Internet access

Well, it's sporadic at times. I was happily surfing minding my own business, seem after certain time, the Internet just grind into a haul; could not get back on. The redirection is from a server or servers from somewhere deep inside the complex maze of Indian Internet infrastructure. Yesterday all day was fine then, wham, nothing... slow to a trickle then nothing render on my browser. I had to reboot. Suspect the "tracking" and "redirecting" software being used had hic-up. I had problem uploading my movie clip. After a while, I lost connection. Must have some goofy "governor" on upload bandwidth. My Internet access was lost; had to reboot. Go figure.

Storming

It was dark and the wind was blowing; it did seem rain but not sure; with the pollution here, I wondered what I was seeing coming our way. The wind just wiped up quickly before our pre-dinner drink on the 12th floor lounge. And a foggy type substance moved from far away toward our hotel; I suspected rain but didn't see any sign of wetness on the street. This morning, the wind is still howling. I can see wetness on the street; maybe it has been raining.

Last night after we came back from supper, I could feel a layer of grit on my laptop's palm rest. Yikes. And we are inside not outside.

The Spa

So, my iron-wife wanted to do a facial just to treat herself. And me, have to come with. Due to the busy schedule, she has not been able to trim my eye brows. So, she had booked me for a threading. It was fine and danny except this guy needed my assistance to do the threading. What? I had threading done before and customer assistance was not required nor should be part of the equation. Great! Then since I was there, I might as well relax and have a nice old traditional shave. That was all before I knew my assistance was needed. The shave, well, I might as well do it myself. No customer assistance was required but didn't do a close enough shave; I had to "complete" the shave myself when I got back to my room. That was when I realize he nicked me too. The cost wasn't prohibited. R300 for the shave and R90 for the threading, about CAD$8 for the shave and CAD$2.30 for the threading; I tipped more then the shave and the threading combined. Well, this is India though so don't expect great great quality of work. I knew I was in trouble when the guy wasn't smiling and turned on the TV to the Indian channel for the latest news.

Maybe my wife's will have better experience.

Road to New Delhi

7:00pm Shanghai time; we were all packed and ready to go; this was the first time that my iron-wife was ready ahead of schedule. Haha.... Last minute stuff, unplug all water heaters, heated toilet seat, removed the water cooler - it leaked and required a new one. 7:30pm, my cellphone ran; the driver was ready waiting for us. 7:40pm, we were on the road to Pudong Airport. Wow, that was 5 minutes ahead of schedule. This time of day, the road to the airport was good; no traffic; only occasional dumb people driving between lanes or doing the same as some Regina drivers do during morning traffic - extremely slow crawl on any lane. By 8:30pm, we arrived at Pudong airport. We use T1. T2 has just opened for passengers about 3 days ago; good thing we didn't need to use it yet. After all the formalities of checking in, we proceeded thru immigration and security. Checking in, yes, we flew Biz Class with China Eastern. The price was CAD$2,100 as compared to Singapore Airline of double the price, not to mention the layout in Singapore; we would have to fly south then north again vs direct with 7 hours in the air. The CAD$2,1000 is pretty much a full fare econo with Air Canada internationally. The China Eastern aircraft is a new Airbus 300 with the individual pod that you can lay flat and dedicated power plug. Nice. I could work. Just be warn though, the in-flight entertainment was pretty lacking; but who cared at that time, you got on, late dinner, sleep. Our flight left at 10:20pm arrived at New Delhi at 2:30am local time, the next day.

Anyway, the flight itself was enjoyable; service quality was good if not better than a North American airline. In-flight meal was good; nice curry and spicy. Just didnt' have scotch. Darn it; but I could wait. For the price, I only wanted the bed and more room to sleep. Everything else was secondary. The lounge was a bit spare at the Pudong airport, as expected. Just drinks and packaged snacks of peanuts, dried octopus, dried BBQ pork strips, Chinese crackers.

