The dark quiet of the room was a stark contrast to last night's excitement. I welcomed the tranquility as losing has a way of creating a building tension. I am the first patron at the restaurant for breakfast. The staff bristling with activity to provide each guest the perfect meal every visit. We had both dinner and a post game snack yesterday, so I felt I knew the folks pretty well already. I was alone and the big room was empty. I helped myself to a window table overlooking the large manmade lagoon which the property surrounded and enjoyed bacon and toast and coffee. So far, the coffee has been fine except it is served in thimble sized mugs. This morning I decided to grab what the hotel believed was a cereal bowl and used it. The staff was definitely amused by the crazy foreigner.
I checked my e-mail and was happy to see a reply from Rich. I was actually laughing aloud as I read his assessment of my flight to China. You may recall I questioned the route we took along the coastline of Alaska. Well, he explained in words and pictures exactly how the pilot was right and I was naive to the ways of the world. The shortest distance between points is only a straight line when traveling a flat surface. When traveling a sphere the use of a "great circle" will save you about 1200 miles on a trip like mine. If anyone should have a correction or a question about something on the trip, or if you want to read the Rich e-mail please feel free to write back.
I must have misunderstood, or the plan changed, but when I arrived in the lobby, I was still alone. I thought we were leaving at 9. I did not see someone from the entourage until 9:30. We didn't leave until 10. I was sad to see this hotel go also. The General Manager, Damien, was a big sports fan and we spoke at length about his hotel, his career, and how jealous he is of Michelle as she gets to study in southern France. He is from France and assures me she will have the time of her life.
The bus ride to the next city took the rest of the day. The lunch stop coincided with the end of Chapter 5 in the mystery novel. The seemingly rogue cop physically assaulted the main suspect and the doe eye rookie detective was hell bent on justice without compromise. The team decided McDonalds was the best option. I stayed on the bus and kept reading. Moments later the interpreter, Mr. Lee, returned to the bus with a cup of coffee. He said he noticed how much I liked coffee since we have been together. It was a very nice gesture from someone who has seemed quite neutral until then.
We arrived at the new hotel at 6:30. During the afternoon, there had been a copycat murder and a heartfelt promise to the family of the first victim to not give up the search. Outside the bus window was a bristling city. Jinmanlou looks even more crowded than Changzhou if that is possible. When I opened the door to my room, I was quite surprised. It was so small. The two beds are about a foot apart and there is maybe two feet from the foot of the bed to the wall. If this was our first hotel it may not have been so noticeable, but we have been incredibly spoiled this past week.
Dinner was served family style. It is the first time the coaches and the players have not eaten together. The coaches ate with a couple dignitaries from the sports authority who are hosting the game tomorrow. The table was an overly large circle with a glass lazy susan center. There were several plates of food spinning around with plenty for everyone. My experiment dish was kung-pow chicken. It was very spicy.
Afterward, the guys decided to walk the underground shopping mall. The gawkers were out, but they were passive compared to last night’s free-for-all. We walked for about an hour and found ourselves in an outdoor, probably black market, CowTown style shopping area. It is the kind of place that makes you feel like walking with your hand in the pocket with your money. No one bought anything, but it was a nice way to get a little walk after being cooped up all day in the bus. Tomorrow we get back to work with a morning practice, afternoon sponsor visit, and night time game. I finished off the night watching the Turkish Basketball Federation game between Panathinaikos and Moscow (the Russian team features Andre Karolinko).
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