At Sleep in the Pacific

I slept all day today -- until 8pm. My cabin is situated towards the interior of the ship in a calm, low traffic area, and has no windows, which is ideal for getting rest.

Each night there are shows, theatrical performances, comedians, hypnotists, and such. I've made a point of staying up late and talking to some of the employees. Most of them are from overseas -- all parts of the world. Apparently the cruise ship pays very poorly, if you ignore the free room and board.

Tonight I chose escargot, prosciutto, and melon for an appetizer, pasta with tomato and creme with shrimp and scallops, followed by cherry cheesecake and lime sorbet for desert.

At Sea in the Pacific

Today I discovered the magical breakfast card. This by far my single most favorite thing about taking this cruise. You simply check boxes on this card full of wonderful breakfast options and hang it in the box by your door along with a delivery time.

The next day I was awoken by a Bulgarian girl's pleasant voice, and a cart full of delectable food. Fresh fruit, danish, bagel, cereal, juice, coffee, bacon, pancakes, strawberries, melon, you name it. For the first time in my life, I was truly excited for waking up. I spent the rest of the day laying out on the sun deck.

The evening followed with a formal prime rib and lobster dinner. I think that rather speaks for itself.

LA - Carnival Cruise Lines

We drove down to Carnival Cruise Line's docking station next to the Queen Mary. We waited in line outside some kind of geodesic dome and then filed in. On the way through there were several ID checks and staged photo opportunities.

The first dinner was gorgeous, with very excellent food and deserts. In this regard I was quite impressed. I enjoyed two main courses, two appetizer, and two deserts.

In general, the cruise ship was the gaudiest thing I've seen in my life. The walls are covered with renaissance-painting wallpaper which showed pixelation. There are naked people touching fingers and the sort, combined with awkward sexual marine themed statues, and a full sized replica of Michelangelo's David. There are fancy plastic light fixtures and molding strewn all about. The atmosphere has clearly been designed to make people who are not familiar with luxury think that they are surrounded by it lavishly. It seemed to be working.

Shanghai, Vancouver, LA

I arrived back at my hotel from my night out just in time to catch the morning bus to the airport. I wonder how my room mates feel about my not sleeping in the room a single night that we were in Shanghai. I suppose at least they were happy that none of us had to double up in a bed!

The whole day was spent in airports and on airplanes. Shanghai to Vancouver to LA. We returned to the ghetto Ramada in LA just in time to experience a gang disturbance. A number of young men ran in the hotel dodging this way and that and cowered behind an officer, while the gang of twenty or more that was chasing them disbanded (or went somewhere to wait for them). There was a lot of cussing and gang signs. The officer was pretty calm about it, very nice, almost bored.

That night we ordered some Domino's and went to sleep.

Shanghai - McDonald's, the Internet, Late night chicken's feet

Shanghai - Gallup, Pan-Pacific, Oriental Pearl Tower, DJ and Drinks

Shanghai - Acrobats, Hookers, and KTV

Wuzhen - Old Water Village

Wuzhen is an old water village. It's something like the Venice of China, although its only recently been opened to tourism.

We stayed in a great old half-abandoned five-star hotel. It was lavish with marble and European amenities, had a bowling alley, a shooting range, a massage area and pool. Strangely though, it was completely dead, like a grand old ghost establishment. The halls were empty and eerie and I never saw any other guests enter the giant building. The ritzy clubs and bars sat empty, and the bar tender sat motionless in the dark as we entered. It was like the Ritz Carlton for a city that had moved on, or was at the very least out of season. The place was shiny on the inside, but terribly dirty on the outside.

Wuzhen actually had some of the best bazaar shopping I encountered. The prices were reasonable, the selection was large, the quality was high, and the vendors were nice. There were some great silk works, and I spent some time with a calligrapher, who painted a silk scroll for me. Wuzhen was a great place to wander around. It had clearly been there a long time and was full of interesting nooks and crannies. It was obvious that most of the tourists there were Chinese -- a very distinct difference.

I enjoyed seeing the citizens of Wuzhen leading their daily lives, playing cards, and tending to their children. Eventually I came upon a great Taoist temple area where incense was being burned. There I found large metal cauldrons of water full of coins, and each inhabited by a turtle. There I learned that the 1 yi yuan will float on the surface tension of the water if laid down with enough care. The turtle would then swim to the surface breaking the tension and causing the coins to fall. It started to rain, but I was enthralled with my glorious discovery, and the unique characters about in this town.

