It’s Thursday and I’m blasting off to China tomorrow. I haven’t traveled overseas since the mid-90′s so this is going to be interesting. Reports are trickling in from classmates already in country. Fiddler reports being hustled by a Chinese cabbie for taxi fare twice the reported going rate. That sucks. I’m not planning on taking any cash with me on this trip. I’ve decided instead to take a fist full of mortgage backed securities with me. My wallet’s fat and it’s time to party!
Today is the day of piles. The travel pile is my organizational tool of choice for trips. With everything all sprawled out, I can mentally rehearse all the crises I could potentially encounter and simultaneously visualize the solution. The solution then gets thrown on a strategic pile. “What if I get pulled out into the surf and sliced head to toe by coral reef?”. – Field surgery kit, check! throw it onto the medical emergency pile. “What if I encounter a rabid Llama?” Dart gun, check! – Personal weapons pile.
We were warned by the EMBA director, Barbara, that Chinese pharmacies tend to NOT be exactly what we know here in the west. I’m not exactly sure what this means, but I visualize something like this: I start feeling lighted, queazy and cramped up. I’m whisked away to a local pharmacy/doctor where I’m promptly diagnosed with demonic possession by an ancient Chinese dragon, prescribed a volatile mixture of exotic and stinky animal innards and sent back to the hotel. Not good. Knowing this, my wife Jana went out yesterday and bought me a miniature CVS drugstore for me to take. If it’s over the counter, I’ve got it in mini-form and should I have troubles with just about any orifice, I’m completely covered!
Departure tomorrow morning from Richmond International at 7:30 a.m.. Next post from a point in between or Bejing. Stay tuned.
