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August 3, 2008
Gavin’s Adventures In Beijing, Day 8, 9, & 10
My last three days in Beijing were rather more subdued than the previous 7; following our sightseeing weekend, it was back to work on Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday being a (very long) travel day.
The remaining details:
- Monday was a shocking normal work day: wake up, brush, breakfast, walk to the office, unpack laptop, e-mail, an hour of creative work, meeting, e-mail, meeting, lunch, e-mail, snack, e-mail and then packing it up for dinner. The jet lag was largely behind me, so I wasn't fighting strange bouts of fatigue - in fact, the whole thing felt so overwhelming usual that it made me a little homesick. Rather than being a cool day in a new land, it was just another workday, but one where I wasn't going to see my girl at the end of it. It made me kind of sad.
- (On the other hand, I learned that acclimation takes, on average, five days.)
- Dinner was Schezuan with a gaggle of coworkers. They were eager to see how well Brooke and I would deal with super-spicy-hot food. We both love the stuff, and managed to navigate the sea of chili oil that came our way.
- Spicy food, apparently, knocks me out. Early bedtime.
- Tuesday was tinged with a bit of sadness, and a touch of frenzy. It was my last day in the office, so all the final face-to-face stuff I needed to get done had to be done now, before I left for the plane. I was also cognizant that this was my last chance for good, high-quality Internet access before I got back to Redmond. (Airport and hotel WiFi is usually fine, but you just can't trust that it'll work when you need it.)
- Brooke is staying on for a bit of vacation; his wife is flying in on Friday, so he'll be working the rest of the week in China and then the two of them are off for some much-needed R&R in Shanghai.
- Tuesday afternoon is also time for shopping. I promised some folks back home that I'd bring them Olympic souvenirs, and so we're off to one of the gadzillion Olympics shops to find appropriate stuff.
- While out, my curiosity finally gets the better of me and I drag Brooke and our colleague, Ray, to McDonald's. I'm eager to see what the local experience is like, and, as expected, it's pretty adapted to local tastes. I order the cheeseburger, and am surprised to find that the thing is wholly unlike what we get in the States - the meat is tastier; the cheese is different (lactose-free), and covered in paprika; it has the same special sauce as the Big Mac (but no ketchup or mustard); instead of pickles, it has raw cucumbers.
- (In all seriousness, if they sold this burger in the US, I'd buy it. It's really yummy.)
- The fries are perfect. There is no Diet Coke. And if you want your meal to go, a plastic bag is 0.2 Yuan.
- More souvenir shopping, this time on behalf of my colleague Stuart, who has asked me to bring him back some "authentically Chinese" alcohol ("Look, Russia has vodka, Ireland has whiskey, China's got their something. If you can locate a flask of whatever the heck that happens to be, that'll rock."). After conferring with Ray, we duck in to a convenience store and select a small, 100ml green glass bottle of something that Ray assures me is both "authentic" and "very popular". We also select a slightly-larger (200 ml) clear bottle of something else that is "not as authentic, but is also very popular." The combined price for the booze is 10 Yuan (about $1.50); the alcohol content of each bottle is 56%.
- (In the back of my mind, I'm praying that this stuff won't cause wood alcohol blindness.)
- Back at the hotel bar, Brooke and I both realize how badly we're missing our wives when, over successive rounds of drinks, we find ourselves engaging in an ever-escalating "argument" about which one of us managed to marry farther above his station.
- Wednesday comes, and I'm up early. My flight is at 8:55 AM, so I'm out the door of the hotel at 6. (Sigh)
- Once again, my taxi has no seatbelts. And, while this is something I managed to get used to while riding in the city, it's considerably less fun when we're going 120 km/hr on the aggressive Beijing freeway with less than a carlength between us and the vehicle in front of us.
- After arriving at the airport, I check in for my flight and spend a scant 15 minutes waiting in line at customs. I give my passport control person a "very satisfied" as I head to the gate.
- Walking to the gate, it becomes clear what a full-blown shopping mall the Beijing airport really us. Once again, I'm struck by how many American and international brands are offered for sale. If you need a Hugo Boss shirt with your Starbucks before that flight to Tokyo, you're good to go.
- On the four-hour leg between Beijing and Tokyo, I watch "The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters", which is an incredible documentary about two guys competing for the world record in Donkey Kong. It's a funny, poignant, and totally gripping human drama, and I loved it.
- In Tokyo, I manage to snag some WiFi and find, to my delight, that Elaine is still up and heading to bed. We flirt shamelessly for a good 15 or 20 minutes before my flight starts boarding.
- "Be Kind, Rewind" is charming and totally disposable.
- The flight touches down in Seattle at 8:25 AM, Pacific Time.
Damn, it's good to be home.
(If you're interested, I've posted a number of pictures from the trip to my Flickr Photostream.)
Posted by Gavin Shearer at August 3, 2008 3:32 PM. Posted to MSFT | Travel.
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