Monday, October 28, 2013

Fuzhou Trip part 3

The trip was great, mostly, and the hotel was very nice. We got a better than average good hotel because it was either that or a really cheap hotel, or stay at his house with all of his roommates. The hotel made it noticeably different from my first trip to Fuzhou. Privacy is a wonderful and rare thing on this side of the world.

Mainland China is always a strange place to go to. Even though I live in Hong Kong, I still think of China as a different country. They are technically the same, but they are very different in a lot of ways, like living in New York and visiting Kansas. Except you need a visa and the money is different.

For this trip, we spent a lot less time sightseeing. Ryan showed me all the main attractions in Fuzhou the first time. This trip was about spending time with each other.

We also got in a big fight, mostly because we never really see each other anymore. When Ryan moved to Mainland China, I thought it would be for a few months and then he would come back to Hong Kong. That was 15 months ago. He is obviously not coming back any time soon. He makes more money there and, even though he does not particularly like living in China, he likes it better than Hong Kong. I could never do my job in China, so moving to him is out.

Since he left, we have taken a couple of vacations together. I have gone to Fuzhou and he has come to Hong Kong, but we usually go months without seeing each other in person. We talk on the phone and Skype all the time, but it is not the same. So we decided we need to make more of an effort. We are not old enough to have a long distance relationship without physical contact for months at a time. We are both in our prime. We need to touch and be touched.

Ryan just might be the only foreigner in China who does not have a thing for Chinese girls, but if two months ever turns into six months, there is no way he will be able to hold out. He is at that age where a car commercial can give him an erection. I'm not much better. Car commercials don't do it for me, but I want some sweaty monkey action just as much as he does. The difference is that it would be easier for me to cheat on him than for him to cheat on me. I have more options. That and the lack of sex scares the hockey sticks out of him.

So we decided to make more of an effort and see each other more often. It does not have to be a vacation or a week in Hong Kong or Fuzhou. Even just a day or two is better than nothing. Flights between our cities are short and not expensive. He can come here without a visa and I have a multiple entry visa to go there. I just need to get a new one before it expires. Getting a visa to Mainland China is actually a lot easier than people think.

We have not decided when we will see each other again, but it is definitely his turn to come here.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Fuzhou Trip part 2

I'm leaving Monday for Fuzhou. Coincidentally, it is the same flight that I took the first time. It is also almost exactly one year since the first time. That one was in the beginning of November and this one is the end of October. We never planned any of that. That's just the way it worked out. The typhoons and work determined the timing more than anything else and I keep picking this flight because it is the cheapest one.

Since the flight gets in just before midnight, which is probably why it is the cheapest, I will stay at Ryan's house Monday night. He does not want to pay for a full day at the hotel if we are only going to be there late at night. I don't think it makes any difference, but his way is cheaper and we are not made of money. He also says it is easier to go to his place from the airport after midnight.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Fuzhou Trip

I'm all set to go see Ryan in Fuzhou on Monday. We are both working this weekend, so Monday was the soonest typhoon-free day we could get.

Ryan suggested we stay at a hotel this time. Last time I went to Fuzhou, I stayed at his house. I don't mind getting a hotel since he lives with too many roommates. It will be nice to have some privacy.

I don't know why, but there were only a few hotel options. Maybe there is some Chinese holiday that they don't celebrate in Hong Kong. Nothing is going on here, but something is taking up all the hotels in Fuzhou. Or maybe there are simply few hotels.

Our options were higher end 4 and 5 star hotels, like the Ramada, Sheraton and Westin, or cheaper dive hotels like Days Inn and Howard Johnson. There was even a Super 8. I had no idea they were in China.

We decided to aim high because why not. I live in a tiny Hong Kong apartment with two other people and he lives in a small Chinese house with four other people, and the occasional visiting girlfriend. A few days in a decent hotel will be a nice change of pace.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Typhoon Fitow



Ryan and I have been talking about seeing each other in China. He says it's my turn to go to him since he came here a couple of months ago. Before that, he came to Hong Kong for the cruise. We also went to Mainland China on the cruise, so on that trip, he came to me and I came to him.

He is right about it being my turn. He took time off work and came to Hong Kong. Now I should go to Fuzhou.

Then there was Typhoon Usagi. It was supposed to be the biggest storm of the year and they said it was going to hit Hong Kong directly. Obviously that was not going to be a good time to go to the airport. Usagi turned out less impressive than anyone expected and it did not hit Hong Kong at all.

So we waited for that storm to come and go. I could always go to Fuzhou afterward.

Then there was Typhoon Fitow. It never posed a threat to Hong Kong, but it was headed straight for Fuzhou. It ended up hitting north of Fuzhou, but it still delayed flights and caused all the usual transportation problems.

Now there is Typhoon Danas. It is headed toward us, but is supposed to turn north and go to Japan. Sometimes these typhoons go where they are supposed to go and sometimes they go wherever the mood strikes them. I don't want to book a flight to Fuzhou only to have it canceled because of some typhoon that refused to do as it was told.

After Danas, who knows. It is still typhoon season, so you never know when another one will show up. We usually have a few days' warning, but it also takes a few days to book a flight. If I book something tomorrow, there could easily be another typhoon by the time I'm supposed to leave. If I wait, there will probably be another typhoon sooner or later.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Life On the Amazon

When you have a book on Amazon, it needs to fit into a set category. If it is a mystery, it goes in fiction/mystery/whatever sub-category works best. If it is your personal memoir about your time spent in prison, it goes in non-fiction/memoirs/crime. If it is yet another zombie story, like we need more of those, it goes in fiction/horror/zombies.

Barnes & Noble, on the other hand, does not invent their own categories and sub-categories. They use standard BISAC codes and put every book into its coded category. Every physical store might not have a section for every possible category, but their online version should put every book in the right place.

When I wrote Hailey's Bali Diary, I never would have guessed it would be categorized as travel/Bali. It is not a travel book, yet is surrounded by Lonely Planet and Frommer's. On the other hand, I could never tell you which category suits it better.

Nudist Cruise was put in travel/cruises. That makes more sense since it is about what happens on a cruise. It seemed to be the right move because it sold very well in that category. It hovered around #5 for several months. Sometimes it would go higher or lower, but it stayed in the top 10 for a long time. I think that's pretty good, especially since almost everything else in the top 10 in that category is from travel publishers that sell millions of books.

Then Amazon moved it to literature & fiction/erotica and sales plummeted. I have no idea why they moved it. There is nothing erotic about the book. It is mostly about not being a nudist on a cruise ship full of nudists. Any nudist will tell you there is absolutely nothing erotic about nudism. Maybe Amazon considers nudism erotica, but I don't think so. There are other nudist books that are not in the erotica category.

The funniest part is that erotica is not even on their list of categories. If you write erotica on purpose, there is no way to let them know. Somewhere along the line, Amazon decides what is and is not erotica and puts it in. In the case of my book, they messed up. The worst part is, there is nothing I can do to fix it. Everything at Amazon is automated and it is exceptionally difficult to speak to an actual person. They respond to e-mails with computer-generated form letters that don't do anyone any good.

It all seems pretty stupid to me. Their unwarranted change benefits no one. Since it went from a bestseller to buried in the backroom, not only am I losing money from their mistake, but they are as well. They make money on every single thing they sell. While it was in the travel section, it was selling and they were making money. Now that they hid it away from impressionable eyes, it is dead and they are getting nothing. Their piece of the pie was never going to make them millions of dollars. Not from anything I write. But I don't see why they would want to throw away even a tiny crumb, especially in this economy.