Thursday Sep 30 - Xian

Plane flight to Xian.  1.5 hours; no great shakes.

We were picked up by our guide, Li, and our driver, "Mr. John".  The air here is totally gray from smog.  My eyes burn.  Uggh. The airport was about an hour from Xian, and we first went to lunch.  More typical tourist fare.  It seems our lunches will consist of this.  So touristy they gave us forks and knives, no chopsticks.  I wasn't sure I remembered, but somehow I did.

We toured the Buddhist pagoda from the 7^th century.  It was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty in commemoration of the monk, Rabbi Xuanzang, who walked to India to study and then walked back after 17 years with a load of books on his back.  I don't know why he was called Rabbi, but that's what was on the signs depicting his life.  Maybe he was from one of the lost tribes??? 

While we were walking around, my little camera slipped from my hands and fell directly onto the lens mechanism.  It was completely bent and destroyed.  Bah.  I still have my Canon, but that's the end of the videos.

We went from there to the city wall to look around.  Since the October 1 National Holiday is upon us, there are red lanterns and flags all around.  Essentially, this is the Chinese July 4.  The tradition is for everyone to get up early to watch the flag raising in the central town square.  Supposedly there will be over 1 million people in Beijing.  We are not far from the main square at our hotel here, so we might get up to watch it.  Or not.

In planning for tomorrow, Li mentioned that we could go to a terra cotta factory.  This is becoming a theme here of going to the "factory" and being quickly ushered into the showroom.  We tried to beg off, but she was very persistent at "not wanting to push us".  So we'll go to kill some of the time and to let her think she's doing her job.  They are very pushy in trying to "satisfy" us, whether we want it or not.

Dinner tonight is on our own.  When we asked, we were steered to the restaurants here in the hotel.  I think we'll take a walk.

 

So we took our walk.  We went past the central square of town and saw the flag lowering ceremony.  Traffic stopped while the army squad paraded to the flagpole and lowered the flag.  The national anthem played, and people were singing.  The patriotism was palpable.

We continued our walk searching for a restaurant.  We walked and walked.  This is a city of 7 million, and it seemed most of them were on the street.  People walking everywhere.  The stores were open selling clothes and electronics.  But no restaurants.  I briefly considered buying a new camera, but decided against it.  The traffic is crazy, and crossing a street is taking your life in your hands.  Many cars and motorbikes and bicycles have no lights on, making them even more dangerous.  No one stops.  Cross walks? Hah!  Ann got freaked.  We never found a restaurant that had a menu we could understand.  At one, we couldn't even get them to figure out we wanted to look at a menu before sitting down.  So we finally made our way back to our hotel to eat there.  A "Moroccan" restaurant.  Hmmmm.  Hummus without cumin.  Tasteless couscous.  Ann's schwarma was half decent.  We got what was coming to us.

Wednesday the 29th

The Great Wall.  One of the largest man-made objects in the world.  The only man-made object visible from space.  First begun in the 1400's in the Ming Dynasty, it now travels 8818 km across China.  It was originally supposed to keep out the invading Mongols and Manchus from the west and north, but later when those groups became incorporated into Greater China, it was less important. 

We drove about an hour from Beijing (Bei – north; jing – capital) to one section of the wall.  As soon as Ann saw the steep steps and incline, she opted to watch.  Osteoarthritic hips and steep stairs such as these are not great friends.  I decided to carry on.  I took my camera bag and began the ascent.  My knees and back help out pretty well, as did my heart.  My lungs, however, were another story.  I was huffing and puffing (with a lot of the other ancient travelers – and a lot of the young ones as well), but with a few stops, was able to get up the steep section of the trail.  I could have gone farther, but with that many miles more, when does one stop?  I took out my camera to find the battery had run down in the bag since the switch had been left "on", so all I had was my little camera.  I took a bunch of pictures, and had some fellow travelers take some of me.  This camera is movie capable, so I took some panorama views as well.  Coming down was another adventure, as the steep steps and weak quads are not always compatible.  I did make it down to meet Ann and Mei Ping. 

