Now that I am home some final thoughts on the trip.
The problem with the equipment at customs in Shenzhen really screwed up both teams and it never should have happened. The theory is a local official in Shenzhen was expecting an envelope that they did not get.
The second snafu with equipment leaving Shenzhen was because of the typhoon that hit the city the following day. I was put on that flight after the Saturday game because of NHL wanted all of us out of there.
Internet access all depended on setting up a VPN in the US before going to China. I have a VPN from Xfinity that you need to push for as they don't make it readily available but what it does is mimic my home network. The Chinese don't care if I have full access to the net they only want to block their own citizens. The most important thing was always connect by WiFi as using a Chinese telecom could result in astronomical bills.
China is primarily a rural country except for the megacities and believe me the megacities make New York City look like Buffalo.
The NHL told us in
BOLD LETTERS not to rent a car but to use a rideshare app called DiDi and I had no issues with them.
Their subways and train lines are so advanced from what we have in North America it makes me
One thing really stood out - When talking to locals that spoke English, when I said I was from Boston they all replied Harvard or MIT.
That did not surprise me as being a Cambridge native, every summer hundreds of tour buses from New York would arrive in Harvard Sq to give tours to Asians.
One final thought - seeing Boston and the capital of North Korea on the same departure board was strange.
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PS - There are more English signs in Beijing than Poutineville