Posts

Showing posts from August, 2007

Sparky the Fruit Sniffing Beagle

Image
One last little tale before I consider this trip officially over. I was surrounded by those orange shirted students from the plane while waiting for my bag to appear, they having cleared customs. Off to my left, a small drama was unfolding. A Border Patrol officer with the cutest Beagle I'd ever seen was checking out one of the students. He told him to take off his backpack and the kid (of course) didn't understand. So the officer politely helped him remove it. He told the kid to set it on the floor, whereupon Sparky went to work sniffing and wagging. Sure enough, the kid was holding - a dozen Chinese apples. Sparky looked on proudly as the officer told the kid "next time, no fruit." Sparky stood there beaming at his owner, clearly proud to be able to do his part to keep our borders safe. And so it goes, back home once again. Here's a summary of my walking around pictures......... '

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done with the Beijing Run

Living in a crowded society drives some interesting behaviors. There is no decorum when it comes to driving or forming lines or waiting one’s turn. When 100s of people are faced with a single lane or door, a mob forms and it’s everyone for themselves. When it comes to delays, something always has to be done. The tiniest example of this occurs every time you enter an elevator in China the first thing someone entering does is to jam the door close button 15 times. These facts are well known about living in China and Westerners commonly remark about the rudeness in public places when someone simply walks up and gets in front of them in line. Assuming there is a line at all. Typically it’s just an annoyance to those of us used to forming orderly queues. When it comes to air travel it gets downright aggravating. Awoke to another downpour day in Dalian a city which does not wear well in gray drizzle. Checked out of the hotel and checked in with our driver. It was our last day with Jasper and

Wandering around the city by the sea

Image
Last night was spent winding down from our day at work. We had a plan to eat at a well-recommended Italian-Spanish-French restaurant but first decided to visit Dalian’s Irish pub, the Tin Whistle. Opened up by an Irish expat a few years ago it is now owned by and American. As the story goes, the original owner got so drunk on St. Paddy’s Day that he fell down breaking his leg severely. Being unable to work, he had to sell the pub. Even if it’s not true, with a story like that how could we pass up an opportunity for a visit? Two young Chinese men and a young Chinese woman were working the bar. We each had a Guinness and settled down to an awkward silence. So I pulled out my map the bar staff gathered around. It was the ultimate icebreaker and soon we were talking about Dalian and China in English and Chinese. The young woman brought out a map of Dublin and we spent some time showing her the places we stayed and where the Guinness brewery is and where all the good bars are. Would have st

The Vancouver of Asia

Image
I read that comparison somewhere and I have to say whoever coined it must have been in Vancouver on a day when all the nearby pine forests were on fire. The air here over the last two days is just that bad. Visibility is in the range of a quarter-mile and that nagging upper respiratory thing I developed the last time I was in Shanghai has come back in full force. The question is – where does it come from? Some say it’s just damp marine air. Others, power plants. It’s probably not cars as there are not that many of them and the air lacks that distinctive leaded gas smell. Who knows, whatever it is it’s dense. We were joking yesterday about jumping off the roof and slowly gliding to the ground on the suspended particles. A day of work yesterday bookended with a couple of commutes out of and into the city itself. Our driver is a great young man who speaks fluent English with a West End London accent, gained during his university studies in that city. His choice of music was interesting –

SFO to PEK

The flight over was pretty straightforward and memorable only for the fact that the videos all worked and the apoplectic nature of the guy sitting next to me. We got off on time and I was pleased to learn that the flight to Beijing is actually close to an hour shorter than the one to Shanghai. Nothing exciting to report about the loading or the take-off, everything was done according to schedule. The first meal service rolled around and the attendants delivered the special meals to those that had requested them. I was sitting next to a young-ish hippie couple and when we were asked about our meal choices the young woman told the attendant that she had requested a vegetarian meal. The attendant replied that they’d all been delivered and sorry, there were no more. Her boyfriend went completely off the scale at this loudly proclaiming that they’d requested it and that it simply wasn’t acceptable that hers was given to someone else. The attendant asked when they’d booked it and that didn’t

A very different approach

Image
You might think that an airport in city the size of Albuquerque would be a peaceful place at 5 in the morning on a Monday. One the contrary – it’s a beehive. I fly in and out of here with some frequency, as you all know. Usually it’s a pretty laid back place with short lines, small crowds and a clear shot down the concourse. Today though, everyone seemed to be beating a path out of town as quickly and as early as they could. I walked in and found myself 3rd in the Premier-International line which is basically unheard of. I’ve never been worse than 2nd. Topping it though was the group in front of me composed of the meek and the loud. The loud telling the meek to make sure that they divided their prescription medicines between checked and carry-on luggage, lest the checked bags disappear en route. The meek responding that they’d divided their prescriptions between carry-on and checked luggage for that very reason. One of the meek wasn’t quite following what was going on until one of the