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prrrrl

131 Blog Entries
9 Trips
80 Photos

Trips:

Liaoning, 2013
Beijing I, 2012
Yunnan, China
Beijing, 2010 or Liaoning, 2013. They are appear to be mixed up!
Beijing 2011
Beijing 2015
China 2009
Beijing 2012 II
Philippines!

Shorthand link:

http://blogabond.com/prrrrl




Miscalculation multiplied by Tu

Beijing, China

I packed an old pair of boots on purpose. I thought I could use them for a hike then leave them behind in China giving me more more luggage space for my return trip. WRONG! They are LL Bean boots meaning I can return them at ANY TIME, in any condition for a refund. But I can't return them if I leave them behind in China. That was miscalculation #1.

Miscalculation #2? [Tu?] They are crumbling under foot and I haven't even started the hike. I took them to a local shoe repair man and he did a great job getting the tread under the toe to re-adhere but the right boot is loosing chunks of the sole from the side & under the heal, not the bottom sole, the cushion between the sole and foot part. Not fixable, he said.

There are actually not that many Miles on these boots. I used them to tramp in Australia & New Zealand [down under 'hiking,' if I remember correctly, is thumbing for a ride and 'tramping' is a walk in nature], hike in Chile and not much more. I think my longest hike/tramp was 80 kilometers in 6 days. Sneakers work fine for most of my woods walking.

Any hoo...

Now I need to run out and buy new hikers before I fly to Yunnan tomorrow AND decide if I want to lug the faulty boots back to the US for the money-back guarantee. :-/



permalink written by  prrrrl on February 28, 2012 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Beijing I, 2012
tagged Boots, Tread, Hikers, Miscalculation and Tramp
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Endangered words

Beijing, China

In Mandarin there is greater variety of titles for family members. In stead of 'brother,' 'sister' or 'sibling' there's big sister [jie Jje], little sister [mei mei], big brother [ge ge] and little brother [di di]. They are cute designations of relativity to relatives. When my dorm mate said her mei mei was coming I thought nothing of it except, 'how sweet.' But later I realized that those words are rarely used here as a nation of singletons does not have a ge ge or jie jie; there's been a one child policy in place since the '70's. My roomie doesn't look old enough to predate that rule. Is she a twin? Does she belong to a minority ethnic group that allows acceptations to the rule? Were the parents natal outlaws? None of the above. In reality she was a cousin. Mei mei still sounds better to me.

permalink written by  prrrrl on February 26, 2012 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Beijing I, 2012
tagged China, Family, Brother, Titles, Sister, Siblings and OneChildPolicy
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Maintaining my image, part 3

Beijing, China

Another way to keep the locals staring at me is to do solo videos. I turn the camera on, hold it at arms length pointing back and me and talk away. I often rotate in a Circle so the video will pick up people, actions and objects behind me. This method worked extremely well last night at a crowded restaurant. Crazy big nose...

permalink written by  prrrrl on February 25, 2012 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Beijing I, 2012
tagged Restaurant, Video, Action, BigNose and Stares
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Test Step

Beijing, China

I bought new dance shoes here. They got their first test run last night at a weekly ballroom dance. Good thing I like Salsa as I think that's the only dance I'll find at a high level here. A bit surprised at that - the low proficiency of the other dances, I mean. Did I say that out loud???

Remember, I cannot take comments here as hoped. You'll have to scrounge up my regurlar email address. :-/

permalink written by  prrrrl on February 25, 2012 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Beijing, 2010 or Liaoning, 2013. They are appear to be mixed up!
tagged Dance, Salsa, Ballroom and Proficiency
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Bad is unusual

