Hang in there.

To keep you satisfied until I have time to write a full post I present you with this huge beautiful flower that bloomed right outside the door to my apartment. It lasted a day before it got too heavy and fell off in the rain but it sure brightened my spirits. :) 

Miss you all and love you much. 

My thumb is touching the flower as a point of reference. It's massive! I have huge hands by the way. 

Apartment time

The busyness and insanity continues, unrelenting really. I suppose it will never let up and you all will get sick of hearing about it so I should maybe just accept that this is my new "normal". 

In the midst of working 45ish hours a week plus about 2 hours commute time everyday I've managed to find an apartment and move in! Well, I just moved in tonight actually. And by move in I mean I have an air mattress on the floor, shampoo in the shower, three open suitcases and some clothes in the closet. If that's not home I don't know what is! I am looking forward to feeling a little more settled and having my own space. Zac is really excited about all of this as well and has been a massive help every step of the way. I know you don't read this to hear me gush about my boyfriend but.... He is wonderful!!!  So there. 

I also may of misled you guys a couple of weeks ago. I informed you all that I had a job. Which is true but the rest of the story was that it was (still is) a temporary position. So in and amongst all the rest of the stuff going on over here I've continued my permanent job hunt. To which end I'm excited to say it has been going quite well and I'm looking forward to a number of promising interviews in the coming weeks. 

I will have pictures of the apartment when it is in a somewhat presentable state. I will also try to start taking real photos on a camera with a name that doesn't begin with iOS. The apartment will be a constant work in progress so I suppose you will get updated as it comes along. 

For now I have to make it through my very first night in my apartment, all alone, in the dark, in a strange place. Ooo I shouldn't think about it. It's giving me the heebie jeebies (technical term folks). It's darn good that Zac is only 7 minutes away. Phew. 

Now to get a few hours sleep before it all starts over again. 

Busy B

Yes, I am still alive. 

No, I am not tan.

Work has been going well but I have been beyond busy for the last couple of weeks.

Zac and I have regularly been commenting that it has only been three weeks that I've been here.  It sure seems like a lot longer considering I have a full two weeks of work under my belt.  I've been exhausted on a regular basis.  My commute into Honolulu adds an extra 2.5 to 3.5 hours onto my work day, sometimes more.  One night this week I fell asleep at 6:30pm and slept straight through to 5:30 am.  I truly believe I am still immersed in a major adjustment period and have high hopes that I will regain much of my energy and form a great routine in the near future.  

Zac had a 96 this weekend (four day weekend) and I have Monday off for President's Day (a really big deal here...) so we are taking advantage of the time to do some fun things and catch up on sleep.  We have also been looking at apartments for me which cannot be classified as anything other than stressful.  I am hoping to have something in the next two weeks and then I can finally start to feel like I'm settling in.  

In the meantime I have decided to add some theme to this reincarnated blog - something to give it a little focus outside of me and Hawaii.  Over the last year there have been many times when, in conversation with Zac, something specific about his work has struck me in such a way that really emphasizes how very unqualified I would be to be a Marine.  Usually a verbal statement follows in the form of, "Well, that's just reason number 968 that I could never be a Marine."   In fact, I am pretty sure that I started counting the reasons in the 900s, but needless to say there are a lot of them.  There are the obvious ones like I am not nearly strong enough or I could never run long enough.  But then, of course, there are the funny ones and also the informative ones.  Usually though, I almost always find myself gaining even more respect for what he does and how he does it.  I've decided that we will start counting from #1, however, reason #1 holds no more importance than reason #968.  

Reason #1 Why Bess Could Never Be a Marine:

I could not go to the bathroom without a wall between me and the next person.  I'm serious.  I just don't think I could do it.  This came up tonight at dinner with Zac and his response was... Well you'll go at some point.  I don't think I would.  I think I would just never ever go to the bathroom again.  

Reason #2 Why Bess Could Never Be a Marine:

I cannot chant "Left, Left, Left, Right, Left" and get it to land on the right foot... ever.  I tried.  I'm serious.  I did.  Plus, to make things harder they don't actually say it like that.  They do some weird "Left, Left, your left, right, layo" and I just can't get the cadence down and I end up saying "left" while I'm on my right foot.  

I will probably add one or two of these each time I post.  I think they can be a little funny and will highlight the things I am learning about the Marine Corps during my time here.  

Review: Tropical Farms of Hawaii

When I was in Taiwan I often wanted to review things in a very straight forward way, telling you all the pros and cons of going to see something specific.  I realized though that it was kind of irrelevant because very few if any of you will ever go to Taiwan (if you do, let me know and I'll give you all kinds of advice!), however, many of you have been and will go to Hawaii at some point and so I can finally review useful things!  

I've noticed that my writing feels a little rusty right now but I'm hoping to iron out some of this awkwardness as I get back into.  Hang in there with me!

Saturday Zac and I had a lot of boring life things to get done but I really wanted to make time to go to Tropical Farms of Hawaii.  It is only about 30 minutes away from us and I had read many great things.  So we took a drive up the Kamehameha Highway out to the North Shore and back to the farms.  We had an absolutely great time!

Zac drives.  Sometimes I think I should drive.  I might have lower blood pressure if I did.  

Many of the big tour companies send their buses here for a brief stop to look through the shops and produce but they miss out on the tour.  We signed up for the 3pm tour (if you are thinking of doing this make sure you call and see what times they will have tours that day, they don't have a set schedule and it is different almost every day) and we spent the last 10 minutes before boarding our tour "bus" using rocks to crack open fresh macadamia nuts. 

I stupidly forgot my camera so you'll have to deal with cellphone photos.  I love when places have these signs. :)

We were joined by another military couple with a young baby and a 5 ish year old.  The bus was a short bus (as we call them) painted green and decorated with all sorts of tropical grasses and coconuts.  We were introduced to our tour guide, dressed in traditional clothing, and we started the tour.

