A birthday cutie and, yes, trip photos soon!

The post-vacation scramble is on, so the Beijing photos are coming together, but slowly. To keep your attention and put smile on your face, see one of my pretty nieces celebrating her 7th birthday on Thursday. (photos compliments of KBF fo-tah-gruh-fie)










Attention siblings: I'll put up photos of any of the xiao hai if you like (xiao hai = kids).

pirates of Beijing

First time blogging from the BB. I think it isn't worth it, but I'm bored.

In Beijing they speak Mandarin (putong hua), but with an accent. Basically, the last word gets an 'er' (pronouced like 'are') on the end. Once I started to listen for it, everyone began sounding like pirates. Arrgh!

More from Suzhou. Now at Beijing airport; slightly more exciting than Kaohsiung airport. Less exciting than the DSM Greyhound station.

Happy Birthday! and Mixing the Old with the New

Big birthday happy wishes to KBF who is the best mei mei a guy could have. (mei mei = little sister). I miss you, sweetie, and all the fun we had so many years ago. Come and visit me, eh?

Also happy birthday to Becky who is alive and doing well in California. The only person I know with 2 motorcycles, both overclocked with Pentium chips :) I'm toasting you right now with a vodka and lime.

It was a relaxing weekend which is just what I needed. I'm playing with some work stuff (exploring new graphical software, fun and yet work oriented) while listening to The Cars (my favorite music in high school) and smoking some Danish Black Vanilla in my pipe. I break the pipe out about once a month - this would be the 4th time. not habit forming - I just like an excuse to open the tobacco tin and smell it :)

Malaysia is nice - and a Happy Birthday!

Let's do this in reverse order:

Happy Birthday Maura! I hope it is a fun and happy one. Sorry I can't toast you in person with some Amsterdam gin, but know I will wish you a long-distance toast with some Stoli :)

****

The Malaysia trip was easier than expected (the customers were civil) and the travel wasn't too difficult. The outgoing flight was less comfortable than the return, but the hotel was very nice and the shopping was great. Too bad I couldn't think of very much to buy. Just some little souvenirs of the Petronas Twin Towers of KL. Also had a delicious steak dinner and wine with my coworker and some good Thai food. And work paid for it :)

I only took 3 photos and I'm slow at posting photos anyway. Don't expect much.

****

Work remains busy at hell. Another week of it and then off for a short vacation in Beijing. I hope I can get away without too many issues chasing me from work. I guarantee I'll be standing in the Forbidden City checking my BlackBerry.

I must have been on the ground too long

I'm trying to remember my last trip. I think it was the US back in July. Wow! I haven't flown for 8 weeks? Must be about time then.

GP and I decided to go to Beijing (never been there) right before the national holiday (Oct 1-3). It will be a MADHOUSE traveling during the holiday, so we will go Sep 20-24. Originally we were going to do the overnight train, but my Oct 19th got too busy, then the 20th, so, we will fly the night of the 20th. Not too expensive and only about 2 hours flying time.

I was leaning towards modern, western hotels, but then I found this hutong this morning. Sounds good and about 70% of the Holiday Inn at the same distance from city center.

And, since I had 8 weeks on the ground, the gods of gotcha decided I need to do some extra flying. Emergency customer visit. Leaving Sunday morning for 1 day in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, to be exact). Six hours flying each way for a 1 hour meeting. As we say in China "the customer is the king". At least it's a new country for me :)