Well, I must be slipping, or perhaps it’s just that I had too much to do to think about champagne and/or oysters until quite late in the day.  I got up fairly early and (again) strolled down the Corso to the harbor to catch the ferry to the city.  The day was a bit overcast and more cool than the last two days, so I ended up inside the ferry for part of the ride since I didn’t bring a wrap.  When we got in, I dropped by the kiosk selling tickets to the harbor tour that Mary recommended (Captain Cook’s Tours, no less), bought my ticket for the 10:00 cruise and then went over to a little coffee shop for breakfast and people watching.  It was pretty interesting from a people-watching perspective.  Many people live outside of Sydney and take the ferry in to work every day, so there was a mix of tourists and business-people streaming through the terminal for a while.  I wonder if those who commute in like that get blasé over the view coming into the harbor?

We boarded the harbor tour boat (NOT the Minnow) for a three-hour tour (a three-hour tour) and began the tour.  It was a fascinating mix of the history of the settlement and protection of the harbor and a glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous (and not so famous but still very rich).  The boat nosed into all the little bays and inlets that make up Sydney Harbor and the Middle Harbor.  We got a wonderful view of the Sydney Heads, which are the headlands that lead out to sea, and the fortifications built 200 years ago to protect the harbor, as well as the WWII fortifications that supplemented them.  The houses lining the bays are really something fantastic.  Almost everything built on the water runs upwards of $12 million, and some of them (depending on location) are well over $100 million.  I took loads of pictures from the top deck of the boat, including the draw-bridge in the Middle Harbor, which opened to let some of the tall-masted sail boats of the well-to-do out of the inner harbor.  Much very scenic scenery! 

We headed back into Circular Quay at about 12:30, and I headed into the Rocks for lunch.  I stopped at a nice little coffee shop for a sandwich and sat on the patio (which ALL restaurants seem to have) to munch and watch people stroll by.  I spent about three hours wandering through the narrow alleys and “walks” of the Rocks, looking into various stores and NOT buying any opals after checking out the prices.  I did buy some touristy kitsch to pass out among friends, however, just to prove I was in Sydney!  Being quite tired (and in a bit of pain from all the walking) I headed back to the Quay to catch the ferry back to Manley and grab some dinner.  I ate in the restaurant in the Sebel again.  They had all the window doors wide open, and it was very nice sitting, facing the ocean, and lingering over dinner (oh, and just to reassure you that no tradition has yet been broken, I had oysters for an appetizer and champagne to accompany them before the main course).  The couple dining next to me was on holiday from Melbourne, and we had a nice little chat about Manley, Sydney, Melbourne and the US.  I think the Aussies are probably the most similar to us than any other peoples I’ve met, and they’re always quite friendly and curious about the US.  Interestingly enough, they’re quite proud about their participation in supporting us in Iraq.  After dinner, I went back to my room for a shower and to pack up in preparation for moving to my new hotel on Thursday.

OK, I swear, it’s not me – I didn’t say a word.  I met Mary for the first time this morning when she picked me up from my hotel at 9:30.  After the “happy to finally meet you” conversation, the first thing she said was “I thought I’d take you into the city today and give you your bearings.  Wouldn’t it be fun to take the ferry over to the Circular Quay, go to the Opera House Oyster Bar and have champagne and oysters while we sit by the water and talk?”  Maybe it’s an Australian thing, but I think I’ve died and gone to champagne and oyster heaven.  And, so far, they haven’t let me pay for anything – I think it’s being expensed as a “welcoming the North American Director, Corporate Counsel” entertainment expense.  At any rate, we did just exactly that.

