a weirdo in china, pt. 1: transmission

Okay, so it was eleven months.

I'm in China for two weeks for work. My job actually has nothing to do with China, except for when I support faculty and students who spend time here. But they needed some extra support staff for a trip, and opened it up to any interested staff members who wanted to travel. I applied, and was selected, and here I am!

But first, the story of my journey.

Now, the last time I traveled to Asia, I had my wife and 18-month-old daughter in tow. We hit up Japan and South Korea and while I had a fabulous time doing my thing in those places, there is really just no compensating for the exhaustive demands posed by a jetlagged preverbal toddler. The wife and I almost killed each other, and we look back on it as a pretty dark time, all things considered. The trip had some definite spectacular highlights, but it's hard to focus on those without all the lowlights.

So I kind of see this trip as a chance to experience part of East Asia as an adult in my own right. And while I wish my family could be with me, I definitely don't wish to spend 16 hours on a plane with someone who can't read ever again. The good news is, the wife is using this opportunity to visit Spain with our daughter (my mom is also going along to help her out), so the whole family is traveling the world in style!

In such style.

Pictured:  style containers

The flights themselves were actually pretty uneventful. I flew Cathay Pacific from Newark to Hong Kong, and then from HK to Shanghai.

The plane was an A350. Pretty snazzy!

I landed in Hong Kong at about 5am local time, and the airport was sadly pretty dead. I'd been looking forward to chowing down on some HK fare, but my options were limited to McDonald's, Popeye's, and Starbucks. I passed.

Just like home!

The inside of the airport was very nice, as they go -- which makes sense, for the third-largest passenger terminal in the world! I wound up walking the entire airport in search of an open convenience store, and though I was flummoxed, my cramped legs were glad for the extensive exercise.

But it was the views outside the windows that really took my breath away.

I was really disappointed I didn't have longer in Hong Kong. Two hours wasn't enough time to get out of the airport and experience some of the locale. My friend told me stories of when he lived there and would go for long walks on these very mountains. It's easier for me to imagine the sense of supreme tranquility that must suffuse those quiet hills, at least whenever the atmosphere isn't being punctured by the sound of a revving jetliner.

I'll talk more about my experience arriving in Shanghai next time. Spoilers:  don't look for any supreme tranquility here!