We went to the touristy Jade Market for lunch, along with all the other tourists.  It seems the guides take all the auslanders to these places.  We saw the demonstration for about 3 minutes and were quickly ushered in to the showroom so we could shop shop shop.  Needless to say, we had seen this coming, and weren't particularly interested.  Ann did find some little jade lions and was able to negotiate much better prices with the usually non-negotiating staff.  Again the lunch wasn't worth describing.

After lunch, we went to the Ming Tombs.  This was the burial ground of all 13 Ming emperors.  It was designed and built by the 3^rd emperor, Zhu Di, also known as Chang or Yongle, in the early 1400's.   He had moved the capital of China from Nanjing (Nan – south; jing – capital) to Dadu and renamed it Beijing (north capital).  He built the Forbidden City.  The complex was somewhat impressive, with the many large gold-roofed buildings.  They are, however, not in great repair, as plants are seen growing from the tiles of the roof.  I am beginning to learn a bit of Chinese history here, and I think there is more to learn next in Xian.

Back to the city.  We made an unplanned stop at the Olympic site, since Mei Ping was embarrassed by our tardiness yesterday to the theater.  We saw the Water Cube, the Birds Nest, and many of the other venues.  This was as close to an Olympics as I've ever gotten.  Fun.

Dinner in the hotel for western comfort food – Italian.  It really was good to have a pizza and minestrone after a week of noodles and rice.  We chatted with the Maitre d', a nice Indian guy about Paul's age who was very engaging and friendly.  He has been to various parts of China and the East, and would love to do more traveling.  A nice conversation.

So, what to think about Beijing?  This place is crazy and frenetic.  Crazier drivers than New York.  Pushier people than Jerusalem.  So many people crowded and trying to do the same thing.  A disjointed history where there were significant gaps in what we were being told.  We had long conversations with our guide about the direction of the country.  From her perspective of a 30-something, China is improving.  She contrasted her life with that of her parents (about our age) who grew up in the 60's & 70's, which was not exactly an easy time here.  She thinks things began changing in the mid 80's and continues to expand her horizons.  She gave us a nice compliment, noticing how compatible we were, and we gave here some parental advice on a long lasting relationship and on parenting.

Tomorrow to Xian and more early history.

Tuesday the 28th

We met up with our guide, Mei Pei and went to Teinamen Square  In the west, it is what many people know or remember about China.  It is large, larger than Chiang Kai Sheks's square in Taipei, larger than Red Square in Moscow.  It is smaller than the Mall, but is completely paved.  Security required to get in, and cameras everywhere.  Police and army readily visible.  Probably, many plain-clothes officers around also.  Chairman Mao's mausoleum on one side, with large lines waiting to get in.  People everywhere.  Lots of flowers for the upcoming Peoples Day ceremonies on October 1.  The entrance to the Forbidden City is on one side, with a huge picture of Chairman Mao.  More people everywhere.  We cross the street to get to the entrance.  Fighting through the crowds of people, including school groups in their uniforms, tour groups with their leaders with little flags and boom boxes and microphones, and more people.  Did I mention it was crowded?

The Imperial City / Forbidden City complex is huge, measuring 1.5 miles long.  It is built along a central axis, with multiple entrance gates as one goes farther in.  There are often 5 archways leading into each subsequent area.  The center was reserved for the emperor, and the lower ranked officials were moved further away.  In fact, only the emperor was allowed to walk on the central line.  There were moats with 5 bridges, 5 sets of stairs as one ascended the entranceways, etc.  Much of the complex has been restored, but much still needs to be done, as the paint is faded and peeling in many places.  According to legend, evil spirits only travel on the ground, and cannot lift their legs.  Thus each entrance or doorway has a raised threshold of a foot or so that you have to raise your leg to climb over.  This prevents the evil spirits from getting in. 

We continued to penetrate deeper into the city until we got to the main areas for the emperor and the officials and the empress and the concubines.  With all the events of the last 100 years since the downfall of the last emperor and the communist takeover in 1949, there really wasn't a lot left.  Most of the buildings had fresh paint, and there was a small museum of the porcelains and cloisonné objects.   The gold roofs of the buildings and the dragon and phoenix motifs were everywhere.  We got a lot of history about Tsu Hsi, or Cixi, the "Dowager Empress" or the Dragon Lady.  She ruled in the background for decades, as the "voice behind the screen".  I guess its time for me to watch The Last Emperor.