The New Delhi International airport is going thru a renovation. Indian style; slow and chaotic. Nothing has really changed since we were here in 2006 Dec 24th with exception of signs everywhere apologizing about the renovations. Immigration was a breeze. Since all International flights come in around the wee hours in the morning, I don't think anyone wants to stay there ... After clearing immigration, off we went picking up our bags. Well, well, well.... No TV screens informing you of which turn table to pickup. You have to be very observant. I managed to find it; then someone from the airline came up and told me that was the turn able. Right. Luggage came very fast. Getting out... Well, my iron-wife decided to rush thru the custom while me chasing after her in bags. Well, the Custom guy tried to stop me as I had all the bags and one looked like a laptop bag. He tried but I pretended not understanding what he said and kept on going. India, just pretend you don't know and keep on going. Remember, corruption is everywhere! Local survey ranged corruption within the police force in Delhi is Number 1.

Once exited the Arrival area, we spotted our hotel pickup. You have to be careful existing the arrival area; it's like in Jakarta, people are ready "to take your bags with open arms". The driver said a few words to the "greeters" and they left. On the road to the hotel - The Intercontinental Nehru Place, was fast even though we had to slow down for pot holes, semi-refilled road constructions and green light caution (we had the green, just the people running red lights at the time of day). From leaving the airport to the hotel, it took about 40 minutes. Along the way, you could see the destitute, the middle-class, the wealthy, all mixed together. At one intersection, a hill was taken over by the lower class. I saw the "shelters" were constructed entirely from scraps; but there was a light shining out from a door. Overall, Delhi is not a nice place. From previous experience. We are currently sitting on top on the 12th floor of the hotel - the club lounge overlooking the city. All we can see are buildings and haze shrouding the surrounding area; will take pictures and post later here. I am not China anymore! So I should be able to .

The hotel itself is elegant; the price is steep; the room we are in, an old one with semi-worn out carpet and a bathtub that peels off, is R15,000 + taxes per night; that translates to a little over US$300+ per night; thanks to Bush, the exchange rate has lost its purchasing power! It used to be US$1 for R50; but now, US$1 is just shy of R40. Good thing we are not paying for the hotel room. The place just feel dusty. The windows are not insulated well so you can hear the hustling and bustling outside - continuous car honking and traffic police directing traffic. OK, the room does include free b'fast for two daily. Yumm... Masala tea. Not that good though; I have had better; but the coffee at the club lounge, nice coffee... I guess, the room price includes a bit more 'perks'.

Ok travel time again

Alright, am all ready to travel again. Here are the line-ups:

Tonight; Shanghai to New Delhi, arriving there at 2am; yes, perfect timing to join in the many transport trucks with exhaust problems going into town in that brown smog. Staying there until Friday morning at 4am. Just in time in Shanghai for lunch. Then a week to do laundry and put away winter clothes for summer ones. On the 11th, we are heading to Singapore arriving Friday morning just in time for b'fast there. Come back to Shanghai on the 16th and in time for lunch and laundry again. The next evening, off we fly again; this time to Haikou on Hainan Island in preparation of Audrey's Triathlon race. Will be home on the 21st. After that, the following weekend will be in Macau visiting my parents.

I think we can sublet our place out for short time to visiting executives for a while.

Passing of my Great Aunt

At 4:30pm this afternoon Macau time, my great aunt of 103 years old plus some odd days has finally passed away peacefully at the hospital with my dad on her side. Her health had always been good until just this last week. She had begun feeling aches and pains in her bones and had problem controlling her mobility. She fell three times last week while I was in Macau. In and out of hospital twice in the last 7 days. Finally, her life energy had waned.

Her life was interesting. Apparently, during the Japanese invasion, her family was killed - husband and children. Since then, she lived alone, never remarried, quite independent. When we (as in my family) was poor, she went to the factories picking up odd pieces of cloths so mom can sew me jackets and shirts. There were some old photos with those "smart" clothings. She had her daily routine even in her very old age. She exercised twice a day. She cooked herself. One day last year, she came to see my dad with some money in her hand; she told my dad to take the money for her brother, my grandfather, he needed it more than her with the 24-hour nursing. Three weeks ago, after her eye surgery, she walked to the wet market by herself so she could shop and watch the Chinese Opera. Last week when I was there, she was still very sharp with her mind though mobility was a bit suspect. She recognized everyone, remembered everyone's name and constantly trying to do things herself so she would not rely on anyone. She didn't live far from our apartment, 200M away in this little alley way. It was there that the Lo family ancestral home used to be.

