Secret Agent Travel Itinerary

As if I need a reason to think about pictures and talk about travel.  Next month, November 9th, premieres the new James Bond movie Skyfall. If you want to see the preview for the first time, or again, go ahead I’ll wait. 😉

Bond movies all have the same ability to get my travel bug to jump and chirp.  It would appear that I’m not the only one.  Last week,  How to Travel like a Secret Agent, 50 Years of James Bond: a dream 007 travel itinerary, showed up in my inbox and I found 10 Bond Locales Every Man Must Visit. (I don’t think you have to be a man to enjoy some of these locations for all the ladies out there who are Bond fans too).

This led to my next mission of to see if I have any Bond worthy photos or locales in my photo collection.

What are your favorite Bond worthy locations?

What to Bring (or how to be a hero)

Recently I was talking to one of the soon-to-be-recent-graduates-heading-to-China and they asked what to bring for their trip to China.  Instantly I thought of this post, that has been sitting in the draft section of my WordPress dashboard since May, and that now is the time to post such a blog!

Stuff I wish I had brought to China

– liquid hand soap in a spill proof container and a small washcloth sized hand towel
– a phrase book
– some Chinese language podcasts
– more hand wipes

Stuff that I was glad to have brought
– tissues you can buy them in China but it’s good to have some until you can   attempt your way to the grocery store.

-hand sanitizer
– hand wipes
– snacks:  nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal for the days that you just can’t bear another Chinese buffet breakfast or your stomach just won’t tolerate it.
– my laptop
– stuff to read on the plane and on long drives there are a few of them
– instant coffee -it is very familiar and it also makes a great gift if you don’t want to take it  back home with you
– shampoo and conditioner that you enjoy using -5 weeks of using hotel shampoo and conditioner does bad things to your hair.

Stuff you should bring

– anything on the above lists
– anything you absolutely can’t live without be it medication, or supplement, or teddy bear

– stuff that is small that you will miss terribly ipod,  journal, camera, plug adapters for your computer etc.

– activated charcoal

– Over the counter first aid type stuff

– benadryl can be used for allergies and doubles as a mild sleep aid for all those late night Chinese wedding fireworks displays , anti-diarrheals, mild laxatives, band aids (even if you never need any of this stuff, you will be the hero of the day if someone you are traveling with needs it and you have it).  It’s not that some of this stuff can’t be found but, if you need it you don’t want to have to look for it.

Stuff that will give you hero of the day status. If you have any item from the first aid list.  Trading a book that you have finished reading, sharing your instant oatmeal or instant coffee helps make friends and influence people.

Might Not Know What You’re Missing

Without getting into a huge political discourse of  haves and have nots, as an observer not a politician, I’m enormously grateful for the the things I have but, sometimes still (desperately) want to leave the country.  When I came back from China a number of people asked me if it was good to be home,  and if the trip made me realize how fortunate we are etc. Yes and yes but, that isn’t what this is about.

In China I observed freedoms that I just hadn’t seen at home or at least not in my very secluded corner of the Northwest.  Not sure if I want some of these freedoms but I did notice them.

1. The ability to do what you want on your moped.  By saying do what you want, I mean endanger your own life.  At home we have extreme sports in China there are mopeds and no helmet laws.  Not only do you not have to wear a helmet you can ride with your wife behind you and 2 children.  One child standing in front of you, usually the older one and one in between you (usually the younger one). If your moped has a basket your small brown dog might ride in it as well. (Oh and to complete the picture everyone in the family are probably wearing face masks).

In the same theme, when hiking on treacherous rocks and hills (with 1 billion other people) there are signs for you to proceed with caution lest you may fall.  However, there are no chain link fences and nobody to stop you if you are feeling adventurous and get too close to the edge.  The interpreters warned us that every year people fall off Yellow Mountain.

2. Freedom from diapers.  It is custom in some places for people to dress their children in buttless pants. They are kind of like chaps for infants.  With these pants the child can relieve themselves as needed be it on the street or in the subway.  Not sure if there is a scoop law for parents of small children.  I never asked.  Sometimes on the subway, a stream of mysterious liquid would run down the center aisle. People would just move their bags and groceries out of the way and let the stream take its natural course.  Not sure if this same freedom applies to adults, again I didn’t ask.

3. Freedom from leashes.  Dogs don’t need them.  They seem well fed, well mannered, non-aggressive and self governing. Thus, they don’t require leashes. I did on one occasion notice a dog sitting on a table in a bar.  Thinking back on my restaurant days I would have had a fit.  So would the health department.  Not the case here no leash no problem.  Or maybe the other way around no problem no leash.

4. Freedom to talk on your cell phone anywhere at any volume. Including but not limited to subways, elevators, grocery stores and doctor’s offices.   My Chinese ranges anywhere from non-existent to abominable at best. I must have missed out on some great eavesdropping.

5. The ability to buy eggs in bulk at the grocery store and not just the whitest of white eggs and brown all different hues of eggs.  I’m not really sure if this is a right or a freedom but, I thought it was kind of cool.  One isn’t limited to the standard 6, 12 and 18 count egg containers.

6. The freedom to burn stuff on the sidewalk.  In Beijing it was common to see people draw a circle (maybe 1.5 feet across), on the sidewalk, and burn small amounts of paper in the center of the circle.  This happened too often, every other block, to be coincidental and we weren’t quite sure of the significance this ritual holds.  One thing I’m fairly about is, if I tried this at home, I would get a ticket or worse.