Nondescript lunch at a tourist trap they took us to.  We do better on the street.

On the way to the Summer Palace, we were talked into going to the Silk store.  This is a government operation for the tourists.  We did see the cute little silkworms, and how the make the cocoons.  I never did understand how the silk was gotten from the cocoons, but they really do unwind it 1 little strand at a time.  They weave 8 together as a real strand, which then is weaved into a fabric.  Then came the hard sell.  We did get a duvet cover for a reasonable price; reasonable being defined as less than we would pay in the west.  At least we were pretty sure it was genuine.

The Summer Palace on the outskirts of town was a smaller representation of the Forbidden City.  It did have a very lovely garden, with statues and large rocks recovered from lake beds in interesting shapes.  The cypress trees were hundreds of years old.  There was a long corridor that CiXi would walk, with a view of the large lake.  We took a dragon boat across the lake to be picked up by the driver.

Traffic into town and we were late for the Kung Fu Ballet.  Again, the drivers in this place are crazy, and would make a New York cabbie blush and recoil in fright.  The performance was nice, but still touristy.

 

On of these days, I'll find the time to organize our pictures and upload them to illustrate this trip.

Monday the 27th

Up early to get to airport for a 9am flight.  Cab to the fast airport train, and 20 minutes to the airport.  I've got to say that the airports in Asia seem to be much better organized and have better infrastructure than any I've seen in the US.  Just having free carts is a major plus.

Thoughts on Hong Kong:

I am again amazed at the verticality of this city.  There are so many high rise buildings that it boggles the mind.  Eve on the train to the airport, there were dozens of high rises in what appeared to be the industrial/shipping area.  Hong Kong is one of the busiest ports in the world, but I saw in today's Washington Post (now that I finally got my wifi working) that the Chinese government is proposing to transform Shanghai into a major financial/shipping zone by 2020.  Maybe they are anticipating a change in Hong Kong's status at the end of the "Special Relationship" period ending in 2047.

 

We got to Beijing on an easy flight.  The airport was huge, but efficient.  We got through passport control as well as customs with ease, once we found our bags.  We were met by Mei Ping, who also goes by the name of "Silver".  We drove into town to our hotel in the central area, and checked in.  We had a free afternoon, so we went to the "Silk Market", which has everything under the sun in 6 floors of little stalls.  As you walk in, the clerks were literally grabbing your arm to pull you into their stall to sell you something, anything.  Bargaining is crazy, and they are very aggressive and relatively nasty when you say no.  Ann was looking for beads and pearls for Ellen, and found some at a reasonable price.  After a while, I couldn't stand it and waited outside.  Even there, people were trying to sell stuff.  Socks, watches, gloves, etc etc etc.  Negotiating for a cab back was fun also, as 3 cabbies didn't want to bother and refused to take us.

After a nap, we went out to walk to get dinner.  We went to the "Walking Street", which one would think was like the open air markets of Taipei.  Not on your life.  This was glitz central.  Every brand you can think of, and many I never heard of.  Mercedes, Rolls, Lambhorgini stores next to each other.  Rolex, Hermes, Van Cleef & Arpels, and more.  A cell phone store that looked like a jewelry store with phones locked in cases.  There was a kiosk of candy, and people were rushing in, well, like a kid in a candy store.  Everything is frenetic.  The traffic is crazy; lights don't matter; turning lanes don't matter; pedestrians are on their own.  Everyone is out to make a buck, and those who have the bucks want to spend it and show off their bling.

Dinner was at a little restaurant we found and I had real beef & broccoli with Chinese broccoli.  I had been told we couldn't get what we would otherwise consider Chinese food, but this was outstanding.  Ann had the eggplant.  As good as it was, we couldn't finish.  Too bad we couldn't get a doggie bag.

Tomorrow Tiennamen, Forbidden Palace and more.

