Asia

Goodbye, Shawn

I was going to write about the results of yesterday’s Korean national election, but this news is far too tragic to postpone until tomorrow.  Shawn Matthews, one of Korea’s top bloggers, committed suicide on May 23rd in Beijing.  His blog was read by thousands, and he was loved by many readers from around the world.  My wife introduced his blog to me last year, and I read it occasionally.  Last year I blogged about Shawn on two occasions, on June 25 and November 27.  His current blog, China Life Blog, has been virtually shut down, but his previous, award-winning blog, Korea Life Blog, is still active.  Read it soon because it too may be shut down in the future.  All traces of his life in China except for Jake’s post have vanished from the Internet.  I hope that Shawn’s Korea blog remains online so that people can read his fine work.  He was a very talented blogger.
 
His friend Jake posted an entry discussing what happened.  His ex-girlfriend, Ling Ling, recently started a blog of her own, most likely inspired by Shawn.  I won’t speculate on the specifics of Shawn’s death–read Jake’s narrative to learn more about what happened.  Shawn’s story reminds me of another tragedy that jarred me when I was younger–the suicide of one of my high school classmates.  He was a star basketball player with a full-ride scholarship to play basketball at a state university.  He was an excellent student and had what many thought was a rock-solid relationship with his wonderful girlfriend.  He was popular and beloved by our hometown.  Yet he committed suicide not more than two months after we graduated from high school.  The entire community was shocked by his untimely death.  Many suspected that breaking up with his girlfriend triggered his death, something I later confirmed with his ex-girlfriend.  At the time I felt so mortal, especially after another classmate died a month earlier in a car accident, and a third one nearly drowned.  We were high school graduates with a very bright future, but we were scared to death of dying and cognizant of our own mortality.  It was a very somber summer.
 
In case you are wondering why I’ve posted two tragic posts this week–Shawn’s death and the fall of Barbaro–no worries.  Life is good here.  I’m busy and a bit tired perhaps, but none the worse for wear.  Unlike Shawn, I will never live my life online through this blog.  Shawn’s blog was appealing to readers partly because he often blogged about his personal life.  This may have made him more vulnerable to suicide.  When you are popular in any way, even as a blogger, you find yourself under increasing pressure to perform.  When you write about the drama in your life, blogging magnifies those feelings.  The audience eggs you on and asks for more, more, more.  I wish Shawn could have sought comfort and praise through another means.  He might still be alive today.  Now one of my colleagues is working on helping Shawn’s family return his remains to the U.S.  What a sad ending to someone will immense promise.

Good to be home

Dear Reader, we just returned to our home in Korea after spending the past month in China and the United States.  We are exhausted and will no doubt experience lingering jetlag throughout the week.  It’s Sunday night.  Thank goodness Memorial Day weekend is next week.  I have a feeling we’ll need the extra day to catch up from our vacation.
 
Although I did not blog at all last week–the longest I’ve been away since I started writing this in December 2004–you still stopped by to read World Adventurers.  As always, thank you.  I wanted to write, but vacation and a dial-up modem at my parents’ home kept me away from the computer.  We had a fabulous time nonetheless.  I will drive into writing again tomorrow.  Today’s post is just a short note to let you know that I am still alive and made it home safely.  I plan to spend the next couple weeks recapping some of the highlights of our trips to China and the states.  Good night, and thanks for all the hits.

A Rant Against China Eastern Airlines

…and a Rave for Shanghai Airlines

On Friday, April 21 my family and I left Shanghai for Xi’an.  We went by bus from central Shanghai to Pudong International Airport and arrived at 6:30 p.m. in time for our 8 p.m. China Eastern Airlines flight.  At 7:30 p.m. we arrived at the gate and waited for the boarding call.  The flight was delayed due to a freakish thunder storm.  We waited almost one hour to board, standing in line with hundreds of other passengers.  The flight was full.  At about 9 p.m. we were ushered into the plane.  The weak announcement overhead periodically announced that we had to wait for other airplanes to depart.  At midnight, our flight finally departed.

Waiting three hours for a flight is bearable, but China Eastern Airlines mismanaged the flight.  As China’s second largest airline, I expected better service.  The boarding was chaotic, and once we were seated, we were subjected to poor circulation and high temperatures induced by warm bodies cramped in a parked airplane.  The air hostesses brought drinks and peanuts but were at a loss to provide any other comfort.  The flight was miserable.  Our Airbus A300 did not handle the turbulence of the thunder storm and China’s central plateau well.  Airbus builds its jets so that flight stress is borne by the fuselage, not the wings.  You could feel every dip and crack during the flight.  It did not help that we flew on an older Airbus.  My son slept during the entire flight, but my poor wife paled and gripped my hand with each turbulent shock.  I’ve flown on China Eastern a few times and was satisfied with the flights.  This one failed miserably.  Because the flight was a domestic route serving Shanghai and Xi’an, it’s likely that the level of customer service was a notch below that of international routes.  While a regional carrier, China Eastern still serves several international locations, including London and Los Angeles.

I might let my experience with China Eastern slide, but I was surprised by the difference between their service to Xi’an and Shanghai Airlines’ return service to Shanghai.  When we flew back to Shanghai on April 23, we flew on a brand new Boeing 737-800.  The air hostesses reminded me of international hostesses.  They served real food, and the flight was smooth as glass and on time.  Our experience on China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines could not have been more different.  I was more concerned about flying Shanghai Airlines than China Eastern Airlines, but it seems that my concern was misplaced.  If you have plans to fly in China, give Shanghai Airlines a try.

On Thursday we will fly Delta Airlines back to the states.  I hope that our next experience with Delta will be better than our previous one.  One thing is for sure–we will not wait to be the last passengers on the plane.