July birthdays. Funnily enough, Erik's birthday was the only July birthday at our table, but by the dessert time, he had slunk away to go to bed, so we celebrated without him and mom blew out his candles. Here's a photo that Ray took of Peter receiving his cake (Peter and his wife were Americans who live in Lahore now--very nice people).
Because my family's group was so big, we got our own table. Here's a dinner photo of our group posing on the last night. Our table captain was this very tall, handsome young guy whose English name is Jack. He was also apparently the go-to man when it came to boat entertainment. He was the main guy in every show that they put on (more about the shows later). [All RY photos]
More and more and more photos
One of the guys from da cruise, this neat man from Hong Kong, Ray, sent everyone links to the photos that he took (almost 1,000). He turned into the boat's unofficial photographer and he had a fancy camera and skillz, so his photos are something else. I'll use some for future posts, but to catch up, here are a selection of his pictures:
Here's a shot of the cablecar at Huang Shan. And here's the view from it.
Here, and here, and here are more pictures of Huang Shan.
Ray also took some shots of the Chinese countryside. And you can see some here, here, here, and here.
I didn't take any pictures of Wuhan, the city of bridges. Here is one of Wuhan at night. Here's another, and one more here.
There was a shot of the shopping street that we visited in Wuhan. Some sights included the Asian looking Colonel Sanders. Here is a local chilling for the night on the shopping street. And finally, for those who are interested, there are indeed Pizza Huts in Wuhan (they're fancy places to go, actually, and kind of pricey).
One of the guys from da cruise, this neat man from Hong Kong, Ray, sent everyone links to the photos that he took (almost 1,000). He turned into the boat's unofficial photographer and he had a fancy camera and skillz, so his photos are something else. I'll use some for future posts, but to catch up, here are a selection of his pictures:
Here's a shot of the cablecar at Huang Shan. And here's the view from it.
Here, and here, and here are more pictures of Huang Shan.
Ray also took some shots of the Chinese countryside. And you can see some here, here, here, and here.
I didn't take any pictures of Wuhan, the city of bridges. Here is one of Wuhan at night. Here's another, and one more here.
There was a shot of the shopping street that we visited in Wuhan. Some sights included the Asian looking Colonel Sanders. Here is a local chilling for the night on the shopping street. And finally, for those who are interested, there are indeed Pizza Huts in Wuhan (they're fancy places to go, actually, and kind of pricey).
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Evening of July 3, 2004 (Wuhan)
That night we were in Wuhan and went to their shopping street, chock full of clothing stores and bright lights. There was some colonization in Wuhan, so there were some European style buildings in the area, but nothing like Shanghai or Qingdao. Two things to note about that city:
1. It appeared that a lot of the city residents took advantage of Wuhan's location on the Yangtze River and went for swims. I saw lots and lots of people walking along the street, soaking wet, swimsuits on, and toting inner tubes and the like. They looked as if they were walking through a water park or something. Dudes would walk around shirtless. Who knows the level of dirt and other less tasty stuff in the Yangtze, but I appreciated the Wuhan-ers having some fun.
2. Our guide told us that before AC became more common, a lot of Wuhan people would set up beds and living spaces on the sidewalks below their apartments, since cool pavemented outside was preferable to their hot boxes of apartments. I love that imagery. Even if it's less common now, as we walked along the shopping street, people had hauled out a variety of chairs (deck chairs, arm chairs, stools) and had plopped down for the night to enjoy the night temperatures. That's some cheap entertainment.
That night we were in Wuhan and went to their shopping street, chock full of clothing stores and bright lights. There was some colonization in Wuhan, so there were some European style buildings in the area, but nothing like Shanghai or Qingdao. Two things to note about that city:
1. It appeared that a lot of the city residents took advantage of Wuhan's location on the Yangtze River and went for swims. I saw lots and lots of people walking along the street, soaking wet, swimsuits on, and toting inner tubes and the like. They looked as if they were walking through a water park or something. Dudes would walk around shirtless. Who knows the level of dirt and other less tasty stuff in the Yangtze, but I appreciated the Wuhan-ers having some fun.
