Shanghai
A diary note - these may be few and far between, but a special occasion came up that pushed me to publish the first...
I'm in Shanghai for a couple of days. That's exciting. Last time I was here was '98. A vast construction site at the time. I was staying at the very very tall tower hotel that was surrounded by waste land. I think for a few months it was the tallest building in the world. I can see it off in the distance now.
I ended up with a fantastic room! I'm in sort of a posh hotel anyway but as I was checking in late (due to airplane lolling about on the runway in Seoul for an hour), I noticed the young lady at the desk was about to give me a smoking room. No nooo, I said. Anything but. So after a little while of searching around, several phone calls, a hushed conversation, an arched eyebrow - they found a room for me. The Presidential Suite. I guess the president was a no-show tonight so lucky me!
I decided to celebrate by trying to find a nice place for a quick drink. Only a sports bar with some Australian oil rig workers on the 4th floor. So instead I opted for room service - I've had the "Chocolate Symphony" and a glass of red wine.
Do you know that they don't allow google here in China? I remember that I read the Party were having problems with Google because of the censorship they feel is necessary to keep in place as a 'job protection scheme'. Anyway it meant that for ages I couldn't get online to read blogs and make comments. But a bit of adding a proxy here, hack into a VPN there and presto!, I'm connected.
The knock on the door from the Word police will come later I'm sure.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ahhh I was wondering who was reading my blog from China, I was convinced it was a proxy....and in a way it is :)
ReplyDeleteChocolate Symphonyy sounds like heaven
Enjoy Mr. President.
That's a little confusing since the only way that I could read your blog was to go to a UK proxy and then from there join a UK VPN. So how did your stats cleverly figure out I was in China? (Answering that is optional btw.)
ReplyDeleteThe chocolate Symphony (5 different types of chocolate) was heavenly. I'm sure an extra 5 hours in the gym this week will take care of it.
I had 1 hit from China all day so I assumed it was you...though I had a few ones before!
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to the gym since the 1st Aug! I keep it up by walking up escalators in the tube!
Comment doesn't require an answer either...
Ah... Walking up escalators, I used to do that too, but not any more (he said bitterly). So you've given me the muse to write an Anthropology field note about escalator behavior.
ReplyDeleteLate flight, still traveling back...
Oh Can't wait to read it...
ReplyDeleteHow's K?
I haven't seen him for days (as I was in Shanghai). But he sent an email, and the fear and loathing came bubbling to the surface. He visited the customer (a very large car manufacturer) without me and promised that I would do things for them.
ReplyDelete