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