2. Our guide told us that before AC became more common, a lot of Wuhan people would set up beds and living spaces on the sidewalks below their apartments, since cool pavemented outside was preferable to their hot boxes of apartments. I love that imagery. Even if it's less common now, as we walked along the shopping street, people had hauled out a variety of chairs (deck chairs, arm chairs, stools) and had plopped down for the night to enjoy the night temperatures. That's some cheap entertainment.
July 3, 2004 (Huang Shan)
This was the big excursion to Huang Shan, or Yellow Mountain, in Anhui Province. Clarence told me before I had left that this was one of his favorite places to have seen in China, so I was pretty excited. The mountain was a three hour bus ride from where the boat docked, so we breakfasted (I love that as a verb) at 5:15 a.m. and then got on the bus at 6. This was another painless ride, and the ride through the countryside was pretty breathtaking: verdant fields of rice patties and ponds filled with lotus flowers and water buffalo trundling along...all with the mountains in the background. I mean, really: that's just ridiculously pretty, it leaves you helpless in its wake.
We were in one of those huge air-conditioned tourist buses with these enormous side mirrors that popped out in front like little antenna. Since we were pretty much the largest vehicle bumping along the pot-hole filled road, our driver was pretty liberal with his honking in order to notify people that we were coming. I would say that he honked every 20 seconds out of 60. Some of reasons that he honked:
1. Vehicles in his way, going slower than he liked...which was every other vehicle.
2. Vehicles backing out of whatever alcove they were nestled in.
3. Bulldozers parked in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.
4. A man squatting in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.
5. Cows.
We finally arrived at Huang Shan at about 9, and then took a steamed up cable car to the top of the mountain (many people walk up, but the Victoria Cruiseline didn't fool themselves in thinking that this was a hard-grit bunch), and then were free to wander up and down the paths of Huang Shan for a couple of hours. It was rainy and misty and foggy that morning that we were there, so we didn't have a whole lot of visibility, and still the place was pretty amazing. Steep paths, deep crevices, knotty trees poking out of the green scrub of the rock--it was like a dreamland. Steve commented, after looking at a picture, that it looked "scary / dreamy / psychedelic" and he was about right on target there. Here is a shot from the mountain, and also here, here, here, and here. It was seriously pouring by the end of our time there. The Cruise people outfitted us with these surprisingly hardy umbrellas, but I was completely soaked through by the time we got to lunch.
One more thing: the paths on the mountain were often steep and copious and many people needed to take a breather every once in awhile. My mom, though, who has been loyally doing her Denise Austin exercises every morning at the crack of dawn, was like a little ant, tirelessly scrambling over each and every crevice. So, while I give my mom a hard time for her blind devotion to Denise Austin (whose soft crooning voice I find a bit creepy), I was impressed by the results of all of her work.
After a lunch where I needed to wring myself out before I got to the table, we headed back down in the cablecar for the bus to get back to the boat. Once we got onto level ground, it had stopped raining and the weather cleared up a little. I took a quick shot of what the mountains looked like with a bit of the mist. There were some stunning views as our bus climbed up and down those mountain hills, but it was impossible to get a good shot.
All in all, a thoroughly good visit, and one that I'm glad to have made.
This was the big excursion to Huang Shan, or Yellow Mountain, in Anhui Province. Clarence told me before I had left that this was one of his favorite places to have seen in China, so I was pretty excited. The mountain was a three hour bus ride from where the boat docked, so we breakfasted (I love that as a verb) at 5:15 a.m. and then got on the bus at 6. This was another painless ride, and the ride through the countryside was pretty breathtaking: verdant fields of rice patties and ponds filled with lotus flowers and water buffalo trundling along...all with the mountains in the background. I mean, really: that's just ridiculously pretty, it leaves you helpless in its wake.
