18/09/2022
It's always a privilege to travel for work.
It's easy to remember that when you're staying in very nice hotels which you would never otherwise be able to afford.
But you could almost hear all of us in the travelling media chanting a reminder to ourselves in the dark at 4.30 this morning.
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We said goodbye to our luggage for two days (we're arriving in Shanghai at midnight tonight and then leaving again for Beijing early tomorrow afternoon so it's carry-on only until Monday night) as we piled onto a Chinese bus in Sanya on the southern tip of Hainan Island, to drive two-and-a half hours north to the site of the conference we are here to cover.
It's kind of like sleeping in Sydney and driving to work in Canberra - and back - each day (except for the bits about the fancy hotel and the Chinese bus).
The Chinese have built hotels near the permanent conference facilities they use for the annual Bo'ao Forum on Hainan island.
But they haven't built quite enough. And as the travelling media are somewhat down the food chain in terms of their importance (yes, ok, presidents and prime ministers tend to get first dibs), we are being housed somewhat of a distance from the action.
Still, on the upside, our conference hosts at Bo'ao have put on free Starbucks coffee in large plastic vats which is always nice after (and before) a long bus journey.
And all over the complex there are those upright freezers like you find in service stations, full of free icrecreams.
Media reps and delegates alike are trading tips on the best flavours. So far, the cameramen are rating the white-chocolate covered mango version the highest. The grey-green 'soy bean' frozen delight appears to be the least popular. The only one of us game enough to try it had to admit defeat after two bites.
And yesterday in the media centre they were giving away sample-sized collections of special Himalayan cosmetics which were then confiscated at the checkpoint approximately 100 metres further along the corridor because they were apparently a security threat, along with cigarette lighters, personal deodorant and drinking water.
It is always a privilege to travel for work. And it is never dull.
Postscript: The night after my blog on Chinese spying was published, three copies of the English-language propaganda publication the China Daily appeared, propped up against my hotel door, with my room number clearly written on the top. I was the only one lucky enough to receive them.
