We Are Pretty Unrelenting About Going Out To Eat
I caught a 2:20pm flight out of SeaTac, headed to the airport in Seoul. After the Travel Disaster That Is Delta, I chose to try Asiana Air this time. Asiana Air gets pretty good marks: the seats, even in steerage, aren’t too horribly close and narrow (a la United /Delta) and the food is adequate for that species of food labeled ‘airline.’
As I said, wheels went up at 2:20 or so Seattle time and after a brief delay of about eleven and a half hours, the wheels went back down and onto the tarmac at Seoul International. I had a 2.5 hour layover in South Korea (my second or third such visit to Korea). As always, I marvel at how similar airports are, regardless of country or culture and, as usual, the line at the Seoul Airport Dunkin’ Donuts was insanely long…
I landed in China, my grand return, at around 9:30pm. After trudging through customs, bag claim and about 8 kilometers of walking through the airport, I walked out of Terminal Two and was blessed with the sight of a Chinese man holding up a sign that declaimed “Blarg Margle.” We did the ‘point at sign/point at myself’ game of charades and then I was somewhat ceremoniously dumped into a very nice Buick sedan and whisked away to the luxury and glamour of the Marriot Courtyard: Shanghai. I dropped my bags in my room and then went back downstairs to take a quick walk around the block and smoke a cigar. Upon my return, just as I was getting into the hotel elevator, someone reached through the door and dragged me back out. The Boys From Dublin had arrived before me and set up camp in the hotel bar. Overseas reunions always mandate a drink. As I was finishing my first whiskey, the fact that my body thought it was 4:00am (after getting up at 6:30am the previous day) and hadn’t had anything substantial to eat caught up with me.
“Right, lads,” I said at around 11:30 as I pushed back my chair and stood up, “I’m going to fall down in a few minutes and I’d prefer to have a bed underneath me when that happens.” The remark generated all the hilarity that it deserved and I found my way back up to the ninth floor room where I collapsed and slept dreamlessly until 6:15am the next morning.
The morning ablutions brought to the fore the one thing I find genuinely unpleasant about visiting China: the on-going need to vigilantly guard against any non-bottled or non-boiled water getting into one’s mouth. In addition to the odd ballet of movements added to the morning brushing of teeth, the shower becomes an intensive exercise of sealed lips and focused drying. Someone should likely look into doing something about this ‘potable water from taps’ business; there might be something to that.
Breakfast buffets in Chinese hotels are always fascinating in that the things placed out for breakfast are a mix of Western and Eastern breakfast choices. From my perspective, it appears that Breakfast and Luncheon offerings are pretty much the same for the Eastern side of the buffet. One blessed change that occurred between my first visit and now: Most of the larger hotels here now offer the un-masculine European coffee drinks of which I am so fond. Granted, the choice of coffee beans and brewing techniques are often a bit off, but I can get coffee now and easily whereas I couldn’t before so that’s all to the good.
I’ve received pictorial status updates on the Fearsome Hound. Herself managed to convince our beloved Lily Blossom into staying at Castle Dread to watch the Fearsome Hound. I pointed out that having a live-in sitter for a 6 pound dog seemed a little overly chic chic for us; but was ignored. The good Lily Blossom was initially hesitant about the gig but went all in when I allowed that she could have more or less free run of the Public Liquor Cabinet (not to be confused with the Private, Hidden Liquor Cabinet - part of the compleat castle, after all). Say what you like, Lily Blossom is one of the few Asian women I know that actually has her name posted on the “Wall of Fame” at an Irish pub in downtown Bellevue; clearly she’s a trustworthy soul.
Back in China brings with it a lot of memories. Last time I was here, I still worked for the Evil Empire. Even more telling, I still worked there and I still liked working there. Things change w/ time, though. Bush Jr. was still President; which required Thoughtful American Travelers to be overly courteous and avoiding the issue of positive government impact on the world. ( back in the day, this was a maddening thing: I was travelling pretty extensively through both Europe and Asia and the feedback I got about POTUS Bush was inevitably and unequivocally negative. Most people around the world couldn’t stand President Bush and had genuine problems with the things his administration were doing. When I would come back to America, I would hear from my more conservative friends - and family members - ‘No, the people overseas like Bush! He’s more popular overseas than at home even. Whenever I dug for corroborating data, it was never there. This was the first time that I really noticed how much some people would enable cognitive dissonance: ignoring actual facts and data because it didn’t match up with their personal opinion. In related news, this process has been adopted as a core principle of the Republican and Democratic political parties )
So, back in China. Had a buffet breakfast (Orange juice is pretty much orange juice no matter where you go). Had chow fan for lunch. We’re off to a ‘team dinner’ at a ‘very nice restaurant on the river; just down from the Bund.”[Side note: every time I went to Beijing previously, my team would insist on going to lunch to get ‘the best Peking duck in Beijing!” We did this every time. It was never the same restaurant. It only took me 3 or 4 trips to realize I was being subjected to a subtle version of ‘We have an interesting way for you to die... I mean dine, Mr. Margle.” One thing that many gwai-lo fail to note about Chinese folks is that many of them have downright wicked senses of humor.]
Tomorrow will be more buffet, more lunch, more dinner, and just a modicum of work snuck in between all that. It’s a breakneck pace, let me tell you; and I’d be up for a nap in the middle to ease the stress of excitement.