We were in one of those huge air-conditioned tourist buses with these enormous side mirrors that popped out in front like little antenna. Since we were pretty much the largest vehicle bumping along the pot-hole filled road, our driver was pretty liberal with his honking in order to notify people that we were coming. I would say that he honked every 20 seconds out of 60. Some of reasons that he honked:
1. Vehicles in his way, going slower than he liked...which was every other vehicle.
2. Vehicles backing out of whatever alcove they were nestled in.
3. Bulldozers parked in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.
4. A man squatting in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.
5. Cows.
We finally arrived at Huang Shan at about 9, and then took a steamed up cable car to the top of the mountain (many people walk up, but the Victoria Cruiseline didn't fool themselves in thinking that this was a hard-grit bunch), and then were free to wander up and down the paths of Huang Shan for a couple of hours. It was rainy and misty and foggy that morning that we were there, so we didn't have a whole lot of visibility, and still the place was pretty amazing. Steep paths, deep crevices, knotty trees poking out of the green scrub of the rock--it was like a dreamland. Steve commented, after looking at a picture, that it looked "scary / dreamy / psychedelic" and he was about right on target there. Here is a shot from the mountain, and also here, here, here, and here. It was seriously pouring by the end of our time there. The Cruise people outfitted us with these surprisingly hardy umbrellas, but I was completely soaked through by the time we got to lunch.
One more thing: the paths on the mountain were often steep and copious and many people needed to take a breather every once in awhile. My mom, though, who has been loyally doing her Denise Austin exercises every morning at the crack of dawn, was like a little ant, tirelessly scrambling over each and every crevice. So, while I give my mom a hard time for her blind devotion to Denise Austin (whose soft crooning voice I find a bit creepy), I was impressed by the results of all of her work.
After a lunch where I needed to wring myself out before I got to the table, we headed back down in the cablecar for the bus to get back to the boat. Once we got onto level ground, it had stopped raining and the weather cleared up a little. I took a quick shot of what the mountains looked like with a bit of the mist. There were some stunning views as our bus climbed up and down those mountain hills, but it was impossible to get a good shot.
All in all, a thoroughly good visit, and one that I'm glad to have made.
Monday, July 19, 2004
July 2, 2004 (Nanjing)
Our cruise (I always feel ridiculous saying referring to "our cruise," but I honestly can't think of a good substitute) was set up so it was nine days, and went from Shanghai to Chongqing, along the Yangtze River. Most days we would dock and have an excursion. Very Love Boat. On this day, we docked in Nanjing and went to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial in the morning (314 steps, very hot), and then a "Qing Bazaar" in the afternoon. I had been in Nanjing in 2000 with Suzi, Brett and Kim and we had gone to this memorial and the Museum of Japanese War Atrocities (or something like that in title--very uplifting stuff, as you can imagine, and not at all timid in its horrificness).
The "Qing Bazaar" must be cruise-speak for "shopping center," since that was what it was. I did manage to purchase the pirated DVD of "Fareinheit 9/11" for 10 yuan (about $1.20), but then we saw it somewhere else for 5 yuan (60 cents). My mom got that stuck in her craw for awhile that we paid twice as much as we could have--the Mahan family is on a constant quest to obtain The Best Deal Possible. I just popped in "F9/11" when I got back home, and it was indeed filmed in a theater where you're party to coughs, laughs, and bathroom breaks, but it's still watchable. Later on in the trip, I got "Lost in Translation," and that copy is pretty right-on.
Our cruise (I always feel ridiculous saying referring to "our cruise," but I honestly can't think of a good substitute) was set up so it was nine days, and went from Shanghai to Chongqing, along the Yangtze River. Most days we would dock and have an excursion. Very Love Boat. On this day, we docked in Nanjing and went to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial in the morning (314 steps, very hot), and then a "Qing Bazaar" in the afternoon. I had been in Nanjing in 2000 with Suzi, Brett and Kim and we had gone to this memorial and the Museum of Japanese War Atrocities (or something like that in title--very uplifting stuff, as you can imagine, and not at all timid in its horrificness).
