I awoke at 5:20am, with my stomach telling me two things: 1-I am waking up too early, and 2-I probably should have held back a bit on the wonderful chili crab - as my stomach was bursting. Anyway, after a nice shower, I began to feel better, so I packed up my things, checked out, and took the taxi to the airport. Once again, the driver was very pleasant, and we talked throughout the 20 minute ride to the airport. Upon arriving at the airport, I checked in, and proceeded seamlessly through customs. Singapore must have the fastest customs around. Anyway, It was now about 6:50am as I proceeded up to the business class lounge for a quick breakfast before boarding. In the lounge I had a small plate of scrambled eggs and 2 containers of fruit yogurt. I called home to let everyone know I was on my way (it was Wednesday evening at 5pm there). I planned on walking in the front door about 25 hours later.
By 7:20am, it was time to head over to my gate. It is noted that in the Singapore airport, each gate has it's own security - which I found interesting - soo much equipment and so many works - just another example of large staffing that is commonplace in the Asia-Pacific region. While waiting to board the plane, I did get to watch a couple of 747's takeoff and land, as well as some 777 aircraft. Additionally, I saw a couple of Singapore Air Airbus A380's come in and land. Those are the large fully double-decker ones - quite impressive. I boarded the Japan Airlines Boeing 767 around 8:00am and grabbed my seat - 3A. It is a standard cloth business class set, with a power outlet, personal TV, plenty of legroom and the reclining ability about that of a normal recliner. As the plane taxied to the runway, I counted 5 A380's at the gates - pretty cool.
Once in the air, I settled down for the flight. It was supposed to be around 7 hours, but due to favorable winds, the estimated flight time was going to be just over 6 hours - a pleasant suprise. For lunch on the plane, I chose the western lunch - which was served about and hour and a half into the flight. The lunch I has was as follows:
Appetizers/sides: Salmon creole, marinated fetta cheese, grilled bell pepper w/ sun-dried tomato, and a cold sweet corn soup.
Main course: Roasted chicken marinade
Dessert: Passionfruit mousse and custard cream puff w/ fruit salsa.
All was pretty decent, although I didn't care much for the chicken. At this point, I got out my laptop and began catching up on these blogs. At this time, the airplane was very near the Philippines.
The rest of the flight to Japan was cloudy, and uneventful. We landed on time at Tokyo Narita at 4:00pm local time (1:00am for you in Wisconsin). I proceeded to the lounge, where I just finished posting the last three blogs. It is now 5:40pm here (2:40am for you), and I will be boarding my American Airlines 777 in just under two hours from now. With a departure of 8:00pm, I am scheduled to land at O'Hare around 4:00pm.
As usual, I will do a final blog entry after I get home to wrap things up.
- See you in the states!
Dave
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15 - A Great Day!
After a standard morning of meetings, about 6-8 of my coworkers took me out for lunch. We took a couple cars over about 10 minutes to a nearby Chinese seafood restaurant. Inside, We all sat at a large round table and they proceeded to order. Interesting thing here was that I never saw a menu, there was just a checklist that one of my coworkers filled out. We had a number of very familiar dishes, Chinese dumplings, various forms of prawns, vegetables, and some small fried fish - similar to smelt. Finally, one plate was brought out that made some people nervous - it looked like tiny brown twigs all wrapped up in roughly the shape of an egg. As it turned out, the twigs were a delicate fried shell that housed a nice sweet sauce in the middle with perhaps a small bit of shrimp? Anyway, it was delicious. We had some great laughs, but all too soon, it was time to head back. In the office, I wrapped things up and, made my goodbyes.
