Greetings from Beijing! On sat, Aug. 26 my dad came by promptly at 8:45am to take me to the airport. Of course I had taken much love & care in packing my computer & books, but I smashed my clothes into the suitcase.

B^* gagliajn was actually logged on to the very last possible moment, pulled the plug as she saw her father drive up, and then started throwing our clothes into the suitcase--thank goodness her girlfriend, Lori, & my very best friend in the entire world, Web-Weaving Midge, had gone shopping for us or else we would have nothing for the trip! To distract her father, she gave him the task of taping up a veritable palate of 3000 diskettes donated by Apple Computer , to be used for the conference. She decided against bringing the chocolate chip granola bars & bottle water--very bad move--in favor of bringing hair care samples for small thank you gifts--good move. Finally the powerbook was cool enough to be slipped her backpack. She then tried to fit me into several pockets & finally I was wedged next to her still warm powerbook & a O'Reilly unix manual--OW! She caught my hair several times zipping up the case, gave her garden a once over, gave her beloved house-rabbit, Novio (AKA Hacker Bunny) final instructions concerning online situation (BEIJING95-L had been opened the day before from full to no moderation & HB was in charge), & ran to the honking car.

At 9:10 we left for the airport. While my dad negotiated parking, I queuedup at the United Airlines counter. A flight for Hong Kong was leaving approximately the same time as my flight to Seoul/Manila flight. People were carrying TONS of stuff. 20 minutes later, it was my turn. When I tried to submit my lone suitcase & two boxes of 1000 floppy diskettes (each 55lbs) I was told that I would have to pay $100. Regretfully I had to leave one box behind. At the counter they asked for my passport & visa and many questions about my luggage: who packed it, its contents, where had it been, etc. After a quick mid day snack, I took up my powerbook, kissed my dad good bye, & got on the plane (which boarded 45 minutes before departure). The plane took off exactly on time.

B^* Excited as gagliajn & I were to go on this Trip-of-a-Lifetime, it was hard to leave. There was so much confusion before the conference: the relocation of the NGO conference from the UN conference site in Beijing to Huairou, some 40 miles away; the "buzz" that there were not enough hotel rooms to accomodate the NGO delegates; the imprisonment of human rights activist Harry Wu gave the political & religious Right a "just cause" to denounce the conference; the exclusion of Taiwanese, Tibetans, & lesbians activists from obtaining travel visas. Looking at pre-conference mainstream media, the conference was doomed to failure. There were many calls to boycott, but still most women persevered. gagliajn's parents had read all the papers & were sick to death with worry. But the very cool thing about moderating BEIJING95-L & BEIJING95-WOMEN plus hosting Women's Wire UN Women's forum was that we had access to the up-to-the-nano-second rock-solid info about the conference. Getting on the plane, gagliajn wasn't worried, she was exhausted & worried about her parents. One of the many advantages of being a doll is that exhaustion & worry never take their miserable toll on your ever-plastic body.

The flight was 11 hours. We were served three meals: shrimps & rice, Cup-O-Noodles, egg soufflé (all of which were better than they sound). Silly me, I had forgot to tell my travel agent that I am vegetarian, so I was unable to get a vegetarian meal. They did provide approx. 9 hours of a canned United Airline network which could be best described as watching Sunday afternoon TV with dad (sports, business, etc.). The women who did appear were mostly props. My favorite three minutes was a news story about the Canadian women's team winning the dragon boat races in Hong Kong.

B^* Untrue! They would never show "The Secrets of Roan Inish" on network TV. I tried to cheer gagliajn up by supplying clever lines to the silent showing of the movie, but she growled, zipped me back up into her backpack & buried further into a SLIP/PPP manual. Well!

Upon arrival in Seoul...

B^* one of the largest cities in the world--beautiful from the air--the hills were a riotous green & the city which straddles a river stretched for miles. It looked incredibly clean from the air. On the ground was many Korean Air jets emblazoned with WORLD CUP 2002. The United States had just hosted the World Cup the year before. There were games at the Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, very close to our home. When the wind is just right, you can still hear the Brazilian fans chanting "Olé! Olé-Olé-Olé!" Someday (as in today), I would, lovelovelove to see a "women's world cup" played @ Standford.

...I was personally escorted by a United Airline attendant ...

B^* onto a shuttle, passed armed guards, large police dogs, barb wire

...to the Korean Air/Air China counter & checked in. After cruising the duty free shops (the ginseng looked good, but the fur on barefoot womenequinns were a bit too much)...

B^* I was surprised gagliajn didn't throw red paint on the fur coat. Hacker Bunny would have hacked their network, shut it down, & staged a nap-in on the spot. Being fashion-conscious sometimes means being fashion-tolerant, and I tried to distract gagliajn with other shopping options.