The "Qing Bazaar" must be cruise-speak for "shopping center," since that was what it was. I did manage to purchase the pirated DVD of "Fareinheit 9/11" for 10 yuan (about $1.20), but then we saw it somewhere else for 5 yuan (60 cents). My mom got that stuck in her craw for awhile that we paid twice as much as we could have--the Mahan family is on a constant quest to obtain The Best Deal Possible. I just popped in "F9/11" when I got back home, and it was indeed filmed in a theater where you're party to coughs, laughs, and bathroom breaks, but it's still watchable. Later on in the trip, I got "Lost in Translation," and that copy is pretty right-on.
I love you, China Eastern Ticket taker.
June 30 & July 1, 2004(LAX to Shanghai)
We spent most of June 30 at the airport. We arrived at LAX at 11 a.m. all set for our flight that left at 1:10 to discover that it was actually leaving at five. $10 meal vouchers to make up for the delay, though! I was assuaged since I'm easily bought. To kill time, Erik, Alex (my fabulous cousin who is a month younger than Erik and was the sugar to his salt), Jenny (the niece of a family friend who traveled with us and my buddy on the trip), and I played cards with duty-free M&Ms are currency. When life gives you lemons...
We were traveling on the world famous China Eastern Airlines, and I was bucking up for a long cramped excursion--a sweet 12.5 hours. As my mom handed our bundle of three boarding passes to the ticket agent when we were about the board, he informed her that "our seats had to be changed." Vague, but he couldn't give us more information, but he assured us that these seats were better. Our seats before were all the way in the back of the plane. As we stepped away from him, though, he threw out "You're SO going to love me for this."
We checked out the new tickets and BUSINESS CLASS, BABY! My mom, my aunt and I sat up there, and it was awesome. There was so much room in front of my seat that I had to unbuckle my belt and get up to get the stuff from the seat pocket in front of me. I could fully recline my seat to about a 160 degree angle. I had my own personal TV screen that I could pull out of the seat arm rest and watch as many movies and TV shows and play as many games as I wanted. They had prosciutto was an appetizer. The seat next to me was empty so I had my entire island to myself. The bathroom was ALWAYS empty and spotless. I went to bathroom about nineteen times in order to take advantage. The boys were still in economy, and my aunt smuggled our Haagen-Daaz ice cream cups and fancy chocolates back to them. At one point, Alex came up to see his mom and check it out and he got promptly kicked out by the flight attendant since no classless economy peons are allowed beyond the velvet curtain.
July 1st was a complete wash, since we arrived at Shanghai Pudong airport at 10:30 at night. I popped off of the plane relatively refreshed since I had managed several hours of sleep in my Chair O' Luxury, and we met up with the rest of our group who were looking a bit more bedraggled. Erik and Alex looked as if they had been were run over by cars.
The plan was to meet up with a rep from our travel service who would drive us to meet our boat, which had moved away from Shanghai by the time we arrived. We were all thinking that the trip would be a couple of hours but we were quickly disabused of that notion, as the trip would in fact be four hours. Sweeeet. It was a pretty smooth ride, though, and around 2:30 a.m., we pulled into a dimly lit dock in some city which I can't recall, and hauled our suitcases onto the Victoria Rose, the smallest of the ships on the Victoria Cruise line.
My mom and I were bunk mates and we found our cabin to be a sweet little nook, outfitted with two twin beds (no honeymoon suite, this one), a tiny bathroom and shower, a closet and a TV that showed Chinese music videos and HBO Asia, all with a window that looked out onto the water. Here's a shot of part of the room.