Hangzhou - West Lake, Tea, Yellow Dragon Cave

Hangzhou - Culture, Climbing

Xian - City Wall, Terra Cotta Soldiers, Wild Goose Pagoda

Xian is a nice city. Its far to the interior of the country and is maybe what you'd call the old capital of China. The city is a bit different, its just a bit more mid-western Chinese feeling if you will. It is the great city of the interior.

The night before I walked out down town to a bar labeled "pub" in blue letters. The place was quite elaborate and required a metal detector entrance and an elevator ride into a loft. The place was alive. As Americans we were immediately sent in to the high roller VIP private area and offered expensive drinks. Meanwhile the stage was filled with events ranging from live bands, to game show-like contests, to some sort of partner erotic dance routine that involved wearing a "scream" mask and dancing to Michael Jackson songs. It seemed clear that this place was very "hip", and kept turning up new surprises. The whole bar was western and idealized. Jack Daniels was printed on everything in the place, and thousands of whisky bottles lined all the ceiling spaces. The Chinese people seemed very satisfied with me every time I ordered a Jack and Coke. With the help of a friend that spoke Chinese, I made my first attempt at learning their dice-based drinking game. I would later pick this up from Yaya, while she hustled in Shanghai.

We stayed at a rather nice hotel with futuristic elevators and pricey laundry. The lobby was gorgeous and the buffet we were served was a more than welcome sight. At dinner later that night we feasted on many many courses capped off by Dim Sum dumplings of all animal shapes. Frog, monkey, duck, chicken, prawn, each with their own recognizable shape and distinct flavor.

That morning we headed out to the City Wall, and I couldn't help but be reminded of a particular South Park episode. The moat entrenched 36 foot high wall runs a rectangular 8 mile swath around the city. It's quite a sight.

After the wall, we headed over to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers. This is another great wonder and testament to the ego of one man. The emperor started building his tomb the day he became emperor. 700,000 people labored for 37 years to build it, and when they were done, he was buried there along with an entire life size army made out of clay.

As usual there was a state run factory producing novelties -- in this case all shapes and sizes of clay soldiers. I toured through the museum and watched a giant "circle vision" 360 degree surround movie about the soldiers. I met the man who discovered the Soldiers, he was old and not far from death. He signed my book resolutely and stared off unhappily into space. He was the most grumpy, crotchety old man you've ever seen. Why? He lives the life of a slave. Ever since he discovered this great archaeological triumph, he has been condemned to spend every day for decades signing his autograph in its museum. A slave to his own discovery, fame can be especially bittersweet in China.

On the way out we were pimped with all kinds of miniature terra-cotta figurines. On the way in some people paid as much as $20 for these, and on the way out, they went for as low as $1 for a set. Most of the people who paid $10 were rather pissed. As it turns out, nobody should really have bought them as they were worthless and fell apart immediately. In China they bring a new meaning to cheap goods; I call it temporary merchandise. The fake Rolexes are so fake that they become several hours off from each other within a 24 hour period. They barely even approximate telling time.

This excursion seemed to be about the point that many of the travelers had lost it with Chinese jackal salesman. One member in our group actually got in something of a fight. It was about this time I noticed little lines drawn in the dirt. The sales people had little territory lines that they were not to cross. If you backed up past the line, they would walk up and stick their neck out towards you, enticing you to come back but not daring to cross the line. About the time that I saw one such man cross his line, I watched another bouncer figure approach and start pummeling him with his fists. It was then I began to pity these desperate salesmen. I should have known they were not entrepreneurial spirits, but rather they were being used, and pimped for every last dollar they could round up. They were operating in a highly controlled game, with identical merchandise. The only way to get attention, and to survive, was to be more extreme than the other 200 competitors. A sad world.

After that it was off to another state sanctioned tourist lunch. Any city in China, you'll find the tourist lunch is the same. The standard fare: a round table for 7 or so, 1 liter bottle of coke, 2 bottles of beer, low meat content Chinese food served on a round turntable. If you're good, watermelon, cherry tomatoes and orange slices are served for desert. Though I often went a bit hungry, I certainly benefited from the fact that I seemed to be one of the few people who actually liked this stuff.

