Rat style in China

Okay, so in this job you sometimes get these real long layovers, well I'm in one right now.  Six days here in Shanghai for the Chinese New Years.  It's currently 10 p.m. and it sounds like a freaking war zone outside my hotel.  Now I'm in the middle of the city, right downtown Shanghai and they are shooting off fireworks like the ones you would see in the town square for the 4th of July right in the middle of this city.  No regards for safety or anything and it's been going on for about 40 minutes with no signs of letting up.  The night has been good so far, everyone in the city is in a good mood so we started off heading down to Hooter's and then finished up listening to jazz at the Blue Frog.  I know what you are thinking, Hooters?  Yup, if you haven't been to a Hooter's in China than you have missed some of the best comedy in the world.  The girls speak no english and well Hooter's is kind of an oxymoron here in China. (small boobs)  Okay, it's time to sleep and get ready for my next day off here, five and counting. Oh an Happy Chinese New Years

Dubai, Bombay, Hong Kong, and the Superbowl

Back into Hong Kong with a 4 hour stop into Bombay.  Flew in from Dubai and all anyone in the crew could talk about was trying to make it into Hong Kong in time to watch the Super Bowl.  Made it to the hotel and it was playing on Japanese station in english with subtitles.  Thank God it wasn't the other way around.  What a great game, when you are so far from home and you get to catch a bit of Americana it takes you back home quickly.  As for Bombay, what an interesting place!!  Here we are in the middle of the night (1:00 am) and there are tons of people working at the airport.  It's funny but if the loader breaks, they just employ man power.  You would be amazed at seeing 100 people off loading a 747 using a big banana line.  What I like is that to many Indian's, all life is precious.  There isn't many airports in the world that you can go out and do your aircraft walk around and have dogs and cats out there with you.  These animals have become inoculated to the sound of jet planes and all the movements on the ramp, they just look at you and wag their tails.  Tonight the sky was beautiful, everywhere you looked you could see fireworks.  I asked our mechanic Jude who is Indian if it was a holiday or what.  He said that all the fireworks were for weddings that were still taking place late into the night.   So a short overnight and back to Dubai for a couple of days off.

Friday Night

So it's Friday night and I just flew into Hong Kong, my favorite city.  What to do?  Start off by heading across the square and go to the local chinese eatery and get a big hot bowl of Singapore noodles and green tea.  Then it's off to the Star Ferry and a quick jump over to Wan Chai.  Great place to spend Friday night drinking pints of Stella whilst shooing away the night fighters.  It's nights like this that let you know you are alive and you aren't wasting away.  So after a few pints and some great music from the Philippine cover bands it's back on the Star Ferry.  The night has cleared up and you can see all the way up to Victoria's Peak.  Dock in Tsim Sha Tsui and back for more Singapore noodles.  It's nights like this that makes me think of how many people will never experience this and how lucky I truly am.  Hong Kong, there is NO place on earth like it.  5 pm or 2 am, there is always something to do.  If you have never been here just imaging the movie Blade Runner and you will understand Hong Kong.  Most people look straight ahead but the trick here is to look up because there is another city in the high rises and with all the light and noise I feel right at home.  It's coming up on 10 pm and I have to fly tomorrow afternoon but I have a sweet tooth so it's back out into the city for some Chinese sweets.

Hello world

So at what point in your life does someone decide to create a blog?  Not sure but for me it's during a 51 hour layover in Dubai, UAE.  Grandma Lawson used to always wonder "where in the world I was" so in her memory and in the thought that someone cared I am creating this. This blog won't always be about where I am but more of a rambling of thoughts and items in my life.  So come along for the ride, buckle up and like the old saying goes - "Never take life too seriously, nobody ever makes it out alive."