Plane ride to China

After a few short days home in KL, I'm on a plane to Guangzhou and then to Nanjing.  I have mixed emotions, as per usual during big life transitions.  I won't see my family for a while, but at least I've been able to spend more time with them this summer than I have the last few years.  My friends are all scattering to different places, but the other Flagship students are all good guys, so it shouldn't be bad in that respect.  Mostly, I don't know what to expect.  Nothing can completely prepare you for living in another country long-term.

I rescind my earlier statement about Asian airlines being more reasonable with luggage fees.  This morning at the airport, China Southern's agent only allowed me the equivalent of one bag in weight, and I basically had to buy another ticket to Nanjing for my second bag.  My mom came in with me, and she very generously paid for it after trying to make them see sense, but it still made me sick with frustration - what can you do?  Mailing a heavy piece of luggage would have cost a lot also.  没办法。

Some mornings I wake up and look in the mirror and like the way I look; other mornings I want to be on one of those makeover shows.  I said as much to my mom yesterday, and she took me to get a haircut and mani-pedi!  It was my first time getting either a manicure or a pedicure.  It felt nice, but I don't think I need them very often.  Mostly I enjoyed the feeling of relaxing and having other people do things for me - having been at college for a while and doing everything for myself, that feeling of abandonment is a luxury.

Now I'm on the plane to Nanjing.  Like I did in Shanghai on my way here, I had to collect my luggage in Guangzhou and put it through security again.  I brought too much stuff to China; I guess I'll be leaving some of it here.  I arrive in Nanjing at 8:40 pm and I'm staying with another Flagship student, Chandler, until I find an apartment tomorrow or Thursday.  The phone that I brought from Malaysia that I know will work here is dead, and my iPhone won't be able to work here until and unless I can get it unlocked, so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to contact him.  I guess I'll try to find his apartment and borrow someone's phone to call him if I get lost.

"I Love Our Family!"

Ten points if anyone knows what movie the title is from!

Seriously, though, I love my family. I don't think there's another family I know in which I could decide to leave for Bangkok in the morning and be here in the afternoon, without either of my parents worrying about it or thinking it strange. I got in yesterday evening, and then today was spent touring Bangkok with my cousins Eve and Annie and Eve's friend Hudson, who served his mission in Thailand.

I haven't been back since we lived here 20-odd years ago. All the memories I have are vague wisps of geese, our yard, our maids (we had Thai maids who looked after Hannah and me), and our house. And they all seem flooded with sunshine somehow. That same sunshine accompanied us today - it rains in the afternoon and evening here regularly, but days are hot and bright. We began the day with breakfast in the hotel lobby. Without a room, it would have cost around US$30, and it would be worth every dollar! It's basically a smorgasbord of everything you could ever want for breakfast with a few Asian foods thrown in for good measure. I had croissants, pate, smoked salmon, dim sum, Brie on a baguette, fresh mangos and pineapple, fresh squeezed pineapple juice, and ten other things I forget.

Our hotel - the Sheraton Grande in downtown Bangkok - is conveniently attached to a sky train station. Bangkok has both an underground and a skyway, and there's a walkway to the train stop right outside the hotel. We caught a train to central Bangkok, then transferred to another line and got off at the Chao Praya river. From there, we caught a river taxi north to the Grand Palace. Built in 1782, it's the only structure of its kind in Southeast Asia that isn't a ruin, because Thailand was never conquered by outside invaders except for Japan, who treated Thailand as a satellite state rather than enemy territory. What impressed me was how ornate and beautiful everything was. Inside the Pavilion of the Emerald Buddha (really made of jade), every square inch was covered with intricate paintings and carvings of the Buddha's life and teachings.

As in India and at the Vatican, tourists need to be dressed appropriately to enter the Grand Palace and other monuments. I was wearing jeans, but I got to wait for 25 minutes for Eve, Annie, and Hudson to wait in line so they could borrow sarongs and pants. They looked much more Thai in their new clothes, though!

From there, we walked to the reclining Buddha temple, or the Wat Poh. On the way, someone tried to tell us it was closed until later and that we should take his friend's tuk tuk to see some other sights before we came back! But we pressed on. It's nice having someone in your group who speaks Thai. The reclining Buddha was much, much larger than the Emerald Buddha - probably at least 30 meters long and 10 meters high, lying down and resting his head on one hand. I think it was made of wood, but lacquered or painted gold.

