My fourth Trip

[Vince G]

Jim, Who knows what's up with the general? From a military stand point I can't see not liking the US with the training help they get. Something must have been personal to him? Some US military yokel might have been showing off? or gave some attitude? So he thinks we're all like that.

[ttwjr32]

a lot of the older chinese men are like this so i wouldnt be to concerned about it.
they are just very old school and are still in the Mao era  not really rude just not
interested in life in general outside of China nor interested in people that are from
abroad.  might have went to take a nap at his young girlfreinds place that he pays
for. :icon_cheesygrin:

[maxx]

I think Ted hit Closest to the Mark.With the the general.Ive gotten some attitude from the older generation.These are the guys walking around in there old military Jackets from the Mao era.I wouldn't take it to personell Sarge.The evil empire stuff was drilled into there heads real hard.Back in the day.

[JimB]

I am not worried about it.  In fact i can understand it.  As Maxx said that stuff was drilled into them from day one in the military.  He might even have been an advisor to the North Vetnamese back in the day.  We were told that too.  the Chicom weaponry we fought against, the support had to come from somewhere.  maybe he thought I was going to be nasty to him for it.  Who knows.  His wife showed me pictures of when they were young officers and he looked like your typical young Lieutenant dressed in his uniform. But strangely enough, now that I think on it, no pictures from that time on.  Just old pictures.  One of her parents, none of his.  I bet he has an interesting story.  Maybe someday.  Maybe not.  Different cultures, different prejudices.  My wife's family all hate the Japanese.  Because of WWII.  A lot of cousins died at the hands of the Japanese.  Whole parts of the family wiped out.  There was a Japanese BBQ place I liked to go to and my wife was always iffy about it.  Once I heard the story of the Japanese and her family, I understood and dont even talk about going there.
Today is the last day for New Years fireworks. Thank God.  At 10 am it started here and as of noon has not stopped.  Every night since the 13th, fireworks are going off.  I wonder if they take the ammo from the army at this time of year, as who would know that a revolution was started. hehe  I know there are cannon as I clearly remember what their sound was. Just waiting for my wife to come home for lunch, she has to work today.  Later

Jim & Gina

[odysseus007]

was wondering about the no foreigners allowed hotels?
what is their reason for that or does this just happen
in the smaller cities here

Mostly they suck, dingy rooms, squat toilets, water from copper pipes coming outta the wall, wake up to the sound of throat clearing & spitting, etc. I stayed one night in such a place in Beijing, about Y100/day. Give me the foreigner hostel anyday! Cheaper, and so much cleaner, and better company. Only Y30-50/day, the last time I was there.

[Willy The Londoner]

Mostly they suck, dingy rooms, squat toilets, water from copper pipes coming outta the wall, wake up to the sound of throat clearing & spitting, etc.

I cannot remember you staying at my place Ted?

Willy

[rockycoon]

Don't piss the general off, he may have a chinese Burrp gun hidden under his bed.  Let them win at cards...haha

:icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin:

[ttwjr32]

very good Willy

[JimB]

I have been satisfied with the 7 day Inn.  Very clean, cheap.  I would not object to staying here again.  They go out of their way to clean when I say so.  they will wait until I call then come up within 10 minutes. Or I will tell them when we leave and when we come back it is always clean.  My wife likes that they leave the little grooming kit everyday, which of course she puts away.  They change the bedding every other day, they would do it every day if I asked.

[odysseus007]

Haha Jimbo,
Just don't get yourself confused with the supermart "Jia Le Fu" or (have you guessed?) ......

Carrefour :icon_cheesygrin:

I  believe the text is : ? ? ? .

which should be good for you to know since your name, going by the meaning, is ? ? .

BTW who is Suzie Q? I think I'm old enough to remember a song of that name by CCR?

[ttwjr32]

yes it was a song made popular by ccr  brings back the younger days hahaha

[JimB]

Exactly, CCR. Suzie Q.  That is where I got that name.  She bops around, loves the camera and is very very smart. Plus she is spoiled.

Had dinner with my wife's friends last night.  I was told that he was the headmaster at big high school here in Beijing, so I was anxious to get his input on English teaching jobs in the area.  I am not really interested right now but I thought it would be valuable to talk to the horses mouth so to speak.  I was really disappointed that he didnt speak any English at all.  Of course I dont speak Mandarin and my wife's English is ok, but not very technical.  So when we got there I found out that he was a headmaster in a high school but only in the design classes.  He was in home design.  So that blew that.  we had a good dinner anyway.  we sat next to a big window on the third floor and had fireworks going off all around.  It was the last night for them.  they ended at midnight. thankfully.
This AM we had 3 inches of snow on the ground.  Will sure be glad to get back to warmer weather. Cannot get rid of this cold.  Just 2 more days here and it is flying by. we are making decisions on what to take and what not to when she gets her visa so it feels better anyway.

[JimB]

Well, I am back in the US.  It is good to be home, but it was the hardest time yet, leaving my wife there.  We did not do anything special except just be a couple having fun with her /my family.  I miss her so much already. I feel like an ass leaving her there.
I will not be flying Delta/Northwest again.  I know the weight limit on bags, but I was only 5 kilos over and they charged me 50 USD.  There was a prblem with the plane so we sat on the runway for 2 hours.  Now I dont want to leave with a problem but I dont want to have a problem to begin with.  That put us late geting into Tokyo, I literally had to run to get on my flight, then it was back into an old 747 again. The attendants were all ready for retirement plus we had a real queen as an attendant.  I kid you not.  He walked and talked just like a woman, no question as to what he was.  I am not a homophobe by any means but first a vampire then a queen.  Lousy food.  terrible service, lousy planes. Then the lose my luggage.  I had already gotten them in Atlanta, but they lost it from Atlanta to Savannah. This is the second time they have don this.  My last trip was the same.  it took them two days to find it.  Now I am into the second day on this one.  This time was all of my clothes plus the clothes my wife bought for my new grandbaby.  Only KAL for me from now on.

[shaun]

Jim, Delta has changed and as you can see not for the better.  I had enough sky miles for a free flight to anywhere in the world and Delta stole them.  My complaints were useless. After that happened I called a friend who has worked there over 20 years and he confirmed that things have changed; not for the better of consumers.  I won't fly them anymore either.

[mustfocus]

Well, I am back in the US.  It is good to be home, but it was the hardest time yet, leaving my wife there.  We did not do anything special except just be a couple having fun with her /my family.  I miss her so much already. I feel like an ass leaving her there.
I will not be flying Delta/Northwest again.  I know the weight limit on bags, but I was only 5 kilos over and they charged me 50 USD.  There was a prblem with the plane so we sat on the runway for 2 hours.  Now I dont want to leave with a problem but I dont want to have a problem to begin with.  That put us late geting into Tokyo, I literally had to run to get on my flight, then it was back into an old 747 again. The attendants were all ready for retirement plus we had a real queen as an attendant.  I kid you not.  He walked and talked just like a woman, no question as to what he was.  I am not a homophobe by any means but first a vampire then a queen.  Lousy food.  terrible service, lousy planes. Then the lose my luggage.  I had already gotten them in Atlanta, but they lost it from Atlanta to Savannah. This is the second time they have don this.  My last trip was the same.  it took them two days to find it.  Now I am into the second day on this one.  This time was all of my clothes plus the clothes my wife bought for my new grandbaby.  Only KAL for me from now on.

Hey Jim,

Sorry to hear about the bad experience, but great to see you're back home safe.

I would suggest that if you have time, write a letter to the airline and the airports involved.  You might not get much, but if you don't say anything, NOTHING gets done and someone else will have to suffer.