Observations from Guangzhou

I am about to wrap up my 4th day of Hotel Standby in Guangzhou, and NOT traveling around the Far East, so I decided to share some observations of my stay in this local area. I would not say these are "earth shattering" or even "astute observations", but they are certainly mine and I just wanted to pass them along:

• Flip flops and/or sandals are required footwear for all motorcycle drivers
• The required seating position of all infants (2 years or less) riding on their parent's motorcycle is on the fuel tanks.
• Infants are not allowed to wear helmets or shoes when riding on these fuel tanks
• All license plates use alpha numerical numbers, even though Mandarin and Cantonese is the written language??
• All logos on shirts, bags, jackets, etc are written in English (see note above)
• Women don't smoke
• Short shorts and high heels seem to be the dress of every young chic women
• Men will soon out number women by 2 to 1 in China's future
• Even with these odds (see above) women walk 2 steps behind men
• Everyone works or at least has a uniform and is standing in a work area
• Work rules?? What rules? The hotel staff, waiters, concierge, etc are on duty from late at night and greet you again early in the morning
• The banana bread at breakfast is excellent

And so it goes.....

Moose

Another Adventure in China

Well, I think it is Sunday morning 12 July, as I am now back in my room at the Pullman Baiyun Airport Hotel in Guangzhou. I am a little confused as I left Mainz Germany on a Friday night and now find myself on the other side of the International dateline on a Sunday morning. I have now been up 6 hours, and have read a book for 2 of them, workout for a 1 ½ hr, and ate a huge breakfast…all before 9am in the morning. Not sure what I am going to do for the rest of the day!!?? On top of all of that, I can not access my Facebook account or log onto my Google Blog page. Seems like the Chinese are a little particular on what DNS addresses they allow and Facebook and Google Blogs are off limits! I have asked my brother Pat to submit this blog for me today, just so you all will know why I am not responding to your various comments and notifications. Hopefully, I will travel to another country this week and can open those accounts later this week.
This International trip will be the most unusual for me to date, as I am sitting Hotel Standby for the next 6 days in Guangzhou. My duty is to be available to be called out (one hour notice) from this airport hotel and fly anywhere in the Far East that FedEx needs me. I have to be in my hotel room between noon and midnight for the rest of the week, so I can be reached in case they need to scramble a crew for some additional flight. Obviously, not my first choice….but I will manage to survive between the hotel gym and my reading material that I brought! I finish this trip up on Friday night at midnight and then take a 3 hour limo ride to Hong Kong where I am scheduled to stay for 31 hours before I fly home via L.A. and then Memphis. I know….I do have the perfect job!!!!
The picture above is from the market place in Guangzhou, that sits directly outside of the other hotel that I stayed in during my last stay in China. I added to give you some local feel …..
Hopefully, I will get to respond to more questions via my blog and Facebook later this week. Meanwhile, I want to remind everyone that we do live in the greatest nation on this earth and that we should never take it for granted. You can never really appreciate our freedom until you visit a country that knows very little about it……
Blue Skies………moose

Mainz Germany July '09

Well it has been so long since my last Blog, that I had forgotten my password to log in! But not to fear...I figured it out and will start this travel blog now that will take me from Amsterdam to Frankfurt & Mainz, all the way to Guangzhou China tomorrow morning. Not sure where I will end up flying in the Far East, as I will be sitting hotel standby for a week, which means I am an "extra crewmember" that may get assigned anywhere they need me.
My trip started in Memphis on Wednesday night which had me arriving in this beautiful little town on Thursday afternoon. I have been here before, so I knew how to find the jogging trail along the Reine River as well as how to navigate the streets. I went to bed early last night, as I had been up for 27 hours, and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 3:30am. It was fun walking the streets this morning as the sun was coming up, as the streets were mostly deserted. What I find interesting are the people who clean the streets in the early hours dressed in immaculate orange jumpsuits and driving these high tech German vehicles. I love seeing the differences in cultures and the pride the Germans take in their communities. Of course, I had to take advantage of the many pastry and coffee shops that line this village and eat a couple of treats this morning (with some very strong coffee) to get my day started. I think I will have to find that jogging trail again today before I leave tonight!!
I have now caught up on my sleep and will spend this afternoon strolling down some different streets and hopefully will take some more pictures. I will arrive in China tomorrow morning, which will put my body clock back 13 hours from home as opposed to the 8 hours ahead that I am now in Mainz. Naturally, I remained a little confused as to what day it is..but I promise it doesn't affect my flying :). I hope to continue this blog from Guangzhou, but the last time I was in China I was restricted from accessing this blog account. If that is the case, I will just have to keep you posted via my "eaglemoose" FaceBook account. Keep your fingers crossed. Until then....Blue Skies from Germany
Moose

