Well, my attempt to enter the city was thwarted as the immigration officials refused to let me in due to the short stop. (Also it was -13 when we landed, which dissuaded me from arguing too much). So I have spent the day in the Air China First Class lounge, and though I have eaten far too much, it has been a comfortable stop on the whole. I managed to sleep quite deeply for a couple of hours, always nice when travelling, and more, it was during the time I would be sleeping in the Pakistan time zone, so hopefully will help with the jetlag.
On the plane also I dozed for many of the hours. In my set of three seats the centre one was unoccupied and the window was with a young boy, around 13 or 14, living in Auckland and travelling alone to Chakwal for his much-older sister’s wedding. Quite sweet and uncertain, and rather unformed, though I found it hard to tell if this was his age or background.
Finished The Inheritance of Loss after it had lingered for a while. I see its value but again it was in the dust and heat and monsoon rain genre which I invariably bounce off.
Also finished Foundrytown, a light fun read but not as good as the author’s first cities book. Some very poor continuity errors in it, especially early on, such as when a character sees the nice part of town and is amazed at the wonder of it, and pages later it’s mentioned that actually she goes there quite often.
Two more hours before boarding begins for the next flight.