Playing Doctor

A brief tryst with Amtrak in three acts.

Well, I've never been on Amtrak before and I've heard some bad stories, but this seems OK. The train is on time, clean, and the few people on it are well behaved. This seems like such a nice service, yes it is a little pricey but the soft caress of the polyester seats is alluring, not to mention that adequate space, plus two standard power jacks right at every seat. It's so easy to get work done! I don't see why every one wouldn't want to use this service.

Nice to see you again Amtrak. You're punctual, but I notice this time that you're a bit odourous and full of loud people. Ah, I see this train has come from Washington D.C. But of course you are full, and smell a bit. With so many people for so long, you might expect that, even though it would be easy to ventilate or deodourise the cabin. That's OK, I can get work done and the train will be in Boston in just over two hours. It's great that I don't have to worry about dropping off a rental car or contemplate the motoring purgatory that is 'driving' on the I-95 and Mass pike.

Ah, the start of another relaxed Amtrak voyage. The now familiar train that is running on time, how lovely. It's late but soon I'll be comfortably home, arriving unruffled. Oh dear, the passenger in front of me has his seat totally reclined, making it a bit uncomfortable to type on the laptop. No matter, I can manage, it is only for another hour. What's this? A rail draw bridge is stuck in the up position? That is a bit odd. Well I'm sure this will be resolved shortly and then we'll be on our way. Hmm thirty minutes have passed and they have admitted via the PA that they still have no idea what is wrong. This is a bit a testing. So, it takes more than an hour to even figure out what is wrong with one of these things eh? What is so hard about keeping a bloody bridge working? It just goes up and down! Why did that take an hour and thirty minutes? Now I get to New Haven at nearly 2 am instead of 12:20 am! That's it Amtrak. It's over!

Messed up

I've only endured two days of what must be the most severe jet lag I've ever experienced, but I am very much ready for it to be over. I can't work like this.

Yesterday I didn't get to sleep until 2 am. But at least I got up at 7:30 am so I could head in to the office. I felt super tired just after lunch, but I persisted with consciousness. Thinking exercise would help me sleep I left the office a little early to get in a run up East Rock before sunset (4:30 pm). It was a great run, at least.

I tried to sleep at 10 pm. I tried for five hours. Just lying there trying not to think. You can't call that sleeping. In the end I got out of bed at 3 am because I was so bored with trying to sleep. Back in bed at 4 am, I tried to sleep again. Sleep was still a difficult prospect but drifted off eventually. On waking I find it is suddenly 3:30 in the afternoon. It has also been snowing.

I feel trapped in some bizarre universe where nothing takes place at the right time. I can see one hour of sunshine a day. Is this dinner or breakfast?

Lao Wei vs. The Great Wall

A great people
Originally uploaded by phdstudent

Waking up at a reasonable hour after last night's losing battle against sleep has me wondering what to do first. Food perhaps. Breakfast is included with the room so that seems easy enough. I seek out the restaurant in the rear courtyard.

The restaurant is pretty Beijing mid-market hotel typical. I try to avoid the attempts at English breakfast and grab the supposedly Chinese things that are available. There are some tiny sweet bao filled with not red bean paste, plus a bit of fried rice, a fried egg, and something that looks like yu xiang rou si (fish flavoured pork). I have to ask for chop sticks. It is still a pleasant surprise that my Mandarin is comprehensible on some level. Reservations about the food aside it is filling and has a high calorie count. Much needed for the coming walk along the great wall.

While I'm in the restaurant two English citizens also enter. I strike up a conversation and ask to join them. On making the acquaintance of Mike and Tina I discover that they are co-workers who have come to Beijing for a few days having flown up from Hong Kong. They are employed there dealing with the Lehman Bros bankruptcy clean up. I notice that they have completely avoided any Chinese food whatsoever.

As we break fast together I find out they they are also heading to the great wall today. They had booked a driver to take them to Simatai, much further out and more wild than Mutianyu. I am surprised, the guide book suggesting that could take more than a day, but they think it would be just one day all up with the information they received from the reception. I quickly decide to crash their trip to Simatai. On asking if they would happy to have me along they say they would be generously in favour. Great! They are also leaving immediately after breakfast.

Beijing

After a night of being up late, pleasantly procrastinating with The Science of Sleep and my wonderful upstairs housemates, I begin packing hastily for my imminent three week trip. It is a relief to finally get that done and the four hours of sleep I can steal are welcome. All too soon the morning's light creeps in around the curtains, the icy cold New Haven air is biting at my face and I'm in a taxi to the station for the 8 am train to New York. I justify breakfast on the train from Dunkin' Donuts as appropriately American and choke down the cream cheese bagel and 'coffee'. The woman in the line behind me could be heard ordering her coffee: a large french vanilla with ten sugars. I get some sleep on the train but it isn't long before grand central, the bus to JFK, and the most talkative financial advisor I've ever met. Susanna works for JP Morgan and was a pleasant if some what boisterous diversion from the traffic jams on the way to terminal one.

Mid Week NY II

Down and back on the metro north railroad to get my single entry three month visa from the PRC NY consulate today. It was really quick at the consulate, enter (security check), go to window 9 and submit receipt, recieve token then go to window 8, pay and receive visa in passport, leave. There were no lines. The tourist visa is $110 for US citizens or $30 if you are from NZ. Nice.

I had get lunch for the train on the way back and the dining concourse at Grand Central seemed a reasonable option. I wanted to try a knish, a thing that is frequently available in NY that I hadn't tried. It also bears some similarity to a pie. This place at Grand Central had spinach knish so I ordered one. I didn't think it would be enough for lunch so I weighed up the options and went for a cheddar and broccoli focaccia too. It looked a bit like a pizza.

