Have no fear, Naoki – your adventures will continue in another week or so …

… hand-me-down shirt and all!

I dare say this shirt is the defining one of our family’s next generation. Purchased in Japan and sent to Ella in Virginia before she was even born, handed down to Ryan in Canada – and now back in Japan on the Naokster. Manger Du Pain! It still hasn’t lost its coolness.

While we’re all waiting for more videos – how about some snapshots of life with the original genfab adventurer? I spent this past week in HCMC, Vietnam while Makiko & Naoki have headed up to Niigata for some family time. Here’s but a few oddities and highlights of my quick trip …

Business Trip to HCMC, Vietnam

While the rest of the family remains up in Niigata – dad works hard in Tokyo and gets in the odd bit of geocaching to keep his mind off the great emptiness of our apartment. Gotta get those stats up and see more of this ginormous city …

Saitama Geocaching - September

… back before too long!

Last night I returned home from an exhausting week long business trip in Beijing. I honestly wasn’t that keen on heading over to Beijing after my last trip there some 6 years ago. My faithful readers may remember my bad experience there – getting boned by endless rude service and people aiming to rip you off… well – not this time around!

View Larger Map

My week in Beijing was – dare I say – delightful!

From my perspective the city has changed dramatically. There are tons of new buildings – of course the Olympic ones – but also a fantastic new airport which I would rank in my top 3 (… Vancouver still being #1!). Even the attitudes of people have changed. I recall getting yelled at last time by an airport Immigration officer for not having a pen … well now – they have machines installed that let you instantly rate the service you’re getting on a scale of 1 to 5. Sweet!

I regret not having more time for sightseeing – but that’s the way these business trips go: work, work, work, see a few sights from the car, rush back home. One of these trips I must take in the great wall…

In any case – I did take a surprising amount of pictures for a business trip. Read on to have a look see and join me on my business trip!

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During my travels these past couple of weeks – I spent over 30 hours of time in the air. That’s a ridiculous amount of down time with little to do aside from sit back and relax. If you don’t come fully prepared – or get on older plane with a crap entertainment system – that 30 hours can feel like an eternity. Fortunately – neither were the case for me!

iPod – check. Nintendo DS – check. A book for all those periods of “no electronics” during take off and landing – check.

… oh, and how about flying on the newest planes in the skies?

That’s right – the Airbus A380 – the largest passenger airliner in the world. With two full decks that can seat between 525 and 853 people – making it 50% larger (!) than a Boeing 747 – it is truly an impressive feat of engineering.

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Ok – so I may spend a bit too much time in hotel rooms thinking about stupid stuff. When you have a job like me that warrants a lot of travel, it comes naturally.

I think about stupid stuff all the time like how to get free hotel porn pay-per-view movies, how to maximize the amount of free soap you get, and why oh why do the maids in EVERY hotel I’ve EVER stayed at do this:

Does my toilet paper really need daily folding? I don’t do this at home – and it works just as good. In fact – I’m a bit grossed out by the fact that someone has touched my toilet paper and folded it as such. Call me a germaphobe – but I always throw away the first 3 or 4 sheets since they’re not clean enough to grace the bottom of my soiled arse.

Am I alone here? I don’t think so…

When we last left our hero, he had just finished conquering India. Or at least so he claimed…

Now, India was back with a vengeance – and there was no escape. Our hero was destined for hard times in Mumbai and Pune… or was he?

Read on to find out how our hero fares in the latest episode of this epic drama…

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