View From My Yoga Mat, April '16

I had to travel to Eastern China last month, for work.  I took a larger checked suit case since it was a 12 day trip, and I already know that Chinese hotel laundry (even in the nice hotels in which I've stayed) destroys most of the clothes I've ever given them.  In that larger suit case I packed my yoga mat, after I practiced yoga the week before at the beach, for 3 of the previous 7 days leading up to the trip.

The weather in Northern San Diego County cooperated nicely before I left, being mild, and not rainy in the afternoons.  The on-shore breeze was pleasant, and the statis flowers were in full bloom on the Bluff at the top of Ponto Beach.

Once I landed in Shanghai, after a 14 hour flight in coach out of LAX, I planned a solid day of not working to adjust to the new time zone and to try and avoid deep vein thrombosis.  The view from the yoga mat in my hotel room window was less pleasant than the view from the Carlsbad shore.  No whales, no pelicans, no pleasant breeze... but a locked large city park with formidable gates, that (apparently) no in Pudong are allowed to pass through on Wednesdays?

While Shanghai today is a MUCH cleaner and prettier city than Chengdu was 15 years ago, it still is not even a fraction as lovely as Southern Coastal California is, even if the real estate prices are similar.  I'll take here rather than there, any day.

The day after I got back, I did yoga at the beach!

I would have POSTED this while in China... just one problem.  The government there blocks FaceBook, Google, Instagram, Gmail, Youtube, and Twitter.  Yes... one can VPN out and around them, but what a massive pain in the ass, China.  Thanks.