He showed us many of the plants and fruit trees that they have on their farms.  He gave me ti leaves so I could start my own hula skirt.  The ti leaf is not related to tea at all and is actually more similar to a lily.  He demonstrated how to destem the leaves so that they are less rigid and you could weave them together to make a skirt.  After seeing a lot of plants and asking a lot of weird sciency questions we took a little stop at a stage area.  

Here they demonstrated how traditional hawaiians used Wild Hibiscus wood to start fires and we were treated to a fire dance.  

I thought I had taken a video of the whole dance but it turns out I never hit record.  Doh!  He was really good at wiping the fire around.  I asked him if he ever set his leg grasses on fire and he said pretty often and showed me a spot on his leg that had had all the hair singed off.  Probably shouldn't quit my job and become a fire dancer, eh?

You can see our little short bus in the background.  Then they showed us how to split open coconuts.  We drank the coconut water, shaved fresh coconut meat, and learned how to get coconut milk.  Zac, who doesn't like coconut at all, really enjoyed the fresh coconut meat.  

Don't look so angry! 

What made the entirety of this tour fun were the guides.  They made a lot of jokes, some slightly inappropriate, but all very clever.  As Zac says, you had to really listen to what they said and sometimes it took a few seconds but you always found yourself laughing.  

After the coconut and fire lessons, the ladies (and children) were presented with small gifts.  

My very own crown... I always knew I was a princess!

The fire dancer had braided them from leaves and a hibiscus flower.  When he gave mine to me he asked if I was single or married and Zac was very quick to respond with an emphatic, "She's taken!" *Swoon* Taken women wear their flowers on the left, those that are single wear it on the right.  

When the other woman was asked if she was happily married she responded that she was married, she didn't know about the happy part but she guessed that she was happy sometimes.  I watched her husband roll his eyes so hard I thought they were going to fall out of his head.  I had to stifle a few giggles.  

Zac didn't get a head piece. :(

Then we got back on the bus and rode for a little bit, stopping along the way at different fruit trees.  He explained each tree, it's fruit, and it's growing process.  We learned a lot, for example, did you know that each banana tree will grow only one bunch of bananas, after you've picked the bananas you cut down that trunk and a smaller trunk grows up behind it.  It takes 6-8 months for that trunk to grow a bunch and then you cut it down again.  When the fruit we were discussing was in season he would pick or cut us a selection to enjoy while he talked.  We got limes that smelled amazing!  

Next we took a little boat ride out into a small lake that has a lot of stories to go with it.  It has been the filming location of many famous movies and tv shoes including Lost, Hawaii 5-0 and Temptation Island.  The original Jurassic Park was filmed across the road and the second one will start shooting there in 4-6 weeks.  It was a beautiful view of the island and we heard many interesting folk stories of the area.  

More pictures of us.  Sigh.  "You wanna know why I was smiling?  Because I was looking at you in the phone when you took the photo."  Said Zac after we took this.  I'll keep him. :)

Then we were onto more fruit trees.  We learned out to pick starfruit with a long branch and he cut some up for us to try.  

It was citrusy and crunchy.  Zac really enjoyed them.  I didn't enjoy stepping on the rotten ones that had fallen to the ground.  He even picked us extra to take home with us!

Starfruit.  Cut by a Hawaiian.  With a machete.

We also had something called a starapple.  It is not related to the star fruit.  It is about the size of a large plum and when it is ripe it has a deep purple skin.  When you slice it open there is a small pit and the fruit is a lilac color.  It is sweet and airy, almost like you mixed purple jello with whipped cream and whipped it some more..  The one draw back is that it is EXTREMELY sticky.  Zac was peeling bits of starapple off of his face for hours afterwards.  

We saw mango trees and cacao plants and macademia nut trees and pineapple plants.  There were all sorts of fruit and nuts.  Did you know that a pineapple grows on a plant not a tree?  Each plant only grows one pineapple at a time!  

After our 70 minutes tour was over we wandered through the shop area and sampled many different kinds of macadamia nuts.  We in Wisconsin are used to having samples, but on the islands a free sample is almost unheard of!  There were onion and garlic macadamia nuts (Zac's favorite) and cinnamon coated (yum!) and honey roasted and caramel and so many other different flavors.  

It was over all a very enjoyable experience because of the knowledgable and funny guides and really diverse topics.  

I highly recommend that anyone who visits Oahu and has access to a car makes the trip up Kamehameha to the Tropical Farms.  It won't be a waste of time, rain or shine.  At $15 (military discount) or $20 a pop, the tour is quite cheap compared to others on the island (eh hem... dole).  We even got a few free photo prints of us from around the farm!  

In other news:  I start my new job tomorrow!  Zac has the day off so he is going to run errands in Honolulu while I do my orientation and health assessment.  Wish me luck!  

Not so baby Steps

I suppose that I haven't filled you all in very much on what I am doing here. 

I don't know that I have a very good answer.  I very much wanted to be near Zac and I felt like I could probably make it work.  I am young and it seemed like a great opportunity to see some place new.

I left for Hawaii with a short term offer from a friend to let me stay and a whole lot of things to figure out.  I tried for quite a while to secure a job before I came to the island but I learned that that is just not how things work here.  So I took the leap of faith (in what I'm not sure) and came here with no promise of employment or income.  

It has been stressful I might admit.  Now that I am here I can think of nothing worse than having to leave because I couldn't get my ducks in a row... and oh, aren't there a lot of ducks!  Jobs, apartments, cars.... it is enough to lose some hair I tell ya.  

So the very first thing I did Monday morning was start the job hunt with great gusto and I am really happy to say that just two days later I've accepted a position.  I am not in a spot to tell you all a whole lot about it right now and I still have my fingers in a few cookie jars so it could change again soon but the sweet relief of employment (the ticket to me staying on this beautiful island and by the man that I love) was enough to cause this little post.  