June 30 & July 1, 2004(LAX to Shanghai)
We spent most of June 30 at the airport. We arrived at LAX at 11 a.m. all set for our flight that left at 1:10 to discover that it was actually leaving at five. $10 meal vouchers to make up for the delay, though! I was assuaged since I'm easily bought. To kill time, Erik, Alex (my fabulous cousin who is a month younger than Erik and was the sugar to his salt), Jenny (the niece of a family friend who traveled with us and my buddy on the trip), and I played cards with duty-free M&Ms are currency. When life gives you lemons...
We were traveling on the world famous China Eastern Airlines, and I was bucking up for a long cramped excursion--a sweet 12.5 hours. As my mom handed our bundle of three boarding passes to the ticket agent when we were about the board, he informed her that "our seats had to be changed." Vague, but he couldn't give us more information, but he assured us that these seats were better. Our seats before were all the way in the back of the plane. As we stepped away from him, though, he threw out "You're SO going to love me for this."
We checked out the new tickets and BUSINESS CLASS, BABY! My mom, my aunt and I sat up there, and it was awesome. There was so much room in front of my seat that I had to unbuckle my belt and get up to get the stuff from the seat pocket in front of me. I could fully recline my seat to about a 160 degree angle. I had my own personal TV screen that I could pull out of the seat arm rest and watch as many movies and TV shows and play as many games as I wanted. They had prosciutto was an appetizer. The seat next to me was empty so I had my entire island to myself. The bathroom was ALWAYS empty and spotless. I went to bathroom about nineteen times in order to take advantage. The boys were still in economy, and my aunt smuggled our Haagen-Daaz ice cream cups and fancy chocolates back to them. At one point, Alex came up to see his mom and check it out and he got promptly kicked out by the flight attendant since no classless economy peons are allowed beyond the velvet curtain.
July 1st was a complete wash, since we arrived at Shanghai Pudong airport at 10:30 at night. I popped off of the plane relatively refreshed since I had managed several hours of sleep in my Chair O' Luxury, and we met up with the rest of our group who were looking a bit more bedraggled. Erik and Alex looked as if they had been were run over by cars.
The plan was to meet up with a rep from our travel service who would drive us to meet our boat, which had moved away from Shanghai by the time we arrived. We were all thinking that the trip would be a couple of hours but we were quickly disabused of that notion, as the trip would in fact be four hours. Sweeeet. It was a pretty smooth ride, though, and around 2:30 a.m., we pulled into a dimly lit dock in some city which I can't recall, and hauled our suitcases onto the Victoria Rose, the smallest of the ships on the Victoria Cruise line.
My mom and I were bunk mates and we found our cabin to be a sweet little nook, outfitted with two twin beds (no honeymoon suite, this one), a tiny bathroom and shower, a closet and a TV that showed Chinese music videos and HBO Asia, all with a window that looked out onto the water. Here's a shot of part of the room.
Pain in the Arse
I got my little card back from the NU health center saying that my physical requirements were complete except that I still need blood test results showing that I got my Hep B shots. The last Hep B shot I got was in 1989 back in Pakistan, so I need to get a booster shot, I guess. Anyway, once I get the booster (which will take a week to come in and cost $80 CASH ONLY -- my doctor's office is kind of sketchy), I have to wait at least four weeks to take the blood test. I'm assuming that the blood tests will take at least a week to come back, and I hope that's all it takes since I am taking off for Chicago like 1.5 weeks later. And then I have to have all of the stuff into NU by September 15 in order to register. One more thing to fret about. Anyone know how long blood tests usually take to come back? I'm not sure I trust my doctor's office to fed ex or fax me anything.
I got my little card back from the NU health center saying that my physical requirements were complete except that I still need blood test results showing that I got my Hep B shots. The last Hep B shot I got was in 1989 back in Pakistan, so I need to get a booster shot, I guess. Anyway, once I get the booster (which will take a week to come in and cost $80 CASH ONLY -- my doctor's office is kind of sketchy), I have to wait at least four weeks to take the blood test. I'm assuming that the blood tests will take at least a week to come back, and I hope that's all it takes since I am taking off for Chicago like 1.5 weeks later. And then I have to have all of the stuff into NU by September 15 in order to register. One more thing to fret about. Anyone know how long blood tests usually take to come back? I'm not sure I trust my doctor's office to fed ex or fax me anything.