At this point, I took a taxi (along with one of my friends from the office) over to my reward for my long work trip... I was headed to the City Center, this time, specifically near the casino at Singapore Flight. Although, I didn't go on this, I do have to describe it briefly for you. The ferris wheel is incredibly large, and instead of a seat, each position has a large, all-glass, cylinder that must hold 40 people or so! The wheel maybe contains 12 of these pods, and offers a great view of Singapore. However, that would have to wait for another trip. At the base of this ferris wheel, is a high end mini shopping mall. Parked outside, were 2 brand new Ferrari's - One red, one yellow. For s$200, you could actually drive them around town for 30 minutes. How about that! Unfortunately, this too would need to be done on another trip, as a far greater experience awaited me - you guessed it - a flight Simulator! The store, called "Flight Experience - Singapore" is a dream come true for me. It allows anyone to pilot a full sized 737 simulator and sit alongside a pilot who will assist/teach. After paying the s$295 (I know - I am crazy) I had reserved my hour of flight! I climbed into the simulator, hoping it was professionally done and not a huge waste of money - and was delighted to find it of very high quality. In fact, I believe spot on for a real 737 cockpit (I had a good reference, as I got to go in one at EAA this summer). I took my seat in the captains seat, and the instructor sat next to me. My guest from work sat in one of the two jump seats in the read of the cockpit. I was a bit nervous, as I knew a 767 pretty well, but had never flown a 737 in my simulator programs. I knew the system were very similar, and hoped I would be able to pick it up easily. I will spare you all the gory details here, but I started it up from "Cold & Dark", took off from London's Heathrow first. Then I flew around Hong Kong and did a great visual approach into Kai Tek and nailed it. That airport was famous for having one of the most difficult and dangerous approaches around. You basically have to fly in between the skyscrapers right at a hill, then turn 90 degrees to the right and immediately land. Oh man, I can't believe I nailed that landing - probably best one of the sim! Finally I did a short flight from Milwaukee down to Chicago. Nothing great to took at, but I was using different techniques to navigate and land, so I wanted an approach that I was familiar with. All too soon, my hour was up, but I have to say, my goosebumps lasted for about 3 hours. It was awesome. I will be doing that on every visit until my simulator at home is complete (in about 10 years time). One final note: I was really, really hoping that the experience in a full simulated cockpit was really going to be much better that anything I had yet setup at home. This way, I would know that if I devoted the 10 years to building mine, that the end result would be worth it. IT WAS! One last note on this: Did I mention how much fun it was???
I then said goodbye to my friend from the office and took the taxi back to my hotel. Once there, I immediately put in my DVD recording of my simulator time and watched it from start to finish - cool! Please, please, ask me to show it to you!! Around 6:30, I met my friend Jeff in the hotel lobby, where we each had a drink. Next, we took a taxi over to the East side of Singapore on the coast. There, we planned on dining at Jamba's - according to Jeff, home to the greatest Crab dish on the planet. After the 30 minute taxi ride, we had arrived. The drop-off was a site right next to a strip of about 10 seafood restaurants, all open-air with a canvas roof for the seating area. If it weren't raining, we would have been all he way outside. The place was packed, and everyone appeared to be ordering the crab - that was a good sign. Soon our food sides arrived: rice, broccoli /w mushrooms, a bowel of "drunken prawns". Apparently, they used to bring the prawns out live (in water), then pour in alcohol to watch them get drunk, then, sadly, they would light them on fire! Anyway, for us, the came out already cooked. As were were about to start on the prawns our crab arrived. We ordered a medium crab (not sure what kind, but it did resemble Alaskan King Crab). It was served in a giant bowl and was covered in a chili sauce. I was relived to find the sauce not too hot. In fact, I cannot describe it well, other than to say it was like a saucy mix with some small chunks and a hint of a flavor that reminded me of Saz's BBQ. Very unique and a definitely fantastic taste. The crab was a mess to eat, and upon getting totally covered in the sauce and bits of crab, Jeff tells me that they charge extra for napkins! (Remember all goods in Singapore are imported). Dinner was unbelievable, and I had to admit to Jeff it did even surpass my crab from Dalian. We then headed back to the hotel where I said goodbye of Jeff, and went to my room to pack up. I really wanted to get some of my posts out, but it was getting late, and I needed my sleep as I needed to get up early.