Sunday

Lazy morning. Slowly got ourselves up and made our way to the History Museum. Stopped at Starbucks on the way to get coffee. When we got to the museum, I realized I had left my unipod back at the Starbucks and had to double back to get it. We had been told this is a safe city with little crime, and it was confirmed by my unipod still being there.


The Hong Kong History Museum traced the evolution of Hong Kong back to 1 million years ago. After they got past the first almost million years, they got to the past 10,000 years which were more interesting. They had some of the development of pottery from the first inhabitants, and how it became more detailed and glazed. The earliest peoples fought wars, and moved back and forth from the mainland. The various dynasties of China (Han, Qin, Ming, etc.) came and went. The British came in the 1850s for trade. They first mostly bought things from the Chinese, but soon realized they were losing out in the balance of payments. So they introduced opium to provide something for the population to buy back from them. Hmmmm. The museum itself was very well put together, with large rooms of multiple artifacts from all periods of history. It was so big, however, that Ann and I became separated, so I did the last half by myself. We finally met at the end.

Lunch at an outdoor café. The food itself was nondescript (Sorry, Adrienne). But the conversation with our neighbors was very weird. These were 2 Americans who were working for the “Chinese Royal Family”. It seems that the Royal family is still fabulously wealthy and controlling things. Back in 1758, George Washington borrowed over $1 billion in gold from the family, and every 10 years every president and leader has signed a pledge to pay it back. Now it is over $10 trillion. About 1/3 of the continental US is pledged to this royal family. Huh? They are more powerful than the Jewish banker, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, and Lehman Brothers. Huh? The reason Lehman Brothers collapsed is because the royal family decided not to lend them any more money. Huh? We quickly ate our food and left.

We met Kathy for a trip to the top of Victoria Peak, overlooking Hong Kong Island. We took the 15 bus up the mountain, sitting in the first row of the upper deck of the bus. Interesting, going around the tight curves. We got to the top for the spectacular view. Hong Kong is a very vertical city, and you could see down on top of all the buildings. These are easily 40-50 stories, and there were hundreds of buildings that high, as far as the eye could see in either direction. Most of these buildings have been built since the 80’s.

We took the tram down, and went to the JCC to see the synagogue. It was in the Sephardic tradition, with the bima in the center. Very reminiscent of the synagogue in London.

We met back up with Stuart, her husband, and we drove to the south side of the island for dinner at a little hole in the wall restaurant in Stanley. Traditional Chinese/Thai food. Fried noodles with chicken, tofu, eggplant, curried noodles, and the garlic green similar to what we had in Taipei. Yum.

Early plane tomorrow to Beijing.

Saturday

Early flight back to Hong Kong. We took the train into town which was surprisingly fast and efficient. Nothing in DC or anywhere in the US compares. Our hotel in the Khaloom section of the city overlooks the harbor. Very impressive.


This is a very vertical city. Hundreds of skyscrapers, which are very thin. Many of the buildings are only one room wide. It’s like many toothpicks standing in the air.

We took the Metro to the Jade market, and spent the afternoon haggling with vendors for jade beads for Ellen. We walked back to the hotel to take in the sites, but realized it was long. Ann’s other hip is giving out, and it is not always happy with long walks, despite her desire to do the walking.

We met up with an old friend Kathy Chiron and her husband who have lived here for 10 years now. We took the Star Ferry across the harbor and got a cab to their apartment. Dinner at the historic Correspondents Club where reporters over the ages have gathered to share news and drinks. Very colonial looking with dark wood and carpeting. Old fading newspaper headlines on the wall - :”VJ Day”, “Nixon Resigns”, “MacArthur Relieved of Command”, etc.

Exhausted, we took the ferry back across the harbor and watched the lights of the city across the water.

Friday

A late slow morning. We wandered over to Paul’s apartment and hung out until we were able to say hello to Harry via Skype. He was supposed to be around at 9:00 but wasn’t found until 11:00. Aah, the life of a college student.

