9 posts tagged “china”

I've been busy.

I've left Beijing and have been in Shanghai...(joy!)    Can i stay a little longer please?  there is more shopping to do...and everything is SOOO Cheap. 

Blog topics for later:

1. No sense of personal Space
2. Group Eating and sharing of food
3. Baidju
4. The Backroom of the Store while Shopping for knock off Handbags
5. Plug Adapters
6. Traffic
7. A country without Rum
8. the Mao Waving Watch i wanted to get for B, but left behind
9. Communication Issues and How Cingular Service sucks all around the Globe
10. Cool People work in Foriegn country offices of my company
11. Personal Drivers are the way to go...way better than cabs
12. Beautiful sights are improved when your loved ones are there too
13. Mixing Work and Life and Life and Work= what to do when this goes wrong?
14. The 25 Course Meal and 1.3 Billion skinny people
15. Street Market Vendors should become Enterprise Sales and Account Managers
16. Why haven't i seen any cats or dogs in Asia?

Shanghai1

Great wall

Wow! What an amazing day.  Found a Starbucks when I got downstairs and met up with Steven, Dawn, Judd and James and our tour guide Larry.  We headed off to the Forbidden City and explored.  It was very windy and very cold, but luckily Dawn brought an extra hat for me (thanks Dawn!).  Dawn and Judd both took pictures that they have promised to post on a share for the rest of us to grab- and i'll post some of them when that happens.  Te An Men Square was closed due to a very large International Summit goign on between China and Africa.  Apparantly, normally there are hundreds of people there flying kites on the weekend.  We then drove to a Jade Factory and had a tour and then out to the great wall to this amazing fancy restaurant called Commune where we had a 20 course meal..or something close to it.  there were a lot of dishes.  After about 3-4 glasses of wine for each of us we drove to the Wall and Climbed it.  OH MY GOD.  there are a lot of steep steps.  it is a hard climb and its Very cold.  Wonderful view and accomplishment.  We were all beat and drove back to the hotel where it is now 5pm and we are to meet downstairs for dinner at 6:15pm.

Everyone was on thier cell phones throughout the day, which i was very jealous of because i haven't talked to B since i left and i am feeling astray. i wish i could make my phone work.

I bought lots of souveniers for Zoe Marie and for B's girls and I am already wondering how it will all fit in my luggage.

Slept for 10 glorious hours in a tiny bed with a huge too hard pillow.  Watched the sunrise over the city from the window of my hotel room, ate some wierd chinese oatmeal and have had 2 cups of coffee.  The chinese cannot do coffee by the way.  oh- and get this...i ironed a shirt of mine with a chinese iron.  ha ha!  i can conquer the world.  i am conquering the world...save for this whole plug situation.

I'll update after today's excusion. 

Thank you for the email Zoe Marie...it made me feel really good.  I love you.

Wake Up  Sleep Now Call Please.   

i think it's been one hour since my last post. 

i have showered, washed the dirt and grime and travel ick off of myself, put away my clothes, put away my bathroom supplies (minus one large can of Deoderant spray that was confiscated at SFO), checked my mail, posted my breakfast request outside of the door, set the alarm clock and finally requested a wake up call for 6;45am from the front desk.  I am Sooooooo Sleepy.  I must stay up another 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I am determined to be rested for this marathon sightseeing trip tomorrow am and I need to force myself to stay awake so that i can be on Beijing time and not California time.  I brought some Tylenol PM and I will be taking 2 come 7:45pm and i should be out by 8:15pm. 

Tomorrow, while on my 12 hour sightseeing adventure, i will need to scout for power adapters (unless anyone wants to express overnight one to me so that i have it in Shanghai)...nah...didn't think anyone i know, save for myself, would be silly enough to spend $40 bucks to overnight a plug adapter to someone.  I also need to look for souveniers for my darhling Zoe Marie.  I already saw a Very Cute Cuddly Something downstairs in the Hotel Gift Shop and I plan to bring home some cool Chinese and Japenese Currency.   I packed Very Light for this trip (I am Super Proud of Myself) and I won't have much room for more stuff, but i promised the Very Cutest 9 year old in the whole wide world that i would bring her back some fun things from China. 

oooh. It's 7pm.  45 more minutes till I can take my sleeping pills and welcome the calm of sleep.

Beijing city looks vast, expansive and kind of old and dirty.  now that it is dark, it seems alive with lots of lights and colored neon like Las Vegas.   

I wish i could hear from someone.  Please post to this site or send me an email.  I am feeling awful without my phone working and i feel cutoff from everything and everyone.