...and exchanging two dollars for the vending machine (skip the Pepsi--it wasn't cold, choose anything else), I spent time trying to track down subscription unrequests. Unable to maintain enough consciousness to read ( I had read instead of slept on the flight, ignoring to my own detriment my supervisors advice to stay up all night the night before), I started knitting an afghan. This attracted many curious, friendly stares.

B^* gagliajn stopped traffic. People openly gapped. We struck up a conversation with one woman from Singapore who was returning home with her family after attending a Rev. Moon Unification Church ceremony in a stadium in Seoul. The young woman was still flushed pink with excitement, and chattered while trying to pick up knitting tips.

Finally it was time to board China Air which kindly served us dinner. We landed in Beijing 23 1/2 hours after starting my trip. The NGO participants were guided to a special entry way, asked for their passport, conference registration, & hotel letter & we filled out a small form about arrival etc.

B^* This was the moment which many women had feared. Some whispered that was The List of people who still could be excluded. Some thought they were going to be queried about their sexual orientation. Others though their bibles, activist literature, cameras &/or video equipment would be confiscated. To be on the safe side, gagliajn did bring a study bible & not her good bible & a disposable camera. She was also worried about getting me through--what if I, Hacker Barbie, was confiscated? What about her prayer book, rosary, her unix manuals, her copy of Trouble & Her Friends, or even the 2000 diskettes? What would she do? Protest? Like everyone, she held her breath & her head high, produced her documents & walked through.

Our luggage came immediately and there were free carts for pickup. Most people walked immediately through the doors & no one stopped them to check their luggage (apparently they had nothing to declare) I did voluntarily put my stuff through xray & they didn't open anything.

Then I stood in line for the money exchange. Because I was wearing a blue ribbon, I was immediately greeted by Jean Grossholtz from Mt. Holyoke--such a surprise!

B^* Neither gagliajn nor I have ever gotten over the thrill of meeting people in realtime with whom you have exchanged email. Hi, Jean!

The money line did move slowly--when you got close to the window, you were handed a short form which you filled out & returned with your money & passport. Travelers check were exchanged at a slightly higher rate. They then gave you a token & about 5 minutes later, they returned your money. The money exchange office was woefully understaffed, but everyone maintained their composure.

B^* One of the first differences I noticed between american and our Chinese hosts, is that the Chinese walk in line or single file, while as americans clump. But when it comes to standing in line, americans stand in single file, tolerating no "cuts" while others want to mass. But, wow, handing over most of your money in a crowd through a window into a goldfish-bowl office--people "schooled" because we were afraid of sharks!

Finally I emerged into the throng & went the NGO desk...

B^* It was like emerging through rush hour traffic & finding a really great parking place @ the mall. It was like breaking away from 100 store clerks & finding heart's desire on the sales rack. It was like finally getting into your email account after hours of being offline. It was like...YES!

...They tagged my luggage for my hotel & then I went out to the shuttle busses. All this time I was wondering who were all these young men in the pink HP Hewlett Packard t-shirts & blue jogging pants--they walked in single file & I kept on thinking that the gov't must have hired all the kung-fu clubs in the country to be at the airport.

B^* And believe me, we (not only gagliajn & I, but all the women) were incredibly grateful to have so much help with our stuff after such a long trip. gagliajn was more than thrill to hand over my combination cosmetic-case/laptop to one of these young men.

When I got to the curb, they immediately packed my luggage onto the bus--quite a fete--the bus was stuffed with women & luggage. I sat with a women from the Sudan who over the course of 3 days had flown from the Sudan to Cairo to Amsterdam to Hong Kong to Beijing. She described the self help craft co-ops she was organizing & the buyers she was hoping to attract.

B^* It was amazing how much gagliajn had in common: both are Catholic, both enjoy craft circles & political activities with other women, but gagliajn had never gotten arrested for making baskets--this woman had. Seems like it is a crime to empower women for economic self-sufficiency when "extraneous" women (widowed by war or simply abandoned) are better used for prostitution. Gross!

Our bus traveled along a dark, tree lined road for approx. 30 min. Bikes, heavy construction trucks, & pedestrians shared the road.

B^* We weren't too tired to be scared. In California, everyone has a special place on/off the road.

Finally we arrived at a building were we received our conference badges (after presenting our registration & hotel letters). I also bought for $10 a bus pass. Outside the building there were many volunteers to help us carry our luggage & escort us to other shuttle busses to out hotels. I was the only one going to Nayung. When I arrived, there were more hotel staff waiting for us. I was escorted to the lobby, filled out a short registration form, paid for my hotel in advance & was shown to my room several buildings away. The complex is made up of many groups of 3-story condos. In my suite, I have a single room & they kindly provided a basin for washing, two hangers, bar soap & holder, tooth brush & paste, slippers, a fan, small desk, lamp, electric fan, a hard, hard bed covered with a sheet & light cotton comforter...