Wild Goose Pagoda -- The Buddhist pagoda was beautiful and inspiring and the scent of incense rolled through the area. Many of the students seemed confused by the temple, asking "what is this?". One Vietnamese student was Buddhist and I had a chat with her. She seemed a bit ashamed at not understanding her own religion as well as she'd like. A few students were interested, but most glossed over it very quickly.

After visiting the pagoda, we went to a near by calligraphy school and art museum. There we learned things about the origin of various Chinese characters (chaos is composed of three symbols for women, inside the symbol for house) and other such novelties. I learned that rice paper does not have any rice in it, but rather elm and bamboo. Like-wise they don't' call it rice paper -- its really more of a western slur. I bought some artwork from an artist I enjoyed, as well as a higher quality calligraphy brush.

We then moved on to a nearby museum where we learned a few interesting cultural tidbits. I had previously been astounded by the number of concubines kept by the emperors, but apparently Xian had been home to one female emperor, and she had kept a slew of male concubines. Also, at that point in history it was customary and acceptable for a woman to show her bare breasts in public, but not her teeth.

Just goes to show you how deep our assumptions about society go.

Beijing – Forbidden City, Tianmen Square

Today we visited the Forbidden City and Tianmen Square. I learned a lot from talking to UIBE students Alan and Jessica today.

The Forbidden City is having a lot of restoration work to pull it out of a state of disrepair in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, but it’s neat to see an old relic held up right in the middle of a big city – standing the test of time. It’s awe inspiring just to see the hundreds of humongous bronze pots all over the palace kept for putting out fires, and the sheer number of rooms reserved for Concubines.

The massive 9-dragons marble sculpture (the largest in the world) flanks a giant stairway. As we took a break for a rest on a ledge at the top of the stairs, Alan explains that we would have been executed for sitting on this ledge (beheaded) only a few years ago.

He described how much has changed and how much has not. Alan explained for us that there is still an Emperor of China, just as there always has been. The emperor’s succession is the same (by descent, or chosen successor from noble elite family), the power is the same, and the process is the same, he is simply not called the emperor anymore. He has fancy apartments in New York, and a panel of the smartest advisers surrounding him. He told me that the Chinese government looks stupid to Americans, but that they are very strategic in their long term thinking – they mostly look stupid because of the differences in their philosophies that seem confusing to Americans. Also worth noting, Alan explained that Russia is also ruled by “an emperor” and powerful families that compete for power, as it always has been, and that the democratic façade is a farce meant to appease local and foreign powers. He says that every real political player understands this.

As we exited the Forbidden City and walked across the bridge to Tianmen Square (note you do not take the center bridge, reserved for the emperor and patrolled by military guards), the familiar picture of red Chinese government came in to view. All about, street vendors sold copies of communist and Chinese manifesto’s, “Mao books” and the such. For whatever reason however, the vendors were discouraged from tainting the clean and orderly image kept in the square. Police officers would speed over on bikes , and the vendors would scurry away like thousands of little rats. Seconds later they would re-emerge from the sidewalk cracks and continue the bartering right where they left off.

I was stunned to learn that most of the students on my trip weren’t even aware of the Tianmen square massacre/protests. Those of us that knew, explained it to the others in hushed voices. As I broke from the group a bit, I took a picture of a young child. Within seconds of noticing my attention, the parents of the child picked it up and handed it to me. The group then handed me a series of babies and small children, a slew of cameras rose up, shutter clicks came from all around, and the group thanked me graciously as if I were some kind of movie star. As I walked away, I could have sworn I heard someone murmuring Neo again.

Another state-run tourist lunch. I bought some extra Italian gelato. The Chinese seem to like gelato, always gelato, not ice cream. I’m going to have to tell Jan Horsfall about this (of Gelazzi, inc).

Jessica explained to me that cell phone plans are cheap (something like 10% the cost of the U.S. or less, but that SMS text messaging was even cheaper, and was tremendously popular. This brought back memories of seeing Mong fly through Chinese character menus as she composed text messages at the speed of light. It was nearly unreal.

Shortly thereafter, we got on a bus (man and king long buses – Chinese marketing fails to grasp subtlety) and said goodbye to Jessica (see below). Alan tagged along to say a sad goodbye as we headed to a board a China Air flight to Xian. (note that I was very pleased with the service and meals in Chinese Air travel – much better than the U.S. . Clearly airplanes are still treated as somewhat of a luxury in China).