Her passing is not a sad event but a celebration of her independence over 103 years, more than a century.

Brain dead Chinese

I was on my way to get a haircut in a taxi; we were clipping along good. Coming off the freeway, almost to my desired location, major backlog at the exit; we couldn't figure it out; there were two lanes for the exit. After we inched forward, we noticed a black Jetta sitting in the middle of two lanes with right turn signal light on and on the left lane stopped. Thought it was the guy wanted to turn right but no one let him or he wasn't bald enough to "force" himself in as most experience drivers would have done. When we passed him, he was not trying to turn right on the left lane. He stopped in the middle of the road reading a map!!!! Just stopped! With no regards of the standard traffic rules! I thought I have seen everything in Shanghai already; last time was this Fall when a moron 20 years old couple standing in the middle of a lane trying to cross the road (major road dissecting half of Shanghai) and not wanting to wait for the lights to turn green to cross the street. So 3 lanes of heavy traffic had to swirled around them.

Besides these brain dead younger generation, actually, I should not generalized here... I noticed the traffic direction was goofy as well. In the taxi, we were suppose to go straight thru a traffic light but the middle and a left lane were just packed all the way back to the block back. Great, I thought 'I will be late". All of a sudden, my taxi driver did a sharp left turn to the most left lane; it was empty! I thought, that was odd. And he just kept on going straight thru the light! Then, I realized. Someone made a boo boo in setting up the traffic. The most left lane is for straight thru. And other two right lane is for LEFT turn only. Go figure!!!!

Indian Visa Application Centre - Shanghai

Due to the large amount in trade between China and India, there is now a new Indian Visa Application Centre taking your applications except diplomatics. I went to the site and followed the instruction and check list to the nth degree. When we got there, Audrey said: "wow, it was easy to find and easy to apply". I said: "wait until we have the application processed". True to dumb Chinese and Indian traditions, everything broke down. You cannot trust anything written on the website even though the officials and staffs insisted on it; good thing they didn't swear by it or else, I could have their heads.

First off, at the inquiry desk (aka the application clearing house), well, your business invitation letter is incorrect. It is not a faxed copy. A faxed copy? Said who? The staff say on the website and stated here. She pull out a checklist for us. I told her, read the Chinese and English, it was the same list I pull from the website, there was none. She looked. O... But the Indian consulate required a faxed copy directly from India, from your client. Go figure. No logic. If the consulate receives faxes on a daily basis, how many faxes do you think one will receive and the chance of mixed up and all? Then, we need to translate the Chinese business licence - the company name and company registered address to English. Ok, where was it in the fre*%%*king check-list that said that? No where. Totally fabrication. Just making up as you go along. So we just wrote the English translation on the photocopy. Then, we said down and waited - supposedly for the call to the counter. Well, well, after sitting there for 2 minutes, I asked Audrey how would they knew we were here since the number was obtained was for the inquiry desk. Audrey looked at me and said: "don't know". Well, we asked. Good thing! No one knew. We were totally flipped by now. Audrey's face was red from being mad and began a non-stop non-English totally Mandarin assault. After much "conversation", one-way, we proceeded to the submission counter. Paid the fee. And they asked us to provide the consulate a faxed copy of the invitation again and provided us with the consulate number to fax. During that time, the supervisor, an Indian lady, entered the room. Very "prompt" to work. We told them to change the checklist on the website to state only faxed copy to be accepted. She knew, KNEW, the checklist was incorrect! Instructed the Chinese staff to update the checklist and posted on the net. I followed up with this new check-list. At press time, f&%^$%^%&( stupid - WRONG! Rather than saying FAXED copy only for the invitation letter, it said" original or fax copy only". Both in English and Chinese; so obviously, it was not true. So, more problem for other people ensure in the future. In the meantime, we got the Indian client to fax a copy of the invitation to the Visa Application Centre; guess what, the centre called and said, the fax header cannot be read, too faint, need to fax again. FAX AGAIN!!! What the F*%$%$(! That was totally stupid. So, if you want to get an Indian Visa, do it in Vancouver just like I did, no pain, no hassles and the next day pick-up. For Audrey there is no guarantee she will have it by Friday; we leave for India on Sunday.

