Thursday, October 05, 2006
Jet Lag
I am back on a plane heading north to the US as China starts their weeklong holiday. Apparently, everyone in Beijing leaves and goes someplace else while other people flock to Beijing for the week. It is the time of year with the best weather in the city and the past week was spent planting flowers in Red, Yellow and Green displays all over the city. Trying to get to the airport today took an extra 30 minutes based on everyone exiting the city. It is still amazing to me how the drivers just make up lanes and weave through traffic with no regard to lines or speed. There is a toll booth on the Airport Expressway which was causing a backup. There are roughly 15 lanes to go through and pay the toll. There were at least 35 “lines” trying to get through 15 lanes and if any gap emerged, a 36th line was created by some driver trying to edge his way through. And the horns were blaring. It was the definition of chaos.
Now, amid this chaos was a very smart operation by the toll both collectors to speed up the process. There were people wearing orange vests wandering through the traffic morass ahead of the toll booth collecting exact toll money and handing out a receipt. The cars then just flashed the receipt as they sped through the gate. Imagine if the NJ Turnpike decided to have this flair of customer service during the holiday periods. It would make life much easier for everyone. I am not sure what type of insurance the orange vested people carried as they were in harm’s way, but it would be much safer in the US.
So my experiment last week to cure jet lag really did not work. I spoke too soon in my entry on Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, my body rebelled. I fell asleep at lunch on Monday and could only sleep for a couple of hours on Monday night. Tuesday was another tough day trying to power through the time difference. As of Thursday, I felt fine and was almost adjusted, just in time to do it again. So I have now accepted that I will have to go through Jet Lag. It will take me at least 3 days or more and there is nothing I can do about it. I have renewed respect for those people who do rotating shift work on a weekly basis moving from first to third and back again. It saps a lot of strength from the body.
Now, amid this chaos was a very smart operation by the toll both collectors to speed up the process. There were people wearing orange vests wandering through the traffic morass ahead of the toll booth collecting exact toll money and handing out a receipt. The cars then just flashed the receipt as they sped through the gate. Imagine if the NJ Turnpike decided to have this flair of customer service during the holiday periods. It would make life much easier for everyone. I am not sure what type of insurance the orange vested people carried as they were in harm’s way, but it would be much safer in the US.
So my experiment last week to cure jet lag really did not work. I spoke too soon in my entry on Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, my body rebelled. I fell asleep at lunch on Monday and could only sleep for a couple of hours on Monday night. Tuesday was another tough day trying to power through the time difference. As of Thursday, I felt fine and was almost adjusted, just in time to do it again. So I have now accepted that I will have to go through Jet Lag. It will take me at least 3 days or more and there is nothing I can do about it. I have renewed respect for those people who do rotating shift work on a weekly basis moving from first to third and back again. It saps a lot of strength from the body.