Hey B- do you wanna watch some Dr. Who with me when i get back?   

i am here in my hotel after about 20 hours of travel.  Everything has been going well enough until i plugged in my laptop, pulled out the batter charger adapter cables and realized i forgot to bring a converter for the american part...i need to go from 3prong american to 2 prong american.....hmmm..these plugs on the wall look funky...i wonder if i just tried to make it fit, if it will work????   hang on a second. let me try............

well, after only a tiny bluish spark, it looks like my laptop is indeed charging.  HOORAY!

looks like its about 1:36am in the morning back at home...it's 5:30pm Beijing time. i am going shower, watch some tv if i can and try to stay up til at least 8pm.  I have to be up and downstairs by 8am tomorrow morning and i have no idea how i will sleep.  i figure if i give myself a nice solid 12 hour window, i'm bound to get some sleep in there somewhere.  there is a full moon here and it is right out my window.  i am kicking myself that i forgot it.  B...I know you told me to last night baby..i just forgot it at the last minute and now i am regretting it.

I am already lonely.  i wish i was here with the people i love.  I am thinking about all of you! 

Zoe Marie- Momma loves you so much honey bunny.  Have some fun this weekend and don't get too mad at Molly...remember, she loves you...she just has a bitey way of showing it.  Tell Nana and Papa how much i love them and give them a big hug from me.  Have Nana and Papa give you a big hug and it will be from me.

B- hey baby.  i hope you are sleeping right now...resting and getting well.  you need to rest to be able to get over this flu sickness.  my phone is not letting me send txt messages and overall just not working here at all.  you will get a big long break from me this week as it doesn't look like i can communicate by phone and not sure if my hokey US plug in the China wall thing will work anywhere else other than this hotel.  I am looking forward to when we can be together in the same place for at least a solid week in a row.  i thought about you a lot on the plane....I love you. 

the past 7 days have been rough.  we have both been sick and haven't really seen eachother due to travel and work emergencies.  I am leaving tomorrow and that will be tough as well.  i hate when things are this busy.  it makes me feel like the whole world is out of control.  this is a rough and tough week and next week will be the same.....wish all of us luck.  I leave for the airport in 19 hours.

my head is killing me.  my sinuses are so congested i feel like my head is going to implode.  i can't think straight.  work is hard.  concentrating is hard.  i have much to do and most of it is around this damn trip to china.

Troubles of the moment:

Corporate Amex card has been suspended and will not be re-issued in time due to not receiving a fax from 3 weeks ago

Visa apparently takes 4 days to get, if i drive to SF tomorrow....maybe i will get it by Thursday..the day before my flight

My bank will not allow me to buy my $6000 dollar plane tickets due to pos daily limitations on my Visa/Check Card.  assholes. they say i need to drive to a branch location and talk them into it from there.  and then when they don't agree and tell me some line about how i need to call the 1-800 number i can be lucky enough to throw my temper tantrum in a public place and much swearing and cursing and eyeball rolling will ensue.  if i am super lucky they will arrest me and i wont be able to go on my damn trip.

Even if i am able to buy my ticket, i'll need my boss to approve my expense report immediately for $6 grand so i can have enough money for the hotels and food, ect.  he is currently out having his first baby just been born 2 days ago...wonder if he'll be on mail like he claimed he would?  even if he does approve on monday, our system will take at least 3 business days to pay into my account..putting us at thursday/friday. cutting it close.

i also have $2 grand due to my daughters school on wed the 1st, which i wont have due to needing all this money to go to China on my own dime

did i mention i've been sick with the flu all week and that i feel terrible?

i have two powerpoint decks due by the end of the month; neither of which are entirely finished and one i need Visio to complete which i haven't had time to get put on my laptop.

i reserved my flight to China today and business class is not cheap.  i'm on a non stop flight from San Francisco to Beijing on November 3rd, arriving Saturday, November 4th.  I get to spend Sunday on a sightseeing tour that is being arranged for my party to include, the forbidden city,the great wall and tian an men square.  It will be a busy week as we travel on Tuesday to Shanghai and then to Tokyo on thursday the 9th and then home on the 11th.  I will need to drive my ass to the consulate in SF to get a visa and drop the cash tomorrow to buy my tickets.  my corporate card has been suspended due to my delinquincy in reconsiling the payments so everything has to come out of pocket by me and then reimbursed by my company later.

Other news: We airbrushed a cereal box tonight for one of Z-dog's school projects. 

i am a little high from the paint fumes.