Please be happy with me!  

I start work on Monday and so instead of this weekend being filled with more grand hiking adventures (after the purchase of real hiking shoes) I will be spending my days shopping for Hawaiian professional attire (what's that?) and desperately trying to find some shoes that won't destroy my feet.  Although I'm sure it sounds fun, I will probably spare you the details.  

More soon and much love!

I have an address.

Folks, 

If you are old fashioned and fancy yourself a sendin' type then you may make yourself aware of my current address:

Bess Farley
PO Box 1125
Kaneohe, HI 96744

If you aren't old fashioned but still fancy yourself a sendin' type then go ahead and make yourself aware of my current digital address:

bessoutofbounds@gmail.com

Bring on the communication!  

I will probably start up Q&A Fridays again at some point so if you find yourself confused or needing some answers send 'em my way.  

Helllloooo Hawaiiiiii!

I can't believe I'm finally sitting down to write again.  The last 5 days have been unrelenting and by the time I crawl into bed at night, blogging is just a wisp of a thought drowned out by snores.  

I landed in Honolulu around 9 pm on Friday and the first thing I did was roll the windows down in the car.  Sometimes I think the air is actually sweet on this island.  It is a wonder what some fresh warm air does for the body and mind.

The weekend was filled with all sorts of adventures.  A little tour of the areas I will be calling home and quite a lot of sleep.  Friday had been almost a complete 24 hours of non stop traveling so I think I deserved it.  

On Sunday Zac and I went for a hike up to the Pali lookout.  When the sign on the highway said "Pali Lookout" and we took the exit only to find a hoard of tourist buses and a lot of little old ladies looking out over the island it didn't seem quite like the hike I was imagining.  As I had been instructed I had stuffed my feet into "hiking" shoes, donned a pair of running shorts and an athletic shirt and was prepared for what I had been told was a "really easy hike" to get me "ready for the harder stuff."  Pish Posh!  If just driving up a mountain and looking out was what we were doing then I think I could handle the harder stuff.  

I. Was. Wrong.  

If you've seen the Harry Potter movies or read the books and are familiar with the scene where they run with their carts full of trunks at the wall where Platform 9 3/4 is supposed to be then you'll be able to play along really well with this next part.  

We traipsed just past the parking lot where the tourist masses were loading and offloading their large hungry busses and straight at a low 3 foot stone wall marking the edge of the lot.  Just when I thought Zac was going to turn around with a peeking tongue a-wagging, teasing me for being so gullible, he swept aside the branches and stepped into the dense forest.  See now, I am going to write the word trail here but I don't think it paints an accurate picture for most of you.  I truly believe this trail was made by nature herself; a conglomeration of twisted trees, sloping rocks, and breath-taking drop offs no man would forge for himself.  We followed anyways.  

Normally the hike would have been 100% doable for my feeble, weak legs and my pathetic "hiking" shoes.  There was just one added complication.  The rain.  It had been raining for a few hours and Zac swore up and down, from here to kingdom come that it would stop soon.  "It never rains for very long here in Hawaii," he said.  "No, no don't worry it will stop soon," he swore.  "You might get just a little wet," he promised.   BAH!  It rained and rained and rained, a small river formed coming down the trail we were going up.  The wind howled, the trees bent, and it kept on raining.  The red earth turned to mud.  The stone turned to what felt like glare ice.  The roots criss crossing underneath us took on the frictional properties of oil on a freshly wet roadway.  Did we stop?  No.  We soldiered on.  

It was enjoyable.  It was comical even.  

Zac is an avid rock climber and so he gave me a lot of assistance along the way.  Everything from the occasional verbal instruction to the often mandatory hoist up a particularly vertical section.  If you're up on your rock climbing terminology he called this a Level 4.  Level 3 being your regular run of the mill hike (think Lapham Peak if you've been there) and Level 5 being your vertical rock climbing (think Adventure Rock).  This is what you call a scramble.  Half hike, half climb.  It seems an appropriate name as I spent most of the time with both my hands and feet on the ground scrambling up like one of those pre-evolved creatures they say were our ancestors 55 quadrillion million years ago on the Discovery Channel.  

After a lot of discussion to determine which way the trail went at several points we made it to the top.  There there was a doughnut shaped hole struck out of the middle of the crest of the mountain so you could sit on one side and look out to see the other.  It was awesome, I must admit, except it was raining so hard and so foggy you couldn't actually see anything.  

Then.... the descent.  

I should probably mention (thank goodness my father doesn't read this) that large sections of the trail were bordered on one side by thick trees and shrubs and on the other side by the vast nothingness of sheer cliffs.  In portions we were able to strike out a long ago forgotten trail to the inside and avoid the cliffs but sometimes it was not possible.  Going up slippery trail is one thing but climbing down slippery rocks is another.  Zac says that I did really well and he was really impressed.  I think he was just inflating my ego so that I'll go hiking with him again.  

We did make it out largely unscathed except for the 6 feet of near vertical rock that I slide ever so gracefully down on my upper thigh and rear end.  I stuck the landing by colliding into a tree and Zac's legs.  He claims he was there to stop me.  I'm not so sure.  I did not cry thankfully but I do have a pretty large scrape to show for it.  Battle wounds, people.  

By the time we reached the bottom again we were covered from head to toe in the red mud that the volcanic nutrients turn the soil here, tree and shrub debris, a fair bit of our own sweat, and in my case a little bit of blood.  And we were very, very wet.  Soaking, saturated to our very cores.  

As we emerged from our secret natural platform 9 3/4 a bus full of white hairs on an organized tour was loading.  There in the front seat were two very cute little old ladies and I will forever remember their faces as Zac and I crawled from the forest like strangely pale aboriginals who had been lost and wandering the peaks of Hawaii for weeks.  He and I shared a smile and he offered his hand as I jumped from the wall to the asphalt.  We strode past the bus, smirking to ourselves aware of the stares, and on to our next task... how to get home without completely ruining the car... 