Beijing, China

Usually my restaurant experiences in China are great. Service is usually great [even back in the days of transitioning away from the communist system towards free markets - man, do I have some stories to tell from back then!]. Food is usually great even at low end establishments. Last night was truly the exception. I order three dishes. Two showed up within the usual 10 -15 minute time frame. The reataurant was very busy so I understood the wait for the last dish. But after 40 minutes I called the wait staff over. They put the order in a second time. I waited again. Finally the floor manager came over to see why my last dish had not arrived now over an hour after first ordering. I waited a third time. Still nothing. For the first time ever in a Chinese eatery I walked to the desk and said enough! I paid for the two & left still hungry at 1:20am. So rare in China!

permalink written by  prrrrl on February 25, 2012 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Beijing, 2010 or Liaoning, 2013. They are appear to be mixed up!
tagged Restaurant, Rare, Hungry and Wait
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2/1500000

Beijing, China

One of my five room mates is a girl from Latvia. Now I know 2 of only 1.5 million Latvians on the planet. I took her through the maze-like alleys not realizing it was her first daylight look at the country as she had arrived just after midnight. Might as well jump in to the culture!

permalink written by  prrrrl on February 25, 2012 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: Beijing I, 2012
tagged Alley, Latvia and Hutong
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Maintaining my image, part 2

Beijing, China

So, this getting stared at thing - I'm pretty good at it. Another way I make sure the stares continue is conducting my training for a two day hike by walking up the stairs when exiting subway* stations. Most if not all stations have escalators up but not down. I find this to be hard on the knees and lax on the heart - seemingly easiest way but in the long run harmful to humans. But enough of my editorial! I hope to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge next week and ignoring the escalators is my training regimen. There I am, slowly slogging up 3 to 6 flights of stairs with this handy conveyance right beside me. Do they think I don't recognize escalators? Do they think I'm technologically illiterate? I don't know. But they still stare. Mission accomplished!

  • On printed signs here in Beijing, 'subway' means a tunnel walkway that goes under the street to offer safe passage across broad avenues. I'm not sure how they translate the underground trains.


    • FYI comments to my Blogabond posts are disappearing. I am not ignoring you! But it's best you comment to my regular email address. Sorry! I just tried to find a new blog site but apparently Blogabond is acceptable to the Powers that be here but the others are not.

    permalink written by  prrrrl on February 24, 2012 from Beijing, China
    from the travel blog: Beijing I, 2012
    tagged Stairs, Subway, Training, Stares and TigerLeapingGorge
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    Got an image to maintain

    Beijing, China

    I'm a white ghost, a big nose. I have scary looking round blue eyes. I get stared at. But Beijingers are getting used to my strange 'condition' so I need something to keep the stares coming. I have my ski gloves dangling from strings threaded through the sleeves of my huge periwinkle down coat. Funny thing is even other white ghost, big noses are staring at me, too! ;-)

    permalink written by  prrrrl on February 23, 2012 from Beijing, China
    from the travel blog: Beijing I, 2012
    tagged Weird, BigNose, Stares and RoundEyes
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    Got an image to maintain

    Beijing, China

    I'm a white ghost, a big nose. I have scary looking round blue eyes. I get stared at. But Beijingers are getting used to my strange 'condition' so I need something to keep the stares coming. I have my ski gloves dangling from strings threaded through the sleeves of my huge periwinkle down coat. Funny thing is even other white ghost, big noses are staring at me, too! ;-)

    permalink written by  prrrrl on February 23, 2012 from Beijing, China
    from the travel blog: Beijing I, 2012
    tagged Weird, BigNose, Stares and RoundEyes
    Send a Compliment

    Comments are disappearing

    Beijing, China

    People are leaving comments - all two of them! Cool! But I can't find them anymore. :-( What's with Blogabond?? If you need to contact me, best use my email address. Don't know it? Sorry, don't feel like sharing it here on a public site. Just be aware I'm not ignoring you, I just can't get back to the comments for some reason. :-/

    permalink written by  prrrrl on February 23, 2012 from Beijing, China
    from the travel blog: Beijing, 2010 or Liaoning, 2013. They are appear to be mixed up!
    tagged Blogabond, Email, Comments and LostComments
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    Viewing 81 - 90 of 131 Entries
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    Heading South?

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