En route to Myanmar (aka no one has any idea what's going on, especially the airline)

December 30, 2010—Shanghai, 3:30am

stared at this board for hours

aggressive shower

Made it out to China finally. With the five-hour flight delay (LAX and I are tight now), we missed both of our connecting flights, leaving us in China for two nights. While I sat in the international terminal, I thought of all the places I could be going if I just hopped on any of the flights leaving within the next eight hours. Dubai, Santiago, and Tahiti were my top three. At Chinese customs, it took a whole team of popo to figure out our itinerary. Being one in the morning after a forever long flight, and having no idea what anyone was saying, was a little frustrating. In the end, we settled for the conclusion that nothing could be determined until we arrived at the other Shanghai airport tomorrow/later today. But they set us up in this comfy hotel with free wifi—awesome—so it wasn’t all awful. Took a hot shower after I figured out how to work it. There’s the big rainfall-esque showerhead as well as the detachable showerhead…but then there are these two small heads at about waist level that shoot water at you horizontally. (see pic) My core was not prepared for the assault when I switched the water source. Ha. After I got over the faint fertilizer smell of the water, the orchid milk body wash was much appreciated. I’m sharing a room with this woman from my flight—really nice, but we can’t really communicate. Ha.

December 30, 2010—Shanghai, 8:00am

Shanghai is cold. Icy almost. And the beds are hard. I felt like I slept on a big crate with sheets. Surprisingly enough, I’m relatively alert after two hours of crate-sleep. Even made it down for breakfast, which involved an interesting array of comida. (see pic) Lots of meat-looking things I couldn’t identify and veggies deep-fried and pickled. They even had deep-fried bread (which actually wasn’t too bad. Yes, I tried it—don’t judge). Unfortunately their soy milk tasted burnt. Didn’t know that was possible. After all that salty food I had to get my sweet fix—worked a good dent in the block of white chocolate I brought. Ha. Breakfast of champions. I considered going to the gym here, but I’d be pushing the clock, and it would kind of suck to get stranded in Shanghai. But I suppose there are worse situations. Aside from the aggressive shower and hard beds, there was another interesting aspect of this hotel room I thought worth mentioning. There’s a slot for your room key as you enter the door. (see pic) Without the card in the slot, there’s no electricity in the room—no lights, no charging, nothing. I suppose it makes it difficult to lose the key, eh? Internet’s kind of spotty, and when it does work all I can get is gmail and PCOR mail…no facebook or travel blogging. 

December 31, 2010—Kunming, 6:30am

great jasmine green tea from the airport

Spent a rather unproductive afternoon/evening in Kunming. Apparently China Eastern Airlines can’t plan too far ahead when one of their flights is delayed. We ran around the Shanghai airport trying to figure out what the deal was with the third leg of our flight from LA to Yangon. Every person directed us to the next, each person speaking less and less English. We ended up having to play it by ear (fine by me, but stressed the pops out, which stressed me out. Ha), not knowing when our next flight was or where we’d be staying in Kunming until we got here. At first glance, the Kunming airport was crazy. After I had been standing around people-watching for awhile, it was still crazy. People milling around, cops in snazzy uniforms standing around, sweet and salty processed foods in bright and shiny plastic packaging everywhere. Oh and the bathrooms. Good god. I hadn’t seen one of these squatmaster toilets-in-the-ground since I’d been in Indonesia, and for some reason, I hadn’t expected to walk into one. Remind me to do my biz on the plane next time. If that’s the standard til I’m back in SF, I’m gonna have bangin quads. Although…having my pops around is having a serious impact on my waistline. I feel like we eat every hour just because” it’s the only time we’ll be at this place in this city.” And maybe my cooking is just bland, but everything is ridiculously salty or sweet to me here. Out of control. I am looking forward to some good Burmese and Thai food, though. I have to admit however, I do miss me a good Barbacoa burrito with guac and all the spicy fixins. Should’ve added Cholula to my travel essentials. Next time.

yeaaahhh. jiggggllllyyy

Hit the gym in the hotel the airline put us up in last night. It was the strangest fitness center I have ever seen—red lights, 70s swoopy ceiling structure, the tiniest treadmill, and two contraptions that are designed to jiggle your gut around with an attached belt. One treadmill, one spinner bike, two fat-jigglers. Haha. Sitting at the Kunming airport…again…waiting for the check-in counter to open up for our flight. Always super early traveling with pops…except of course when we’re in the states and I really want him to be on time. It’s all good though—I let him call the shots. He’s already gotten on me for my “rebellious” attitude, hating when people tell me what to do. What can I say—I don’t take kindly to micromanagers. He even admitted, for the first time, that my brother and I were essentially financially supported orphans, so we have issues. Haha. True story. I think we’ve done alright for ourselves considering, though. It’s kinda funny to have it described that way, particularly by my pops.

December 31, 2010—Yangon, 1:00pm

Finally made it to Burma. As the plane neared our destination, I was like a kid outside a candy store, face glued to the double-pane window, taking in the scene. We flew over a patchwork of greens, browns, lakes, and rivers, dotted by the glinting gold of the pagodas. It was absolutely gorgeous. Customs was a breeze.

Everybody be trippin for no reason. Pops’ cousin or some other relative (I can't keep them straight. Everybody is introduced to me as my cousin or his cousin, and everybody calls me "my daughter" in Burmese) came to pick us up, which made life a lot easier. Pops also decided last minute to switch hotels, canceling our Traders reservation (super shmancy with free censored wifi and a gym) because his med school homies were gravitating toward Panda Hotel. No internet, no gym, which would be fine, but he’s grumpy about me wanting to run outside to see the sights. It makes me want to run more, as juvenile as that is. You know, get my rebel on. But instead, I guess I’ll sit here in this 10’x10’ room for five hours “relaxing” and waiting for his cousins. (Pops later suggested we call them to find out when in that five hour time chunk they’d be coming. Why that wasn’t an acceptable option when I mentioned it…whatevs.) Next time, I travel alone...or at least with someone who can appreciate a more active sort of sightseeing. Being away from home for so long has made it pretty clear that we can only handle small doses of each other. He thinks I’m weird and stubborn; I think he’s self-righteous and inconsiderate. (Disclaimer: he’s my pops and I love him. Wouldn’t be where I am without him.) Whatevs. I think the longer I’m away from him, the more I idealize him, so that when he doesn’t quite measure up in person, boom goes the dynamite. Right about now would be a great time to get back in the ring at EPA Boxing with Johnnie. Get my ass worked and some of this pent-up energy out.