Editor's Note: I know.  A post without pictures is not a post at all but it has been raining for the last three days with very little relief.  I was afraid to take even my phone out for a photo while were hiking and my camera hasn't left the bag since I got here.  I promise to make it up to you! 

Stay tuned for more! 

Here we go again!

I've been bouncing around the apartment humming along to Willie Nelson's On the Road Again.

On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things I may never see again
I can't wait to be on the road again

Good ol' Willie got it right.  That familiar feeling is back. I have a mountain of clothes smashed into a too small suitcase, I've got less-than-desirable seats on long flights, and I'm doing good byes on a daily basis.  But I love it.  I can't WAIT to be on the road again.

Where to this time?

Hawaii!  Woohoo.  Not saying I'm going to rub it in or anything but while the majority of you deal with feet of snow and negative temperatures I'm on my way to 75 degrees and sun.

I'm going to finally catch up with my boyfriend, Z, so we can be in the same place for more than two weeks for the first time in a long time.

I will be landing in Hawaii this weekend and I have a lot to settle but I will be sure to let ya'll know when I am there and I hope to resume some regular blogging about what I see and experience on the island of Oahu.

Stay tuned!

Why the absence?

I guess I lied to you guys.  Not on purpose, I promise!!  

I had every intention to finish out the last 10 days of my travels and give you the complete record of my trip.  I wanted to do it so badly.  However, it didn't happen.  

Here is why:

Every ounce of any writing motivation I've had has been sucked up by the black hole of job applications.  I could make a million excuses to you and myself about all of it.  The truth is, it is really darn hard to get a job right now.  I am a little picky about what I want to do and where I want to be and that makes my mountain seem even more insurmountable.  Of course, I can only blame myself for that mountain but this is the path I have chosen for myself.  I've made myself a prickly, uncomfortable bed and now it is time for me to lie in it for a while.  I can deal with that.  

What it means for you, is that the exciting adventures of my life are a little less accessible to you for the time being.  Once I put some semblance of routine and reliability back into my life I plan to make a full return to this fun world of ours.  I cherish each of you guys, and every time you check in to see what is new with me makes me feel wonderful.  

I'll.  Be.  Back.   


(Channeling my friend Arnie... oops) 


Bess out. 

I'm Back!

WooHoo! She's back.  In relatively full health, with a somewhat normal sleep schedule, and a hopefully renewed vigor for blogging...I'm back! 

I think I'm doing a pretty good job of assimilating back into Wisconsin life, but I suppose it will be a slow process. The good news is that I still have plenty of fun days in China and Taiwan to blog about! Before that fun-ness though I have a few observations I've made in the last week:

1. Wisconsin is FLAT! I'm not sure if the overwhelming, "holy crap I can see for miles!" feeling is because Wisconsin isn't a volcanic island where you're lucky to find a square meter of naturally even ground, or because Wisconsin isn't consumed by a fluid network of metropolises (metropoli?) and mini-metropolises. Either way, it's flat here.  Weird thing for me to notice. 

I know it is a little blurry but I was in a moving bamboo raft, forgive me. Yangshuo is not flat.  Wisconsin is flat.  

2. It smells good!! When we get to Beijing you are going to hear more than an earful from me about pollution, but suffice it to say I just love breathing here. Even the dairy air, I'll breathe that stuff in any day.  Fill your lungs folks, it's good here. So good. 

3. So gosh darn peaceful!!!!!!!!!! (Breath) !!!!!!!!!!! Last week I ventured to the grocery store on my own after a few days of recuperation.  I'm not sure how to explain this, but the same grocery store I've gone to for the last decade, I remember shopping there with both of my parents, my aunt and uncle, my grandparents for many a moon...it just didn't look the same. I think in my Wisconsin mind the grocery store used to be a hub of hustle and bustle, everyone went at some point and it seemed to have a fair amount of life even late at night. It seriously does not look the same anymore. I caught myself thinking, "how the heck can they stay in business with so few customers?"  Oh yeah, not every place in America has to be packed beyond capacity every moment of the day. I'm not sure how my Taiwanese friends would feel in an American grocery store, I think it would freak them out. 

You know, just a typical day on the Beijing subway as an Amazon white woman. 

I am sure there are more but the big thing I realized so far is this.  When I landed in Taiwan back in May, I knew I was getting myself in over my head and that it would be on me to dig myself out. It was a challenge I was expecting and was, for the most part, prepared to face head on. I acclimated to the jet lag fast, I soaked up the culture, I put myself out there because that is what I knew I had to do.  Despite fervent warnings of the dreaded "culture shock," I thrived with no clue what I was supposed to be afraid of. Now, I'm home and I actually think I know better what those warnings were about.  I am not shocked by Asian culture, but by American culture.  Somewhere on a bus in rural central China, I started admitting to myself that I was ready to go home.  Don't get me wrong, I was extremely excited to be there, but when the time came to get on the plane I would be ready. I didn't prepare myself to come home like I had prepared myself to go to Taiwan.  I was going home, what preparation would I need? I would be landing in an airport I've flown in and out of probably 100 times, I was going back to the home I have lived my entire life in, all my friends and family would still be right where I left them. Prepare? Psh.  For three months I relied on myself and the few resources at my disposal.  Every day was an active one, no matter how simple. Everything was so much thinking.  I think that was the most exhausting.  But, now that I am home, the transition from that mode of thought to the take-it-easy, calm, familiar environment one I am supposed to have is a lot harder than I expected. Oh believe me, it is nice not to have to ask myself 21 questions just to grab lunch, but the transition back to 'normal' is not as smooth as I had subconsciously assumed it would be. I suppose my transition has been complicated a smidge, but I didn't ever think I would have to remind myself that I'm not in Taiwan.   

