The personal website of Grace and Jason Rhee

The Journey is the Destination

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Daylight proved that the Shangri-La was as heavenly as I suspected. Major bummer that Grace was not with me to enjoy it. After attending to my business, Barry (who lives in Singapore) took me around to see some sights. We went to the Orchard Rd. district for lunch and ate dumplings, which were produced in their version of a clean room. The Esplanade and Sentosa Island were worth seeing, though I would have enjoyed both more if it were about 20 degrees cooler – it is freaking sweltering there and it’s only February! Back at the hotel, I took some time to finally enjoy myself and even indulged myself in a tropical beverage. It’s definitely not the Mandalay Bay pool scene, but all I really wanted was a nap. Later, the woman who brought me my bacon cheeseburger to my room redefined room service for me: commanded me to sit; placed napkin on lap; and poured my diet coke. I half-expected her to start yelling “lip, lip my stocking!” – but she was old, so I’m glad she didn’t.

After a 4:30 am start, I decided that an upgrade to busiess class was warranted, so I crossed my fingers after being denied on the way over. Normally, this sort of thing isn’t that important to me, as my ass fits fine in any seat and the free drinks do me little good. But, I was able to get some work done on the way to Narita (in-flight power is key).

I rode my first 747 on the way to Korea when I was nine. Since then, I’ve ridden quite a few. From the ground, I often marvel at how something so big can fly, but when inside, I generally loathe being crammed into a tin can (an albeit very large one) with so many people (SARS, anyone?). Then there was that very unfortunate Tower Air 747 experience – it’s no wonder they’re out of business. 25 years after my first flight, I had the silly pleasure of riding on the upper deck. Looking around, it’s like riding in half a 737 (I have no private jet experience with which to compare). The food, however, was notable: shrimp cocktail and pork tenderloin to start and a filet with bernaise as a main course. The real bonus was this trans-pacific survival kit they gave me, which included all of the essentials: socks, eyemask, ear plugs, tissues, mints, moisturizing lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, and finally, a “romance card.” Okay, the only really useful thing is the last one, because I didn’t bring anything back for Grace and I also missed Valentines Day with her. 15K miles well spent indeed.

Finally, I highly recommend “Friday Night Lights,” if you haven’t seen it already. Though it’s tough to root for any Texas football team after the Rose Bowl, it really is some high-quality drama – better than Karate Kid, really. Though Jen hasn’t seen “Rudy” because of her disdain for Notre Dame, I really think she should see this movie. My last guilty pleasure of the trip was watching “Wimbledon.” Though the whole time I’m pissed at Paul Bettany for snagging Jennifer Connelly, Kirsten Dundst in those tennis outfits more than made up for it.