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12-Mar-2016 Shanghai Stopover

Saturday 12 March 2016 Leave a comment
The flight was good. On time & had my vegan meal & it was excellent. Watched a Chinese film and an Indian film (Bajrangi Bhaijaan), which was really excellent but did make my cry, so was probably perfect for being on a plane. I had bought a little gizmo at JayCar that allows you to use your own cool headphones with the plane entertainment system, much better than their own headphones. I was also lucky enough to have 3 seats to stretch out over and could actually lie down! I listened to music & dozed a bit. I think the air con dried out my sinus out so my head felt a lot better. We, the whole plane (China Eastern Airlines), even did a synchronised set of Tai Chi movements whilst seated ! We arrived in Shanghai at 5am for my 7hr stopover.  Temp was 2C and I was just wearing a short-sleeve polo shirt as it was hot in Sydney yesterday !! I only went outside briefly as that’s where all the smokers were and it WAS cold. Inside it wasn’t a lot better. Virtually everything was shut so I just walked around a lot… lucky its a big airport with connecting terminals!
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At past 6am I found the row of local food places and got some rice congee with red aduki beans – very traditional I guess? With a small plate of spicy pickles.
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I walked around a heap more.  Decided against going into town as the first train wasn’t until 7am and I didn’t really have time to do more than go there & back. I went thru customs and read a book and walked more and sat around .. typical airport terminal soul destroying stuff. Was very tired indeed. I did some pushups to get my blood pumping although I did a lot of walking as well. The terminals and connecting routes were very long. I had a coffee at Starbucks. I really hate that place as it is the same everywhere and the coffee is not good which is the whole raison d’etre. However it was the only place with anything like good coffee. From past experience, the rest of Shanghai is ok for coffee, just not the airport.
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11-Mar-2016 Leaving for the UK

Friday 11 March 2016 Leave a comment

Today definitely didn’t start well although the damage was done last night (Thursday): I knew I would be home late from work and Dawn was working overnight so my aim was to pack and tidy up so I would have a clear run on Friday morning to go for a last run & swim at Jibbon, see Dawn and go to work and then the airport straight from work.

A great plan that failed failed failed.

I got home late on Thursday as expected maybe 8pm+ as I always get caught up trying to finish off work, and I had to buy some gifts for Kody’s Japanese exchange buddy who is coming next week (who I won’t see or be able to help with… that didn’t go down well). I got home late, felt like crap as I have been burning the candle at both ends, had a bath and went to bed at 10pm, thinking “I’ll sort it all out early tomorrow morning).

Friday morning I still felt awful. I drove to Jibbon for a cold but gorgeous swim. At home I made a half-hearted effort to clear up, and took work calls then went to bed till 11.30am and then worked & did chores & packed all the way till 4.30pm then went for a good swim with everyone except Kody, even Charley the dog came. I then almost missed the ferry as I was on the phone for work and even in the train and at the airport. Yuk. It just felt horrible. Was still emailing instructions all the way up until the plane left at 9.30pm.

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