There Might be a Little Dust on the Blogger

I've been getting bugged about updating this blog for quite some time now.  It all comes down to my dislike of writing.  It isn't fun.  That's it.  People tell me, "but your blog is so much fun to read.  You have to keep it going."  To that I say of course it's fun to read, you don't have to write it.  Do you go to a book store and buy a book when you want to read or do you write your own?  I'm guessing neither because you probably just download one, but my point is you probably don't write your own.  Listen here loyal readers, I'm sorry I'm so good at something I don't really like.  Call it my curse.  I'm willing to set these differences aside every now and again because I'm first and foremost extremely humble, and I care about my fans.  So here you go.

I'm writing this on a flight from Kunming to Hong Kong en-route to Singapore. Kate and the boys are in Dallas.  I was supposed to to be two weeks into a hiking trip through the Nujiang Valley, but after being delayed for a week and then waiting another four days for my friend to arrive on stand-by flights, the trip was finally canceled.  Rather than hanging around in an empty house for an additional two weeks, I took a friend's advice and decided to hop a flight to Singapore to visit a friend from the Rugby team.  If it all works out, I'll even have a chance to swing by Arby's in Hong Kong during my layover.  That's the real reason for the trip.  I'll be considered a success in the Olmsted program if I learn to say "Cheddar Melt with horsey sauce" in Chinese.

One benefit of this trip is that I was able to give the new Kunming International Airport (KIA?) a test run.  It just opened on the 28th of June after months of delays.  It's a pretty impressive structure.  It now ranks as China's fourth-largest airport.  The new baggage claim area is bigger than the entire structure at the old airport.  Unfortunately, it gives a bit of a false first impression of Kunming.  The new airport is ultra-modern, clean, and well-planned.  Kunming, however, is still working towards hyphenated adjective status beyond that of "in-progress" and "under-construction."  Additionally, there are still very few mass transit options to the new airport.  You can take a bus for 20 RMB, but be prepared for the 40km trip to take up to two hours.  You can take the first leg of the Kunming metro to open, but that only gets you to a bus station 20 minutes outside of town.  Private drivers that used to charge 50 RMB to the old airport now charge 170 RMB for a trip to the new location.  I've also heard that cab drivers refuse to use their meters for trips to the new airport.  If I had kept up with this blog, you would know by now that crooked cab drivers who refuse to use their meters are my arch-nemesis here in China.  

Anyway, the new airport is pretty impressive if not still extremely Chinese.  What makes it Chinese?  The international has almost nothing in it.  It has about ten different duty free shops, three off-brand coffee shops, and one tiny restaurant called the "Lucky Shamrock" that claims to specialize in steak and coffee.  In the U.S., I would say that's awesome, but in China it sounds more like a week-long love affair with a toilet.  Additionally, and I don't know why I expected it to be different, but a new airport doesn't mean new behavior.  People continue to crowd into as small a space as possible and call it "standing in line."  I'm on a plane with about 30 people that are part of some sort of tourist group.  They're all wearing yellow vests, armbands, and hats like they're part of some sort of road cleanup crew.  Additionally, it appeared that they were all given a plastic bag with a hard-boiled egg when they arrived at the airport which they all chose to eat slowly, and sloppily while waiting for the plane to arrive.  Nothing makes waiting for a late plane bearable like a bunch of  old Chinese people slobbering stinky hard-boiled eggs all over themselves.

So that's where I am right now.  Maybe I'll write more, and maybe I won't.  I have an Olmsted Scholar report due at the end of next week so that will probably make me hate writing again for another few months.  However, you never know.  With the school year over maybe I'll write more.  Now I know how Harper Lee felt after writing To Kill a Mockingbird.  Such is my gift.....and my curse.  Oh the irony.