not being the sporty adventurer type, this counts as a major achievement. although one confesses to being hauled up many of the steps under duress and the enticement of a hot shower and the promise of ice cream.
for the record there is no good ice cream up there.
must-haves for this middle-aged traveler:
PLUS (most appreciated, this) a laundry room with (mark you this) two shoe drying cabinets.
yessss.
back in possibly my favorite city in the east. in a nice holiday inn express.
where the girl at the hotel reception is confidently reassuring and delightfully helpful. and no smoking means just that. and the washer comes pre-loaded with detergent. and the dryer lint catcher is lint-less. and the meituan options are (possibly) legion.
oh shanghai, how i have missed you!
what i learn today from the cotton tour is that the guy behind the dish was a real person and he was a military hero who won back xinjiang's western borders!
imagine proving your great prowess and being rewarded as a foreign fast food item! if you ask me, colonel sanders had the better deal.
the most precious breakfast commodity, it appears, is the chicken egg. yes that humbly ubiquitous oval-spherical long-time staple that we don't even think twice about. at xinjiang hotels you need to produce an issued-by-person coupon attached to a warm body before you can access one unit per human.
this must be the (almost) unbelievable thing i learn before breakfast on this trip.
unwittingly decanted into a human sardine can situation at the AAAAA tourist attraction so the only sensible thing to do is to decline to add to the overcrowding and have a cuppa.
the bus decants us into the hotel at 6:30 PM. there is a collective gasp of relief from all the women in the group. laundry finally gets done. the hair gets washed. and we are in time for a late dinner instead of supper!
the guide promises us payback tomorrow.
during which we visit many spots take many photos have lots of pointless discussions and walk many steps.
today's lesson: in the profusion of numbers lies an explosion of frothy interactions opinions distractions and impediments.
the xinjiang tour is shaping up to be the modern day equivalent to cecil parkinson's pre-retirement tour for civil servants*. as in, the program is packed and inexorable the pace is relentless the cheer is distressingly hearty and the loo breaks are fewer than i need.
i don't need to do so much! i want to whimper. i want to stay in the hotel and rot! unfortunately we move to the next location hundreds of miles away tomorrow. and tomorrow's morrow. and the morrow after.
note to self: try not to be part of a group tour again.
*per Parkinson's Law (c. n. parkinson, 1957)
two wonders here that i confess
my worth and my unworthiness
- getty & kendrick
in quietness of soul today in church, after the past fortnight of tornadoes with Ji J2 A and E. we are grateful for the time, as we are grateful for the rest. thanks be to God.
early this morning we meet a man lying at the shop front.
hello! are you ok?
he doesn't respond. start CPR? call 995?
fortunately there is a nice pulse going and he is breathing peacefully so we leave him to sleep off his booze. HOM asks if we should call the ambulance nevertheless but i think the resource will be better spent on someone else.
they need to update the training algorithms. right now every simulation starts with hello! hello! are you ok? and proceeds immutably to call ambulance! get AED! start CPR! and doesn't leave space for the poor bro who just needs to lay down his poor head.
we say goodbye to Ji J2 A and E. their last day is marked by fevers (A and E) vomiting (A and E) disrupted plans (all) much stress (all) with every indication of the same continuing in-flight.
all in all a lovely visit topped with pain. very grateful we have O to help keep the place looking and smelling civilized.
in other news, E the dog looks positively distressed and lethargic as well, possibly in sympathy.
