Jet Lag

The past ten days have been interesting.  It all started last Tuesday when Jen and the kids were supposed to fly out to Utah.  We had coordinated our trips so that I would be able to take them to the airport before I flew out to Vietnam and Thailand.  We got a notice that morning that her flight had simply been cancelled.  Major bummer.  So I had to set off to visit customers and she was rescheduled to fly out the next day.  She got the kids to the airport and got checked in, she even took her bike, and then boarded the plane.  Problem was the plane never moved.  They sat on the plane at the gate for four hours!!!  They then had to get off the plane and go back through customs, pick up their luggage, and then try it all again the next day.  When she checked in again on day 3 she noticed that they changed her connecting flight in SFO which changed her layover from 1.5 hrs to 6.5 hrs.  She told them to change it back to the original reservation and they told her it was sold out and not possible.  Out comes the new Jen, the Jen that has had to fight her way around a city of 30 million people, the Jen that has to negotiate prices at the markets and argue with people that are trying to rip her off.  The Jen that moved to China five years ago is not the same Jen we have now and is certainly no pushover.  When they told her the flight was booked Jen let them have it.  She had booked her tickets to be on that flights and was not going to be pushed aside.  She wasn't going to fly by herself with the kids for 12 hrs and then sit in the airport for 6 more.  She told the ticket agent to find three people and kick them off the flight on to the next one.  Overbooking the plane was not her problem, it was the airline's.  After some back and forth they actually did it.  They pushed back three other people and Jen and the kids got their originally booked seats.  Great job Jen, makes me proud.

Meanwhile I was in Vietnam.  It's an interesting place.  When the customer took me to dinner I wanted to take a bunch of pictures of the menu but didn't think it appropriate as it was my first meeting with them.  This menu was unreal.  Pig brains, turtles, snakes, every organ imaginable and a whole host of items that even after nearly 8 years in Asia I had never seen before.  Thankfully they asked me to order some items so I was able to make sure that we had a few things edible.  In the end the entire meal was great and we didn't order pig brains.

I came home from Vietnam for one day and then set off on a crazy whirlwind trip to South Africa.  I flew all night from Shanghai to Doha, Qatar and then connected on a flight to Johannesburg and then connected all the way down to Cape Town.  23 hrs of travel.  I then stayed in Cape Town for 22 hours.  Had my meetings and then caught a flight to Durban.  Did training in Durban and was there just under 24 hours before flying to Joburg.  The trip to Joburg was just over 24 hours but not by much.  After the trainings in Joburg JP and I (JP is a colleague from our Paris office) wanted to go see some lions.  In Africa you don't have to go far.  Within 30 minutes we were at a lion park. 

Here kitty kitty...yeah, this is a lion!  Glad he already ate lunch!

Isn't there a TV show about these guys?

Who knew that giraffes also love Doritos??  Super long tongue, kinda gross.

Yeah, this is a full size lion walking in front of our car... never had this happen before.  They had White Lions too which I had never seen before.

When playing with lions keep your windows rolled up!  They also wouldn't allow soft top cars.

My good mate (he's Australian thus a Mate) Gus is going to be moving from Shanghai soon.  We've had some great times on our bikes around the world that I'm sure will continue after he moves.

Jen has quickly become one of the regulars on the Shanghai biking scene.  She now travels with her bike, love it.

Will in Utah picking cherries.  Haven't been with him for 10 days and he already seems bigger.

June getting caught in the popcorn bowl.

This looks like a Buddhist temple but is actually a Christian church.  I couldn't get a very good picture as we drove by but I was stunned when I saw a cross on top of what I thought to be another temple in Saigon.

We had lunch at my Vietnamese customer's home.  It was very good.  Everything was fresh and yummy.  Chicken, fish, veggies and a few unknowns.  

I'm finally on my way back to Shanghai.  Back in Doha, Qatar today.  I spent the day here.  I was going to spend the weekend here but when I realized it was Ramadan, 110 degrees, and that all restaurants would be closed for the month I decided to just stay for the day.  Changed my flight and getting out of here.  The middle east might not be my cup of tea or I'm just sick of being in hotel or airplane for the past ten days.  Almost done, one more trip next week to Philippines then off to Utah for a couple of weeks!  Looking forward to it.