A day away

[muckefuck]

24 hours from now, I will be in the departure lounge of O'Hare wishing I were basically anywhere else on earth. 24 hours after that, I will be in Beijing, presumably having my first real Chinese meal. My plan is to stay awake for as long as I can tonight in the hopes of partway shifting my internal clock. We don't have anything to do tomorrow--by design--so we're free to take long naps, lounge around, Google for tidbits, and try to finish up some of our reading. (I'm about 100 pages from the end of Retreat of the Elephants, so I wouldn't mind sticking a fork in that before the time comes to catch a cab.)

This is my first trip abroad in ten years (how did that happen?) and I'm really stoked. I'm already packed--me! Packed an entire day before I need to head to the airport! It's like I've been possessed or something. monshu and I had a great talk yesterday about how we're readying ourselves psychologically for the culture shock and dealing with frustrations before they lead to meltdowns. So far, I've never been able to vacation with someone for more than a week without there being some sort of rupture--or is that true? How long did monshu and I spend in California? I saw an entirely new side of him them, freed from the tyranny of a M-F schedule, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more in China.

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Actually, one of the things we're specifically looking to pick up is a kind of Sichuan "yellow wine" aged in dirt cellars. But I promise I won't give any to Peter!

[lhn.livejournal.com]

Peter's jetlag advice -- sleep as much as possible on the plane and ignore it once you get there. He found the jetlag *going* to China much easier than coming back, which I find a little weird, since it was a 12 hour time difference...

I suspect that a lot of it is that you're much more motivated to overcome it during a major trip than in the course of the inevitably anticlimactic return. You're also just that much more tired after many days of running on all cylinders, trying to take it all in.

He also commented that when you go to the Great Wall, go early and turn left. For some reason everyone turns right and the crowds are much heavier.

Our guide told us that the rightward slope was easier. (As the second youngest couple in our tour group, we of course had to take the left path as a matter of honor after that. :-)

(Though prilicla may have had mixed feelings.)

Once again, muckefuck, best wishes for your journey!

[lhn.livejournal.com]

BTW, if you need a pick-me-up when you arrive, note that there's a Julius Meinl stand in the Beijing airport. (Or was, at least.)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

So you say, but we walked all over without finding it. Perhaps they got turfed out in favour of a native competitor, like Starbucks in the Forbidden City (of which more anon).