Jet Lag Schmet Lag

Perhaps I shouldn't be quite so arrogant yet. Maybe it's too early to really know, but so far I've waltzed through the past few days with very little in the way of my usual severe jet lag symptoms, the feeling tired all day, inability to sleep except in the middle of the day, which I don't allow my self to do because.... I don't know because they say not to let yourself do that because you'll end up feeling tired! Well, it's a moot point so far this trip because I arrived in Vietnam in the morning and stayed up until the early part of the night and slept until 7 the next morning and have been doing pretty well ever since. I've read many accounts of how various individuals were able to avoid the effects of jet lag, everything from pills to shining a light behind the knee. I'm not making that up. I'm trying to recall exactly what it was that I might have inadvertantly done this trip to blithely and seamlessly step into a time zone 15 hours removed from the one in California. Perhaps it was the dark blue socks. I can imagine encasing ones feet in that particular color causes certain chemicals to be released into the bloodstream that allow the body's internal clock to reach new heights of adaptibility. Also one shoe was untied for a large part of the journey. The right shoe if I recall correctly. I obviously have no idea and as I mentioned, it's probably premature to begin trumpeting my jet lag victory just yet. In the past, it's always taken me at least 5 days to feel re-calibrated.

While on the subject, let me put in a voluntary plug for China Airlines. I think they're fairly new. I would rate their quality of service in the cockpit and the cabin as top notch, right up there with Singapore Air. And the food was actually really good, even in coach! Our landing in Taipei after 13+ hours in the air from San Francisco was almost perfect, so much so that I wasn't exactly sure of the moment the wheels hit the runway. I was thinking that perhaps it's time for a new quality of life index called the 'landing metric', a scientific measure of how jarring the average airplane landing is for each airline and each country, the lower the value the better. I say this because I believe it can be statistically proven, and we all know statistics never lie, that the landing metric is a good barometer reading of how well people are doing and feeling. I would venture that China's is low and going down while for domestic US fliers it's not. Take it for what you will.

Nothing too big to report on here. Everything seems basically the same as it was last year. Some of the same locals are still hanging around the backpacker district! They're probably writing the same about me at this very moment. The 3rd annual Asia Indoor Games just wound up here in HCM City. The Chinese took the most gold medals with Vietnam close behind. They compete in some sports most Americans have never heard of. Shuttle cock comes to mind. It's played a lot like badminton except with the feet, not racquets. Also a lot of billiards and even something called speed chess! The Chinese won that one, both the men and the women. I imagine that competitive chess had to institute their own version of the basketball shot clock to keep the match moving along. But the little park next to my hotel here was fully festooned with electric lights, stages, stands, and booths and a carnival atmosphere. It was a lot of fun just walking around taking it all in.

Today will venture into the mysterious world of cell phone SIM cards as I try to properly equip my $10 phone from the states to function in this part of the world. I figure if the people here can't make it happen, it simply can't happen. If that's the case I'll just pick up a new phone to use here. Then I'll really feel like a part of the action!