That's all for now.  If the mechanic putting my new tires on takes much longer, you might even get a post about my time in Haining and Hangzhou with Grace.  Lucky for you, but might not be so lucky for him.  Bess no happy. 

Huh?

Well folks,

I wrote you a post before I left and published it but apparently it never showed.  You didn't miss much.

I am back in Wisconsin now, after 30+ hours of traveling.  I made it 12 hours on the ground before I wound up in the ER.  Apparently my appendix and Mr. Crohn's are not very happy with me.  Lying low for a number of days, I'll post when I can. 

B

Flying in China (and internationally in general) - A Guide.

We had booked flights from Guilin to Hangzhou.  It should have been a short and easy trip. In the States it would have been. Instead it was a hassle of unexplained delays, difficult communications, and mild frustration.  

Chinese air space is a clustered mess of disorganization, corruption, and purchased priority. Our flight was on a budget airline (not made of gold here!), and so as soon as the airspace in Hangzhou got crowded, which was immediately since Hangzhou is only about an hour train ride from Shanghai, we lost our spot. In addition to that, shorty after our flight arrived, the airline decided that our plane would be better suited to a different flight which wasn't supposed to board until an hour after our departure time. So now, with no plane and no departure priority, we were indefinitely delayed.  Thanks. Oh, and of course they didn't tell any of this to us. The screen just read "delayed." 

Now, if you have ever traveled with me or have seen me deal with a situation as this then you've heard what I call my 'big girl voice.'  Things happen when I use my big girl voice. As the daughter of a pilot, an experienced flier in all kinds of aircraft (from 3 seaters to 300 seaters), and a general go-getter, I know just enough of the lingo, the right smile to give, and the right questions to ask to get the whole story.  While we watched the Chinese sigh and sit back down (average ontime departure time for Chinese domestic flights is somewhere around 40 %), the foreigners, especially Americans, began to ask questions. Our poor gate agent spoke 10 words of English and none of them applied except "delayed."  Big girl Bess was on a mission. We were going to Hangzhou to meet my really good friend.  I hadn't seen her in a year, she was picking us up from the airport, I was tired and eager to get on the ground in Hangzhou.

Allow me to introduce Big Girl Bess' Guide to Handling Delayed/Cancelled Flights in a Foreign Country. 

1. Smile. 

When you are dealing with major communication barriers, conversations become based almost completely on non-verbal language. When strong words would maybe work in America or England, being soft and open (at first at least) is crucial. Never cross your arms. Don't gesture wildly, or even strongly.  Smile and make eye contact. Nod your head a lot. Use every little bit of a common language you can muster. Even if it is poorly timed, an extra Thank You can go a long way. 

2. Sometimes it is okay to play dumb.  

After all, you are already the silly tourist in their eyes, so sometimes it is okay to act like one. You don't understand the system. You don't know the way things usually work. This is not only helpful at the airport but in almost any situation involving "officials." For example, I narrowly avoided being kicked off a train in Austria for having purchased the wrong (more expensive) ticket by "not understanding" German. In fact, it is working for me right now. I'm just about to take off at Beijing Airport, and although over the music in my headphones I have heard the announcements to shut off electronics in Chinese, I've feigned ignorance and the attendants walking past multiple times have also. Maybe it is cheating the system, but show me proof that my non-cellular ipad will affect the flight controls negatively more than the ipad the pilots are using and I will be the first to power down. You can't, so I will continue to type. 

3. Pick your target. 

A gate agent with an angry horde of foreigners isn't going to see you as a person with a reason, she is going to see you as a hungry stray wolf looking for a snack or as a hair in her beef noodle soup, either way she isn't going to be super helpful. It isn't her fault, it is the nature of the job, and there isn't much you can do about it so don't even add to her problems.  Stash your bags with a travel partner and leave your gate. 

First, try to find a customer service gate for your airline. Most airports in North America and Europe will have these. If you act fast you can get to one of these before the spill over of unsatisfied wolves from the gate realize they aren't getting anywhere and expand their hunting grounds. In the event that the customer service desk doesn't exist or the tasty agent has already been devoured, your next step is to hunt solo. Find an airport or airline agent who is walking, don't go to a desk.  Not someone who is on a mission, if they are walking with a purpose then you are not their purpose and you will strike out. Grab their attention and BE NICE, you have ten seconds to convince them that your problem is more important to them than the bathroom break, security check, or delivery that they are supposed to be doing. "I'm sorry to bother you, but may I ask you a question?" or "I would like some more information, is there someone I can talk to?" work well. Also, if you are quick and willing to gamble (this works especially well for women) identify your subject, stand in their direct path and look around hopelessly confused. No matter where you are the male instinct to protect and help a woman exists. Let down your hair, put on that pretty sun hat, and give it a whirl. By my experience, women are more likely to follow the rules.  Men are more willing to bend the rules.  I am not sure what that says about society but if you are trying to squeak by something that might not be 100% kosher, well you might just get farther with a male ally.  (5 our of the 6 times I've been upgraded, it's been by a male) 

4. Be specific, but not overly. Be flexible. 

Once you have a conversation started, explain that you just don't understand the situation with your flight. This will prompt your ally to lookup, call, or search for your flight and read the little all-knowing screen that holds the truth about the commercial aeronautical world and decides the flying fate of us all at some point. Great. Now your ally is more informed in the situation and should hopefully give you a smidge more information. (If not, ditch 'em and pick a new target).  Here is the tricky part. These people have heard every reason under the sun for why someone needs to get somewhere. No matter what you say, it won't impress them. Your grandmother's funeral (real or not) doesn't phase them.  Your connecting flight (especially on a different airline or alliance) doesn't mean anything to them. If you have a real, visible, and conflicting physical or health condition that is affected by the situation (You're flying to the hospital which just called to say they have that heart transplant that you've been waiting for for the last 3 years) then by any means communicate that and any person with a soul will bend over backwards to get you there.  In the absence of organ transplant and severed limbs, it might just be better not to give a specific reason. Unfortunately, thousands of people before you have lied to these people to get some priority. It is quite possible that just being honest and not exaggerating will get you a lot farther. It has certainly worked for me. I use things like, "It is really important for me to get to Hangzhou this afternoon, I'm concerned."  