There’s a pedestrian concourse running from the beach (where my current hotel is) to the harbor (where my new hotel will be) called the “Corso.”  We strolled toward the harbor to catch the ferry over to Sydney, while Mary let me know which shops were tourist traps and which ones had reasonable prices if I wanted to do any shopping.  I dropped in one shop to buy a hat because the sun here is pretty fierce – I’ve already got a light sunburn that I don’t intend to let get any redder. (I’ll pick up some sun block in the morning when I go to catch the ferry again.)  We got to the harbor and she bought our ferry tickets while I checked out the various packages available for me to use tomorrow and the rest of the week.  The ferry ride is a little over a half hour and offers an absolutely magnificent view of Sydney Harbor, the Harbor Bridge, the Opera House and everything else Sydney.  I took a bunch of pictures, and Mary took some of me with Sydney in the background.  There were some young Spanish tourists there, and we took turns taking pictures of each other with each other’s cameras, so Mary will be in several shots too.

We landed at Circular Quay (pronounce “key”) and Mary showed me how to find the various sights I’m going to be seeing over the next couple of days.  They make it very simple – almost every place you might want to go and every tour you want to take leaves from the Circular Quay, and the docks are so clearly labeled a child couldn’t manage to get lost.  From the Quay, we strolled up toward the Opera House.  There was a big parade/demonstration going on with a few hundred people dressed in traditional Arabic robes, chanting and yelling.  We thought it was a protest until a man came up and offered us a pamphlet explaining that it was an observance of the life of an Arabic prophet and meant to embrace peace and denounce terrorism around the world.  Have to admit it was something of a relief to know that we weren’t going to be in the middle of an anti-war protest on the steps of the Opera House!

The Opera House is just as beautiful (and impressive) as you see in the pictures.  We strolled around the outside but didn’t choose to go inside.  Instead we strolled back a few hundred yards to the aforesaid Opera House Oyster Bar.  It’s a tiny little place with all the seating outside right on the water.  We got there fairly early (it was only around 11:00) so we had our pick of tables and, of course, we chose to sit at a table that was right on the waterside.  We perused the menu, and ordered a dozen oysters prepared in two different styles (one using Tabasco and Worcester and the other using a light cheese), a dozen “king” prawns and a bottle of champagne (South Australian vintage).  Everything was very leisurely – they came right out with the champagne and then brought the oysters, let us enjoy them until they were mostly gone and brought the prawns.  King prawns indeed.  They were huge, and you had to cut the heads off and peel them before you could eat them.  Sounds yuck, but they were delicious.  We probably sat there for two hours just people-watching, discussing what I’d like to do in Sydney over the next few days and talking a bit about work.

Finally, we got up and headed back for the ferry to return to Manley.  When we got back, Mary gave me a small tour of the Corso to show me which were the best coffee shops near my new hotel.  Then, we got in her car and headed up to the shopping mall that is right next to our offices. I decided that I just didn’t bring enough summer clothing to deal with the summer heat here.  So, we went shopping.  I picked up a couple of pair of cropped pants and three tank tops, which will be more than enough to take me through the rest of my stay since I’ll soon have a washer and dryer in my new hotel.  Mary had to take off to pick up her son, but rather than just let me take a taxi or a bus back to my hotel, she called her assistant, “Sue,” and had her come meet me at the mall.  While I was finishing up picking out my stuff and going through the register, I got a call from MiniCooperChic with some exciting news (which I’ll let her share with everyone instead of spilling the beans here). It tickled me to be in a Target in Sydney, Australia receiving a call from a friend in Mesquite, Texas – kinda surreal. Sue showed up, and again with the strolling and talking.  Then, Sue took me back to my hotel, and dropped me off at about 5:30.  I went upstairs, took a shower, dealt with work email and went down for a walk on the beach.  More strolling, for about a half hour, and I headed back to the hotel for dinner.  The ground floor of the hotel is a restaurant with a front wall that consists of floor to ceiling glass doors all the way across.  Depending on how windy/cool it is, they open some or all of them and you dine alfresco facing the ocean.  I had a calamari appetizer and then a really good veal scaloppini for a very leisurely dinner.  They seem to do everything leisurely here – it’s nice.  After dinner, I stopped in at the lobby to pick up some of the brochure maps that I’ll be using tomorrow.