Penang Malaysia - Eastern & Oriental Hotel

Well, I thought it was about time to renew this blog, since I have been out of Ghangzhou for 2 days now. I was able to access this blog web link in Shanghai without any problem but the Internet Server in Ghangzhou would not let me log in. Hmmmm? No doubt the "censor control" is a little more active in southern China.
The picture on the left is me standing on the hotel veranda (today) after I had just finished my early morning breakfast at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. I was the only one there as the sun rose up over from the east. It was awesome! I asked my photographer (waiter) to capture the background, so I guess I am lucky to be in the picture. I have about 5-7 more pics that I will post on my Facebook account.
My birthday Sunday in Ghangzhou was rather uneventful, as I worked out in the morning, ate a big lunch and then went to bed at 4pm. My alert call from Fedex came at 1155pm and I left the hotel at 1am to fly 2 legs to Penang (2500 mi journey). My first leg to Cebu was with a 38 year old female Captain, who has only been in Fedex for 5 years! She got upgraded early because she volunteered for Hong Kong. I enjoyed the flight and she did a nice job, considering her experience. Of course she is ex-Air Force (KC-135 driver) so I felt ok with her flying. The flight took us over Hong Kong and across the South China Sea into the Southern Philippines. Once we arrived in Cebu, we were greeted with a host of yellow shirted cargo loaders (smiling Philippino's) who unloaded and loaded our plane in about an hour. I then waited another 45 min on my next Captain who had spent the night in Cebu, who eventually met me at the aircraft. Phil (Captain) is my age and has been living in the Far East for 10years, so we had a lot to talk about. This leg to Penang was over 3 hours and it took us next to Vietnam, Jakarta and then into Penang. Landing at this little airport (on an island) was beautiful! Not a soul in the air as we let ourselves down to 2000 ft over the water for a visual approach back into time. The runway is surrounded by a host of vegetation, water, huts and little farms. I will try to take a picture of it today when we taxi out. I have been told many times you see boa constrictors and iquana lizards laying on the taxiways as you taxi across the airport, which should give you a mental picture of the landscape. I did notice on final approach, that there were machine gun pill boxes on the beach, which were obviously left over from the Japanese forces in WW II. It was interesting to see.
Today, I will go to the little exercise room and try to work off my Indian cuisine from last night and my great breakfast this morning. My plan then is to soak up some more of this 90deg sunshine, read by the pool, and mentally prepare for my next flight (45 min) to Kuala Lampur which is about 150 miles south of Penang ;) I will be flying with yet another captain, whom I will meet at the airplane tonight at 6:30pm. Our layover tonight is for 25 hours and then we blast out on Wed night for a 2 leg (6 hour flying) back into Shanghai which will end my journey. This trip has been fun and I have gotten to see two more cities (Shanghai and Kuala Lampur) which were both new to me. Shanghai reminds me of NYC, except much cleaner with no obvious street people. I am sure they are around....but it looks like the govt has everybody doing something (sweeping, cleaning, picking up trash) which keeps the city nice. Of course, their economy is booming and there seems to be lots of pride for their city and country. Refreshing actually.
Ok....this has been rather long....sorry if it was a little slow. I just wanted to catch up. I won't be flying international next month but hope to venture out again in July-September. Right now, my B777 training class starts on 22 Oct and will have me in Memphis until Christmas. Hopefully, I will have lots of Nashville time once that training is complete.