At this point, I took a taxi (along with one of my friends from the office) over to my reward for my long work trip... I was headed to the City Center, this time, specifically near the casino at Singapore Flight. Although, I didn't go on this, I do have to describe it briefly for you. The ferris wheel is incredibly large, and instead of a seat, each position has a large, all-glass, cylinder that must hold 40 people or so! The wheel maybe contains 12 of these pods, and offers a great view of Singapore. However, that would have to wait for another trip. At the base of this ferris wheel, is a high end mini shopping mall. Parked outside, were 2 brand new Ferrari's - One red, one yellow. For s$200, you could actually drive them around town for 30 minutes. How about that! Unfortunately, this too would need to be done on another trip, as a far greater experience awaited me - you guessed it - a flight Simulator! The store, called "Flight Experience - Singapore" is a dream come true for me. It allows anyone to pilot a full sized 737 simulator and sit alongside a pilot who will assist/teach. After paying the s$295 (I know - I am crazy) I had reserved my hour of flight! I climbed into the simulator, hoping it was professionally done and not a huge waste of money - and was delighted to find it of very high quality. In fact, I believe spot on for a real 737 cockpit (I had a good reference, as I got to go in one at EAA this summer). I took my seat in the captains seat, and the instructor sat next to me. My guest from work sat in one of the two jump seats in the read of the cockpit. I was a bit nervous, as I knew a 767 pretty well, but had never flown a 737 in my simulator programs. I knew the system were very similar, and hoped I would be able to pick it up easily. I will spare you all the gory details here, but I started it up from "Cold & Dark", took off from London's Heathrow first. Then I flew around Hong Kong and did a great visual approach into Kai Tek and nailed it. That airport was famous for having one of the most difficult and dangerous approaches around. You basically have to fly in between the skyscrapers right at a hill, then turn 90 degrees to the right and immediately land. Oh man, I can't believe I nailed that landing - probably best one of the sim! Finally I did a short flight from Milwaukee down to Chicago. Nothing great to took at, but I was using different techniques to navigate and land, so I wanted an approach that I was familiar with. All too soon, my hour was up, but I have to say, my goosebumps lasted for about 3 hours. It was awesome. I will be doing that on every visit until my simulator at home is complete (in about 10 years time). One final note: I was really, really hoping that the experience in a full simulated cockpit was really going to be much better that anything I had yet setup at home. This way, I would know that if I devoted the 10 years to building mine, that the end result would be worth it. IT WAS! One last note on this: Did I mention how much fun it was???
I then said goodbye to my friend from the office and took the taxi back to my hotel. Once there, I immediately put in my DVD recording of my simulator time and watched it from start to finish - cool! Please, please, ask me to show it to you!! Around 6:30, I met my friend Jeff in the hotel lobby, where we each had a drink. Next, we took a taxi over to the East side of Singapore on the coast. There, we planned on dining at Jamba's - according to Jeff, home to the greatest Crab dish on the planet. After the 30 minute taxi ride, we had arrived. The drop-off was a site right next to a strip of about 10 seafood restaurants, all open-air with a canvas roof for the seating area. If it weren't raining, we would have been all he way outside. The place was packed, and everyone appeared to be ordering the crab - that was a good sign. Soon our food sides arrived: rice, broccoli /w mushrooms, a bowel of "drunken prawns". Apparently, they used to bring the prawns out live (in water), then pour in alcohol to watch them get drunk, then, sadly, they would light them on fire! Anyway, for us, the came out already cooked. As were were about to start on the prawns our crab arrived. We ordered a medium crab (not sure what kind, but it did resemble Alaskan King Crab). It was served in a giant bowl and was covered in a chili sauce. I was relived to find the sauce not too hot. In fact, I cannot describe it well, other than to say it was like a saucy mix with some small chunks and a hint of a flavor that reminded me of Saz's BBQ. Very unique and a definitely fantastic taste. The crab was a mess to eat, and upon getting totally covered in the sauce and bits of crab, Jeff tells me that they charge extra for napkins! (Remember all goods in Singapore are imported). Dinner was unbelievable, and I had to admit to Jeff it did even surpass my crab from Dalian. We then headed back to the hotel where I said goodbye of Jeff, and went to my room to pack up. I really wanted to get some of my posts out, but it was getting late, and I needed my sleep as I needed to get up early.