I plan to take a harbor tour that lasts two and a half hours and snakes into all the little bays that make up Sydney Harbor.  Then, I’ll head over to the Rocks, which was where the original convicts and soldiers founded the original settlement.  It’s now primarily a historical walk and shopping bazaar, renowned for having the best aboriginal arts and crafts available for purchase in the city.  Consulting my trusty guidebook again, it says the Rocks has many cafes, restaurants, and boutique shops, as well as a large number of opal merchants.  We’ll see what the prices are like, but I’d like to buy an opal or two if they’re not too high.  Depending on the time, I may try to go over to the botanical gardens or the zoo, but I’ll be doing a lot of walking through the Rocks, so that might not be something I’ll want to do at that point.  I’ll see how I feel. 

Well, it’s 10:00pm here, and I’m going to get into bed and read until I fall asleep.  Tomorrow and Thursday, I’m on my own, then on Friday, Jane and I will probably head up to Hunter Valley for the weekend and take a wine tasting tour.  Next week is all work.  Ta ta for now.

So, I finally got to sleep around 11:00 last night, which was pretty good considering that my body clock reckoned it to be about 8:00pm (Shanghai time)  Had a really good night’s sleep, woke about 8:30 and had breakfast.  Jane picked me up at around 11:00, and we headed off for the day.  That sounds so simple, and I guess it really was, but we had a bunch of stops along the way (naturally).  Let’s call this the day of drinking champagne and exploring the coastline north of Sydney.  Absolutely lovely, in every way. We started off seeing the sights in Manley, where my hotel is.  Along the way, we checked at a different hotel that Jane knows of (trainees are booked into a hotel that offers “serviced apartments”).  They’re not in the “posh” part of town, but they’re much more spacious, have separate bedrooms and living rooms, full kitchens and laundry facilities in each apartment, wireless internet (rather then the cable the Sebel has) and cost less than the Sebel.  I’ve decided to switch to that hotel to save some money – both for me and for the company.  The washer and dryer cemented my decision – I only brought about 10 days worth of clothing and being able to wash everything in a washing machine and dryer, rather than in the sink, was enormously appealing.  So, I’ll be checking out of this hotel and into the Quest Grand Esplanade. 

From there, we went to the Manley Harbor to have lunch, which was in a restaurant with a dining room right over the water.  We started off with oysters on the half shell and a bottle of champagne.  Pretty much set the tone for the day.  I think I’m glad Jane lives on the other side of the world – we’d be bad for each other if we lived too close together!  From the restaurant, we did a quick change of cars to pick up Jane’s Volvo convertible from the auto shop and set off up the coast.  This is the kind of place that you just need a convertible to properly explore.

Along the way, we either passed through or stopped at a couple of “yacht clubs” (with champagne breaks!), the church in which Nicole Kidman was married (to what’s his name), and small communities named “Newport Beach,” “Palm Beach,” and sundry other names familiar to those of us from the USA.   I took a number of pictures, but they’re all going to be labeled “Northern Beaches” because they all kind of blended into each other.  In one way, they were all typical coastal towns.  In another way, they were all new and different.  I don’t know that I can explain the difference, but they were beautiful!  It was great having a “native guide” to tell me what I was looking at, and we compared real estate prices for such homes as we drove.  Australians definitely live an outdoor life as much as possible.  Almost every restaurant and pub I’ve seen has patio seating and “window doors” that they open entirely when the weather is fine.  The views were all stunning, combining lush forestation with cliffs and headlands, and not that many signs of habitation as you got right up on the water.  They’re beginning the process of covering all their lovely land with posh homes (just like we see on our coast), but there’s still plenty of space where humans are not yet (quite) encroaching.  We spent a while on Palm Beach watching a man “kite surfing” – standing on a surf board and wearing a harness connecting him to a huge kite (not a parachute – more like a kite), which dragged him along the surf.  He got up to some really fast speeds.  The weather here is cooler than I was expecting – in the 70s rather than the 90s – but it finally started getting a bit cool, and we headed back down the coast.