Initially, Audrey and dad said I could do the travel visa in Shanghai. Yeah right. I have mine done in Vancouver and ready to roll. No pain. No stress.

More Haikou

So yesterday while we were having lunch before leaving for the airport, one of the guys was telling us when he went down to the 3rd floor of the hotel for a foot massage; he was offered more. ;-) Apparently, Haikou is kinda like a "lawless" land. Anything goes; specially if you are foreigner. You are being targeted. The "massage therapist" was wearing very skimpy clothing. High heels, very low cut sleeveless shirt and a very short short. He couldn't get a foot massage for his sore feet from running during the day; but he was offered more "services" in his room. When another athlete, a female one, went to get a massage for her hips, well, she wasn't really getting any service. Some other single male athletes were getting calls in the middle of the night by some one asking if "service" was needed. Seemed the hotel staff was paid for room number and potential targets. This explained a lot as I notice a "massage" ad in the room but with a very suggestive post. This is China? Ummm... Maybe Hainan is just too far away from the Central gov't.

Everywhere I went were massive buildings one after another; some were two-story condo with very modern designs. There was even a condo development with name like "Beverley Hills". Go figure. Some buildings were just show-offs for big companies like Petrol China; a huge monstrosity resembling a 1800 French summer palace. That was on Bin Hai Ave. along the shore leading to the Sheraton and our hotel. O yeah, there was another huge gov't building being built, day and night. And no energy conservation at all. It was 930pm when we drove by and all lights were turned on on every floor and every room!!!! A quick estimation about 12 to 15 floors with 1/2 a block in width. I saw one worker in the building. Talk about florescent central.

Haikou, once you get setting in; is not a really nice relaxing place to visit; just grandstanding to show off more than anything else. People did not care about street directions at times when driving or crossing the road; we almost had an head-on with this huge truck coming at us on the wrong side of the road. Then, taxi just stopped in the middle of the road and did U-turns or turned left from the most right lane. The driving made Shanghai looked orderly.

Back from Haikou

We made it back without much chaos. We got there with just enough time to spare; started out with our friend having problem with his AmEx card; the hotel could not cancel the deposit and AmEx pushed the responsibility to the hotel and the hotel pushed it back to the card company. He spent an hour at the frontdesk without any resolution; finally, he paid again with his AmEx. Me with my Visa, no problem at all since I did about an hour prior to his. Good thing I ordered a van for us three at 2:30pm; I allowed for an additional 30 minutes of any unforeseen problems. It did.

The Haikou departure area was really nice; I was amazed; for those who had been to Honolulu airport; it was like that. Except newer and with some brand name stores. This time we flew Hainan Airline. At check-in, the agent told us we need to pay extra for Audrey's bike. Of course, we said no. Then we went over to the oversize luggage check-in. What fee; there was none. Then they wanted us to put those extra security ties to the soft case; the agents were worry the soft case would not fit thru the X-ray machine; so I told them go ahead and try; we got blank looks; they didn't want to try. So, we said "do it!". It went thru without a hitch. Sometimes, you need to be firm with the Chinese; even though they are getting to be educated and developed; remember, there are still far off at times. While waiting at the check-in counter, this guy came right up and asked where was his ticket so he could board his flight; yet in his hand, he was holding the boarding pass! Go figure! How the heck did he fly down to Hainan the first place? Swam?

One thing you have to remember, there is no such thing as "orderly boarding" or "priority boarding for seniors, for families with children". There are only two: econo and business class. Sometimes, there is no diff, you just swamp to the front of the gate. There is no single line; you push and shove and push ....

Majority of the airlines using lunch boxes with lots of paper and plastic wrappings. Can you imaging the non-recyclable garbage begin generated by the Chinese airline industry on a daily basis with that many people flying? Ouch! But if you want those containers and all like the Western Airlines, there will cleaning facilities required for each airport; and the cleanliness will not be guaranteed. Maybe a better solution is required. But don't expect Chinese to "buy" their lunches in flight like North Americans; they will revolt and riot. They expect to get everything but pay little. A mentality problem.

