Seattle is ‘cold’ and wet but I am very happy to be home. The Chengdu billboard is from inside Hong Kong airport (if ‘real China’ is meant to say Hong Kong is not ‘really China’, well then, I guess Hong Kong can counter with ‘you got that right!’). The puppets are from a display at Seoul airport. In ancient times Korean parents would hang a straw rope called geum-jul across the main gate of the house for 21 days to indicate the arrival of a newborn and to ward off evil spirits (the parents look very happy!). The phoenix is the latest Hermès scarf on display in their store, the bibimbap was dinner on the way to Seattle (this is before I threw in the white rice, red pepper paste and sesame oil and stir it all together – and before I knocked over a small glass of water on my seat neighbor’s leg. I apologized profusely and jumped up and got some napkins to mop up the water. Yes, I’m a clumsy idiot but at least it was not red wine or coffee!). And finally, the Airbus A-330 from Korean Air that brought us across the Pacific, at the gate at Seattle airport.