Tuesday, December 14
This morning, I was able to meet Jeff for breakfast in the hotel. It was nice to actually have someone to talk to at breakfast for the first time since November 28th. In the office, I had a very busy day of meetings. For lunch, we took a shuttle bus from the office for a 15 minute driver over to a shopping mall where they had a large food court. I learned that in the office, the cafeteria was closed - even though it was a large 8 story building that housed many companies and probably 800 workers. At the foodmart, I followed my guide and basically just ordered where he did - unfortunately for me, I ended up again with a large bowl of noodles with beef. It was OK, but I am getting tired of the Asian beef taste. I know, my own fault, I should have walked around and found something else. However, time was very short, as we had to quickly eat and take a shuttle back to work. After work tonight, I met up with Jeff and a coworker of his from India who now lives in Singapore. After a couple of drinks, we walked around looking for a good Indian restaurant. We eventually found one called "Go India!" There we dined on Lentils, Chicken curry, another mystery curry, rice, and some nan-bread. Basically, you tear off a piece of the bread and then scoop up some rice and whatever curry you wanted. It was actually quite good. For a drink, I had a mango & yogurt drink that was good, but it was room temperature, and I would have surely preferred that it was chilled. After dinner, they were going to head out for some fun, however, I wanted to get back to the hotel and study my flight simulator manuals a bit. I know, B O R I N G. However, I was going to try an expensive flight simulator tomorrow and would only have an hour to use it. If I got there and didn't know what I was doing, I would be wasting a bunch of money, and blowing a great opportunity.
So, I did just that, studied for a couple of hours, and went to sleep, eager for the promise of fun on Wednesday.
So, I did just that, studied for a couple of hours, and went to sleep, eager for the promise of fun on Wednesday.
Monday, December 13 - Day one in Singapore
I awoke Monday morning to the soothing sounds of some tropical animal squaking in the lush green foliage outside my hotel (The Hilton on Orchard) room window sometime around 5:30am. Luckily, I was too tired to care, and feel back asleep until about 8:30am. Don't worry, I had already notified the office in Singapore that I wasn't coming in until 10:00am. I strolled down to the first floor where breakfast was served. It was your standard hotel breakfast, but just a bit nicer. I am used to my juice gauntlet, but sadly, even in a tropical paradise, didn't spot any juice...until - I found them. In fact, the juices were in there own area, complete with attendant that would add any number of fruits to a blender to make your own custom juice. Nice.
I had my standard plate of fruit, yogurt, and a bowl of corn flakes. I also took some scrambled eggs to be sure I would be fueled up for the day. I picked up my work backpack, and proceeded to grab a taxi (now around 9:15am). Outside, it was about 82 degrees with the constant 70% humidity - a bit sticky compared to what I am used to. After a pleasant 20 minute ride over to the office, I was dropped off at the lobby. The building is quite large, housing a number of other companies as well, with ours taking 3 floors.
Inside, I made my way around to the various groups that I would be meeting with, making my initial hellos and introductions. Soon it was was noon and time for lunch. We walked about 2 blocks to a outdoor food court featuring about 25 different stalls of a wide variety of foods. This is the standard type of food place here - open air, but with a 20' high tent like permanent awning covering it's entirety. For lunch, I ate a bit light, since my late breakfast and my stomach was still slightly unsettled from Saturday. I chose a Pud Thai rice plate w/ shrimp flavoring for s$3.50 and added a Sprite for another s$1.50. It was quite tasty with a bit of a sweet flavor to it as well.