Day 4: Beijing – Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Pearl Factory, UIBE

We visited the Temple of Heaven, and I gawked across the fence, wishing I was the CEO of a multinational company who had been chosen by the “Emperor of China” (or some Fortune trade publication goons) to attend the Fortune Global Forum across the way. Needless to say, they hadn’t responded to my email attempts to get an invitation while I was back in the states. I decided this wasn’t the best time in my life to climb a fence and get arrested, so I moved on. Some day, maybe.

As I walk by, Tai Chi carries on in the park. This I was expecting, but the strange group samba exercise dance thing they do kind of throws me off guard. (I later confirmed that this was in fact a version of the samba). I hear salsa is also popular.

The Chinese seem to be really into numerology, superstition, and the sort. Odd numbers are for men, and even numbers are for women. The number 9 is the greatest odd number, so it represents the emperor. That’s why you see “9 dragon” this and the “9 circle” that. Three is a pretty sweet number too. After a while you just sort of get the feel as to which numbers are cool for something and which aren’t. These numbers go into every bit or architecture and ritual you see.

While we’re on the subject, they also dig fortunes and such. The Chinese Zodiac (12 year cycle with the animals) is very much for real, and those I spoke with appear to actually believe that your year of origin makes a defining statement about your personality and relationship compatibility (I’m a dog by the way). Despite my knowledge of the Chinese fondness of superstition, this I was not anticipating..

While I’m on the subject, the Chinese Calendar is pretty neat, with its leap months, and months actually correlated with the lunar cycle (men can only guess at the benefits related to that), and people having two ages. It has 60 and 3,600 year cycles, and was around thousands of years before ours, so I’m not entirely opposed to switching to it. Not to mention, the last Chinese New Year was on my birthday (Feb 9), which I might add was also Ash Wednesday, but more importantly my birthday. I could go on about the Chinese calendar being cool and different, but I won’t bore you, you can look it up yourself if you’re interested.

Back to superstition: On the other hand, fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco for an American good time, and the average Chinese person seems to have no idea what they are.

Throngs of uniformed school children waiting in line to get a chance to visit the echo wall at the Temple of Heaven.

I did a meditation pose on top of the altar/emperor’s stone at the center of the concentric circle walkways, as some Chinese people chanted Buddha! -- and smiled. There is a certain joy derived from standing in places that would have ensured your imminent execution, had you visited them at most any of the other time in the last thousand or so years.

Today was the first day (of several) that I had a Chinese person ask me if I was Neo or Agent Smith from The Matrix. Apparently all it takes is a pair of black Ray-Bans and being American. Alan explained to me that Chinese people (especially him) love American cinema, especially certain movies such as Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles (animated), and of course The Matrix. The plotline of The Matrix is relatively compatible with Eastern philosophy, lots of green Chinese characters flash across the screen, there’s martial arts, kung fu, and flying, and Keanu Reaves is a tad Asian-American looking.

We took a boat ride to the Summer Palace and saw some great pagoda’s overlooking the landscape. This is a classic example of a leisure palace built by a woman who was supposed to be building a navy. (The things you could get away with before cell phones were invented)

On the encouragement of one Chinese student I climbed a tree and looked out over the beautiful lake. On the encouragement of another, I climbed down before I was arrested.

It was at this point that I had a conversation about my home town and how I lived somewhat out in the country, outside a city. Through this conversation I realized that my Chinese friend “Alan” (see below w/ jacket) had an entirely different conception of city and country than I would say most Americans do. He explained that cities were considered safe and that most old people and families preferred to live in the city, and that the country was dangerous and full of bandits. I had a tough time explaining to him that cities in America were generally considered more dangerous than small towns. He’s convinced I spend my free time shooting renegade bandits, meanwhile I’m trying to explain that I leave my doors unlocked at night.

We also visited a freshwater pearl “factory” at the lake and saw their special variety of pearl laden oysters. To my mom: I’m lying, I didn’t actually visit a pearl factory and not bring you home pearls. Something wasn’t right about this state-run place to me either. Perhaps it was the late night infomercial pearl cream that they sold. (it did seem pretty nice though). At this point, I think I was just getting a general distaste for state run tourist shops.

