An Irish Account: Me Chinese, me no dumb..

Ive been doing a fair share of travel lately, long ass haul travel over a few short months that has gotten me a slight bit dizzy and exhausted: Indonesia and back, Russia and back, India and back. I was tired, and I thought I had earned enough credits to stay away from the long haul trips for at least a handful of months... short trips within Europe would be no bother. 2nd week into May, just 2 weeks after my last disasterous India trip, I was asked to go to China beginning of June. ...arghh.. fine... whatever. Come to think of it though China is not that bad, its not like I was axsed to go back to India or worse, Iowa.

It also gave me the opportunity to move on to Elite level on Air Canada, without even flying one single Air Canada flight. You see Air Canada is quite sucky for the flying experience, and Ive boycotted them, but its not a question of loyalty since Im ready and willing to return once they right their ship with new seats, which they are in the middle of transitioning to as we speak. Anyways, Im quite the sneaky scammer now with the whole frequent flier traveller points thing, managing to get to lounge level on the One World airline alliance (BA, Cathay, Qantas, etc) and Sky Team (Air France, KLM, etc). My levels on the Star Alliance one though (which includes Air Canada, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, etc) has been left wanting... only acheiving Prestige status, which gives you jack squat apart from a fancier card with slight sprinkly effects. This China trip though would put me over the top, if I flew with Star Alliance... and its easy street lounge action all the way on all major Airline networks.

Didnt work out though. I actually already had the China flight booked with Lufthansa (which would give me the Air Canada pts, follow along here).. but that was a flight segment going through Shanghai. Last minute.. it was changed to Beijing... so the only flight that was available through that City was on Air France. Merde. So thats who I flew with... which negated my whole Star Alliance, Elite Status, Lounges all the way deal. PLUS, get this... PLUS... Air France aint that great, even in Business class... namely because the cheese selection they serve you is only the "taste like ass" cheeses that only frenchies like. What am I suppose to take with my red wine then?

China was good though. Apart from the automatic language awkwardness I always get in Asia... you know.. the "they speak to me all chinesey, I put on a retarded face and stay silent.. they look at me queer"... type scenario. Its doesnt cease to surprise me how quickly this country is developing, with the great economic boom of the last decade. The roads, compared to other countries anyways, are getting really good. Building development is growing like weeds, looking more and more modern. And this time, I got to go through Beijing, which means, Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. One of the few places that is distinctly on my world list of things to do.

Tiananmen Square. That was great just for the infamy alone. Forbidden City. Amazing, especially cuz now Ive been to the real Imperial Palace, not counting the Vegas Hotel or Chinese food restaurants of same name. And the Great Wall. WOW. I have always wanted to go to the Great Wall. Always. Since I was a little kid. For me it was on a larger must see scale than Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Pyramids, Sydney Harbor, and Disney World (well no I kid, its tied with Disney World, lets be honest) And now Ive seen it. And the great thing here is, there are probably 3 or 4 more stations of the Great Wall I could go to, if /when I go again. I didnt even go to the most famous, and subsequently most tourist ridden one, Badaling, I only went to the Ju Yong Pass. Itll never get old.

Now, the only thing I need is a T-Shirt that says "I cant speak Chinese, Im Filipino" in chinese characters. This would be brilliant, the best Asian T shirt ever, maybe I can get Eric to work on that for me.

And oh yeah one more thing. Paris freakin Hilton. I tell you what, the weekend jail / police pickup / courtroom hearing saga was on full time and live on Chinese TV. Wow. I think now I would have to go to Antarctica to escape the likes of her. But I have an opening here to slag Americans again, so hahaha.. let me do it. In the Beijing Hotel, they had quite a few news channels... DW News (German), BBC News (British), CNN International, and Fox News Channel. I had an opportunity here to contrast and compare coverage. This is what I did, I ended up being held against my will watching the "Current Affair OJ Simpson" quality reporting on Fox news as they had moment to moment live coverage of the Paris Hilton proceedings. It was absolutely foul news reporting, commentary driven, with reporters and analyst shouting at each other their opinions. Bottom of the barrel. I would frequently flick over though to DW, BBC, and CNN International. At the sametime that Fox was going full Paris, full time for a good 3 hours straight... what was on the other news channels? Important things, like the wrap up of the G8 meetings in Germany, G8 discussions on the US's defence grid plan in eastern europe, the controversial G8 AIDs funding for Africa, G8 climate change initiatives, review of the latest Democrat and Republican leadership debates, and latest French Open scores. CNN International had 2 blurbs on Paris Hilton, but they were made in passing. SEE? This is what America gets, dumbed down Sally Jesse Raphael news. And Fox is the most watched news channel in the richest and most powerful country in the world.

And oh sorry one more thing again... just so I dont end this on a serious and commentary driven note, advice to yous in the future if you ever go to China. Never EVER swim in any swimming pools. I was staying at the Sheraton in Beijing, and by name alone, youd assume their facilities would be top notch. And it sure did look like it, the pool looked class. On an idle Friday, I went for a swim in the Hotel pool. I was wondering though why it was a little murky. After about 5 minutes, I noticed little gooey floaties that stick to my body now and then. Then I noticed all the chinese in the same pool.. clearing their throats all loud like, and hawking loogies straight into the pool as they played, just like how they do in Chinatown streets. ARGHH!! I was out of there in a flash, arms flayling, running away like I was in Grade 1 and I had just been kissed by a girl and quickly scrubbed myself down in the shower for 10 hours. Disgusting... I was dry heaving the rest of they day.