On the way back down the coast, we stopped for dinner at a little Italian restaurant for which Jane used to work.  It’s a family affair and had quite a good menu.  Dad would have liked it!  We chatted with the family, ate too much, drank too much and had fun watching the traffic flow by.  Much of the day was spent just gazing at the stunning views, comparing Australian with American (everything) and just enjoying each other’s company.  It’s only 9:30 now, but I’m ready for bed.  “Mary” (one of our managers) is picking me up tomorrow morning to take me into Sydney to see the sights there.  I’ve got a list of “must see’s” and I’m sure she’ll introduce me to much that isn’t on the tourist maps.  This has been quite a nice change from the Horror of Hong Kong – I may be able to forget the past now and concentrate on the future!  More to come . . . .

OK, just a quick update because I’m headed out to see a bit of Sydney.  Got in last night and found my driver, got to the hotel around 10:30pm.  It was only 7:30pm on my body clock, so I stayed up a bit watching TV.  Meeting Jane in about 10 minutes to go see some sights.  I may change hotels because Jane has one she uses regularly that sounds better equipped for less money.  The less money part is kind of important right now because I’m on my own dime this week.  Of course, it won’t hurt to save the company some money too!  I’ll let you all know if I switch later.  Ta ta!

Well, the morning was pretty leisurely.  Jane had a nail appointment at 9:00, so we weren’t going to meet until 10:00.  Gave me plenty of time to get packed up, have breakfast, check out and check my bags with the hotel desk.  Then, I took a taxi to her hotel and off we went.  First stop was one of two major pearl markets in the city.  I had actually wanted to go to the other one, which is apparently the largest in Asia, but it is also pretty much an hour’s taxi ride in the opposite direction from the airport.  Since she had to be back no later than 5:00 to catch her flight, we opted for the closer market.  So, I found myself once again on the Nanjing Dong Lu, going into a building that I had taken a picture of the day before!

We spent three hours there.  I ain’t saying how much I spent, but I will say that it paled in comparison with the money Jane blew.  Good gawd but that woman loves jewelry!  I mean, I bought about 15 strings of differing sizes and colors of pearls, a bracelet, and three necklaces that were of intricate enough design that I knew I wouldn’t have the time or patience to make them myself (good excuse, huh?).  Jane, on the other had bought no fewer than eight necklaces, ten pair of earrings, six or seven bracelets and a ring – several in black pearls, which aren’t cheap even in Shanghai.  She shrugged off the final total of over $1300 AUS, saying it would have cost her three times that in Australia.  I felt positively cheap by comparison.

From the pearl market, we headed back to a bazaar located behind the Hotel Intercontinental, which was where Jane was staying.  This was the place that she apparently bought over 500 DVDs the last time she came to China.  She was looking specifically for the guy she bought a bunch of stuff from last time.  He speaks English and after all her purchases, followed her around the bazaar translating and helping her bargain.  We didn’t find him, so we headed straight for the corner holding all the shops selling DVDs.  I bought about a dozen for a total of 120RMB, which equates to about $15 USD.  MiniCooperChic, I bought a copy of Children of Men and told Jane that you said it was the best depressing movie you’ve seen in a long while.  She bought one too. 

Onward and upward (literally), we went looking at bags (Louis Vuitton!) and sundry other items.  You can’t imagine how many little shops, stalls really, are crammed into each bazaar.  The sellers were quite a bit more aggressive than those I encountered yesterday.  Along with their cries of “lady, lady, you want buy watch? You want buy bag?” there was quite a bit of grabbing by the arm to drag us into their shops.  After I slapped one guy’s hand and yelled, “don’t touch me” word seemed to spread and they stopped grabbing at us.  Once again, Jane spent gobs of money.  Unfortunately, we were running out of time, so we headed back to her hotel so she could check out and we could grab some dinner.  We had wanted to hit an antiques market where she wanted to get a jade Buddha she spotted last time she was here, but she had only two hours to pack, get checked out, grab dinner and catch a cab to the airport.