And the journey continues.........mm

Shanghai....Another Fedex Adventure

It is just past 3pm now and I will be leaving Shanghai tonight after being here almost 25 hours. Today was absolutely gorgeous and a great day to explore Shanghai. The Chinese are celebrating the Chinese Dragon Boat holiday, which commemorates one of their philosophers who died in 200 AD, so there were lots of people about the city. These three young people in the picture, approached me in the Peoples Square (park) about 10am and asked if I was an American. Two of them were visiting a friend and were excited to meet someone who spoke English. I ended up spending the next 2 hours with them and it was like getting a personal history lesson of the city. They took me to a Chinese Tea house for a traditional ceremony (tea is very important in their lives) and then we all went to the Chinese Planning Exhibition Center and Museum. It was a great morning. I will have to include some of their questions as I write today's blog. I will say that the girls liked my prominent nose and actually wanted to touch it to make sure it wasn't fake! It was hilarious ...but they were very serious saying that many Chinese are getting nose jobs these days because it is so handsome. So...no more comments about the size of my "snoz" as it is very special here!!! They are also facinated with our American history (and current politics) and was somewhat disappointed that I didn't know much about the World Expo here next year or what their President's name was. Since I know my flying future includes China, I will learn a little more about their history and will definitely learn some conversational Chinese.
My flight over (14 hours) was on a B777 and was very comfortable with lots of attention (food and wine). I had to mention the wine!!! However, when we landed we had to stay on board for another 30 minutes as the Quarantine Health Department all came on the aircraft and took the temperature of everyone on board as part of their "swine flu" prevention. There were 5 of these folks all dressed "head to toe" in Haz Mat uniforms, boots, googles and masks, taking our temps with a hand held laser gun. We then proceeded to snake through a huge line (twice) to submit our medical history forms and the second time to get through immigration. I finally got to the hotel about 3 hours after landing. When I finally came out of the Customs line, I was met by a Chinese Hotel Bellman (uniform, hat and all) holding up a sign with my name on it. He spoke good English and said he had been waiting an hour for me. He never complained while leading me out (up, down, elevators, etc) to the garage pickup point. I never saw him use a cell phone but when we approached the curb a driver pulled right up to take me to the Hilton (downtown Shanghai). I was amazed at this organization!! The drive in was interstate the entire way with construction going on all over the place. It was interesting to see that cab drivers routinely stopped along the highway to relieve themselves. I haven't seen this since my tour in Korea. Their economy is definitely booming. Impressive, considering it is a Communist country...but there appears to be a lot of change occuring. I do remember my 3 young friends telling me today that it was very important for them to learn English since America is so important in the world. It was refreshing for me to hear this.....
My travels tonight take me to Ghangzhou (Canton) which is about a 90 minute flight. I still haven't met my Captain yet...but I do know he is in the hotel. He is based in Hong Kong, so this will be my first time flying with him. I have been to Ghangzhou before (not many westerners there) but lots of shopping around our hotel. I will lay over there for 51 hours then take off for Penang Malaysia and the Eastern Oriental Hotel. That's the hotel that reminds me of a Humphrey Bogart movie....a real step back in time. I will take more pictures there. You can find these on my Facebook account if you are interested.
All in all....a good start to this 10 day trip. I wish you all were here to enjoy it with me....so I will try to describe as much as possible in these blogs over the next week or so.
Blue Skies for China.............