But flights are cheap though; we just booked our flights back to Haikou; it came to about RMB$400 one-way (60% off regular fare); but the Biz class, it would have been RMB$1900 one-way. Gee... I wonder which one I will take. Sometimes it would have been nice flying at the front just to get out of the rat race and the "roughness" of the people, but with only 3 hours of flying, with my iPod and my focus, I am sure I can tough it out. ;-) But sometimes, the Shanghai people can speak really loud in particularly 45-55-ish women; they shout.

Haikou

Wow, my jetlag finally had caught up to me. Sleep yesterday morning for a while and in the afternoon. I am close to the sea and the pool, but somehow just haven't have the energy getting myself there; the sea water and the pool water not exactly warm! And Haikou's temperature has dropped during the past two days. Cool... 18C or so vs the nice warm 29C. Today's the last day of the Triathlon practice; rain and cold.

The hotel we are staying at is here. The Sheraton is about 2KM up from us; that is where the race going to be on April 20. I believe my wife will do only the 70.3 one and not the full one.

After today's practice, we will head back to Shanghai for a week; then leave for India on Sunday for a week. Then back to Shanghai, the couple weeks; then back to Haikou for the race. I am sure I will receive my matching order on or before April 10th or further traveling in end of April and May.

Haikou now

OK, arrived at Haikou this evening after a 3-hour flight from Shanghai; I have completed a loop in 24-hours, sort of; yesterday was flying back from Hong Kong to Shanghai, today at 5pm flew from Shanghai to Haikou. Sorry, no link to show you about Haikou; you know the Chinese has this thing of blocking Wiki. So, just google it and the Wiki info will show up first.

First impression, even though it was night fall when I arrived; people were extremely friendly. The city is huge! I mean huge! Lots of 3 lane express ways. Then too much light; talk about conserving energy - NOT here! The sky kinda bright from the lights... Light, light light. Some expressways in downtown area actually has lights along the rail. ALL THE WAY! NO wonder some cars never bother turning on their head lights in the dark; what darkness?

The hotel is quite nice and cost less then $CAD100 per night. There is a drinking dedicated tab in the bathroom. Bed is hard! Just don't jump in. There is a golf course just next door... OK will investigate and write more once I have run around the place.

the 11th hour

Been on the run since I arrived back in Shanghai at 12:30pm. Non-stop until about 2 hours ago. Long sessions trying to salvage a friend's second store from closing; his first is still successful. This second store is much nicer and WITHIN walking distance to our apartment. Initially, I recommended closing it up as well in order to stop the cash drain. Friend still wanted to keep it from closing because of the time and energy invested into the staff; plus the income from last year has increased. After much thought and discussion with him, I proposed an employee equity program. Give the staff more say and more opportunities to learn a real business. Plus what they lack in that space is marketing. Everything there was by word of mouth. The proposal was presented by this store manager; when I met him this aft going thru the plan; I knew it was bad news; the guy had no back bone. He was either not ready to take bigger leap into business or not wanting. And when he presented the proposal to the staff, only 4 showed up. I got pull into along with the owner to explain. Well, it was triple confirmed my gut feel. Close shop. There are more staff than 4 employees in that store. One wasn't really give a $hiT. The other one was pregnant, two was keen, the other via phone call said no. The store manager didn't really present it well anyway. I was stunned when he only roused up 4 staff members for the meeting with such importance. Not good. After the first 3 minutes of me meeting everyone, it was curtain call. Tonight, I could see how a good idea and energy but with a poor team could turn a good thing to a bad thing. Friend there is an idea man, he needs someone to implement the idea and keep him focus and having expansion ideas without firm foundations.

in and out of Shanghai

Since I arrived back last Friday, I have been in and out Shanghai Pudong airport twice already. Tomorrow will be another one; leaving for Haikou on Hainan Island south of Hong Kong and Macau; it is known as the Asia Hawaii. This weekend is Audrey's Triathlon practice run. We'll be there starting from tomorrow evening till Sunday evening. Will then be back in Shanghai for a week. India we go ... Then Singapore just before the Triathlon competition. Flying flying..... with the location, cannot stick to one single airline for points. Bummer....

