PARIS Day 01

Arhhh.... I hate flying.

The flight to Paris was operated by NorthWest, which it bad by default. Well, this time, they have a newer plane, the Airbus 330. The interior looks relatively new. There is more leg room and they've finally got the personal entertainment system which they hid away from us for my flights to Asia. Maybe they don't think Asians deserve it.%@#^#$^

So I needed to..... and went to the rest room. Everything in the rest room has touch control, the type that has a seamless plastic film over buttons. As a designer, I can't stop but to criticize this choice of design, because we all know that things like this can fail easily. So perhaps one day, on a 12hr flight, someone takes a huge dump and the flush button stops working. Oh well....

Then I took my dump, with the consciousness that I am putting the entire plane in risk. Then as I proceed to clean my behind, I realized that there was no space to bend.... So I adjusted my posture and turned around.... finally I did it!

#$@%ing Airbus Designers.

Oh, then I realized that the door lock is more than 1m above ground, which means a 5 yr old can't use the loo on his own.... and there's no room for his daddy or mommy....

@#%ing Airbus Designers!



So I arrived at Charles Du Gaulle "aeroport"(that's how they call it in French). They pulled the plane to a half done/destroyed terminal so that we can take a bus. I was wondering if this was the one that collapsed years ago.

On the ride to the main terminal, my impression of the airp.. no, aeroport, is thrash, thrash and more thrash. Thinking about who the thrash may be coming from, I guess the aeroport staffs simply don't care about national image.

I told my friends that I will be with Paris Hilton for a week....

And I wasn't lying! They put me up in Hilton Hotel in Paris!

So they've got this weird custom which a lady will welcome guests in a box.... but it wasn't Paris Hilton... thank god!



... and the bathroom plus the view, which is nothing but office...





.. which is very interesting because I noticed that people don't get to work till 9am or later, and they usually disappear after 5pm. Lunch is about 2 hours. I didn't see many office ladies too....




So I arrived at noon and received a briefing from Ana, our coordinator. After which we went for lunch which took quite long. From now on, the time I am referring to will be in French time, because everything takes twice as long.

After lunch, there was nothing on for the day and I decided to take a walk around the hotel. I saw this city park.... wait, let's talk about first impression of the city:

Architectures with over whelming details( much like cultural overload for me) - small cars - small cars with dents and scratches - doggy poo and smeared doggy poo everywhere!

Ok, let's talk about the city park.

The one thing that shocked me is(wait, I am not going to say anything bad) that the park is filled with young parents and toddlers. Well, what's so special about this? Well, all of the parents are playing with the children like they are one of them. Hide and seek, kicking rubber balls, racing on scooters... you name it. All the fun without plastic toys and powerwheels. By contrast, from MY EXPERIENCE after traveling to no less than 15 cities around the world, spending more than 3 months in at least 5 of them(sorry I had to do this, because some people will disagree with what I am going to comment), tells me that this is special.


360 of the park

How special?

In Asia, "play" seems to be a crime, so is getting your hands on the ground, your pants dirty, yelling in the park, pushing and rolling your buddies and so on. Parents are always on the watch, telling "no" to this and that. It's more like a prisoner on a 1 hour break to get his fresh air.

In the US, yes, parents do spend time with kids in the park or their backyards, but they also hand a part of the job to tools like the "Powerwheels" or whatever fancy toy they can buy. Parents end up just watching from the side line, amazed by the wonders of those toys. This is exactly what they preach on TV commercials too - Toys that "educate" kids without the need of another human being.


A store in the park packed with toys, also serves snacks like ice creams, pop corns and so on, just like what you can find in a fun fair or a theme park.


Pony riding!


Parents and kids line up, and pay to use the swing!

Furthermore, most people in the same age group(late 20s ~ early 30s) are busy with their career and trying to build up their self-appearance, spending time in bars drinking cool beers, working out in the gym, or jogging in the park. Gyms and parks becomes less of a place for families, but a place to be seen.

Hey, that's my opinion, and this is my blog. OK!


On to the streets....

So other than the doggy poos(smeared), what else were there? I'll like to emphasize the small cars again, because they are cool! We have small cars in Taiwan too, but not this small!

New Mini Cooper Clubman, just being launched in the US as we speak.


They say Paris is a romantic city. I think so too, because cars like to French kiss each other, often for as long as their owners allow them to.


Very classic Fiat(new)


(Original)



French Public toilets. I almost had to use one.


The hotel is about 15min walk to the Arc of Triumph. How cool is that? It's on this 15min walk to the Arc where I had to overcome the smeared poos most often. So here's the street to the Arc.