An Italian guy served me at this place and he put the focaccia in one of those flat press grills. A Hispanic co-worker asked him why he was doing that when he could just use the microwave. The Italian guy replied to the effect that this was how an Italian would eat focaccia, and the Hispanic guy wouldn't know because he wasn't Italian. The Hispanic guy persisted suggesting the microwave and then the Italian guy said "If you keep talking about that microwave, I'll hit you with a brick and then say 'fuhgedaboutit', how's that for Italian?!"

Mid week NY

I left applying for a single entry three month Visa to the People's Republic of China a little bit late. It's only four working days to get one done, but you don't want any complications fouling things up. They recommend turning up at the consulate on a Wednesday morning. Looks like I'll have to trade a week day for one on the weekend. Fortunately a mate from the upstairs apartment is keen on going to NY on the same day.

Two hour train trip at 7:50 am to NY. It's a great time to get some reading done. I know a lot more about Mn ligation than previously! Shuttle to Times Square, leg it through Hell's Kitchen to Di Maggio and 42nd.

The Chinese consulate has American hired security guards. They check my passport and let me and my friend in. Then there is the airport style metal detection X-raying thing. Their metal detector doesn't detect my belt buckle. Fruit isn't allowed in the consulate, but my friend can get her three apples back when we leave. A very short wait followed by 20 seconds with a clerk who just wants my visa form and passport. I have to convince him to take a copy of my DS2019 as well (non-US citizens need evidence of their right to live in the US if applying for a visa in the US). That was a little worrying. All done.

UN Tour: $12.50 to say that you have been in the general assembly. The rest of it is better off being read about online. Various trinkets sent to the UN by various governments (an 8-tusk ivory piece by the Chinese government!), the millennium development goals, various statistics that put UN goals in focus like the amount of government spending on arms compared to the cost of eliminating illiteracy etc. There was a statue from Hiroshima that had been exposed to the blast from little boy and had melted a little on one side. I guess it has to be lowest common denominator type stuff, but it was a bit disappointing.

Street food: Really decent middle eastern truck served up some halal action. Falafel has no right to taste as good as it does. Chick peas?! are you kidding me?

MoMA: Van Gogh exhibition was super. Starry Night Over the Rhone is great. The exhibition laid out his work from early beginnings in his late 20s starting with the effets de soir and heading right up to Starry Night. Really great. I saw Pollock's Number: One. I can't tell if some modern art is a hilarious joke or not, is that the point? MoMA mug acquired to replace cracked $6 New York mug.

Dinner: Off to the East Village for Panna II. Once we had arrived outside Panna II, listed in the lonely planet guide NY, it was clear that competitors had noticed their business and tried to capitalise on it. Outside Panna II we were greeted by two guys trying to get us to enter their restaurants. One represented Panna II, the other pointed toward a door right beside Panna II's. This was a prime opportunity to get a deal! Before we could get down to the nitty gritty a third restauranteer turns up saying to come downstairs, and that we could have free wine! Suddenly it seemed that making a deal could be a really bad idea and we headed directly into Panna II. The food isn't outstanding there but it is tasty and the price is right. Would go again.

This was the day after the election. You couldn't buy a copy of the Times for love or money. Well, it depends how much money.

Nightmare on Bleecker St

On my first trip to NY, I didn't use the subway at all. I just schlepped the entire trip, all around mid-town. That was a lot of walking. Why not use the subway? A friend here in the Have' had told me that it was a bit complicated and she mentioned that it was good to be careful. It was not a strong recommendation. In any event subsequent trips around NY were filled with easy subway trips, all over the place with no hassle at all. What is so hard about express and local? (A map is essential though.)

All of that was fine until attempting to change lines at Lafayette-Broadway/Bleecker st station trying to go uptown. In retrospect it was very straight forward but at the time it was a mass transit horror with wind, rain, low temperatures and fatigue (twelve hours in New York is a long time) combining to make it super great. Witness: my cohort and I were not alone in our frustration. We walked the wrong way to get the station not once, but twice, then entered the wrong side of the station and paid to go the wrong way once we had found the right station. Eventually we got everything sorted and I can laugh now, but it was a bit crap at the time.

It was worth it to get down to the East Village for a fun Indian place called Panna II.

US buses

Took the bus to the mall today. I missed the express bus; that left me sitting on the local for about an hour. Pretty early into that hour a guy got on and took the last remaining free seat beside me. This guy stunk. I don't know what it was. I can only hazard a guess that it was some ultra-virulent form of body odour. It was harsh. I ended up breathing in through my mouth to keep the waves of nausea at bay. Everything else has started to smell like this guy. I can't seem to escape this stench, apparently adsorbed to my very olfactory sensors.

Desynchronosis

Symptoms may include: Irritability, irrationality, and nausea. It sounds like 7 am with no coffee.

Travelling against the date line sucks. Also, I didn't sleep for long on the plane; there was a bit of chop over the Bay of Bengal and down the Malacca Strait. It's good to be where people speak English a lot and Russian very little. If I have to say 'spasiba', again in the next month, it will be too soon.

Going for kopi and something to eat. Singapore food seems familiar and comforting to me right now. Not the shopping though. Actually, on intro to Singapore advertising reel they showed on the plane I found it very jarring that they cited the three major cultures on the island as more shopping opportunities and not as points of interest in their own right.

I know Singapore is great for shopping and some people come here for that reason only. I am not one of those people. There is much more here than that.

From Russia with Love

I'm in a net cafe in Kuznetsky Most. I was looking for food, but then wanted to do some email. Moscow is mostly awesome. It doesn't seem that Soviet though. The 'New Russians' with their conspicuous consumption are quite evident however. This is a world away from Pushchino. I am still looking forward to my return home though. Being able to order food in english will be a relief. Time for dinner and the metro back to the hotel.