Well
not off to a good start. Spent a full hour typing today's blog post on my Ipad
but it wouldn't upload. I may have Flash issues so time will tell if I'll be
able to blog or not. Right now, I'm using the brand new desktops that Bangkok
Airways allows free use of within it's free lounge area: that would be a free
lounge with refreshments and all the carbs a weary traveller could ever want.
Just tried my first sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf. Tastes like rice
pudding. Scrumptious.
I
thought my first on-the-spot blog was pretty informative and you know how it
goes, it never reads the same when you have to go back and recreate it. In any
event, I only have 15 minutes before the final leg of my journey to my official starting destination Thailand commences
boarding. I'll see if I can fill you in on a few hi-lights.
I left
Vancouver 31 hours ago. In 2.5 hours I'll be at my starting destination of
Chiang Mai, Thailand. I flew Air China. What a treat from the monopoly we are
stuck with in Canada. Excellent service all around, from check-in, to the meals
to the spotless bathrooms on board the plane. Not to mention you couldn't hear
a pin drop on that airplane. Everyone was as quiet as a mouse. Oddly though the
shades were drawn and the lighting was on night time mode the entire way. That
was weird considering it was daylight.
I
watched the flight tracker most of the way. 5229 miles from Vancouver to
Beijing. The coldest area was around Nome, Alaska when the temperature reading
was a mere -79 F.!
Heading
east the skyline was a gorgeous melding of gold and pink. The Bearing Sea was
frozen over. The hi-lite of the flight for me was flying over the most gorgeous
mountain tops of Russia. They looked like someone had whipped them up in a bowl
and plopped them out over the landscape. I'll never forget that stunning sight.
As we
neared in on China, man what a huge country. Holy toledo! Sadly though about 30
minutes outside of Beijing what had been blue sky and sunshine the entire way
soon became a gray polluted haze. I was shocked at the living conditions.
Clumps of look-alike hi-rises grouped together. Thousands of them. I had never
seen anything like it. Hi-rises and factories for miles. Of course with the
haze of pollution I couldn't really see all that far. The Beijing airport was
deserted for 5:30 PM on a weekday. 2/3 of the lights were turned off and it was so dim
that I couldn't read my book, literally it was too dim to read the print on the page. Did you know that it is the job of a smiling lady
to wipe off the toilet seat after it’s been used? Yes indeed that's an actual
job in the Beijing airport.
My
flight is being called so I gotta cut this short.
This
site won't let me post without a photo but I've downloaded them to my Ipad and
am typing this from a complimentary desktop computer in the Bangkok Airways lounge so I'll have to post the whipped cream covered
mountaintops another time and for now leave you with one from the standard
library catalogue.
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