Around 12:45pm, we walked back to the office and I finished out my day there with a number of different meetings. After work, around 6:30, a number of us took a taxi to City Center where the main tourist area is located. There were large gleaming skyscrapers crowded up against a large river cutting through town. All along the way I could spot restaurants, and other business you would expect to find. We walked around a very large marble hotel, in fact, this building is the first building over 20 years old that I have seen. It turned out to be the Fullerton Hotel. A famous hotel that the Japanese actually used as their Asia-Pacific HQ for the entire region. Outside was a Bentley and a wedding couple having photos taken. Talk about Money. Looking across the way, I could see the Singapore Flyier, as well as the new (and quite incredible) casino/hotel - The Marina Bay Sands. The casino, in fact, is three adjacent 35 story buildings with that looks like a giant cruise ship on the roof, spanning all three buildings. I can make out trees and foliage up there as well - crazy.
We then took the subway over toward the hotel and ate at another food court. This one was located inside a very nice mall. Very similar to the US, except, again, varieties from all around the world. I went with a bowl of handmade noodles with beef that was decent. On the way out, I picked up a freshly squeezed glass of mango juice (tasty) and went back to the hotel. I should note that the shiny, new, high-end shopping buildings all around are too incredible for me to describe with words. So, you will have to ask to see the pictures. I won't even attempt to mention the fantastic lighted Christmas decorations that I cannot do proper justice to.
I met a friend of mine, Jeff, who was also in Singapore for the week in the hotel bar and we had a couple of bees before calling it a night around 10:45pm.
I had my standard plate of fruit, yogurt, and a bowl of corn flakes. I also took some scrambled eggs to be sure I would be fueled up for the day. I picked up my work backpack, and proceeded to grab a taxi (now around 9:15am). Outside, it was about 82 degrees with the constant 70% humidity - a bit sticky compared to what I am used to. After a pleasant 20 minute ride over to the office, I was dropped off at the lobby. The building is quite large, housing a number of other companies as well, with ours taking 3 floors.
Inside, I made my way around to the various groups that I would be meeting with, making my initial hellos and introductions. Soon it was was noon and time for lunch. We walked about 2 blocks to a outdoor food court featuring about 25 different stalls of a wide variety of foods. This is the standard type of food place here - open air, but with a 20' high tent like permanent awning covering it's entirety. For lunch, I ate a bit light, since my late breakfast and my stomach was still slightly unsettled from Saturday. I chose a Pud Thai rice plate w/ shrimp flavoring for s$3.50 and added a Sprite for another s$1.50. It was quite tasty with a bit of a sweet flavor to it as well.
Around 12:45pm, we walked back to the office and I finished out my day there with a number of different meetings. After work, around 6:30, a number of us took a taxi to City Center where the main tourist area is located. There were large gleaming skyscrapers crowded up against a large river cutting through town. All along the way I could spot restaurants, and other business you would expect to find. We walked around a very large marble hotel, in fact, this building is the first building over 20 years old that I have seen. It turned out to be the Fullerton Hotel. A famous hotel that the Japanese actually used as their Asia-Pacific HQ for the entire region. Outside was a Bentley and a wedding couple having photos taken. Talk about Money. Looking across the way, I could see the Singapore Flyier, as well as the new (and quite incredible) casino/hotel - The Marina Bay Sands. The casino, in fact, is three adjacent 35 story buildings with that looks like a giant cruise ship on the roof, spanning all three buildings. I can make out trees and foliage up there as well - crazy.
We then took the subway over toward the hotel and ate at another food court. This one was located inside a very nice mall. Very similar to the US, except, again, varieties from all around the world. I went with a bowl of handmade noodles with beef that was decent. On the way out, I picked up a freshly squeezed glass of mango juice (tasty) and went back to the hotel. I should note that the shiny, new, high-end shopping buildings all around are too incredible for me to describe with words. So, you will have to ask to see the pictures. I won't even attempt to mention the fantastic lighted Christmas decorations that I cannot do proper justice to.