B^* The hardest bed in the world!!! No problem for me, but gagliajn sleeps on her side & could not get comfortable. She finally laid on top of the comforter, & covered herself with a sheet, and was almost too tired to sleep--ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

I also had a toilet, but the wash water was not working--there was a common shower & sink to be shared with another double & triple bedroom. There was also a common thermos of hot water. It is hard to tell if the hotel was recently built--the floors are smooth cement & a bit dusty, the plumbing seemed to be old/delicate/crabby. There were simple locks on the door, a cabinet that can be locked with a key, screen on the windows. I fell into bed approx. 12:30pm, about 3 hours after I landed. Outside I could hear the laughter of the staff--there are many young people here working hard & having a good time among themselves.

B^* I was eager to go out and make new friends, but gagliajn had fallen fast asleep.

I woke up about 7am, took a cold shower, made myself at home, & had breakfast at the Muslim café. Meat was served, eggs, delicious pickles, steaming milk, and some dim sum. I finally connected with some other APC staff members...

B^* Aside from Susan Mooney, this was the first time we had actually met the APC Team. Susan had asked us to join the team because of out BEIJING95-L/BEIJING9-WOMEN online activities, plus our actual technical experience. We agreed to go & paid our own way. Most of the all women APC staff were sent as part of their job assignment.

...and walked over to the computer center. There seems to be approx. 25 Apple Performas 580 & 25 hp vectra pc (windows).

B^* Macs are so prevalent in Silicon Valley (Of course! Apple's headquarters are in Cupertino--not so in the rest of the world. I learned that 85% of the world uses pcs. The conference was a golden opportunity to show the world what they had to offer & they capitalized on every opportunity. Susan Mooney, Edie Farwell, gagliajn & I turned out to be the only people on the APC staff who were mac-literate (gagliajn & I are more than literate--we are True Believers--gagliajn has gone to every single SF MacWorld, except the year she was in the convent; we still cherish our virgin Mac 512ke). Apple had brought plenty of support staff, so the APC staff concentrated on internet/email support. Having been an HP/3000/9000 computer operator over ten years, gagliajn was also thrilled to see such a strong HP presence.

I immediately telnetted into my netcom account & after being offline for 30 hours, I got to work.

B^* I am surprised that we both hadn't imploded from online desire. gagliajn emailed her best friend Lori immediately, begging her to call her mom immediately to tell her she was ok. Lori wrote back soon afterwards, saying that when she called gagliajn's mom with the message, her mom burst into tears. gagliajn immediately started plowing throw email, which had been carefully monitored by Hacker Bunny. She crunched through subscription approvals, fired off email to WOMEN'S WIRE, her friends, & BEIJING95-L. I sent off cheery notes to my very best friend in the entire world-- Web-Weaving Midge, my sisters Game Beta-Tester Kelly & MUDder Skipper, my boyfriend VirtualGuy Ken, and the rest of the gang. IRC Francine immediately opened up a channel & soon I was catching up on all the gossip back home. "Enough about us! What about you?" cried Web-Weaving Midge, and so began describing every jot & tittle about our trip. I could see my conversation being marked up in HTML before my very eyes. Java Brad suggested...& was immediately shouted down. "Please, JB, CyberFem Barbie has just flown into tomorrow!" zipped Forum Hostess Kira. "We'll post the details of your doings & beings net-wide!" zinged SendMail Theresa and all heartedly agreed.

As I weeded through posts & error messages, I met several BEIJING95-Lers from the Ms Foundation, NOW legal defense, Alice m of IWTC, & the Stanley Foundation--very, very nice to meet folks. The APC, Apple, & HP folks are laying carpet, setting up computers, loading software, shopping for water, creating email accounts, and trying to make the center as hospitable as possible. In the next room there are many more computers available for use. It still seems problematic to pug in a laptop & modem & connect with one's provider. If you do most internet work, leave your computer at home & use an APC or telnet into you acct. If you do heave composing, bring your computer with you. There are pay phones next store, but I have not yet tied to plug in my laptop & try to connect over the phone to netcom.

B^* c'mon gagliajn! telling someone to leave her computer @ home is like telling someone to leave her hairbrush @ home! tsk! tsk!

The computer room open officially on Wednesday, Meanwhile more people are arriving & getting settled. Hopefully I can get an early dinner & early bedtime. But I had to say hi! Hope to see you all soon either here or back home.

B^* Hearts! B^*--CyberFem Barbie B^*

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