Maybe I am just missing out living in a secluded corner of the Northwest.

What are some freedoms or privileges you have observed while traveling abroad? You don’t have to want or like them but, I do want to hear about them.

Where to go when you aren’t going anywhere… try the language

February passed without a post now I am looking at the calendar and March has almost passed too.  It’s not that I wasn’t thinking about posting it’s just that, you know, life came up, I didn’t travel anywhere and I didn’t post anything.  Was that just three excuses in one sentence. It wasn’t until I got an email that my China trip coordinator was giving a talk to the new batch of potential China trip students that I realized my blog is linked to the school’s study abroad webpage.  Pretty cool.

This got me thinking about China and some other parts of Asia, and how when I got  back home the first thing I wanted to to was get myself a job, apartment, and a life in Hong Kong or Tokyo.  A decent amount of time went into thinking about how to facilitate this goal much to the detriment of just about everything else in my life.  Some time went into checking out Chinese language shows, podcasts, and food shows.  If I was going to go back to China I wanted learn more Chinese.  I didn’t know how life after graduate school was suppose to function and I wanted to be back in Asia.  Here are a few of my favorite Chinese language findings.

BBC Languages
Sexy Beijing
Pop up Chinese (a Chinese language podcast)- these are hilarious I sure wish I had them before I left.
One minute Mandarin- also a Chinese language podcast.

Then I spent more time than I care to admit watching food shows mostly Bizarre Foods and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.  After the I don’t want to be home yet finally wore off and I settled into my life these thoughts and behaviors subsided, but my cravings for lamb hot pot and Korean barbecue did not.

The beloved lamb hot pot. It can be spicy or mild.

Forbidden City

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To get to the Forbidden City one must first walk through Tiananmen Square.  Not that this is generally a problem.  As a side note, all of the stolen wallet/backpack stories I have heard about China, happened in Tiananmen Square.  It may just be a coincidence.  One thing I did notice was that there was an […]

Great Wall on a Gray Day

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The Great Wall is so great that even the sun is sometimes intimidated.  I don’t know if that is true but there wasn’t any sun when I visited the Great Wall, at Badaling, just an 80 minute bus ride outside of Beijing.  It was still great and the people seemed excited to be there except […]

People Mountain People Sea

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There is a phrase in Chinese, that roughly translates to, people from the mountain to the sea.  It means a really huge crowd. I had the opportunity to travel with the Chinese people who had the week off for Golden Week.  While I don’t think this was a rare experience, it maybe unique for a […]

Real vs. Fake

There comes a time in a person’s life when they will have to determine what is real from what is fake.  Here are a few examples.

Real pearls, when crushed and ground will become a fine white powder regardless of the color on the outside.  This is because, while other minerals give pearls their color, they are still primarily made up of calcium.

Real silk will smell like burning hair when you light it on fire.  And like real hair, real silk should be washed with shampoo.  I have tried this and it is true, but I don’t recommend setting all your silk clothes, or anyone elses, on fire.  If you are going to try this at home do so in a safe location.

Lastly, real taxis have to be found.  They can be found by employing one or more of the following methods; waving, shouting, jumping, standing in the street or standing in a line at the airport.  Real taxi drivers will not get out of their car to come find you.  If someone approaches you claiming to be a taxi driver consider your options carefully before you get into a car with them.  Additionally, in China real taxi license plates start with the letter B.

No Tickets Necessary

I am in this hotel in Beijing, good price, great location, and not far from a central subway line. Behind the hotel is a field, not just an open field but a highly active sports field. At 7:30 in the morning, after my neighbor’s cacophony of “suffering” and heaving from the previous night’s baijiu fueled adventures finally stops, the games begin. Music, dancing, marching and cheering it’s like there is some sort of junior Olympics preliminaries. One day there was some sort of opening ceremony, which involved lots of music and something to the tune of the Super Mario Brothers theme song. On the second day there was a shorter ceremony and a track meet. The announcer was literally maybe 50 feet away from the front door of my room and by 11:30 in the morning it was all over and the field was empty.

In the afternoon there is often soccer and sometimes flag football. When selecting this hotel I had no idea that a prime view for watching sports was complimentary.

Small Victories

It is important to count the small victories when traveling. Some days have more of them than others.

I had the opportunity to take the Maglev (which stands for magnetic levitation) train to the airport, it is the only one of its type, in the world, and it is located in Shanghai. It travels about 300km/hr and can get you to the PuDong airport in about 7 minutes.

Allow me to take a moment to stress the importance of going to the correct airport to catch ones flight. Having found myself at the wrong airport in Shanghai the practical option was to go to the correct airport and try to get a different flight. At this point I was very grateful to have someone who spoke Chinese with me to navigate this situation. Without it I am sure there would have been a lot of panic and a crying episode in the middle of the airport, which, from what I have seen, doesn’t seem to be uncommon while at the airport. Everything worked out nicely though, as I was easily booked for a flight later that morning. My slightly overweight (depending upon whose scale you use) luggage was checked with no problem and to top it all off I the airline served a full meal on a 2 hour flight and it was decent. This is unheard of and I was pleasantly surprised.

Having made it to the correct city, finding the correct train, and taking the correct subway to the right stop to go to my hotel I only had a very minor meltdown when I temporarily couldn’t find my hotel right away.

With this all behind me my favorite small victory of the day was ordering my dinner entirely in Chinese (without any help) and getting exactly what I wanted. So a toast, to small victories!