Another topic: can you believe you can fly Biz class on Dragon Air (Cathay Pacific subsidiary) between Shanghai and HK for the same amount of money for us to fly from Regina to Toronto on those tiny little CRJ? And you get a meal too!!!!

Days of "my parents" lifes

645am. Time to get up, check email, read newspaper online, do Chinese exercises, have a light breakfast.

745am. Get dress and start doing the round. From the night before, the great aunt has to take priority over the other three. Post eye surgery. Eye drops every 4 hours.

800am. Off to see the 103 years old great aunt with the first meal - pork congee this morning. O no, she fell in the middle of the night. Tremor hands, involuntary limb and head movement. Pronounced at time. Hmm... not good.

845am. Wash dishes for her, Prep up her set of fake teeth, Arranged furniture

900am. Check on 95 years old father. Complain no appetite, want to eat something else, nurse babbling about something, Philippine maid asking for cooking directions for the day, check blood pressure, check on the 97 years old mother, same, appear lucid but cannot communicate, talk to the other Philippine maid. In the same time on the 5th floor of the same building, wife ready to get up, get dress and call the other 97 years old mother to see how her night was. Not good. No Strength, diarrhea, no appetite, want to have congee only; need Pepcip, need more medication, "when are you coming for a visit today?", "I cannot find my money! Someone must have stolen it!", "I don't want this maid.".

930am. my "mom and dad" have a quick confer with each other.

1000am. my mom walks to go see her mom.

1000am. my dad, sometimes get ready for a bus ride to China to buy supplies. Today, eye drops for great aunt. O gosh, she felt; has been sitting on the floor for over 1/2 hours!

1100am. Settled great aunt.

1130am. Prepare meal for great aunt, check on my dad's parents, pay bills - two households.

noon. delivery lunch to great aunt, more eye drops, give cough medicines

(by now, both parents have walked back and forth and have walked up and down 5 stories at least 3 times - for one that has a sore knee and the other with a degenerated S1 spine)

lunch plan...

230pm. visit great aunt. She fell again. need a walker fast!

By now, pretty much everything is a blur.... calling the other grandmother, the two elderlies downstairs .... my parents are waving white flags. More calls to see what's what. Calling housemaid to prescribe proper medication dosage, the frequency.

Afternoon nap? None.... The same cycle for the afternoon repeats as the same in the morning... 930pm... home resting...

Long traveling...

OK, I was barely in Shanghai for about 24 hours and now I am in Macau after flying into Hong Kong first this afternoon. Left the house at noon and arrived at 8pm. That was an 8-hour day. Need to be 2 hours before flight time in Shanghai; then almost 3 hours to HKG, 2 hours waiting for a connecting ferry from the airport to Macau. Then 45 minutes ferry... And 10 minutes of taxi ride from the Macau Ferry Terminal to home. Then a slow march up the stairs 5 story high. O prior to all the flying and traveling, woke up at 515am, in the pool by 6:15am, home again by 8am. Packed, tidied up things, grocery shoppings and cooking for my wife :-P Then more odds and ends things.... I am exhausted. Need a scotch to relax then shower to bed even though now is 10pm Sunday night.

The flight was packed to HKG; good thing I chose to use Dragon Air with the Biz Class. A bit better than being cramped and not able to work. I almost got the Canadian's Thank You notes done for the wedding. Yes, my chicken scratches. Get a doctor to translate. Flight was smooth but just jitters from a bit too much coffee through out the day.

EMS

All the postal services around the world join together forming this EMS courier service. Today, no yesterday (no blogging from China, must be Tibet), I went over to the office to collect a package from the wedding photographer. Well, I did not get to the post office, I stumbled into the warehouse! Boxes upon boxes of shipment littered everywhere on the floor. I had to step thru the boxes like avoiding land mines! There was no place to put my feet down. The office was not at the front but at the back of the place. So, imagine having boxes littered across the floor.... Funny though, when I pull out my Canadian passport for proof of person to collect, the guy started speaking English to me, trying. Nice people. But do I have "foreigner, no speak Chinese" on my forehead? Hee hee... They are just trying to be helpful, that's all.

Back in Shanghai

I have to say, the flight was quiet uneventful. The Biz class was full; good thing w/ the SuperElite that allowed me to lock in an upgrade right away. I must be flying this route too many times; saw two of the flight attendants that were flying the Shanghai route. One actually remembered me! Go figure. Movie selection was still terrible. LOL. But the power plug-in allowed me to work for long period of time, 1/2 of the journey. That was good!

I never experience that quick out of the airport - from landing to sitting in the Buick going home! The two longest parts were the taxing after we landed and the Buick ride home. The taxing, we had to go around to the front of the terminal so that felt like forever going around - 15 minutes. Then the ride back to the apartment; with rush hour traffic and the now #1 corner by the Bund being tore down, it took a good an hour and half. We bypassed quite a bit of Expressway on the way to town. But still took 90 minutes; not bad though for peak rush hour traffic.

Temperature was warm and sunny compared to two weeks ago. Seems Spring is coming - finally!

Lots of traveling from now till mid-April. I have been told.... I will probably flying to Macau tomorrow (Sunday eve) so I can hit the road running my errands in Macau and HK. Most likely cancel my trip to Beijing for next Thursday and Friday; but will fly to Haiku on Friday eve with Audrey's bike and all for her Triathlon training; then back to Shanghai for a week; the following weekend will be in New Delhi for 7 or 8 days, then Singapore, then back to Shanghai for a day to turn around to Haiku for the Triathlon; that should get us thru to mid-April; then I might have to head back down to Macau and HK. By that time, it will be May!!!

Heading across the pond now - BIG one

Alright, Indian travel visa, checked; Wholefood groceries, checked; new runners, checked; lots and lots of Sushi at Tsunami, checked; visited Chooi, checked; a in-the-dog-house diamond, checked; I think I am ready to depart Vancouver getting back to Shanghai.

Couple things I noticed in Vancouver this time; more and more younger people are asking for money on the street; seems an increased of 100% from the last time I was there - six months ago. Pollution, yes another problem; from Davie's condo we could see a huge brown pocket of something shrouded Burnaby. Brown! Not white fog. Yikes!!! Even though, this city is promoting green, I actually see more plastics running around - to the garbage. Go figure! Salespersons, don't know how to sell. I asked for a size 9.5 and this guy actually trying to sell me an 8 of black and an 11 of brown! Another store, have the right size but not colour; so he tried selling me that colour instead! And Harry Rosen sells the same shoes $100 more than the actual brand name store around the corner. People driving are getting rude; honking everywhere. Ummm... Vancouver. Wonder what it will be like when this place is getting close to the Olympics. The house next to Chooi; the guy bought it for 400k about 6 years ago; it was sold for 1.6M couple days ago! OK, the guy put some reno into it; about 100K or so; but that's outrageous! One thing though, an Apple store is coming to town at the Pacific Mall soon!

More travelings from this weekend onward!

Yes, we traveling again. I have 3 days or so in Shanghai then will have to travel to KunShan (about an hour drive from Shanghai) with my iron-wife to work. Back to the coaching role for her triathlon training. Next week I will be in Beijing for 3 days then off to Haikou for the weekend checking out the triathlon location. Then... Off to India at end of March until April 12. Couple days in Shanghai; off back to Haikou for the triathlon. Yes. Lots of traveling. At least I think in May, we maybe home.

Gone from Regina

I have to apologize that I could not visit everyone while I was in Regina. Was busy finishing off my client's network conversion with branched in 3 different cities. I am looking forward to have a good sleep on the plane back to Shanghai. Will try to negotiate with my wife coming for a visit this Summer after her sister's wedding in Seattle. Anyone that has an idea to entice her is welcome! Re: NO electronic stuff. So, this leaves lots of expansive options.

As for myself now, I have to come up with an idea as my "allowable" leave is more than 14 days. Good thing I am in Vancouver; may have some ideas walking around.

Keep in touch!