One of the neatest things we did on the trip was to meet with students from China’s top business university (UIBE). Weizing (sp?) Lee was a professor there, and is apparently an important person in the Chinese government (accompanied the ‘emperor’ to Washington D.C.). Two of the UNL students made an average classroom presentation and played a Husker video for the Chinese students (who seemed astounded at football). A Chinese student then entirely outclasses us with a presentation that showed a better command of the English language than our own. About at the end of this presentation, I was reminded the Yao Ming, is pretty much where its at as far as Chinese people are concerned.

I spent a lot of time talking to a nice girl – Nie Yoo Mong -- (said Nee-eh). I called her Mong-mong, which turned out to be her nickname as a child, which I don’t think was quite appropriate and fully tactful of me to address her by. She was a corporate finance major getting ready to enter business school, she looked smart and dressed smart. She then confirmed herself, by asking me if her 730 GMAT was good enough -- And then did so again by asking if it was better than mine (ouch). She was considerably taller than most Chinese girls and had a distinctive character about her face that made me think she must have been from a certain ethnic minority. Somebody somewhere has a picture of me with her that I’d like to get a hold of. She and I talked all about Universities that she might want to attend in the United States and regions she might visit. I learned that the best Chinese University was about $1000 US/year. We talked about Donald Trump and Bill Gates and how American students are lazy trouble-making drunks.

Then of course, our entire crew took the Chinese students to the bar, to in fact confirm that we were lazy trouble-making drunks. For many of them, it was their first experience going to a bar. Some of them danced and had a great time and vowed to come back. It was clear that many of them were from the Chinese social elite and had had relatively sheltered upbringings. One of the students in particular (Alan), seemed so interested, that he traveled with us for the next few days, sleeping on the floor in our hotel rooms, following us on our travels, and not even going home to change his clothes. I have to say that I appreciate his tenacity, because I learned a great deal from his conversation, and thoroughly enjoyed having him around.

Our tour group drank the first bar clean out of Tsingtao (an inexpensive but high class Chinese beer, that I’m told by a friend in the States was copied from stolen German recipes from captured breweries).

At this point they moved on to another bar with a dance floor. The Chinese students seemed to indicate that they’d rather we be locating someplace more suitable for talking than a bar, but a number of them who had never been before, got into dancing and had quite a time. Many of the bars were full of American/western imagery. Mostly Jack Daniels and threesomes.

While at the bar, I met a male Chinese student who the American girls all seemed to think must be attractive and popular, and who they thought had stylish clothes. I spoke with some of the Chinese girls and they explained that he was the sort of boy that a Chinese girl would maybe be friends with, but would not be interested in dating, and that his “fancy linen clothes” were clothes of the commoner. I then asked the Chinese guys, which Chinese girls were the most popular and desirable and found again that it was totally opposite of what the American girls expected – it was an outgoing tomboy looking girl that spoke excellent English. Through this sort of reasoning and comparison, I was able to determine that expectations for attractiveness and popularity differed quite significantly between the Chinese and American students. (This would come to explain a great number of seemingly mismatched couples that I would encounter during the trip). I also learned that a certain population of Chinese college girls look like they are 12. Some of the students seemed mid-twenties, other seemed surely in junior high to me, but all were of similar age.

Day 3: Beijing – Jade Factory, Ming Tombs, Great Wall, Peking Duck

Today we went to a Jade Factory (wow expensive). High quality Jade bracelets make a spectacular ringing sound in comparison to the low quality jade which sounds like thumping a rock. Of course, I’m getting the feeling everyone gets ripped off in state run tourist factory stores – regardless of whether your Jade thumps or pings. It’s very pretty stuff though, in all sorts of colors.

We followed The Sacred Way to The Ming Tombs (picture set) – This must have been spectacularly stunning thousands of years ago, to be one of the chosen few allowed to walk along this path towards the ancient tombs. The stone animals guarding the path were said to be able to come to life to protect the tombs (the sitting animals were on night shift). The tombs themselves are stripped bare and empty, all that remains are a few mock ups. All of the real artifacts have been destroyed by raiders in the cultural revolution, or have been moved for safe keeping. We had some lunch at the Friendship Store – typical Chinese circle eating as we’ve seen before.