5. Understand that sometimes there are no solutions.

 Particularly in the  case of weather and natural disasters, there may be absolutely nothing you or your ally can do. As much as it sucks to be stuck in Tokyo because of a typhoon in Taipei, there isn't much you can do unless you have a favor to call in with the big guy. If there is flooding on the runways in Beijing and your final destination is Beijing then you are just going to have to snuggle in and wait it out (which will be a while, silly Beijing). 

6. Know what to ask. Be flexible.  

In the absence of earth type issues with your flight (weather, disasters) and government conflicts (closed air space because of diplomatic or political matters), you have a surprising amount of options. This is where it is important to be informed and to know what to ask for. 60% of all flights are operated by an airline that is tied to an alliance. Alliances are conglomerates of airlines that have agreed to share the responsibility of getting passengers from here to there. They are terrifically complicated involving international business, airspace laws, and diplomatic associations. I could write pages on alliances and their inner workings but what you need to know is what airline you are flying, if it is part of an alliance, which one, and what other airlines are part of it. An airline will be far more willing to transfer you from their flight to a fellow alliance members flight than an unrelated airline because of a reduced cost to them. The alliances and their main American member are: oneworld (American Airlines), Star Alliance (United Airlines), and SkyTeam (Delta).  Each of these have multiple other members all over the world. For example, Cathay Pacific (a major Asian airline) is in oneworld. If I were on a delayed Cathay flight but there is an AA flight and a Delta flight going the same direction, it would be much more feasible to transfer to the AA (in-alliance) flight over the Delta flight. In fact, I wouldn't even bring up the Delta flight unless absolutely necessary. 

Asking to change flights can be a sticky business. It helps to have Internet access and to do the leg work before you get down to asking for it. Know what your flight options are. Be willing to make a different layover, take another stop, etc. Be aware of times and departure gates as well. For example, I once was on a flight destined for Rome from Chicago but had a layover in Philadelphia.  The flight was dead in the water because of weather in Philly. (avoid layovers in Philadelphia at all costs). I found an in-alliance flight on Luftansa ending in Rome a mere hour after my initial arrival time but it was routed through Dusselfdorf. So now what was a domestic flight to Philadelphia just became an international flight to Dusseldorf. I had a really tight turn around time to get to the international terminal.  It ended up working just fine and I was rewarded with an upgrade to Premium Economy but I could have easily missed that flight and would have really been stuck. Be careful what you ask for.  

If you've already checked bags with your delayed flight you should probably just take a seat. No airline is going to send a baggage guy into the bowels of the airport to search for your black bag that is identical to the next 7,000. If the baggage has already been put on a plane they will not take it off and then the chances of your bags getting lost or drastically delayed triple. If this is the beginning of your trip this can be far more inconvenient than being 12 hours late to your destination. 

If you are traveling in a group of three or more people your options are much more limited unless you are willing to split up. With today's economy being especially hard on airlines, flights have a very narrow margin of available seats. 

7.  Be a frequent flyer. 

Not the real kind. You can fly once every ten years for all I care. You need to be a FF. Planning a trip? International or not, go right now to aa.com, delta.com, and unitedairlines.com. Sign up for their frequent flyer programs. AAdvantage, SkyMiles, and MileagePlus respectively. It costs nothing. Write down your login info, password and member number for each. Almost every flight you book can be associated to one of these numbers through alliances. Enter the appropriate number at booking or at the airport. When your ally looks up your flight and ticket information, if they see you are a FF they might be more willing to help, evenif there isn't a single mile in your account. FF accounts are great for a lot of things but I will save that for a different post. 

8. Know when to throw the towel in. 

There are no other flights. All of the other flights are stuck with the same problem as yours. All flights are full.  The gig is up. Stop pestering your ally, let him finally take that bathroom break.  Go sit down, plug in your iPod, and patiently wait. Maybe things will change and you can start the process over. Maybe you will just have to wait. 

So how did our flight to Hangzhou turn out? See #8. 

I did end up finding a walking target. He spoke less than 10 words of English but used his personal cell phone to type in Chinese characters, translate them to English, and I did the same in reverse. He was the source of all of the information I had. Turned out our problem was because of cluttered air traffic around Hangzhou. Nothing I could do. There were other flights I could have gotten on but they would have had the same problem. My ally was incredibly kind and even stopped by our gate later to make sure everything was good. We were wheels down in Hangzhou three hours behind schedule. 

Yangshuo - Day 2 Part 2: Kayaking

After cooking school we hurried back to the hostel. They offered a kayaking trip down the river which we really wanted to do but they had initially told us that there wouldn't be time. We had hoped to convince them we could make it work, especially since it was our last day in Yangshuo. 

Alas, after a little persuading they said, "okay!" And we had ten minutes to change and go. Our driver from the kayaking company came to pick us up. We had a 40 minute drive to the best spot to start on the river. He had excellent English and answered our many questions about Chinese culture and customs. He explained the layout of Chinese farm homes, their attitude on children and child rearing, marriage culture and even about which family the grandparents live with. It was a very educational ride. At the river we hopped in two nice, albeit very basic, kayaks. We had a three hour journey ahead of us. 

Because of the wet nature of kayaking, I opted not to take my camera. Nancy had a waterproof bag for her iPhone so we used that for photos instead.  

There wasn't a single other kayak on the river for the entire three hours. We passed a few tour boats, some fishermen on their bamboo rafts, many water buffalo and their farmers, and some of the most amazing scenery. It was peaceful and interesting. Thankfully it was pleasantly overcast and so although it was warm we didn't roast in the sun. 

