Olympics and Squids LIce
Back in Shanghai after a quick trip to Beijing. No time to see any Olympics but the preparations for the Games were everywhere. Good prices on under-occupied hotels that were disappointed by the low turnout of foreign tourists. While exact numbers are not known it seems safe to say that tens of thousands of would-be foreign visitors were denied visas to come to China because of the country's paranoia over security and potential protests. The Marriott I was in was unusually quiet.
It rained most of the time I was in Beijing but the streets were clean, orderly, and not very crowded. Beijing instituted a driving plan that allowed even-numbered license plates on the streets one day and odd-numbered the next. If Beijing was like that every day it would be a much nicer place to live or visit. They might want to take it one step further and allow only bespectacled people out one day and the spectacle-challenged out the next.
Getting back to Shanghai by air was not easy. I had a flight on Air China but when we got to the gate we found we were on a Shanghai Airlines B777. No explanation of course. After an hour on the plane we had still not moved from the gate when we were informed there was a technical problem. After another half-hour they served our hot meal as we sat at the gate. Another half-hour passes and they tell us to get off the plane because the technical problem persists. We were not offered any instructions on what to do so I just followed most of the other passengers and sat down near the gate. We watched as our luggage was off-loaded but after another half-hour we were told to get back on the same plane. At this point we are almost three hours late and we have no idea what is going on but the plane is making strange noises and the stewardesses are peering nervously out of the windows at the wings. The lights go out and we sit in darkness for 15 minutes. The lights come on and we start taxiing out to the runway and the power goes out again and we come to a standstill. The power comes back on and the pilots gun it down the runway - hoping no doubt to take off before the power cuts out again. En route back to Shanghai the lights keep going out but we do land safely. I suppose you might have guessed that by now.
Here's a photo of one of the snacks Shanghai Airlines served us in the dark - some squids lice
It rained most of the time I was in Beijing but the streets were clean, orderly, and not very crowded. Beijing instituted a driving plan that allowed even-numbered license plates on the streets one day and odd-numbered the next. If Beijing was like that every day it would be a much nicer place to live or visit. They might want to take it one step further and allow only bespectacled people out one day and the spectacle-challenged out the next.
Getting back to Shanghai by air was not easy. I had a flight on Air China but when we got to the gate we found we were on a Shanghai Airlines B777. No explanation of course. After an hour on the plane we had still not moved from the gate when we were informed there was a technical problem. After another half-hour they served our hot meal as we sat at the gate. Another half-hour passes and they tell us to get off the plane because the technical problem persists. We were not offered any instructions on what to do so I just followed most of the other passengers and sat down near the gate. We watched as our luggage was off-loaded but after another half-hour we were told to get back on the same plane. At this point we are almost three hours late and we have no idea what is going on but the plane is making strange noises and the stewardesses are peering nervously out of the windows at the wings. The lights go out and we sit in darkness for 15 minutes. The lights come on and we start taxiing out to the runway and the power goes out again and we come to a standstill. The power comes back on and the pilots gun it down the runway - hoping no doubt to take off before the power cuts out again. En route back to Shanghai the lights keep going out but we do land safely. I suppose you might have guessed that by now.
Here's a photo of one of the snacks Shanghai Airlines served us in the dark - some squids lice
posted by Kevcham at 12:37 AM
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