Bright lights, Chengdu city

We went out to a historic shopping district in Chengdu last night. Saw some amazing sights and a show with traditional dancers, including a "changing faces" dance that's drawn from the regional opera. And ate some locale fare including spicy hot dumplings in chili oil and kung pao chicken (the real deal).

I can't stay and chat because pandas await today. For now, here are some pretty pictures.

 

 

 

 

More here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25768433@N02/sets/72157632963512939/ 

Can do...Chengdu

First morning in Chengdu--so far, so good. It's about 70 degrees out, smoggy but at least it's sunny and warm. I strolled around the neighborhood near the hotel and did some people- and sight-watching.

 
 

 

 

Here are some more pics for your perusal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25768433@N02/sets/72157632960664564/

 

 

Cheers from Chengdu!

e. 

Birthday for Batman

My good friend Rich is having his birthday today. Since he never misses a birthday blog post on my birthday (see most recent ones here, here, or here), I figure I ought to do the same to celebrate his special day. So...I just have to be snarky, curse a bunch, and throw in numerous pop culture references. Here goes!

First of all, despite being a raging social-phobe, Rich is a fabulous Halloween costume partner. In year's past, we've been The Captain and Tennille, something great that I'm not recalling right now, and Batman and Robin. Check out our f'ing fabulous selves here:

 

I was going to post a link to that Prince song from the original Batman flick with Michael Keaton, and then I remembered that Rich f'ing hates Prince, so that idea has been thrown out. So...then what? Batman Dubstep? OK.

 

 

Rich has saved my bacon a couple of times this year, and for that I am grateful (and he's helped me out once or twice too). It's distinctly possible that he distracted me from a very stressful situation by forcing me to go to a matinee showing of a summer blockbuster (it's also possible we didn't do this, as I can't imagine 2 serious market research professionals leaving work for a desperately-needed-yet-not-work-sponsored movie break). If in fact this happened, this is the movie we might have possibly (but not probably) seen:

 

 

Rich is headed to Scotland in a couple of weeks to see a concert, which is both ridiculous and fabulous. I can't wait to hear all about the adventure! In the mean time, let's close by gazing lovingly at my favorite Scottish lad (who I imagine Rich might like as well).

 

Happy birthday dude! Rock the fuck on.

 

Erin Leedy, World Traveler

Holy cow, my world map is looking better and better. 2012 has really fleshed this out—I added 3 new continents! And can really say I've been to the southern hemisphere now. (Note that I'm cheating for 1.5 weeks, as I don't hit Mexico until 10/1). 

That said, Where I've Been calculates that I've visited 9% of the world. That's it? Really!? It looks like so much more than 9% when you color in the entire countries of China and Brazil after having visited a city or two in each. ;-)

Perhaps next I will have to visit Russia, as that'll add a lot of blue to this map.

Now, how am I going to convince a client that we need to do some market research in Antarctica?

Everything, everything, everything, everything (East African remix)

Holy moly. Just wrapping up 11.5 days in East Africa, specifically Rwanda (Kigali) and Uganda (Kampala). What a life-changing experience. 

While it may not totally change what I do, it has changed my frame of reference. We in the West are so fortunate—so safe, so affluent, so healthy, and strangely, so grouchy. We have so much and yet we appreciate it so little and bitch about it so much. Going forward, I will try to appreciate all that I have more deeply. 

Here are a few images from my stay in Kampala, Uganda:

Headed to Brazil now, and feeling so fortunate to have been able to experience East Africa. I will try to share some of this with the kids, not only what I've seen but the renewed sense of appreciation for all that we have. 

e.  

Things I learned about Rwanda in the first 60 minutes

I am in Rwanda. Woot! I'm at a very nice business-class hotel so I'm not getting anything close to an authentic African experience yet. But I will be headed out into Kigali tomorrow (with a guide...don't you go fretting about me walking around being unsafe). Oh, and I now believe it's pronounced "CHI-gall-ee" as opposed to "KI-gall-ee" but I will confirm this tomorrow. 

I arrived after sunset so I haven't gotten a good look at the landscape nor cityscape. That said, I did notice some things worth sharing. 

