Things Best Said

Bags packed — check
Ready to go — check
Jetplane — not so fast.

This morning I will board a train, then a bus, then a plane, then another plane, then a bus or taxi, then another bus or taxi, then a plane, then a truck… and I will finally be home.

In fact, I’ve travelled in a pretty outrageous group of transports to get here (and around here). I tried to keep a list of them all…

• Nissan Xterra
• Boeing 737 - Southwest Airlines (whichever one they have)
• Boeing 777-300ER - EVA Air
• Boeing 747-400 combi - EVA Air
• “Peng Jiang” ferry from HK to Foyoung
• Local brand toyota
• Hyundai minivan
• Early 90s Volkswagon sedan
• Mazda Premacy wagon
• KIA sedan - barely fit 5 men after a big Singapore meal and a belly of beer
• FAW Santana - Green Changping cab - 9RMB
• Wuling minivan
• Chery cowin - unlicened taxi
• BYD sedan - unlicensed taxi
• JAC van - driven by Little Chen
• Geele - unlicensed taxi
• VW santana - changping taxi
• Pedal powered taxi - man, was he fast!
• Hyundai elantra - Mr Lo?
• Citroen C3 - unlicensed taxi
• Toyota Comfort Crown - HK taxi (x3)
• Boeing 777-300er - EVA flight from HK to TPE - bumped to business class
• Boeing 777-300er - EVA flight Taiwan to USA
• Boeing 737-300 - Southwest flight - LAX to PHX
• Boeing 737-700 - PHX to BNA

Hey, who says travel isn’t glamorous?

(10/3/08 - updates to the list added)

Ben and I visited a local movie shop where each DVD was only 5RMB each ($0.73).

So, for about $21 I was able to pick up…

David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk
Pink Floyd documentary - London 1966-1976
Pink Floyd concert- Delicate sound of thunder
Redbelt
Best of Radiohead
X Files - I want to believe
Studio 60 - complete series
X Files - Seasons 1-9
Oliver Stone collection - 16 movies on 2 DVDs
Dark Knight
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man

Yeah…customs is going to love me.

A slurp and a grunt were all the came from this man as he two of us sat in the empty breakfast room. He watched tv with much disdain for the talk show that was on. That is, until a Disney cartoon started. The scowl on his face lifted and he showed his flat-fronted teeth in a smile extraordinarily childish. At commercials his dower expression would return until the show continued.

All is well here after the typhoon. We’re back to the order of the day…teaching the locals how to pronounce simple phrases while making ourselves look more international by learning a few.

On the agenda today — full sentences. First on deck are: “There is a chicken under my car.” and “What sound does a cat make?”

If you’d spent any time here, you would understand how funny those really are.

Shoulda called it Typhoon Damn!

Yeah, so, this will be my first typhoon on the mainland.

Typhoon Hagupit is currently moving its way toward the China coast near Hong Kong. Already here, not too far into the mainland it’s beginning to get a bit darker…but, then again, it’s always pretty hazy here. Though, Tropical Storm Risk has labeled it a category 3 (of 5) with winds of 111-130mph.

We’ll buckle down if need be but I haven’t heard any reports of how much it will affect Changping, Dongguan. The folks here don’t seem too concerned so, I’ll take their lead on that. The general consensus is that we will get a good amount of rain. Hmm. I don’t live here but I would have guessed that, too.

Track the weather for yourself…and learn about another part of the world:

Hong Kong Hagupit tracking: http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/tc_pos.htm

Hong Kong Observatory: http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm