back to the mothership
I'm back in the US for a short business trip (my first one evaar).
I nearly missed my plane, however. I blame Beijing traffic, but it's probably all the cabbie's fault. He told me taking the 5th ring road would be the fastest, but he neglected to factor in accident rates and the fact that everyone else thinks the same thing about the 5th ring road. We ended up getting blocked from getting onto one of the on-ramps by one of these accidents, so my cab driver spent about 20 minutes (read 50 kuai) trying to find another entrance. He was driving on the wrong side of the road for a bit as well. Once we got onto the 5th ring road, it was stop and go traffic. Why? Accidents :) In total, I saw about 2-3 on the way to the airport, and the total time in the cab was about 45 minutes. A friend travelling with me on the plane took a cab 10 minutes before I did and made the journey in 20 minutes. Eventful. I managed to ignore the piss in my pants long enough to snap this random photo of a sign you can see with regular frequency around Beijing. I love Beijing.
I'll be here for two weeks -- meetings. After that I'm taking a vacation in Japan (again). I'll check out the Expo and climb Mt. Fuji (*crosses fingers*).
Now, I just have to stay awake long enough to attempt to get on Seattle time. Only 4 hours to go. My stomach is grumbling...
I nearly missed my plane, however. I blame Beijing traffic, but it's probably all the cabbie's fault. He told me taking the 5th ring road would be the fastest, but he neglected to factor in accident rates and the fact that everyone else thinks the same thing about the 5th ring road. We ended up getting blocked from getting onto one of the on-ramps by one of these accidents, so my cab driver spent about 20 minutes (read 50 kuai) trying to find another entrance. He was driving on the wrong side of the road for a bit as well. Once we got onto the 5th ring road, it was stop and go traffic. Why? Accidents :) In total, I saw about 2-3 on the way to the airport, and the total time in the cab was about 45 minutes. A friend travelling with me on the plane took a cab 10 minutes before I did and made the journey in 20 minutes. Eventful. I managed to ignore the piss in my pants long enough to snap this random photo of a sign you can see with regular frequency around Beijing. I love Beijing.
I'll be here for two weeks -- meetings. After that I'm taking a vacation in Japan (again). I'll check out the Expo and climb Mt. Fuji (*crosses fingers*).
Now, I just have to stay awake long enough to attempt to get on Seattle time. Only 4 hours to go. My stomach is grumbling...