Finally in Wuhan

I left the Canyon at 10:15 AM on Thursday November 4th. I arrived at Flagstaff's Pulliam Airport at approximately 12:30 PM. My flight out boarded at 6:10 PM. I arrived in LA at around 8PM (7PM LA time). I went to my Hotel the Travellodge in El Segunda CA. the shuttle to my hotel was about 5-10 minutes late picking me up. I left my Hotel at 5:00 AM for LAX. My flight to San Francisco left at 7 and arrived at 8. MY luggage was tagged as going to Beijing with the connecting flight info on it, but not for Wuhan, which made me worry, since when buying the ticket the quoted price was more than the price charged when paying for ticket. at 10 AM I was able to get my boarding pass for the air china flight to Beijing. They didn't give me a boarding pass for my connecting flight so I was worried I didn't have a ticket to connect to Wuhan. The flight was also delayed, what should have left before 2pm was now not boarding until 2:30PM. By the time we boarded it was after 3pm, and after 4:30 when we took off. I was now worrying that I would not have a ticket for a flight I was most likely going to miss. We landed in Beijing at around 4:30 am (7:30 PM local) and I had to claim my luggage. I then went to see about the boarding pass for Wuhan and was told the plane had already left. I was directed to a ticketing counter.

This is where Air China really stepped up to improve my first impression. I was given a flight out the next morning, and they arranged for accomadations, including a meal. I was about the only one going to Wuhan, but the flight to Shanghi had also been missed by about 20 or so people. They took us by shuttle bus to the CTS Beijing Hotel. When I got there we were told that it was two people per room. I was put in a room with another american, from Colorado that was headed to Shanghi on business. We got to the Hotel about 9:45 PM local, and there was a small buffet available to us. I had horrible hot and sour soup, as well as some chinese dishes I really had no idea what they were. Other than the soup the food was good. I was glad I knew how to use chop sticks as there was no silverware available. We were told that they would wake us at 5AM for a 5:30 shuttle to the airport. At 4:30 they knocked on our door to wake us. We got on the shuttle and headed to the airport. It was about 6:30 or so when we arrived back at the airport. My flight out was at 7:45 AM. I was the only american and really i think the only non-chinese on my flight.


A long time in airports/on planes, but I think it is worth it. I am so happy to be reunited with my Snow.

rest of disney photos

Well had a hard enough time uploading these so just gonna post a link. Probably still missing some.

My flickr stream

New Job

I am going to be Moving to China. I have a job offer teaching English in Wuhan China. I am very excited and scrambling to get Visa etc.

I hope to leave for China the first week of December

As for the more pictures I promised blame flikr, it keeps timing out on me

Happy and Sad

I went to see my Fiancee off to China from LA. On November 10th I helped her complete her checkout procedures here at the canyon. We then went to Flagstaff on Open Road Tours. We went and closed her bank account, and then we went to Mandarin Buffet, a Chinese restaurant Snow really enjoyed, for lunch. We then took a cab to the airport. We flew to LA and got there about 730PM with 3 of her classmates. We spent about 45 minutes trying to decide on a hotel. We settled on the Howard Johnson listed as being at LAX. It was supposed to have a Chinese restaurant etc. no restaurant, except american style breakfast when we got there. The high speed internet wasn't free. We were disappointed in our hotel. Though it looked nice enough.



Snow and I went to a Pizza/Iranian restaurant for dinner. We had some Pita bread and then ordered BBQ Chicken Pizza. We split an order of Baklava for Dessert.


On the 11th we went to Disneyland with Snow's classmates via Limo.

We spent half the day as a group then split up. We went on several rides. At 11pm we went met up again and took the limo back to our hotel. It was alot of fun and I have many happy memories.


On the 12th they went back to China. Both Snow and I cried. I didn't want her to go and wish I could have gone with her. She left at about 8 am. My flight back to
Flagstaff was at 3pm. I spent the night in Flagstaff but didn't feel like doing much. Too many memories of doing things with Snow in Flagstaff. I went to Walmart for some supplies and then returned to the Canyon.

I will try to get more photos of our time at Disney posted in the near future.

My coworkers are driving me nuts with comments like " So Snow is back in China now? That must really suck for you." I just want to throw them into the canyon.

My next step is to find a job in China. I am looking for a job teaching English. I hope to get married once I am over there.

I'm engaged!!

On November 3rd I asked my Girlfriend Snow to marry me and she said yes. We went to dinner at the Arizona Room, which was the site of our first date two months prior. I wore a Chinese style jacket that Snow bought me on our trip to Vegas, and She wore the Black dress she wore on our first date.




We started the meal with the Roasted Red Pepper soup, and had prime rib as our entree.



After dinner we went to the porch swing at El Tovar, which we did on our first date as well. This is where I proposed to her. She mentioned that I kept staring at her all through dinner. I told her that is because I wanted to be sure hers was the face I wanted to see across from me the rest of my life. I then got down on one knee asked her to marry me and gave her an engagement ring. Her response "OK". After the shedding of a few tears of Joy, I broke out a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne. It was quite cold that night so after the initial sips we went back to her room and shared the Champagne with her roommate.




I was too busy celebrating to get an image of the ring until the next day, but it's a 1/3 carrat diamond with an enhancer band of inset diamonds.

Hike down to Mile and Half House

Well I finally made it below the rim. I hiked down to the Mile and a half rest house with my friends Marc, Snow, and Jane.
Here they are just before we set out. l to r Jane, Marc, and Snow



looking up from the Bright Angel Trail.


Marc along the trail.


Snow and I along the trail.


Snow, Jane and Marc along the trail


We met a couple of new four legged friends along the trail as well such as this bighorn sheep


or this squirrel at our destination


And here we are resting at our destination...
Marc

Jane


Marc and Jane


Snow and I


It took much longer going back up than it did going down. My asthma was really making it tough on me. I kept having to stop and rest. It took about 30-45 minutes down and about 1.5-2hours up. Still it was a blast and I will do it again.

The Omnivore’s Hundred

1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

Leo's Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

lightning storm

Last night there was a thunderstorm going on when I got out of work. I snapped several photos of the storm between Midnight and 1:00AM to try to capture some shots of the lightning. Here are the ones that turned out the best.














The last photo shows how much some of the flashes were lighting up the sky.