Nancy took this that morning. Can you imagine a better place to spend a day on the river? I can't. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the kayaking trip. Then we headed back to our hostel for some dinner and to pack up. Off to Hangzhou in the morning!! 

Map

Steve commented a really good idea that I had been considering but hadn't gotten around to executing yet.  I am not sure this helps but here is a map of my travels this summer.  Points are not accurate, neither of lines of travel.  The order is: Blue, Purple, Green, Light Blue, Pink, Yellow, Red.  However, I encourage you to follow the link at the bottom of this post, it will give you the dates of cities and travel in a list view that helps.


View Bess' 2013 Asia Trip in a larger map



Enjoy!

If you can't get the map to work, try this link.

I'm Back!

Yay, Bess is back in Taiwan and has access to the civilized words (facebook, google, and blogger) again!  

But wait, how can that be?  You were just in Guilin. 

Yeah, you see, when you are traveling at a lickity split pace, sometimes you don't have time to write every day and so I'm a little bit behind.  Also, it was a lot of work to ask my mom to post everything for me.  So posts should be coming daily now, or maybe twice a day, to catch up. 

We have had an excellent trip so far and I am excited to write it all out for you guys.  Thanks for sticking with me. 

I am excited to be back in Taiwan, the people here are just a cut above when it comes to being nice.  It is a refreshing change.  Also, the Beijing pollution is as bad (or worse) as you have heard.  I can't believe that they had the Olympics there!  I spent three days there and I feel horrible.  I have sinus issues I need to get over in the next couple of days before I get on a plane for 15 (and then another for 6) hours. 

Anybody have any questions for me over the last week and a half?

We are in a hot spring resort for a night outside of Taipei.  I think it is about time I go draw a natural hot spring bath and steam all of the pollution out of me. 

Yangshuo - Day 2 Part 1:Market Trip and Cooking School

Yesterday when I saw that there was a cooking school option I reverted to my 6 year old self and internally threw my hands in the air, shook my behind around, and gave a little shout. I. Love. To. Cook.  

It is one of the things I missed most about being in Taiwan. My access to cooking facilities was limited for the majority of the time and even when I had a kitchen to use I was pretty flabbergasted by all of the foreign ingredients and the best forms of preparation. 

Our cooking class would take us to the market with an English speaking local. She walked us through the massive area pointing out interesting foods. Answering our millions of questions. And generally being the most patient woman in the world. Nikki was her name. We spent about an hour at the market. She had already purchased everything we would need for class but it was really interesting and helpful to see all of the ingredients I had been eating for the last four months in their natural state. 

We were instructed that we could take photos but we couldn't have any people in them. This made me very sad. People are the most interesting part. Even still, the market was very colorful and I still found things to take photos of.

Some pretty purple eggplant.

I have never been a big fan of eggplant. Nor have I ever even attempted to prepare it. The purple gourd shaped vegetable terrified me. It's spongy and seemingly fibrous raw. I disliked its lack of flavor and it isn't something you see a lot in Wisconsin.  I have vague memories of finding an eggplant growing at the bottom of our yard just on the border of the farm field. Mom, could this be true? For being such an innocuous food, I had a completely  irrational distaste for it. I think perhaps its shape is part of the problem. I really, really dislike squash.  Of any kind. It is a texture thing. 

Well, good folks of the interwebs, I was wrong. 

Eggplant, how I love you! I apologize for ignoring your ability to be dense and flavorful my entire life. I am sorry I scoffed at your pretty purple color. How dare I compare you to those nasty squashes?  You are far better than that!! 

Keep reading to see what I made with my new friend, eggplant. :) 

We were introduced to some new vegetables as well. These are horse beans. We have them in Taiwan and a favorite snack of many Taiwanese is to roast these beans until they are crunchy and then sit around chewing the fat and crunching horse beans. 

This is how they look raw, they are about the size of a quarter. 

I like the pretty colors. 

We also saw this giant cucumber. It was probably 8-10 inches in diameter. There were quite a few of these. 

These are also kind of like a cucumber. The inside is the same color as the outside. We didn't use them for the cooking class but I prepared them later with the Yangs in Haining. (Stay tuned for that cooking adventure!!) 

I'm addition to vegetables and fruits this market had another whole section for eats, of all kinds. Live, cooked, raw, etc. 

Perhaps if you are squimish, a member of PETA, or just generally a pet lover, you should skip this paragraph. We saw some things that might make you uncomfortable. I considered not including this but it is very much part of the culture here and since this blog is mostly about all of the things I see and my experiences, I decided I would be missing a big chunk if I didn't talk about it. In the meat section of the market there were many caged animals.  Your range of fowl and poultry, rabbits, fish, some lizard type things, and cats and dogs. Our guide needed to pick up another member of our group so we had about 15 minutes to explore on our own. Before she left, she told us that we might not want to go in a certain section and pointed it out, but being the stubborn woman I am, the moment she said I didn't want to, I wanted to. Nancy and I worked our way across the market and eventually came across the section of interest. There were old, hardened women reaching into cages of chickens and choosing the unlucky one, raising a cleaver and adding a whole new meaning to a phrase I use all the time - running around like a chicken with its head cut off. None of this really bothered me, the cute fluffy bunnies seemed out of place but I'm not a fan of rabbit stew and meat has to come from somewhere. Without going into too much detail, the dogs and cats were harder to swallow. The sad eyes peering back at me from cages put a pit in my stomach. The cooked selections hanging whole from hooks in the ceiling made me cringe a little. The big vats of boiling water made me wonder if there wasn't a better process. Hearing the whimpers from across the hall almost made me run away but I think this is one of those "facts of life" I stayed the course and it was informative and an experience I'm sure not to forget... Ever. After all, that was one of my goals for this trip. 