I met a friend of mine, Jeff, who was also in Singapore for the week in the hotel bar and we had a couple of bees before calling it a night around 10:45pm.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 12 - Dalian China to Singapore
On Sunday morning, I awoke early, feeling most recovered, although my stomach was at about 65%. I packed up my room and went down to the cafe in the hotel for a light fruit breakfast. I also put down a fair amount of juice to start to recover the 18 gallons of fluid I had lost the day before.
Winson picked me up around 9:30am for some final shopping, then we headed to the food court in the Parkland mall for some lunch. I again, just went with a plate of vegetables while Winson had a rice and beef bowl. For completeness sake, I should mention that I purchased the fruit plate at a nearby Chinese grocery market, where I also picked up some dried fruit for the long flight I had later that day to Singapore. I was suspect that my tummy would be up for Chinese airplane food. In their defense, the food is generally pretty good, with large portion sizes, I just didn't think I was up to the task.
Anyway, I said my goodbyes and took the 30 minute taxi ride over to the airport around 1:00pm. I was able to get an exit row seat, and waited at the gate for my 3:30pm departure out of Dalian China. Time passed reasonably fast, I enjoyed a Pepsi, and fought a slightly cramping stomach. We took a bus ride from our gate to our airplane, and climbed the steps to the plane under a growing cloudy sky. The plane was a pretty packed 737-800 aircraft with 3x3 seating in economy (where I was). Luckily, the seat next to me was vacant, and I settled in for the flight. We flew 1 hour and 45 minutes to a stop city in China called Hefei - located about 50 miles West of Shanghai. There we deplaned, and went through customs, and re boarded the plane around 6:00pm (about 30 minutes after we landed). We took off around 6:30pm and had the long 5 hour remaining leg to Singapore. The route took us over Hong Kong, and Ho Chi Min City - to name a few places. This flight, for some reason, really had me annoyed - there were tons of kids - which I don't mind, except they ran freely up and down the isles NONSTOP hitting every seat every time they went by. Additionally, it seemed that 25% of the passengers had never flown before and were constantly hitting the flight attendant call button. I also was getting hit from the elderly couple from behind me who didn't want me to recline my seat. At some point, we were served dinner, where I had a nice dinner roll, some fruit, and a couple of bites of rice. Additionally, I managed to get down 2 small cups of sprite. In addition to the kids running up and down the isle, the grown-ups also looked to bump everyone they could walking down the isle. Finally, I think they took turns napping in the bathrooms, as I had to wait FOREVER, each time I needed to go. Finally, with about 2 hours to go in the flight, my neck started cramping up from the uncomfortable seats. The remaining 2 hours of the flight finally ended, after a very long trip. On top of all of that, my stomach was feeling very bloated for some reason, so I was uncomfortable from that too. At 11:45 pm or so, we landed in a dark Singapore, and I nearly wept for joy getting off of the plane.
I went through immigration, and waited a "lostapause" amount of time. That is just long enough that you actually start to worry that your luggage is lost. However, it did in fact arrive, and I headed out into the Singapore night for the late taxi ride to my hotel.
The night was humid. (some of you may smile at that movie quote here)
In fact, in Singapore, this is the rainy season. A check on weather.com reveals a minimum 75% humidity, highs of 87 degrees, and lows of 75 degrees with a 60% chance of scattered showers each and every evening and night. It did feel nice and warm - especially knowing the kind of weather going on back home.
The 30 minute taxi ride to the hotel revealed to me one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in. The place is immaculate, high tech roadsigns, and upon entering downtown, the most magical and beautiful holiday lighted tropical paradise imaginable. I already notified my wife that I may not return. Really, it is that incredible. I arrived at the Hilton Hotel, right in the heart of the decorations downtown, checked in and headed up to my room on the 12th floor. The room is top notch, with a large flat screen TV, and a large, all glass work desk. I unpacked and climbed into bed around 1:30am. It was another good hour before I feel asleep, mainly due to my very sore neck.