Educate the Children
Yahoo News reports that Guangzhou is going to provide sex ed classes to kids, starting with kindergarteners! That is some crazily progressive stuff. I wonder how it's going to do down.
Yahoo News reports that Guangzhou is going to provide sex ed classes to kids, starting with kindergarteners! That is some crazily progressive stuff. I wonder how it's going to do down.
Sunday, July 18, 2004
June 29, 2004 (LA)
This day involved sleeping, reading, and going to Costco for SBD snacks to bring along with me to China. Note that we purchased a large amount of snacks that included about three pounds of almonds (no kidding), FOUR bags of jerky (two beef, two turkey), one large bag of mixed dried fruit, one large bag of dried mangoes. Over the trip, the jerky was taken care of, about three almonds and about three pieces of dried mangoes were consumed, and everything else was taken backto the States with me to put in my pantry. That is some well-traveled dried stuffs. My aunt and uncle have a lovely house in the LA suburbs up on a hill, so when you sit on the back patio, you look over a wide spread view of the town and the hills in the background. I sat there for about an hour as I polished off The Corrections (which was great, yet the aging dad depressed me so much I had to skip entire parts of the novel). It was rather pleasant.
This day involved sleeping, reading, and going to Costco for SBD snacks to bring along with me to China. Note that we purchased a large amount of snacks that included about three pounds of almonds (no kidding), FOUR bags of jerky (two beef, two turkey), one large bag of mixed dried fruit, one large bag of dried mangoes. Over the trip, the jerky was taken care of, about three almonds and about three pieces of dried mangoes were consumed, and everything else was taken backto the States with me to put in my pantry. That is some well-traveled dried stuffs. My aunt and uncle have a lovely house in the LA suburbs up on a hill, so when you sit on the back patio, you look over a wide spread view of the town and the hills in the background. I sat there for about an hour as I polished off The Corrections (which was great, yet the aging dad depressed me so much I had to skip entire parts of the novel). It was rather pleasant.
Trip Recounted Part 1 of 789
These are notes from my journal...
June 28, 2004 (DC to LA)
Leaving from Dulles is a nightmare. The security line snaked around the entire front of the airport. On the tram from one terminal to the other (and what is Dulles except terminals, terminals, terminals?) there was an anxious woman next to me who started crying because she thought she boarded the wrong tram. It was a full plane and I got seated in the very back, in the middle of three seats. Love it. I couldn't get over how crazy busy LAX was either. It was really slammed with people. At the baggage carousel, I waited there for about 25 minutes before our flight's bags were circulated since there was three of four flights in front of us using the same carousel. Is LAX always like that?
These are notes from my journal...
June 28, 2004 (DC to LA)
Leaving from Dulles is a nightmare. The security line snaked around the entire front of the airport. On the tram from one terminal to the other (and what is Dulles except terminals, terminals, terminals?) there was an anxious woman next to me who started crying because she thought she boarded the wrong tram. It was a full plane and I got seated in the very back, in the middle of three seats. Love it. I couldn't get over how crazy busy LAX was either. It was really slammed with people. At the baggage carousel, I waited there for about 25 minutes before our flight's bags were circulated since there was three of four flights in front of us using the same carousel. Is LAX always like that?
China Photos
Okay, it took me all morning, but I finally managed to get my China photos onto Ofoto. I haven't gone through and made comments yet, but hopefully this will be something that I will manage to do at some point. There are two albums. One is the Yangtze Cruising scenery (many, many gorge photos...be warned) and the other is everything else, including more river/gorge pictures. I've been trying to figure out how to post to the blog directly, but I don't know if that's happening.