Okay squimish folks, you can join us again. We saw all kinds of prepared meats. The Chinese love to eat chicken feet. The first time I saw a Chinese teenaged girl dig into a chicken foot like she was digging into chocolate cake i was chanting "Bruce, Bruce, Bruce" in my mind and was probably staring with my mouth open. They are more tasty than most Americans would think. 

I purchased some spices at the market that I don't think I can easily get n the States. I'm really hoping to recreate some of the foods I have had here back home. 

After the market, we took a 15 minute mini bus ride to the kitchens. Probably one of the most beautiful settings for a kitchen I could imagine; I was so excited. We took a short break and sat outside eating Huang Pi. Say what? These little yellow skinned fruits (huang pi directly translates to "yellow skin," funny how that works) are the best! 

It took me 24 hours to track down the name for you though because the little buggers are elusive. Apparently they are grown all over, even in Florida, but search all you might and the information available is incredibly limited. I actually had to email the owner of the cooking school to find the name. 

About the size and shaped of red grapes, they have kind a fuzzy skin that you can eat if you are a fan of bitter things. If not, just peel back the skin and pop the insides in your mouth but you might want to watch out for a couple of seeds. Another option is to pierce the skin with a finger nail and just suck the insides out, it is a nice way to avoid the seeds and the awkward business of pulling seeds out of your mouth and then what do you do with them?  The texture is similar to lychee if you've ever had it, slightly denser than a grape. The best part? They are like mini balls of the best lemonade ever!! So refreshing! Apparently the Chinese use them for a variety of medicinal purposes which is awesome. They make the best tasting medicine I've ever had! 

After indulging in far too many huang pi and washing the correlating stickiness from my hands, it was time to cook!  

This was our kitchen. The entire left wall was big doors with glass panes. The view was spectacular. The woman with the cleaver was Nikki, our teacher for the day. She was great.

There were five students: myself, Nancy, two Irish girls (Edel and Carmel), and Courtney from Portland. 

We each had an apron and a station with everything we would need.

Yes, they gave me a cleaver. They clearly don't know me. :-p. I am proud to say that I wielded that thing like a professional and left with all digits attached. 

The first dish we prepared was a variety plate of pork stuffed items. Nikki showed us how to do everything and then we had time to do it on our own. Here was her example:

We stuffed the pork mixture into a shiitake mushroom, a tofu ball, and a pumpkin flower. Here is my plate: 

The mushroom is pretty straight forward. As is the tofu ball (hint: it is a ball of fried tofu and that is hollow inside).  Let me explain the pumpkin flower. You can see it a couple photos up in my station. It is a light orange flower with a deep throat. We stuffed the pork mixture in the throat of the flower. Then we folded the petals over and broke the stem off. We shoved the stem through the folded over petals to hold it all in place. 

Once everyone had completed our tasks we stacked the steamers on top of each other and Nikki placed them on an upside down bowl in a wok with water. This is a way of steaming the food. She explained that because of the convection process of steam the food on the top layer would cook at the same rate as that on the bottom layer. 

The final product was delicious! 

Next we prepared all of the vegetables for the other four dishes. Lots of chopping, smashing, and julienne-ing (is that a word?) 

Smashing? Yup. We used the flat side of our cleavers to smash garlic cloves and fresh ginger. Nikki said that it was important to yell "yah!"as you smashed so we all had a good laugh doing that. 

Once all of our preparations were done we made our first dish: stir fried eggplant with blackbean chili paste. Cooking was a pretty involved process, especially since most Chinese cooking is done in a very hot wok and goes very quickly. I apparently was so distracted by the amazing smell of the finished product that I wasn't able to focus the camera properly, but you get the gist of it. It may look like an unappetizing pile of mush but it was oh so good.

My only regret with eating it all? There were still four more dishes to come!! 

Next up was a local specialty called beer fish. We each got a catfish filet and a mug of beer. 

We seared the fish so it had a crispy skin, then added vegetables and seasoning. Eventually we added the beer which foamed up and immediately filled the air with a sweet smell.

We let the mixture cook until the beer reduced to a sticky sweet mess. 

We were instructed to let the fish rest while we cooked the rest of our meal. Maybe this is some form of torture? 

The final product delighted all senses. The aroma was sweet with a hint of spice. The added chili peppers gave the crisp vegetables just enough of a bite. The skin on the fish was crispy while the meat itself was fall apart tender without being overcooked. The whole dish was brought together with the perfect amount of oyster sauce and salt. The peppers retained their originally crispness but a absorbed the combined favors of the fish and seasonings, especially the garlic and ginger because of the rest period. I can't believe I'm saying this, but as good as this was, there is better to come!! 

Next was stir fried chicken with cashews, carrots, and garlic sprouts. 

This was my absolute favorite!! It was fun to make, beautiful to look at, and exceptional to eat! 

The carrots were slightly caramelized. The garlic sprouts offered the perfect crunch and hint of garlic flavoring. The chicken was tender and juicy. The cashews brought the flavor of the carrots out and gave a great textural juxtaposition to the chicken. I could eat this dish every day for the rest of my life. (Maybe) 

Our final dish was a version of something that is at every Chinese meal - stir fried vegetables. In this case, we had locally grown greens (you could use bok choy, romaine, or spinach, or basically anything that is green and leafy). This dish is very simple. Hot wok. Oil. Fresh greens. Minced garlic. Sliced red chili.  Some salt. A little water. Stir fry. Ta da! 

Those were our five dishes. Together we sat around and ate the remaining four in view of some of the most amazing mountains. We drank locally grown tea, glanced at the garden where much of our produced was grown. Sat under the shade of the Huang Pi tree. 

Take me back. 

 

 

 

See that?  That is the cheesy smile I get when I'm having one of those life defining happy moments. 

I will come back to this place. 

I will take the week long course they offer. 

Maybe I will come back with Zac.  He can rock climb while I cook. I can't think of many things I would love more. 

Check back for Yangshuo - Day 2 Part 2: Kayaking.