So, all-in-all, another good day . . . until (segue chilling musical interlude) the Horror of Hong Kong (dum dum DUM)!!!  Actually, the flight to Hong Kong was pretty nice.  The plane was almost empty, and even if I hadn’t been booked in business class, they moved the dozen people on the plane up there and served dinner and drinks to all.  I caught a two-hour nap on the flight, and we arrived in Hong Kong at 1:10am.  That’s when the fun started.  Although I had checked my bags straight through to Sydney, they couldn’t check me all the way through because of the length of the layover (8 hours).  I figured, no problem, I’ll just check in when I get there, find the business class lounge for Cathay Pacific, and catch some zzzzzz’s while I wait for my flight. 

Hah!  First off, the Cathay Pacific desk didn’t open until 5:45am and the lounge didn’t open until 6:00 (which really didn’t matter because you can’t get into the lounge without your boarding pass and the special pass you get to prove you’re in business class and entitled to wait in the lounge).  The waiting area to which I had access had those rows of chairs, you know, two seats and then an armrest, two seats and then another armrest, etc.  If you curl up real small, you can kinda fit on the two seats.  If you just give up and drape your knees over an armrest, you can fit without falling off the narrow seats (Chinese people are small!).  I had my neck pillow, so between that and draping my sweater over my eyes, I pretended to get about three hours of sleep until the airline desk opened and I could check in.  Contrary to what someone told me (I can’t remember who or I’d curse them with something inventive), there are NO shops and not much to see in the Hong Kong airport.  Since  I didn’t feel like clearing customs and then dragging my carry on around while I explored whatever I could see, I just went straight to the lounge.

So, I’m sitting in the lounge now after having something to eat and finding that they don’t have couches in this lounge so you can’t stretch out for a nap.  I figured I might as well catch up on this journal rather than swear at the fate that will have me sleeping on the 12 hour flight to Sydney, only to wake just in time to go to bed (if I want to start out on Sydney time).  I’m to call Jane when I get to Sydney, and she’s going to take me out to the Hunter Valley for some wine-tasting tomorrow or Tuesday.  I’m nodding away as I type, so I’m going to sign off for now and continue this later.  Bye for now!

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous when I set out this morning for a day sight-seeing and shopping in Shanghai.  I’ve done a fair amount of traveling, but it’s mostly been in North America:  49 of the 50 US states, 3 Canadian provinces, 3 Mexican states, plus England, and Scotland, but this is the first time I’ve been somewhere that I spoke absolutely NONE of the language.  The times I’ve traveled to Mexico, I was fluent in Spanish, and in Scotland, you just have to get them to slow down so you can understand their peculiar brand of English.  Here, I’m having trouble remembering the very few phrases I got my Chinese colleagues to teach me (please, thank you, and too expensive).  Thank heavens the hotel gives you a little card printed in Chinese that says “take me back to the Courtyard Marriott in Pudong” so you can always get “home” again!

At any rate, I started out at 10:00 this morning heading off to the Yu Gardens and Bazaar, which is in the “old city,” where the original settlement started.    According to my trusty guidebook, this part of Shanghai has been settled for over 2,000 years and was well established as a fishing village long before foreigners ever arrived.  Unfortunately, after two Japanese invasions, the Chinese “cultural revolution” and the present day frenzy of tearing down the old and building high-rises, there’s not really all that much that’s truly old in the Old City.  That’s not to say that I didn’t get some fabulous pictures of what we all think of as Chinese architecture, but none of it’s much older than 75-100 years.

Yu Gardens was beautiful, at least what I could see of it.  There was something going on in the Gardens proper, and they weren’t admitting tourists into the actual Gardens.  Naturally, no one spoke English, and I don’t speak Chinese, so there’s no telling what was going on – perhaps there will be something in the paper tomorrow to explain (I get the Shanghai Daily under my door each morning).  So, I proceeded directly to the Bazaar.  Wow.  Double-wow.  Think of a medieval town with narrow, crooked little streets, lined with more tiny little shops than you can count.  The architecture is traditional style, but it’s one of those areas that was rebuilt, so it really isn’t that old.  None-the-less, it’s very colorful and I took lots of pictures. 