Moose

Leaving Tel Aviv.....coming home via Paris

Well this was the last time that I was on the beach at Tel Aviv! I had just stopped jogging along the beach and boardwalk, when a nice European couple offered to take my picture. I have quite a few shots of the beach and local community but I really liked this one, having the Med and the City of Jaffa in the background. It is about 6pm and the sun is starting to approach the water as it is sinking to the west (right of this pic). Again, tradition has it that Noah's son helped build this seaport settlement over 5000 years ago. Can you believe that! I love the history here! It makes you realize how insignificant modern man really is.... Most of these historical facts can easily be verified by reading the Old Testament.
The beach was packed at this time on Friday. Most of the shops (religious owners) closed today at 3pm because the Shabbat starts at sundown and ends on sundown on Saturday. I suspect most of the people on the beach today were either Muslims, Christians or non-religious Jews. I have discovered that only about 40% of the Israeli Jews practice their faith, with 15% of these being Orthodox (fundamental belief that the Torah and the laws are Devine). It has been fascinating getting to know and understand a little more about their beliefs and culture. In fact, I went shopping yesterday and the shop owner was very traditonal and would not sell me certain items (that were on sale) because I wasn't Jewish. She was very nice and was willing to share her beliefs....of course I was very willing to listen. I stayed almost an hour! Plus she was a good sales person and kept quite a bit of my Sheckels.
Last night after a little Happy Hour in the crew lounge, Clell and I went to the city of Jaffa and had a HUGE middle eastern dinner. At one time there were 22 bowls (variety) of food on our table for us to eat...before the meat (kabobs) was brought out. We literally could not make a dent in the food. Of course, before we took the cab back we stopped in the local store and purchased some Israeli Red Wine. I hope I can get them home in one piece!
Today, I took a cab to the city of Petack Tikva, which was about 30 minutes away. I met my new friend Sapir Tal for the second time during this long trip. He is a Sifu (Master Instructor) in Chinese Kung Fu (Preying Mantis style) and is the inventor of the Spikey. I spent two hours with him in his Dojo learning some of his fighting style and how to employ the Spikey as an added benefit. I really appreciated his time, instruction and friendship. I plan on learning more from him in the coming year, as Pat and I are committed to market and sale the Spikey across America as a "personal bodyguard tool". I learned a great deal today and look forward to sharing it with those friends and family that currently have one of the Spikey's.
Upon my return from Sapir's I quickly learned about the shops closing up at 3pm on Friday's so the owners/workers can be in their homes before sundown. Of course, most of the Expresso Cafes were all open and jam packed. Kaffee (coffee), yogurt, pita sandwiches, french fries and ice cream are all very popular among the locals. Interesting, as you don't see many overweight people, although, smoking is widespread across all age groups!
The Israel part of our 13 day journey ends tomorrow morning at 0745 when we leave the hotel for the airport. We takeoff at 10am for Athens and eventually end up on Paris at 4:30pm. Unfortunately, our layover is short and we will stay at the airport hotel which offers nothing towards the "experience" of being in Paris. Our flight home will leave @8am on Sunday and go through Amsterdam and arrive in Memphis about 4:40pm. I hope to be home ("God willing"..my new Israeli saying) about 10pm on Sunday night. Other than some much needed dental work (lost a crown last wk) my next big adventure starts on Tuesday 26 May, leaving from Memphis to Shanghai, China, Malaysia and Singapore. That trip is a little shorter and will get me back home on June 5th.
I will try to submit a short report tomorrow....if time permits. I hope you have enjoyed these updates. It not only reinforces my own memories, but allows all of you who love me to follow my journey on a daily basis. It has been fun.....and I remain Blessed............

Oops! Just woke up from a 3 hour nap and I don't have much time. We leave the hotel in 30 min (10:30pm) and fly all night to Tel Aviv...I will make this quick.

Mainz is a beautiful village (town) located near Frankfurt. This chapel was about a 5 min walk from our hotel. My pictures really don't do it justice as this town reminded me of a movie set. In fact, this church looked like Snow White's castle from Disney World. It was here during WWII when the city was bombed daily by American bombers. The story goes, a B-17 bomber was shot down and the American gunner's parachute got hung up on the bridge crossing the Rhein and he was captured. Seems the towns people eventually hung him after being "stirred up" by the Nazi's. When the Americans heard of his fate, the bomber crews kept one bomb from every mission henceforth, and saved it for the town of Mainz on their way back to England. It was known as "Save one for Mainz". How this church survived is a miracle!
When we landed last night, Clell and I had some red wine in the bar with about 6-7 other pilots and then went to a local restaurant for some Veiner Schnitzel and a cold pilzer. It hit the spot! We ended up discussing politics with a 26 yr old student from Mainz and had a great time. Obviously the media has a big impact on the political views of so many Europeans. He was a smart young man...and eventhough we disagreed on our new President, he is very unhappy with the social system in Europe. He bar tends on the side as a student and hates the fact so many people are on the dole. Sound familiar?
Anyway, got to bed late....slept til noon....ran along the Rhein ...then had a braukwurst for lunch. No beer....gotta fly. Ok, time to go. Off to Tel Aviv via Athens. The first leg is mine. Landing in the harbor of Athens is gorgeous at night. We get to Tel Aviv at 7am tomorrow....for another 2 day layover. I'll hit the ground running ;-)
See you all soon......

Moose