China Trip - Final Chapter

Finally getting around to adding the final chapter to my China trip. This after nearly losing many irreplaceable photos when my laptop crashed...

As great as the trip was, it just wouldn't be me if I didn't close things out with a couple mis-steps.

The first came after a long, leisurely swim in the penthouse pool of the 5-star hotel in which we stayed the final night. Now I love swimming, but my ears and water don't mix well. This place was so nice and private, I didn't stop to think of the potential problems -- an ear infection ahead of a 14-hour flight halfway around the world. To say the ear trouble made things uncomfortable with the high-altitude pressure would be a bit of an understatement. I actually had to get medicine and then get my ear drained after returning home. Good stuff.

The second snafu came as no surprise whatsoever for Carrie, who is constantly finding a little bit of anything and everything in the pockets of my pants come laundry time. Unfortunately, the folks who were doing my laundry in China didn't check my cargo shorts as closely. As a result, my passport lost its battle with an industrial washer. I have to admit, this caused a little consternation on my part before arriving at the airport for the return trip home. I envisioned all kinds of nasty possibilities stemming from a problematic passport, but fortunately the fellow checking me back through customs was an understanding and sympathetic chap. In some ways, I have to imagine this problem is a universal one...

Lastly, I had to take the time to add a few other pictures. Of all the amazing things I got to see and experience during the trip, among the most endlessly fascinating for me were the multitude of strange two- and three-wheeled mutant bicycle contraptions. I'm not sure why, but these vehicles captivated me -- I guess it was an interesting juxtaposition against the backdrop of a modern urban area and being that there were so many around, I couldn't imagine this being a central mode of transportation in any big U.S. city. So... I end with a few of these:

This woman and her kids jostled for position not only with buses and cars, but with pedestrians on the sidewalks.

These things were too cool. Invariably, there would be an older woman in the back compartment being driven around. As hot as it was, I couldn't imagine these tinder boxes not being like being in a blast furnace. But they were all over..

Bikes like this one above were all over, many of them LOADED precariously with tons of boxes and supplies that looked like they would spill off at any moment..

And lastly, these guys. We have these surrey-like bikes in the states too, of course, but probably not in as great a quantity. And many of these vehicles looked like they'd been around since the Ming Dynasty.. I brought plenty of souvenirs back with me, but if only I could have come home with one of the mutant vehicles! Perhaps next time,