Timely leave....

not Shanghai but Nanjing Road West where our apartment is. Scaffoldings everywhere. It's part the "beautification" process before the Olympics and the World Expos. And when Chinese does things, it's not phases... It's all or nothing. So, our section of the street is getting to become a continuous construction zone. I'll take some pictures in the next few days and post them here. When I get to North America next week. Faster.

The building across the street has been jack-hammering all day non-stop. I fell sorry for the workers who use the tool. No ear protection. Safety?

The scaffoldings are all metal rods; at night, the shipper drops off components. Ping, ping, ping, annoying loud. In the morning, the scaffolding is being setup. Pretty cool though is this thing wraps around the exterior of a building with stairs so you can walk from one "floor" to another "floor". This means, I have to close my drapes and lock my windows. Usually, there is a guard at the bottom of the entrance to the scaffolding, but still.... And of course, we have to make sure we are decent when walking around the apartment. Haha....

Wonder when the renovation will be completed. I don't see it to be done in the two weeks we are gone starting next Monday.

yes, as to away.... June 30 to July 18; this time it spans Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Boston and Palo Alto. I search far and wide for cheap flights. Not quite. Because of the late booking due to iron-wife's client delay, I couldn't use my points for a biz seat for her. Bummer. Still I got the upgrades for the two of us on the longest leg of the journey. Two econo tix w/my SuperElite upgrade vouchers is the price of one seat in biz and change. Yikes. Funny I got a very good First Class seat from NW leaving from Portland to Boston. So I took it. But then, on the way from Boston to Oakland, I couldn't get anything cheaper than 1,000 per tix - one way. But then Expedia came thru. Uhh... Sitting at the back of the bus for 6 hours and 35 minutes for a total of CAD$650.00. I'll take it! I try not to book thru 3rd party as the US airline schedules are all over the map; just like the commie policies here. But the price on this is just too attractive not to.

1/2 of our trips, we'll be driving with Audrey's mom; so that same on car rental.

And what's with hotel rooms these days. Just expensive as hell for some half decent places. I thought there is a recession in the States. Did I miss something?

Yes, speaking of hotel rooms. Beijing hotel industry is taking a beating. Rooms are not full; compared to last year this time, business dropped by 50% or so. This, all in the name of national security and Olympics. O yeah, a friend of ours was telling us this story. Last week, a restaurant that was frequented with Westerners in Shanghai had a very interesting visit by the security force. A group came in with the usual flare, announced that all foreigners must leave the restaurants by 8pm and no big group gathering. Anyone found gathering after 8pm there will be detained or arrested. Well, that's one way of making this town progressive and tourist friendly.

We are actually planning to leave China during the Olympics. And we will. Not by purposeful design. Iron-wife will work in Chongqing on Aug 7-8 then on Aug 11 onward in Singapore. So we will leave. But who the heck schedule a teaching course from Aug 7-8? Only those Singaporeans running the show from another country. Once the China fever heats up do you think the students will listen anything but the Olympics? We shall see.