We finally got our act together to go out for lunch at the local Chinese schmorgasboard. This was a collection of many different colors, textures and tastes that is particular to Chinese society. I didn’t recognize some of the foods, but took some of what seemed most interesting. I didn’t take the tofu, but Ann and Ellen and Paul did. There were various chicken dishes, veggies, and meats. Probably the best was the broccoli. Also included was the rice, soup, tea and desert. Supposedly they were supposed to weigh it, but the lady eyeballed the plate and gave a price. Who was I to argue for $2 per person???

After lunch we took the Metro to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial. Chiang was, in Paul’s words, “the greatest loser of the 20th century”. The square surrounding it was huge; one of the largest open place I’ve seen. The memorial itself is at one end, and 2 huge buildings, the National Theater and National Symphony Hall were flanking the sides. The architecture of the theater and symphony were traditional Chinese, with red roofs and golden ornamentation. The memorial was white with a blue roof, and an opening reminiscent of Lincoln.

We got to the memorial and up the hundred stairs in time for the changing of the guard. This was a ceremony similar to Arlington or London, with the peculiar Chinese way of stepping and strutting in their military precision.

The memorial, as I said, was reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial. Chiang sitting there in a large hall. There was some writing on the sides, but otherwise very stark. Downstairs, there was an exhibit to his life and works, mostly consisting of pictures of his childhood, his early military career, his association with Sun Yat Sen, and the glorious re-taking of Formosa from the Japanese at the end of WW2. Then it jumps from 1949 to 1968 with no mention of any of the events in between. Hmmmmm. The reproduction of his desk and office with him there in wax reminded me of the Truman library with the Oval Office reproduction and it reminded Ann of Ben Gurion’s office in Sde Boker.

We went back to rest, and were going to go with Paul to the Night Market for dinner, but the BBC called him for an interview with Owen Bennett Jones about GastroDiplomacy. So we went and left Paul. It was a moderate disaster for both. The night market was like many others, but with unrecognizable foods and smells. The worst was the “Stinky Tofu”, which really did. We did manage to eat some waffle-like things stuffed with beans, custard and other goodies. A Taiwanese couple we met who was explaining to us offered some of their spicy chicken feet. I was able to get in one bite but couldn’t swallow. Luckily I was able to turn around before I spit it out. We finally ate an omelet type thing that didn’t look to have anything non-edible in it. Ellen found something that looked like a spring-roll but she had to convince them to only put the veggies in without the pork.

We got back to Paul only to find out that his interview got scrapped in the middle due to “technical difficulties” with the Skype or any kind of audio connection with London. He was VERY frustrated that he hadn’t spent the evening with us and couldn’t even get the publicity in either.

Teary good-byes to Paul & Ellen as we left. Ann marveled over and over how taken in she had been about the surprise. We probably won’t see Paul for a year or so as he wanders through Malaysia and gets to South Africa in January. He might need to come home this spring for a Fulbright interview, if he gets that far in the process. We’ll see….

Thursday

Still working on getting to this time zone.  I awoke at 4, and couldn't get back to sleep until 8.  Paul and Ellen & Sam arrived at 9 while I was still in the shower.
After breakfast and some coffee, we headed to the National Palace Museum.  This is the collection of all the objects that the Nationalists took/stole on the way out of the Forbidden City and Palace in 1949.  It is an immense collection of objects including paintings, ceramics, jade, bronze, official documents, etc. dating to the beginnings of China in the Neolithic Period of 9000-7000 BCE.  (That's "Before the Common Era", a phrase also used by other non-Christians, especially in the Middle East).  We all sort of split up, and I walked with Paul.  We worked our way through the various collections, beginning with the official documents of the Emperors to other writings.  Many of the objects had English explanations as well as Chinese and Japanese.

The museum traced the art of the emperors from late Paleolithic times through the Qing Dynasty of the 1800’s, ending in 1911.  The tracing of the development of porcelain from 5000 BCE to its heights in the 1800’s is fascinating.  Even in the 1200’s and 1300’s these people were making delicate and beautiful work while the Europeans were barely able to make a pot.  One could see the influences from century to century as people moved back and forth across the continents, and influenced each other.  What we call Delftware from England and Holland of the 1700’s was being produced in the 1500s and 1600s in China.