We went to a Cloisonne Factory. After seeing the painstaking human effort that goes into making one of these, I had get one for my mother. ;)

Tonight was Peking duck at Beijing's famous Quanjude. I have to say, it was an experience, but I was not substantially impressed to fit the bill if the opportunity arises again.

Decidedly the best part about today was the Great Wall. (see picture set). We visited a very famous and gorgeous portion of the wall that loops along and follows the mountains. The wall actually forms a full circle hidden by the mountains. This was designed to ensnare the Mongolians. After enticing them to break through one section of wall, the oncoming hoard of raiders would then realize that they were now surrounded and enclosed by wall. A very expensive trick... that only works once. Various vendors await at certain points along the journey up the incredibly steep stairs and slopes, ready to carve your name in a badge of honor. One man pointed to a path off of the wall that led to a small hut in the barren landscape that he lives in every day. This is almost beyond comprehension.

I hiked farther than most of the students and went off to the most remotely reachable portion of this section of the wall. As I was the last to return (and got caught up taking entirely too many photographs), I sprinted downhill towards the bus at a furious pace so as not to be late. I bounded down stairs and railings, with the endless energy of a runner’s high. About this time, Monty Python’s “I like Chinese” came up on my mp3 player, and I truly entered a moment of Zen. As I continued my rapid descent, Chinese onlookers actually clapped for me at various key junctures, shouting “Go” “American”, smiling and cheering me on as I leaped down stairways. I feel that this sort of behavior on my part certainly would have drawn a different response at a New York tourist attraction. I would later come to realize that this was my first experience in not only the good nature of the Chinese people, but also the American celebrity treatment I was to experience on a number of occasions. Looking back now, I feel that perhaps Chinese people saw something different than a crazy downhill runner. I was doing something silly, attention getting, and individualistic – something decidedly not traditional Chinese. As stupid as it sounds, this was a cause for joy and exclamation.

I am beginning to notice that marble is everywhere in China. Hotels… restaurants. Its amazing. Perhaps its more available than in the United States.

Day 2: Beijing – Peking Opera

LA-> Vancouver -> Beijing, whew. Hanging around in airports is definitely not the best part about traveling. So says my $5 orange juice.

DSCN1275
Originally uploaded by colbyt.

Beijing: As the plane is landing, I am immediate struck by the rundown dusty external appearance of the airport. No one seems to mind. Out the window I watch workers watching other workers work; watching, waiting. Exiting the plane I am immediately struck with an overwhelming feeling that I am in a communist collectivist country. I didn’t imagine it was going to be so obvious – not so early as the airport anyhow. As we drive off in a tour bus, the roads are lined with pretty flowers in perfect bloom, sitting in dusty, dirty flowers boxes. Beijing is a dusty city. Cranes and construction are everywhere sweeping the landscape, indicating growth, and preparation for the upcoming 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Banners for the Fortune Global Forum line the roadway exiting the airport. (more on that later)

DSCN1256
Originally uploaded by colbyt.

That evening we attended the Peking (Beijing) Opera, which was visually stunning, but one of the most excruciating aural experiences of my life. Imagine the sound and clatter of racket that erupts when you arm a class full of pre-schoolers with musical instruments…. now plug all those instruments into amplified hi-fi stereo equipment. Ouch. The majority of the Chinese attendees ran out holding their ears, with dismayed looks on their faces. I peered in at the neighboring theatre which seemed to be much more interesting (and bearable). I think we must have bought the cheap tickets.

DSCN1238
Originally uploaded by colbyt.

We had some dinner (standard Chinese round table) and were entertained by traditional female dancers from one of China’s 50 or so ethnic minorities. The food was good, but the atmosphere was full of fake plastic decorative junk – which seems to be treated with a somewhat less distasteful regard in China. (This sheds a whole new light on Chinese restaurants in America).

DSCN1272
Originally uploaded by colbyt.

That night I stayed at the Jinqiao Apartment Hotel

I would highly recommend it to anyone staying in Beijing. The rooms are gorgeous and come with washing machines, kitchens, free computers and Internet access.

Day 1: Los Angeles

I’m staying in a somewhat rundown Ramada hotel, near an Air Force base. Went to California Pizza Kitchen (mmm, bbq chicken), and fell asleep by the pool in the sun. Today was the first day that I really started to get to know the character of fellow travelers.

Off to Vancouver in the morning, some airport fun, and I'll be in Beijing.