Friday, July 16, 2004
The charms of Fifteen Year Olds
Happy Birthday to Erik today, who turns 15. I had a lovely conversation this morning when I called to wish him happy birthday.
Erik (sullenly): Hello.
K: Happy Birthday!
Erik: Oh no.
K: What are you doing to celebrate?
Erik: I forget.
K: Are you going out to dinner with mom and dad?
Erik: I forget.
K: What have you been doing since you got back home?
Erik: Sleeping. Because I can.
K: Well, it's been a pleasure.
Erik: Bye. (click).
Yeah, I was going to give him some cash, but now I'm rethinking it. Jeez. Honestly, when I have teenagers I'm going to have to send them away to the countryside for re-education because they'll drive me so crazy.
Happy Birthday to Erik today, who turns 15. I had a lovely conversation this morning when I called to wish him happy birthday.
Erik (sullenly): Hello.
K: Happy Birthday!
Erik: Oh no.
K: What are you doing to celebrate?
Erik: I forget.
K: Are you going out to dinner with mom and dad?
Erik: I forget.
K: What have you been doing since you got back home?
Erik: Sleeping. Because I can.
K: Well, it's been a pleasure.
Erik: Bye. (click).
Yeah, I was going to give him some cash, but now I'm rethinking it. Jeez. Honestly, when I have teenagers I'm going to have to send them away to the countryside for re-education because they'll drive me so crazy.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Hot Items
Before I launch into travelogues in earnest, I had to include this. While in Shanghai all we did was shop. Really. At one point they dropped us off at a place where there was a huge collection on stalls, a hodge-podge of North Face knock offs, faux designer sunglasses, and imitations of every other possible brand you can think of piled on top of eachother (I even spotted some fake Von Dutch baseball caps...random). Not unlike the Silk Alley, for you Beijing people. Places like these often attract the foreigners like my group and the vendors tend to be on the shrill, obnoxious side. While it can be fun to browse and shop around, you go in knowing that people are going to be putting every ounce of effort into ripping you off beyond belief. I love the fake sales tags attached to stuff like these "designer" bags that read $8,000.00. That's one expensive imitation Prada purse, yo. In places like this in China, if the saleperson is speaker English to you, then you can pretty much count on being fleeced.
In Beijing, I had bought a winter hat that had a Timberland logo that read "Timrenlaad" -- they had some of the basic letters, and they almost got there. When you're buying stuff like that, though, the vendors are like: "it's the REAL thing." I love it. Sometimes you can find the real thing in these stalls (I got some Tevas and an Abercrombie skirt that I still wear that have lasted through the ages), but you pay for them.
Anyway, another attraction for foreigners in China are the pirated DVDs that are being so cracked down upon. Places like that market are usually where you can find them. People will mill around murmering "Hello, dvds? Hello, dvds?" under their breaths to you, and you nod and then follow them down some dark alley where they will pull out a shoe box filled to the brim with pirated movies, stuff that only just hit the theater in the States. Real kosher stuff. You pay anywhere from 60 cents to $2.00 for each movie, and it's a gamble as to whether they work or not. Often they're filmed in the theaters, so you're treated to people's coughs, laughs, and trips to go to the bathroom.
Erik got "Van Helsing." Like any other DVD cover, they include reviews of the movie. On closer examination, he discovered that the reviews were these:
On the front: ONE CATCH. IT'S NOT GOOD. - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
On the back: UNDERWHELMING AND OVERBLOWN. - Ty Burr, The Boston Globe.
That is so awesome. In other cases the information on the DVDs was just pulled some random sources (for instance, on my cousin, Alex's "Harry Potter" the movie description was of "Die Hard 2") but here, instead of slapping together any old crap, they were looking at actual reviews (of this movie or another) and just happened to choose the worst ones to display.