Lunch at the museum was “traditional” Taiwanese fare:  Noodles & soup, shrimp rolls and a type of shrimp toast with a corn and shrimp and veggie filling.  Also was our favorite, the fried calamari.

After lunch the crowds took over the museum, including hundreds of scouts in their white and blue uniforms.  Since they were teenagers, they were mostly bored, and playing with each other.  Paul, however, was able to amuse them as we were standing next to a porcelain figurine of an emperor with his hand raised, and Paul assumed the same position.  Of course, they cracked up and waved and played back.

After the museum, the skies opened up.  It rained for the rest of the day.  We holed up at Paul’s apartment and read.  Sushi for dinner at a local place.  Why Sushi as a “Chinese” food?  Japan owned this island for many years until WW2 and there are many residual Japanese influences.

Another note on the Taiwanese people.  My impression is that they are very similar to Americans.  I’m speaking about their dress, their mannerisms, and their body language.  It appears to me that this is a very American city, as opposed to a European one.  In Europe, people hold themselves differently and for me, at least, are fairly obvious as different from America.  Here, not so much.  My impression was the same in Rio, as opposed to Buenes Aires which is of the European character.  In Rio, people looked and acted like Americans until they began to speak.  Here, obviously, the faces are different, but the feel is similar.  One difference here is the politeness and orderliness.  People line up at the subway rather than crowd the doors as I’ve seen everywhere else in the world, especially Washington.  There are lines painted on the floor of the platform and people que up for each subway door.

Wednesday

Wednesday

Well, we pulled it off. We were too late to see Paul last night, so he came over this morning. He told the story that our hotel was haunted, since it was on the site of an old prison. Then there was a knock on the door, and Paul said, “It must be a ghost”. Ann opened the door and Ellen was standing there. We had arranged for her to get here yesterday from Seattle, and she was going to spend a few days with us and then travel a bit on her own with her friend, Sam. Ann was totally flabbergasted. After 4-5 months of careful planning, secret emails, clandestine checks, laundered money, hushed whispers into the phone, and careful shushing while Skyping, we had completely left her in the dark about this surprise. It was really wonderful. She had absolutely no idea it was coming.

So we went out for a little breakfast at Flora Café, and were taking pictures, and the Taiwanese family next to us were also taking pictures, so we all started taking pictures of each other and had the staff take pictures of all 10-15 of us. Fun personal diplomacy. No one spoke the other’s language, but all were smiling.

We then went to Teipei101, the largest building in Taiwan. 101 floors, towering over the metropolis, with definite Asian architecture of 8 sections. Eight is a lucky number, so the building had the right “feng shui”. We took the fastest elevator in the world (certified by Guiness) up to the observation deck at floor 98. It was a very impressive view, to say the least. Taipei is situated among 3 rivers and in a valley of large mountains. We could see all around for miles. We saw the exhibit of the dampers which keeps the building from swaying too much in the wind and, I guess, in earthquakes. They have even popularized the concept with the cute little “Damper Babies” who are character representations of the engineering structure. Sort of like IM Pei meets Disney. Of course there were souvenir shops everywhere, from Jade to more Damper Babies to the mall in the bottom floors that you HAD to exit through.

After that, we began a religious expedition. Today being the full moon in fall led to the “Mid-Autumn Festival” of the 3 main faiths, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. We visited a temple of each to observe the customs and to look at the architecture. People were burning incense and offering fruits to the gods/spirits, and in other places the tradition is to burn paper in outdoor receptacles. It looked like any type of paper would do, as most of it looked like old newsprint or napkins. At the Buddhist temple, the incense smoke was overwhelming to me and I had to leave and get out to the “fresh” air (which wasn’t a whole lot better).

As dusk fell, we worked our way to the Night Market, which could have been the Shuk, the 9^th Street Italian Market in Philadelphia, or Pike Place Market in Seattle. The difference was the types of foods and object offered. One does not normally see snakes, live turtles, shrimp and other unknown crustaceans, and other un-mentionables being offered for sale. I saw no fruits or vegetables.