- People here walk. From the airplane, I could see rather large freeways with typical traffic, but stretched alongside the freeway in each direction, I could see lots of people walking. Where we might have a bike lane on the right-hand side, they seem to have a walk lane (or sidewalk, really). I talked to my hosts Janet and Dan, and they confirmed that most people walk places. Few can afford cars or even taxi rides. There are motorbike "taxis" that charge fares for rides as well. Just hop aboard! 

- Folks have been incredibly friendly. My lovely host Janet met me at the airport with a sign and a hug. First hug in Africa...I hope there are more of those. She was so happy I arrived safe and sound. When I told my guides it was my first trip to Africa, they were thrilled for me and my adventure, and were proud to share this country—this little bit of Africa—with me. I received a similarly warm reaction from the driver, the hotel desk staff, the bellman, etc. And Janet and Dan are taking me around the city tomorrow on a mini adventure. Thank you, kind locals. :-)

- It's difficult to get your hands on Rwandan Francs. I tried to exchange dollars for RWF in Portland. No dice. Tried again in Brussels and at the Kigali airport. Nope and nope. I will have to crack this code tomorrow. On the plus side, there are ATMs that seem to be taking V/MC and dispensing cash. So all is not lost. 

- Mobile phones are huge in Rwanda. In the airport terminal, there are lots of ads related to phone coverage, minutes, SIM cards, and the like. There are also lots of ads related to payment cards, ATMs, and banks. Theoretically, if someone were in Rwanda to do research on mobile phones and payments, someone would be feeling pretty good right about now.  Oh, and my hosts were encouraging me to get a local phone for communication while I'm here ("so you don't have to use roaming"). Not sure I'll do this, but it's interesting how easy it might be to do so. 

Tomorrow I will head out to see, experience and learn more. Until then, sweet dreams, my American friends/family/loved ones/random strangers reading my blog.

e.

Rwanda, Uganda, Brazil...oh my

I am headed out on 2.5 weeks of "emerging market" travel. I will be blogging periodically throughout. Not sure what I'll blog about yet; we shall see what happens that's noteworthy. 

Until then, stay tuned. 

e. 

Zoo bus to hell

I chaperoned a Kindergarten field trip on Thursday with 36 kids, 2 teachers and 7 or so other parents. It was a well-intentioned affair, but it went south in a major way on the transportation front. Here are the impossible-to-dream-up events:

• Hired tour bus #1 makes it 25 miles out of town and promptly breaks down. We must pull over at a rest stop to assess the situation. Adults have to entertain kids for about 2 hours while we await the new bus. We trot the kids off into the woods surrounding the rest stop for some "learning."
• We get on bus #2, which is festooned with xmas lights and is blasting out Barry Manilow tunes. One kid locks himself in the lav for a short while, but we jimmy the door and free him. We make it safely to the Newport Aquarium (3 hrs. from PDX), where we now have a grand total of 1.5 hours to explore before we must return.
• Bus #2 takes off but we are assured that another bus will pick us up. That bus shows up an hour late. And is mysteriously similar to Bus #1.
• We ride Bus #1/Bus #3 for about 25 miles out of town, where it promptly breaks down. Again. Seriously? Adults have to entertain kids for about 1.75 hours while we await the new bus. We now have no power and no real food or water, but we do have a country store. We hang out with country store dude and his dogs, eating slim jims and peanut butter sandwiches. We have to buy flashlights as it's dark and we have no power on Bus #1/Bus #3.
• Bus #4 shows up; a school bus this time as opposed to a tour bus. Also, a state trooper shows up with a flood light to help escort the 36 little kids across the highway to the school bus. Yay for "Spike," the new bus driver and the unnamed state trooper!
• Spike gets us far up the road toward Portland. With about 25 miles to go, the emergency exit alarm starts going off incessantly. The emergency exit door is malfunctioning. We must pull over at a rest stop to assess the situation. The rest stop at which we pull over is THE SAME REST STOP we were at 10 hours ago during breakdown #1. We're now living in some kind of dark cosmic downward spiral from which we might never escape.
• Spike decides we'll just have to carry on with the malfunction, so we drive the final 25 miles with an alarm screeching.
• We finally make it to the school 3 hours later than expected. Teachers, parents and kids burst into applause (and for a few, into tears, to be sure).

Notes to self:

• Celia's teacher is pretty darn cool. And cool tempered. She saved the day from certain doom.
• Chaperoning a field trip comes with risks.
• Due to the aforementioned risks, think twice before volunteering again.