… the I’m outta here edition.

All packed. Ready to grab one last bite before the mini-bus picks us up at 2 pm. Then it’s the waiting game… 6:10 flight to Tranna and a 8:20 to YOW.

Looking forward to going home and seeing C and the kids. Ten days is a long time. I cannot imagine how folks in the Forces do it for months at a go… guess they just do… it’s part of the deal.

In all likelihood this will be my last trip to China. The project is coming to a close and considering the austerity culture in the PS these days, there will not be a lot of international travel for years to come save for the select few.

No matter, this has been quite the experience for the ol’ Parry Sound boy. When I was growing up in that small Ontario town, I often dreamed of seeing far of and exotic places like China – and I have done exactly that.

China has a beauty that is unlike anywhere lese I have visited. The natural and built beauty of the Great Wall to the beauty of its people and culture and food (esp. The Food!). I will miss these things but I am am fortunate to have experienced them at all.

And who knows? Maybe I will make it back one day! I do know that my travel bug has not been squashed and I want to see and I know I will see many more wonders and experience many more cultures before I turn to dust. The world is a mighty varied place and it would be a disservce to myself to not endeavor to see even more of what it has to offer!

谢谢

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

To say the Dean Del Mastro makes Jason Kenney look like a genius!

That is all.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Some of my fave non-food-related pics since I started coming here in 2009.

Part 1.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Food, glorious FOOD edition! Some of my fave food shots from my trips to the Middle Kingdom.
Some North Americans tend to avoid the real Chinese places… I’m not one of them.

Peking duck

VERY spicy lamb chops!

Best green beans on the planet

Dan dan noodles

100 year old eggs

Ate these bad boys!

Xiao Wang's... just behind the hotel.

Duckies

Feast

Yummy... duck!

Chicken and chilies - but more chilies than chicken!

I don't remember what this was...

Grouper

Píjiǔ

Szechuan pork ribs on a bridge.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… through a third floor office window…

I’m writing this on the way back to the hotel after a good and productive day. The A/C hasn’t yet been switched on for the building – or any of the government buildings, we are told – so the windows were open all to provide at least some measure of relief from the heat and humidity.

And along the day, the sounds of the northern capital stream through the windows. In many ways, they are sounds not dissimilar from urban sounds in many other cities. There are, of course, car and truck horns. But they are far more plentiful here than in Ottawa, Toronto or Montreal. The car horn repair business must indeed be lucrative here; as it likely is in cities like Paris and London. The same would go for brake shops.

Squeaking and squealing brakes, gears shifting, the roar of diesel engines… all are common here and again, are to a more or less degree, common elsewhere as well.

But there are sounds from the Beijing streets that are different from those I have heard elsewhere.

• Chants from soldiers or other groups… Occasionally one hears a very firm and loud chant from street level sounding like many men shouting in unison.
• Loud speakers repeating patriotic sayings… on a previous Mission I had asked one of the interpreters about what was coming out of loudspeakers on a bus or perched on a car. I was told that Party faithful from time to time drive through the streets of Beijing playing popular Communist party sayings or pearls of wisdom.
• Yelling. Lots of yelling. Men yelling back and forth to one another…. yeah, yeah, you get this elsewhere… but not to this degree! It sometimes sounds like a rumble is going to break out any time… but it’s usually only one bud yelling across the street to another.

It IS so very different here in many ways.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Day 7… forgot to take melatonin edition. Dammit!

Up since 4 am so it’s gonna be a loooonnnnggg day… oh well… last full day of meetings and discussions. We have a half day (hopefully) tomorrow to wrap up and then leave on Thursday.

Had the traditional banquet last night. It was a nice affair… not over the top, but nice. They held it in an old – and massive – greenhouse that has been converted into a restaurant / wedding venue / big party type place. And being that this is the last Mission, this was the last banquet.

Nice place, but I wasn’t thrilled to see these:

No worries – I didn’t eat any of that!

That’s about it for now… time to get moving!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… that’s it’s a-gonna be a hot summer, kids…

Great for tomatoes!!!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

…huh?

Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey called the decision disappointing.

“Fifty two thousand people in Etobicoke-Centre followed the rules, cast their ballots and today had their democratic decision thrown into doubt,” he said.

Well, no, Mr. DeLorey. Some of those 52,000 voters in the riding did NOT follow the rules and that is why the election results have been overturned. The judge’s ruling in this case is an intrinsic part of the democratic process.

Got a problem with that?

Bring on the by-election!!!!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

 A short vid of the drive through Tiannemen Square

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario