Gone skiing

So far only Norman guessed what the title meant. "P and K go skiing" stands for-- Peter and Katie Go Spending Kids Inheritance.
There were some things that just worked on this trip. We had given ourselves enough time at each stop so there was no feeling of "if it's Tuesday it must be Belgium"and could take our time looking around in the early mornings, and the afternoon for naps! We flew on British Air in a hybrid class called World Traveler Plus. This is basically an economy class that had extra leg room and a small cabin of its own, and costs a lot less than business class. This left money to be spent on nice hotels, private tours and cars and drivers when we wanted. The latter was really helpful in Beijing where the distances are great and although taxis are plentiful they are not always there when you need them. Four hours of a car and driver worked out to about $80 Canadian and was worth every penny. We are absolutely nothing at any of the food markets that looked so enticing. We ate only in hotels and good restaurants, and had not a spot of tummy trouble. We bought a little light lap top computer and it was a joy. It only weighs 3 pounds and fits in a knapsack. It meant keeping up with Peter's office and doing the blog was an easy task as each hotel room has an internet hook up. And thanks to all who checked in along the way with comments and e mails to let me know they were reading.
The traffice is hard to describe. Our guide told us there are now 1.2million family cars in Beijingg. As they think there are now about 15 m. people living there we feel this is not a lot of cars on the roads compared to population. There are still millions of bikes on the road, and if just a few million of them can swing a car purchase in the next few years, the traffic will get worse,if that can be imagined. And even though most of the big streets had green pedestrian "go" signs, cars turning left or right, and bikes pay no attention to them. It was always a little Russian roulette out there on the streets. I figure they will pick off a few hundred visitors to the Olympics with no problem.
Some of my favourite things.: Seeing Norm and Karen so happy and settled in their new life in Bangkok, the most stunning view of the trip was from the top of the Star Tower in Bangkok, watching the light show from a Harbour dinner tour in HongKong Harbour, visiting the little Portugese tiled streets in Macau, walking the Nanjing Road to the Bund in Shanghai and looking over to the Pudung area in Shanghai, visiting the Great Wall on a day with sun and rare clear blue sky.
Peter says it will take months to absorbs all we have seen.
Imagine walking from Tianaman Square, past the walls of the Forbidden City.. take a right turn and you will be in the massive shopping Olympic Shopping Centre; turn left and you will walk through blocks of the old hudongs, greet the street cleaner (every block has one) who is learning to say Hello in English, and who is probably hoping to one day own a bike let alone a car, dodge those bicycles lined up 10 deep at the light, have a gander at the block long store selling only cell phones, into your hotel lobby with Channel, Ferragamo, Gucci, and every other big name store you can think of, order a nice glass of Australian chardonnay, and settle back to listen to a very good group of young Chinese play some very cool American Jazz.
Funny old world. That's a wrap.
As ever Katie