But that is not the International Man Of Mystery way…. We are pretty unrelenting about going out to eat…
- blarg
As I said, wheels went up at 2:20 or so Seattle time and after a brief delay of about eleven and a half hours, the wheels went back down and onto the tarmac at Seoul International. I had a 2.5 hour layover in South Korea (my second or third such visit to Korea). As always, I marvel at how similar airports are, regardless of country or culture and, as usual, the line at the Seoul Airport Dunkin’ Donuts was insanely long…
I landed in China, my grand return, at around 9:30pm. After trudging through customs, bag claim and about 8 kilometers of walking through the airport, I walked out of Terminal Two and was blessed with the sight of a Chinese man holding up a sign that declaimed “Blarg Margle.” We did the ‘point at sign/point at myself’ game of charades and then I was somewhat ceremoniously dumped into a very nice Buick sedan and whisked away to the luxury and glamour of the Marriot Courtyard: Shanghai. I dropped my bags in my room and then went back downstairs to take a quick walk around the block and smoke a cigar. Upon my return, just as I was getting into the hotel elevator, someone reached through the door and dragged me back out. The Boys From Dublin had arrived before me and set up camp in the hotel bar. Overseas reunions always mandate a drink. As I was finishing my first whiskey, the fact that my body thought it was 4:00am (after getting up at 6:30am the previous day) and hadn’t had anything substantial to eat caught up with me.
“Right, lads,” I said at around 11:30 as I pushed back my chair and stood up, “I’m going to fall down in a few minutes and I’d prefer to have a bed underneath me when that happens.” The remark generated all the hilarity that it deserved and I found my way back up to the ninth floor room where I collapsed and slept dreamlessly until 6:15am the next morning.
The morning ablutions brought to the fore the one thing I find genuinely unpleasant about visiting China: the on-going need to vigilantly guard against any non-bottled or non-boiled water getting into one’s mouth. In addition to the odd ballet of movements added to the morning brushing of teeth, the shower becomes an intensive exercise of sealed lips and focused drying. Someone should likely look into doing something about this ‘potable water from taps’ business; there might be something to that.
Breakfast buffets in Chinese hotels are always fascinating in that the things placed out for breakfast are a mix of Western and Eastern breakfast choices. From my perspective, it appears that Breakfast and Luncheon offerings are pretty much the same for the Eastern side of the buffet. One blessed change that occurred between my first visit and now: Most of the larger hotels here now offer the un-masculine European coffee drinks of which I am so fond. Granted, the choice of coffee beans and brewing techniques are often a bit off, but I can get coffee now and easily whereas I couldn’t before so that’s all to the good.
I’ve received pictorial status updates on the Fearsome Hound. Herself managed to convince our beloved Lily Blossom into staying at Castle Dread to watch the Fearsome Hound. I pointed out that having a live-in sitter for a 6 pound dog seemed a little overly chic chic for us; but was ignored. The good Lily Blossom was initially hesitant about the gig but went all in when I allowed that she could have more or less free run of the Public Liquor Cabinet (not to be confused with the Private, Hidden Liquor Cabinet - part of the compleat castle, after all). Say what you like, Lily Blossom is one of the few Asian women I know that actually has her name posted on the “Wall of Fame” at an Irish pub in downtown Bellevue; clearly she’s a trustworthy soul.
Back in China brings with it a lot of memories. Last time I was here, I still worked for the Evil Empire. Even more telling, I still worked there and I still liked working there. Things change w/ time, though. Bush Jr. was still President; which required Thoughtful American Travelers to be overly courteous and avoiding the issue of positive government impact on the world. ( back in the day, this was a maddening thing: I was travelling pretty extensively through both Europe and Asia and the feedback I got about POTUS Bush was inevitably and unequivocally negative. Most people around the world couldn’t stand President Bush and had genuine problems with the things his administration were doing. When I would come back to America, I would hear from my more conservative friends - and family members - ‘No, the people overseas like Bush! He’s more popular overseas than at home even. Whenever I dug for corroborating data, it was never there. This was the first time that I really noticed how much some people would enable cognitive dissonance: ignoring actual facts and data because it didn’t match up with their personal opinion. In related news, this process has been adopted as a core principle of the Republican and Democratic political parties )
So, back in China. Had a buffet breakfast (Orange juice is pretty much orange juice no matter where you go). Had chow fan for lunch. We’re off to a ‘team dinner’ at a ‘very nice restaurant on the river; just down from the Bund.”[Side note: every time I went to Beijing previously, my team would insist on going to lunch to get ‘the best Peking duck in Beijing!” We did this every time. It was never the same restaurant. It only took me 3 or 4 trips to realize I was being subjected to a subtle version of ‘We have an interesting way for you to die... I mean dine, Mr. Margle.” One thing that many gwai-lo fail to note about Chinese folks is that many of them have downright wicked senses of humor.]
Tomorrow will be more buffet, more lunch, more dinner, and just a modicum of work snuck in between all that. It’s a breakneck pace, let me tell you; and I’d be up for a nap in the middle to ease the stress of excitement.
But that is not the International Man Of Mystery way…. We are pretty unrelenting about going out to eat…
- blarg