You can’t take more than a dozen steps without being accosted by someone saying “lady, lady, you want buy watch?  You want buy bag?  Louis Vuitton!  Prada!”  Some of them were fairly persistent, but all seemed to take a smiling “no” with good enough humor.  I finally stopped at a shop selling suitcases and such and bought another bag to be checked on the trip home.  I can already see that I’ll be buying too much stuff (between Shanghai and Sydney) to fit in the one suitcase I brought!  The bag has wheels, so I dragged it around rather handily for the rest of the day.  I paid all of RMB125, which translates to around $15 for it.  No kidding; things really *are* cheap here.

I wandered through the Yu Gardens Bazaar and found my way finally to the Bund.  Again, from my trusty guide book:  developed mostly in the early 20th century, it is a kilometer-long waterfront sweep of the most magnificently pompous buildings, many of them former headquarters of Western-owned banks and institutions.  The word “bund” is Hindustani in origin and means “embankment.”  It was given its name by the British in the 1840s, when they arrived and began developing it into the British concession in Shanghai.  The buildings are filled with really high-end retailers like Armani, Cartier and the like.  Needless to say, I did no shopping there, although I took some pictures both of the buildings and of the view across the Huangpu River.  It faces Pudong, the new business area that contains over 2,000 skyscrapers, some of them with some pretty funny, er, interesting architecture.  Pudong is where Insight’s Shanghai offices are. 

From the Bund, I found my way onto Nanjing Dong Lu, one of the city’s main east-west arteries and “China No. 1” shopping street.  It’s a pedestrian-only street once you get about 12 blocks from the Bund.  Think neon signs interspersed with older Chinese shops and a *ton* of people.  As a matter of fact, there’s a *ton* of people wherever you go.  Shanghai’s population has exceeded 20 million people now.  Once again, I was approached every dozen steps or so by “lady, lady, you want buy watch?  You want buy bag?  Louis Vuitton!” with the addition of “you want buy CDs?  Very cheap!”  The weather here is pretty cold right now (low 40s), and the wind was blowing off the river, so I ducked into a Starbucks (yes, a Starbucks) for a cup of coffee and to get out of the cold.  Then, I discovered that Starbucks are actually full restaurants here, with a menu of Japanese and Chinese dishes.  So, I had lunch and hot coffee at Starbucks and then bravely ventured forth again to finish Nanjing Dong Lu at its southern end in The People’s Square.  On the way, I passed “Shanghai No. 1 Department Store,” “Shanghai First Food Store,” and “Shanghai No. 1 Dispensary” (they seem to be big on labeling things “Shanghai No. 1”).

I had planned to tour People’s Square, but by the time I got to the end of Nanjing Dong Lu, I was exhausted.  By this point, I had walked about 4 miles all told, which is a lot for me, and been on my feet for 5 hours shopping at little shops, saying “no thank you” a whole lot to those who wanted to sell me watches and bags (Louis Vuitton!), and stopping to take pictures every now and again.  So, I gave in and flagged down a taxi – taking a blue taxi because you never want to take the red taxis (apparently, that company has a bad reputation) – and got back to my hotel at 5:00.  Now that I’ve typed this up, I have to do some laundry and then have dinner.  I have a much-needed massage scheduled at 8:00 in the hotel spa.  I think I’ll have them concentrate on my feet.

Tomorrow, I’m going to try to find the pearl markets with a woman from our Sydney office who was here to do training this past week.  “Jane” is also interested in buying pearls if we can find the big pearl market, and our outside counsel here in Shanghai gave me the address (in Chinese) of  what they think is the right place (my hotel confirmed it this evening when I asked).  If we don’t make it out there, Jane and I will doubtless find other fun things to do before we both need to leave for the airport – probably go see People’s Square and the museums surrounding it.  I’ll update you again soon!

