Tamsin & Cooke: This....... is China?

Thursday, December 4, 2014

This....... is China?

Talk about having preconceived ideas and misconceptions! Mea Culpa, but when I try to figure out what my pre-conceived ideas and expectations were I realize they were a mélange of concepts that created an impression far from the truth.

Unlike almost all international visitors, my first port of call into China was Kunming, (the gateway to mystical, alluring Yunnan Provence) not the usual Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong arrivals. The relatively small airport that I was expecting to transit had no less than 28 security lanes, each with at least 20 people deep. As with the USA, one clears customs and immigration at the first port of entrance, then it was onto Beijing.

I was dreading coping with the air pollution..... but.... skies were blue and traffic almost non existent. I'd arrived during APEC week. Factories had been closed for 3 weeks to clear the air, offices were closed for the week of the meetings, even numbered car license tags were only allowed to drive on even numbered days and the roads were eerily quiet.

Flush panel to modern day toilet.

I get to my room at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, walk into the bathroom and the toilet lid automatically raises. Take a closer look at the panel on the wall and find I have the option rear cleanse, front cleanse, pulsating cleanse, dryer and even a heated seat.

.....Then ... I decided it was time to stretch my legs before retiring to bed and walked off down the street to find more Coco Chanel choices than I have ever seen in Paris.