Our last sight was the Wat Arun, or temple of the dawn. It's a very steep temple, like Angkor Wat, so we climbed up and got a spectacular view of the surrounding area. Annie wouldn't climb up the last staircase, but the rest of us went up to the top. There were railings, thankfully. I don't mind heights, but the floors on this temple sloped slightly down as they went out, so you felt like you were going to fall off.

After that we got some food. I got spicy noodle soup; I don't know what possessed me to do so, as I was already sweating, and that only made it worse. Annie chose wisely - she only got a huge frozen strawberry ice syrupy concoction to eat. Then we came back here, went swimming, and now we're sitting in the room. The other three are about to leave for the bus station, where they'll be taking the night bus to Chiang Rai. I don't envy them that! My dad and I fly back to KL tomorrow afternoon, so I might see some more things tomorrow morning. So far, Bangkok is great, and slower/less crowded than I expected a city of 10 million to be.

Bangkok, Anyone?

So I've been in KL all of two days and I'm off to Bangkok for a couple days this afternoon.  That's how easy it is to get around Southeast Asia!  My dad is in Bangkok for business meetings, so I already have a hotel to stay in, and flights are pretty cheap.  I'll be back on Thursday.

I'm so sore!!!  My mom does the 4-hour-body workout three times a week, and we did it together yesterday.  She could do an Iron Man, no problem.  Then I did a hard 30 minutes on the elliptical this morning.  Between yesterday and today, I can hardly raise my arms above my head!  "It hurts so good!"

My camera is charged now, so I'll commence with picture-taking, maybe in Bangkok.  See you on the other side.

Flight to Asia, Part 3

Well, now I'm in the Shanghai airport and in a bit of a daze.  I'm too tired to sleep, and there's no space to lie down anyway, so I'll write a quick update.  The plane from LA got on the ground around 6:40, and then it took ten minutes to taxi, with my next flight scheulded to leave at 7:15.  An agent met me at the gate, along with some people going to Hong Kong, and she expedited our transfer.  We had to go through security again, which I found strange since we'd already been through security in Los Angeles, but I guess new country = new regulations.  I ran to the gate, out of breath, only to find that this flight too had been delayed.  They said 8 pm, but it's 8:25 now and no sign of the plane.  Another flight from this gate to Hiroshima was cancelled a few minutes ago, and a flight supposed to leave for Osaka at 6:15 hasn't left yet.  Hmm...I don't mind waiting another hour or two, as long as they don't cancel my flight.  Fingers crossed...

8:40 - Flight delayed further, no departure time yet.  Sigh.

My flight didn't end up leaving until after 10 pm, and I arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 3:15 am, where my wonderful mother picked me up from the airport.  Got home at 4:15 and slept until 9, then went to church.

Flight to Asia, Part 2

Been on the airplane to Shanghai for 3 hours of 14.  Ick.  It’s a China Eastern flight, so from the moment I got in line to check in, I’ve been in China.  Maximum 5% of the passengers aren’t Chinese.  The flight attendants keep trying to speak to me in English, but I respond in Chinese.  I’m sitting next to Joshua, a 29-year-old art and design professor at Zhejiang University.  He’s returning from Oregon where he was in charge of a summer semester abroad.  Right now he’s sleeping, as I should be.  But I had this thought and wanted to write it down: I love travel, especially on planes, because everyone is equal.  Yes, there are people sitting in first class, but on a given flight I could sit next to almost anyone.  For the most part, people don’t have phone service or wireless Internet or access to their bank accounts, and so they all do the same things – read, sleep, talk, and watch movies.  When we get off the plane, we’re businessmen and students and homemakers with busy lives, but while traveling we’re all just people.  If there are delays or rough weather, they happen to everyone, and we all complain to our neighbors and wonder out loud when we’re going to arrive.  I wish society could be more like a plane ride – fewer divisions, more unity, more common goals and empathy for others.

Flight to Asia, Part 1

This won’t get posted for a while, but I thought I would write something while I’m waiting.  I’m finally done with Provo!  Just in time, too.  I conducted the hymn for devotional last week, and when President Samuelson introduced Ruth and me, he said my hometown was Provo, UT!  What?!  I know my address is listed as Provo, but I thought my hometown said Kuala Lumpur or Severna Park.  Anyway, when even Cecil thinks you’re from Provo, it’s time to get out.  I’m not officially graduated, but I took my last finals Wednesday and Thursday and I only have to apply for graduation sometime while I’m in China.  I have no idea if I’ll be back to walk for graduation, but right now I don’t really care.  It’s just a ceremony, and all the important people in my life came to my senior recital anyway, which I felt was the apex of my undergraduate degree.