P.S.  It’s 9:30, I’ve got drying underwear hanging all over the bathroom, and the masseur didn’t touch my feet, but I’m still a pile of mush.  The internet connection is down (which seems to happen a lot here), so I can’t send this to everyone tonight.  I’ll try in the morning.

Well, it’s been a week of working hard, with only an occasional “taste” of Shanghai – usually at lunch or dinner.  My presentations went well, and I got a very good start on revising them for their Australian debut (needed to delete and add some country-specific things).  Tomorrow, however, I’m off work and going to do the tourist thing.  I’ve got two days to see a bit of Shanghai as my flight doesn’t leave until 10:30pm on Saturday.  The hotel has helped me map out something of an itinerary and has written each of the place names down in Chinese for me to show taxi drivers.  I’ve got the hotel’s business card with their address written in Chinese, so I should at least be able to get back here no matter how lost I get.  Taxis are *very* cheap here and the best way to get around.  So, tomorrow I set out, armed with guide book, map and lots of RMB (Chinese currency) to spend on whatever I find that strikes my fancy.  Wish me luck!

Thought I’d give you an update, even though I haven’t really done anything but work this morning!  My flight took off from DFW on time Friday morning, but the flight departing Chicago was delayed for about 45 minutes.  So, I got into Shanghai about an hour late, which made things interesting hooking up with the driver my China contact had hired to take me to the hotel.  Hardly any of the taxi drivers here speak English, so Jack had arranged in advance for a driver pick me up and deliver me to the hotel (he’s also picking me up here and taking me to the office on Monday morning).  It took us about an hour to find each other after I finally landed – I was torn between hanging around until I spotted someone holding a sign with my name on it or chancing a taxi using sign language and/or a picture in one of the Shanghai books I brought with me!  Luckily, I finally spotted him.  We tried a bit of conversation in broken English, he coached me in pronunciation of a few points of interest he showed me on the trip, we laughed at each other’s pronunciations, and a good time was had by all.

The lobby of the hotel, which is shaped vaguely like a rocket-ship, is on the 38th floor, and the rooms go up from there.  My room is on the 56th floor, and right now I’m sitting in the Executive Lounge on the 59th floor (wireless internet good!) trying to finish up the presentations I’m giving this week.  They’re not in bad shape, but I still have quite a bit of work to do on them before I can relax and go play.  I’ve been working for a couple of hours, catching up on email and such.  Looking out of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the 59th floor on central Shanghai is as close as I’ve gotten to seeing the city, but I have *got* to work before I can go play.  The weather is overcast/misty, so the view is a bit limited, at it’s in the low 40′s temperature-wise.  About the only impression I have so far is that it’s very clean and surprisingly modern-looking.

I’ll try to write at least once a day and let you all know about anything of interest I get to do.  So far, it looks like I’ve got Tuesday afternoon after 2:00 and all of Friday off, as well as some time intermittently throughout the week during the middle of several days.  OK, to work now! 

As some folks know, I’ve been on the other side of the world for the last month on a business trip to Shanghai, China and Sydney, Australia (with some vacation time thrown in cause I can’t imagine coming all the way over here and not getting to play tourist at least some).  I didn’t particularly want to advertise to the world on a public blog that I would be gone for a month, so I haven’t posted anything of my travels here yet.  However, I’m heading home now (yippee!), and I thought I would start posting the emails I’ve been sending to a few friends while I’ve been traveling.  I’ll post all the Shanghai stuff today and follow up with Australia stuff tomorrow.

In the meantime, I want to post my fervent thank-you’s to MiniCooperChic, Alexander, my brother/sister-in-law, and anyone they recruited to help for taking care of my house and my cats while I’ve been gone.  It’s been a big load off my mind knowing things were taken care of and that MCC actually spent a few nights at the house whilst caretaking for me.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

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Robert A. Heinlein Beginning with technological action stories and progressing to epics with religious overtones, this take-no-prisoners writer racked up some huge sales numbers.