"You have no right, appa!"

On a China trip a few years ago, I got upgraded to an "executive room" because all the other rooms were booked. Had shown up like clockwork every three weeks for a year and suddenly missed showing up at that hotel for two months (we tried another hotel but given my rash saga, we switched back to the one that works).

It is very much possible that the upgrade was to bring me back as a regular. In any case, the upgraded room had two rooms. Given I practically sleep on a flat surface, the largeness of the room doesn't make a difference to me. As long as there is no remnant of cigarette smoke in the room (yes, China hotels have folks frequently violating smoking rules as the fine is 500 RMB.. the hotels spray the room with some type of Febreeze and assign it as non-smoking room to the next guy who shows up.. like me!). The one thing that did make a difference was the bath tub instead of the stand in shower with some nice bath salt packets and the shampoo.

I got a sample back with me to show wife and kids. They also loved it.

 

Having been to France a few times by that point for business I knew the existance of L'ocittane. This shampoo was divine. On my next trip to France, we actually were in Provonce and there was a L'Occitane store and I got back large bottles of the stuff. 

Then on an India trip, got introduced to Pathanjali's Kesh Kranthi and the entire family switched to that shampoo. Not only did it make my hair feel and smell great, it also brought back memories of a different place and time from my childhood every time I took a shower!

On my last trip ended up in a different hotel and this time there was a shampoo called Le Grand Bain in the shower. The white plain plastic bottles did not say "brand name" but what caught my eye was the Vetiver. It is native to Tamil Nadu and we are used to it as children when grandma adds it to the shikakai powdered for home use as herbal shampoo! 

Now citron is also a smell we love as the most favorite pickle we eat, narthangai, is citron. This thing literally transported me. Okay, by now you are all sensing a theme here. I judge shampoos as though they are transporters on the Starship Enterprise. "This one took me to 1985.. but that one.. gives me memories from a time when I could not form words!" kind of thing..

So, I got some samples back. I have been in a lot of hotels on business and get to abuse my hair with all kinds of concoctions during those travels, but very rarely do I get some gems like this. 

When I told my kids about the shampoo the little one says "You have no right, Appa! you should not be talking about shampoos or any hair products" and Jr. chimes in and says "yeah. there are certain things you should simply stop commenting about!"

I still have some hair. It is not like I have gone totally bald and I do get to use a diverse array of crappy shampoos during my travels. 

There had to be a comeback for something like that.. a beard! Again this Jan and Feb, the beard is making a comeback of sorts. There is no pressure to look like my passport photo at airports for a few weeks and that means I can try.. again.. to grow a beard.

Again, my kids said "you have no right, appa!". What ?! It is my face. The wife and kids turned their faces away, made a few negative comments, put an embargo on kissing or even hugging for that matter and this went on for a week. 

Now that the beard has gone past the patchy phase, they are getting used to it.. or so I think! 

Have told them that the shampoo and conditioner are for the beard, not the hair and that brought a few chuckles and the little one was literally rolling on the floor laughing! 

The facial experiment will last a few more weeks. Till then "right or not", the beard stays! 

Amazon doesn't sell Le Grand Bain and turns out it is a Sheraton brand and it is available only through Sheraton. Shearton should stop doing the hotel business and go into the shampoo business if you ask me. This one is reaaaalllllllly good!

On a side note, my beard is somehow making me focus better in yoga class. Get improved tunnel vision when focussing on my own eyes in the mirror. If they will let me, I would like to wear a ski mask like a bank robber one day and go to yoga class. Maybe the beard hides the face and helps... just thinking about that experiment is making me smile. One has to do experiments to prove theories, no?! That is a post for another day..

Cognitive dissonance in a Chinese Hotel

Travel for the year is done. That was 13 trips to Asia in 2017. Of the 26 legs across the Pacific I managed to get upgraded to Polaris aka the "business economy" class 4 times exhausting most of my miles. On some back to back trips, my company got me biz tickets one way and that was another 3 legs.  The one thing I am am trying to do if this back breaking travel keeps continuing is to plan ahead and get more polaris tickets upfront. Travel is fine, but for this type of international travel, my body is having a tough time dealing with this. That is one main disadvantage of working for a startup I guess. We don't have the bargaining power or leverage with airline companies to get discounted bulk ticket prices like the big companies. One last wing view for 2017...

All that said, I did my best on those flights, took my food with me wherever possible and managed to minimize my travel related sick days to the lowest it has been in the last 4 years in 2017! I also think it correlates to the consistancy of doing Yoga at late hours or whenever possible and to waking up at 2 or 3AM and eating cookies or some carbs.

We use the term "biological clock". I think there are multiple clocks. One for sleep wake cycle, one for breakfast, lunch and dinner and another alarm clock that gets you up when you are a light sleeper. Not all these are synchronized when you don't see the sun for days or when you keep switching time zones. In 2017, my issue was not with sleep. I managed to overcome sleep related jet lag issues. It was the stomach related ones that got me a few times. 

My last trip was interesting. I am noticing that Chinese hotels are getting big on Christmas. Have not seen this in any of my previous trips. Sure that the POTUS is going to claim this as another one of his big "victories". Mega displays in hotel lobbies and my Chinese friends are surprised and going "we don't even do this for CHinese new Year. don't know what is up with these guys!"

These were really fancy.. with moving snow etc.. see the video!

I have also started watching infomercials in the local TV channels when in China. They definitely seem to have some creative products. Not sure if this is original or not but the format of the informercials follows the usual QVC types. 

 Then there are little things that I noticed in these hotels. The nice glasses with color only at the bottom..

Then there was an entire display of stuff on the coffee table, all available at a price. I am not used to this in previous hotels. The first thing that got my attention was the water bottle. It was almost 9 USD. Then after asking they gave me 4 free local brand water. Apparently this Evian water is much sought after by international tourists who are willing to pay the price!

Was also not used to seeing Durex on the table in any other hotel. It said "you will be charged if you open this packet" and it was one expensive Durex is what I thinking when my eyes were drawn to a big red box on the right. 

I had spent a good two hours in a cigarette smelling taxi from airport to hotel and was already tired. My brain was getting confused signals after reading the lettering on the box..

It clearly said Emergency Package but the lettering did not suggest something "bad" with the font or the colors. So my first thought was "what kind of emergency package comes packed like a goody bag filled with fancy tea bags?". Again this was one expensive package for whatever emergency it was. You opened it you "will be charged"

I have no idea what those items are in that box. After being married for almost 20 years and fathering two kids, still scratching my head on what those things in the pack were. Was tempted to pay the 20 bucks just to open it and end my curiousity and then decided against it. What is the internet for than to answer such questions?

So I guess this is all sex related. First you have a 10 Dollar problem. If you screwed that up, no pun intended, then you have a 20 dollar problem. If you screwed that up as well, then you have a 20 Million RMB problem in 20 years when you will have to buy your kid an apartment in Shanghai so he can get married. If they had done their marketing right, they should put some real estate fliers on the other end of the table.

Then there was the sunset. People keep telling you that China is polluted, especially in the big cities. Over the last few years I have seen some days where the Sun is not visible though the smog and days when there are blue skies and clouds. Well I guess a lot of it depends on where and when. While the news reports claimed that it was going to be bad air days, I found it to be pretty fresh. There was a beautiful sunset while being on the road for 2 hours towards the hotel. 

Watching the sun go down always resets any and all dissonances!

2017 was a tough but good year for work, home and yoga. It felt like two years but the good thing is it is coming to a close. Have to make the most out of the last few days over the holiday weekend to recharge!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!