Before I launch into travelogues in earnest, I had to include this. While in Shanghai all we did was shop. Really. At one point they dropped us off at a place where there was a huge collection on stalls, a hodge-podge of North Face knock offs, faux designer sunglasses, and imitations of every other possible brand you can think of piled on top of eachother (I even spotted some fake Von Dutch baseball caps...random). Not unlike the Silk Alley, for you Beijing people. Places like these often attract the foreigners like my group and the vendors tend to be on the shrill, obnoxious side. While it can be fun to browse and shop around, you go in knowing that people are going to be putting every ounce of effort into ripping you off beyond belief. I love the fake sales tags attached to stuff like these "designer" bags that read $8,000.00. That's one expensive imitation Prada purse, yo. In places like this in China, if the saleperson is speaker English to you, then you can pretty much count on being fleeced.
In Beijing, I had bought a winter hat that had a Timberland logo that read "Timrenlaad" -- they had some of the basic letters, and they almost got there. When you're buying stuff like that, though, the vendors are like: "it's the REAL thing." I love it. Sometimes you can find the real thing in these stalls (I got some Tevas and an Abercrombie skirt that I still wear that have lasted through the ages), but you pay for them.
Anyway, another attraction for foreigners in China are the pirated DVDs that are being so cracked down upon. Places like that market are usually where you can find them. People will mill around murmering "Hello, dvds? Hello, dvds?" under their breaths to you, and you nod and then follow them down some dark alley where they will pull out a shoe box filled to the brim with pirated movies, stuff that only just hit the theater in the States. Real kosher stuff. You pay anywhere from 60 cents to $2.00 for each movie, and it's a gamble as to whether they work or not. Often they're filmed in the theaters, so you're treated to people's coughs, laughs, and trips to go to the bathroom.
Erik got "Van Helsing." Like any other DVD cover, they include reviews of the movie. On closer examination, he discovered that the reviews were these:
On the front: ONE CATCH. IT'S NOT GOOD. - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
On the back: UNDERWHELMING AND OVERBLOWN. - Ty Burr, The Boston Globe.
That is so awesome. In other cases the information on the DVDs was just pulled some random sources (for instance, on my cousin, Alex's "Harry Potter" the movie description was of "Die Hard 2") but here, instead of slapping together any old crap, they were looking at actual reviews (of this movie or another) and just happened to choose the worst ones to display.
America's Funniest Animals
Go to James' blog and request the freak animal of your choice and he will find it for you and post a picture! That's what I call service. I asked for a fat cat, and got one (although nothing can top Mikesch). My morning is complete.
Go to James' blog and request the freak animal of your choice and he will find it for you and post a picture! That's what I call service. I asked for a fat cat, and got one (although nothing can top Mikesch). My morning is complete.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Back!
I'm back Stateside, and arrived back in DC at 5:15 this morning. It was a long haul from Shanghai, where we left the hotel at noon on July 13th (which was midnight back here in DC, since it is 12 hours behind China). Our flight on China Eastern was a pretty uneventful 11 hours until the end, when instead of flying to LA, we had to make an emergency landing in San Francisco so a sick passenger could get off the plane. This delayed us for four hours, leaving everyone on the plane for 15 hours. Awesome. We flew back from LA on the red-eye on Jet Blue, which is a pretty great airline. I love their Direct TV!
I'm fading right now, but can make it through till tonight. I'll update the blog later this week with journal entries from the trip.
I'm back Stateside, and arrived back in DC at 5:15 this morning. It was a long haul from Shanghai, where we left the hotel at noon on July 13th (which was midnight back here in DC, since it is 12 hours behind China). Our flight on China Eastern was a pretty uneventful 11 hours until the end, when instead of flying to LA, we had to make an emergency landing in San Francisco so a sick passenger could get off the plane. This delayed us for four hours, leaving everyone on the plane for 15 hours. Awesome. We flew back from LA on the red-eye on Jet Blue, which is a pretty great airline. I love their Direct TV!
I'm fading right now, but can make it through till tonight. I'll update the blog later this week with journal entries from the trip.
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