I’ve arrived in Beijing. As I stepped onto the jetway I was sure the plane had caught fire during the descent…no, that’s just the pollution, I forgot that Beijing always kind of smells like this.
My early morning flight out of Boston had all the chaos and drama of the last helicopter leaving from the roof of the US embassy during the fall of Saigon. Because of snow, ice, and a plane with a hole in it (yikes), multiple flights were canceled this morning setting off the usual ruckus. On top of that, a lao tai tai was told by the check in staff that her bags were too heavy and she would have to pay extra money. Any one familiar with lao tai tai-nomics can guess what happened next. After much yelling and hand waving, followed by intermittent periods of sulking, she proceeded to browbeat her son and daughter-in-law into unpacking all of their bags and repacking them lighter with the exact same stuff (no physics teacher, she). This of course took place right in the middle of 9 million people trying to change planes…
Speaking of which, shouldn’t there be an extra layer of hell for people who jack their seats back on an airplane without warning? It would be the same layer of hell suitable for people who fillet puppies for fun and club baby seal cubs for a living. I came within one inch of needing a new ACL and another inch from needing a new laptop screen. Would anyone be against this idea?
It’s great to be back in China and I’m looking forward to getting my research started. We’ll be here in the “Swallow Capital” for another few days before heading out to “Heaven’s Ford” for the next month. More to follow.
5 responses so far ↓
1 舒 杰 瑞 // Jan 16, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I’m jealous. Please remember me while gorging yourself on Jiaoziwang dumplings and the like. I’m looking to return myself in April. Enjoy!
2 The Humanaught // Jan 16, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Hey man, welcome back to the Mainland, and I’m 100% on board for your guides to the newly instated level of hell. I’d like to add the people who stand with their cart cross-wise in the middle of supermarket aisles.
3 舒 杰 瑞 // Jan 17, 2007 at 12:09 am
Strbucks crackdown?http://www.cnradio.com/news/200701/t20070117_504378496.html
4 花崗齋之愚公 // Jan 17, 2007 at 5:22 pm
@Ryan,
I have a not-altogether-healthy-mental list of people to add, we’ll have to swap ideas some time…
@Jeremy,
Drop me a line when you hit town, we’ll do it up at the JZW and thanks for the Starbucks tip, I wrote about this a few months ago and I’ve been following it closely. I’m especially interested in the charges against officials of selling out tradition for a quick buck…there’s kind of a Casablanca/gambling thing going on here, I suspect.
5 yulian // Jan 19, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I’m looking forward to getting my research started
–Do you have time to do your research now???I doubt:-)
Japanese 2 is pretty difficult but the sense is very good.
Hey, tell me your wedding date soon.
We need to buy the tickets back to China soon.
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