We went back to Paul’s apartment to pick up his roommate, Ken, who took us to Din Tai Fung, a restaurant serving local Chinese food. We had steamed dumplings of chicken, shrimp, and veggies, which were wonderful. There was also spiced cucumbers, stir fried cabbage, and a garlicky spinach-like green which was delish. Dinner for 6, 2000 NTD, or about $60US. The restaurant, as with so many other places here, was brimming with employees, all of them most willing to serve and make our experience pleasant. A lost concept in America.   

First Day

What day is this? Wednesday, I think.

A looooong day. Never let it be said that a 14 1/2 hour plane ride is short. Getting to JFK airport from Philly was a breeze, and parking and the little train ride to the terminal was fine. We stopped into the Duty Free store and they were sampling the most delicious flavored liquors. We bought the mango and coffee to carry to Paul, since I didn’t want to carry them with us for the next 2 weeks. Since we were flying business class, we were allowed in the Cathay Pacific / British Air lounge. We made a few phone calls, answered some email, and munched on the sandwiches and fruit. Ann went to buy a neck pillow, and could only come up with one that had “I (heart) NY” plastered all over it. Ugghh.

The plane was called, and we were off. The business class was a new experience. Individual pods or cocoons tilted sideways to the aisle, with enough room to lie back and really get horizontal. Nice view of NYC as we took off, and turned to fly over Long Island and the Sound to go over New England. I took some Tylenol PM, had some drinks, turned on Broadway music on the entertainment system, and fell asleep somewhere between Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera. I awoke 6 hours later, and realized we STILL had over 8 hours left in the air.

The route took us over the North Pole, over Russia and Siberia, west of Beijing to get to Hong Kong. The plane’s video system had a little map to follow the plane’s progress, and it gave a North Pole/Polaris view of the trip. A little weird to see it from that angle. It was dark out then, so there was not much to see. Even when it got lighter, the cloud cover was too great, and I never really see anything out the window. I busied myself with a Wrist fracture DVD that took a few hours. It helped that there was a regular plug at the seat for the computer. A few hours on the Kindle (Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond. More when I finish it). Some food. More reading. Ann slept through most of the trip, growling at me when I tried to wake her at about 2:00 and again at 3. Whether that was AM or PM, I couldn’t really be sure. Trying to switch 12 hours produces a lot of jet lag. Being horizontal made it soooo much more endurable. Backs and hips at our advancing ages (!) don’t take kindly to sitting that long.

It was dark already as we landed in Hong Kong in the rain. Thankfully, the typhoon had passed, and it was only rain. We disembarked and headed to our next gate for the flight to Teipei. There wasn’t much time, or so we thought. Once we got on the plane, the captain announced that one runway was closed due to a cargo plane running into a ditch (I guess the typhoon was stronger than he thought), and takeoffs were delayed by 2 hours. They were pleasant enough and fed us and plowed us with drinks. A cute 3 year old 2 rows away with a very annoying video game. I finally had to ask the parents to turn off the sound.

We got to Teipei at midnight or so and were greeted with a sign saying that drug trafficking is punishable by death. Cute. Such fun-loving people,

Getting money from the ATM was fun. Ann convinced me to get $100, and I got a nice shiny 100 Taiwan dollar note. Then we realized that the exchange rate was 30 to the US dollars, so I nicely had about $3US in my hand. So back to the ATM to do it again for more. Well see how much my bank charges me for that stupidity. An hour bus ride into the city and finally to our hotel in the city center. We collapsed into bed at 2AM, but still being on east coast time, it was hard to fall asleep.   

Beginning of the Road

3AM, Philadelphia @ the Watermark

So we are on the road. One might wonder why I'm up now. I know I am. One reason might be that I am trying to get on Taiwan time, 12 hours ahead. That might be a good assumption, but it would be wrong. We ate last night at a wonderful Thai restaurant in Philly, Trio, (Hi, Adrienne) which really was good. The first time. Now it isn't as much fun. I had the Drunken Noodles, and now my stomach has the hangover. Ah, well, I hope this doesn't portend other GI indiscretions in the future. And I was laughing at Ann for her Chinese food paranoia!