Right now I’m sitting in the Los Angeles International Airport; I left Provo at 6:15 am after less than 4 hours of sleep and many hours of cleaning and packing before that.  I’m grateful for the people who came to say goodbye; I’ve always been of the opinion that good friends are better than many friends, and I have been blessed with good friends.  Jonathan and Beth drove me to the airport (well, I’m actually the one who drove, since Beth was sleeping in the back and Jonathan had gotten less than an hour of sleep after cleaning and moving out all night), and my flight here was uneventful.

I have way too much stuff!  I’m going to have to leave some in Kuala Lumpur, because my big suitcase weighs 66 lbs and the smaller one 46 lbs.  I have a brick of a carry-on duffel bag and a fairly heavy backpack.  On top of that, Southwest doesn’t check through to other airlines, so I had to pick up my luggage here and then check it in on China Eastern to Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur.  It’s not easy to pack for a year – I culled things at least three separate times, and finally it all fit.  Jonathan graciously took what didn’t make the cut, including an umbrella, a shoehorn, a shoulder bag, and some Red River cereal, of all things.  I had to pay a $50 overweight fee on Southwest and $25 on China Eastern.  I’ve found that airlines overseas are much more lenient with heavy luggage – Southwest made me pay $0.086 a mile, or 31 times more for the distance than China Eastern’s $0.0028!

So I’m sitting at the gate, and my flight has been delayed.  It was supposed to leave for Shanghai at 12:30, and now it will begin boarding at 2:00.  Apparently there’s been inclement weather in Shanghai.  I was to have had a four-hour layover in Shanghai, so I’ll still catch my connecting flight, barring some other obstacle.  I get in to Kuala Lumpur at 1 in the morning, after a long two days.  More later.

马姐妹

I haven't posted in a while, but this is one occasion I didn't want to pass by without being recorded here.  My older sister Hannah is getting married tomorrow.

I've known Hannah for my whole life, and I probably know her as well as I know any other person.  Because we're less than a year and a half apart, while Andrew came along over three years later, we've always had a special bond.  We're not always the best to each other, but we have a fierce loyalty, and any bad feelings are always resolved quickly.  Growing up, I always wanted to hang out with Hannah and her friends.  This was not, as Hannah says, just because I liked her friends.  Instead, it was because I enjoyed Hannah's company and wanted to be like her.

When I skipped a grade and we were in the same grade for all of high school, our relationship became much closer and largely the way it is today.  We had pretty much the same circle of friends, and they all thought of us as the 'McKinley twins'.  I'm grateful for Hannah allowing me, her little brother, to share great friends and good experiences in high school.  Our junior year, I helped her with calculus after school nearly every day, and she often reminds me of that, but she probably doesn't realize that she helped me just as much that year emotionally and socially.  I would have made friends without her help, but alone I don't think I would have had nearly as many or as good and long lasting of friends, and my social life would have been much less full and happy.

Many people say they look up to their older brothers for having and fulfilling the desire to serve a mission.  I've never had an older brother, but I admired Hannah for always wanting to serve a mission and being an example of testimony and righteousness.  Although I left on my mission first, she helped me grow in my desire to serve.  When she left a few months later, her weekly emails full of miracles and testimony builders were always a source of inspiration and strength.

I've loved having Hannah at BYU with me for our entire undergraduate experience, and I know I'll miss that next year.  I'm thankful for her thoughtfulness, and I don't say it often enough.  She has done more than her fair share of maintaining the car, and I'm always grateful that she's willing to spend her time doing that for both of us when I'm often busy or simply lazy.

Most of all, I'm grateful for having someone in my life that always knows what I'm thinking and supports me completely.  We're so alike in so many ways - studying Chinese and economics, enjoying board games, independent and headstrong, to name just a few - and when I'm sure that no one knows what my life is like, even my roommates, I can always talk to Hannah for a few minutes and know she'll understand.  She's getting married tomorrow, and so our relationship will change, of course, but hopefully for the better.

My whole life I've harbored a secret wish that I could have had a twin, someone to compete with and talk to and hang out with.  I've realized lately that I've had one all along.  Hannah, I love you so much and wish you the very best with Brent!

Love,

McKinley Twin #2