out of asia, out of blogging

It's 12:40 in the PM from Hong Kong. I leave for the airport in 40 minutes. My flight leaves at 4:20PM. It arrives in San Francisco at 1:40PM... three hours earlier than it left. I've never traveled back in time before. I wonder how I'll spend my extra 3 hours. Probably in customs.

The avid beecherinnepal reader will note that I haven't actually been in Nepal for the last two weeks. Shame, shame for having kept talking after leaving Nepal. Maybe a more descriptive name would have been beecherinasia. But then, how would google pump up the traffic? It was mostly about Nepal.

Hong Kong. I love this city. The theme seems to be 'money money money money'. Not that this is also my theme. The money they have here is beautiful - the colors, the designs. Best looking money I've ever seen, except maybe Switzerland. Figures.

True to the guidebook and my Hong Kong friend's insight, Chung King Mansion has great Indian food, and Sunday in the park is Filipino-housekeeper day out. It's Tagalog at high volume right now.

The week with Jeff in Xi'an and Xining was great. From the terra cotta army to buying a bed to sleep in when it started hailing at Hua Shan - adventure. Real China was amazing, and Jeff's been there for ten months. Not surprisingly, he speaks Chinese now and can read. We were in a park looking at a statue and he says 'oh, the plaque says "The teacher says to his students that if you plan a flower, you get a flower; if you plant a bean you get a bean"' or something like that. Pretty impressive character-reading capability for ten months. Silvia coming from Beijing for the weekend was indeed a delicious twist.


And the food in China - wow. Not at all what you get in America at Chinese restaurants, but I was told that's how it is. Jeff said, "Eggrolls? No. Fortune cookies? Haven't seen'em." An Etheopian laser physicist once told me that if you're ever in doubt as to what to order in China or can't read the menu, say 'ma po dofu' and you get a good meal. He was right.

One thing I'm taking away from these eight months is that English really is the international language. We're lucky to speak it well. Star Trek's not in French for a reason.

And this is the end. I'm trying to go out on top, like James K. Polk and Ludacris - or was it Jay-Z? After all, who wants to read beecherathome?

This morning, I ate toast.
Going to work now.
Need more milk; maybe one or two days left on this carton.
Mood: somber
Listening to: If You Like Piňa Colada

Nobody.