Winson picked me up around 9:30am for some final shopping, then we headed to the food court in the Parkland mall for some lunch. I again, just went with a plate of vegetables while Winson had a rice and beef bowl. For completeness sake, I should mention that I purchased the fruit plate at a nearby Chinese grocery market, where I also picked up some dried fruit for the long flight I had later that day to Singapore. I was suspect that my tummy would be up for Chinese airplane food. In their defense, the food is generally pretty good, with large portion sizes, I just didn't think I was up to the task.
Anyway, I said my goodbyes and took the 30 minute taxi ride over to the airport around 1:00pm. I was able to get an exit row seat, and waited at the gate for my 3:30pm departure out of Dalian China. Time passed reasonably fast, I enjoyed a Pepsi, and fought a slightly cramping stomach. We took a bus ride from our gate to our airplane, and climbed the steps to the plane under a growing cloudy sky. The plane was a pretty packed 737-800 aircraft with 3x3 seating in economy (where I was). Luckily, the seat next to me was vacant, and I settled in for the flight. We flew 1 hour and 45 minutes to a stop city in China called Hefei - located about 50 miles West of Shanghai. There we deplaned, and went through customs, and re boarded the plane around 6:00pm (about 30 minutes after we landed). We took off around 6:30pm and had the long 5 hour remaining leg to Singapore. The route took us over Hong Kong, and Ho Chi Min City - to name a few places. This flight, for some reason, really had me annoyed - there were tons of kids - which I don't mind, except they ran freely up and down the isles NONSTOP hitting every seat every time they went by. Additionally, it seemed that 25% of the passengers had never flown before and were constantly hitting the flight attendant call button. I also was getting hit from the elderly couple from behind me who didn't want me to recline my seat. At some point, we were served dinner, where I had a nice dinner roll, some fruit, and a couple of bites of rice. Additionally, I managed to get down 2 small cups of sprite. In addition to the kids running up and down the isle, the grown-ups also looked to bump everyone they could walking down the isle. Finally, I think they took turns napping in the bathrooms, as I had to wait FOREVER, each time I needed to go. Finally, with about 2 hours to go in the flight, my neck started cramping up from the uncomfortable seats. The remaining 2 hours of the flight finally ended, after a very long trip. On top of all of that, my stomach was feeling very bloated for some reason, so I was uncomfortable from that too. At 11:45 pm or so, we landed in a dark Singapore, and I nearly wept for joy getting off of the plane.
I went through immigration, and waited a "lostapause" amount of time. That is just long enough that you actually start to worry that your luggage is lost. However, it did in fact arrive, and I headed out into the Singapore night for the late taxi ride to my hotel.
The night was humid. (some of you may smile at that movie quote here)
In fact, in Singapore, this is the rainy season. A check on weather.com reveals a minimum 75% humidity, highs of 87 degrees, and lows of 75 degrees with a 60% chance of scattered showers each and every evening and night. It did feel nice and warm - especially knowing the kind of weather going on back home.
The 30 minute taxi ride to the hotel revealed to me one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in. The place is immaculate, high tech roadsigns, and upon entering downtown, the most magical and beautiful holiday lighted tropical paradise imaginable. I already notified my wife that I may not return. Really, it is that incredible. I arrived at the Hilton Hotel, right in the heart of the decorations downtown, checked in and headed up to my room on the 12th floor. The room is top notch, with a large flat screen TV, and a large, all glass work desk. I unpacked and climbed into bed around 1:30am. It was another good hour before I feel asleep, mainly due to my very sore neck.
Friday, December 10 - Saturday 11 - "That Dragon had a Brother!"
Sorry for the long delay - had to travel to Singapore and wait until Monday night to work on these posts...
Friday lunch in Dalian was the typical business lunch, Nancy (a colleage and friend from previous visits, and another enginner) took me out to lunch to the Japanese restaurant close to work. As I had been discussing the great hand-made Chinese noodles that I enjoyed on my last visit, we ordered the Japanese noodles here for a comparison. In case you are wondering why I have not returned to my favotite noodle shop from January's visit, it is because they CHANGED their menu and no longer serve the hand-made noodles. Arrgh. One of my all-time favorite meals (and at $1.25 US - one of the cheapest) is no longer available. To make matters worse, I have learned that the reason we have not gone for the crab yet is because they are all squeemish about the local crab after an oil spill that heppened near here. Anyway, I had my meal and the noodles were ok. I really liked the side plate of lightly fried prawns, however.
After work, Winson took me to a local shop on the East side that still, in fact, specialized in the handmade noodles. This restaurant had two levels, and was clearly suprised to see a westerner. For appitizers, they had KimChi and another Korean vegetable that seemd familiar. For dinner, we had the seafood flavored hotpot and the hand-made noodles. As a side dish, we had spinach with seafood. Now, as I took a bite of that side plate of spinach, I ate of of the seafood and asked if it was oyster. Indeed, it was. Oh oh. I immediately queried if they were cooked, and the answeer came back , yes. Now, as you can guess from the title of this post, I suspect that if the oysters were cooked, they weren't cooked thouroughly. More on that later. Anyway, we finished up the dinner, and by the way, the noodles were good, not great.
After dinner, we took a short taxi ride over to the bar that we visited Monday or Tuesday night.
We heard the same talented singers (really talented) singing a mix of Chinese and American songs. Some of the Chinese ones I recognized from our earlier visit. The night flew by, and by 12:00am, the singing was done. This time, two of the male singers came over to our table to talk to us. They were excited to hear I was from Milwaukee, as they are huge Harley fans. Additionally, the younger one, performed a couple of Stevie Ray Vaughn songs both nights, and did them extremely well. Since I don't know half of the lyrics to English songs anyway, it never got in my way of enjoying the songs that were in Chinese. So a good time was had by all.
I got back to the hotel by 12:30am and settled in for another restful nights sleep...
(Queue the ominous music here)
At 8:00am, I awoke, not feeling hung over from the beers, but a familiar grip in my stomach. As my worst fears were realized, by 8:30am, I was in the bathroom upon orders from my body. I will spare you the absolutely gruesome details, except to state that my stomach did not rest for more than 15 minutes until - I kid you not - 6:00pm on Saturday. Another top 5 worst medical days of my life - again complements to the Chinese oyster. Here me now on this - I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, eat anything close to an oyster in China again. I may have a tough time eating one at home after this one. By 6:30 pm on Saturday, I was able to finally hold down some water, by 8:30 pm a Sprite, and at 11:30 pm, I ordered a fruit plate from room service and was able to keep down 2 small pieces. I dozed off and had a rather poor nights sleep.
So much for my last free day in Dalian. To make matters worse, a few brief peeks out the window that day showed the weather to be terrific.
Friday lunch in Dalian was the typical business lunch, Nancy (a colleage and friend from previous visits, and another enginner) took me out to lunch to the Japanese restaurant close to work. As I had been discussing the great hand-made Chinese noodles that I enjoyed on my last visit, we ordered the Japanese noodles here for a comparison. In case you are wondering why I have not returned to my favotite noodle shop from January's visit, it is because they CHANGED their menu and no longer serve the hand-made noodles. Arrgh. One of my all-time favorite meals (and at $1.25 US - one of the cheapest) is no longer available. To make matters worse, I have learned that the reason we have not gone for the crab yet is because they are all squeemish about the local crab after an oil spill that heppened near here. Anyway, I had my meal and the noodles were ok. I really liked the side plate of lightly fried prawns, however.
After work, Winson took me to a local shop on the East side that still, in fact, specialized in the handmade noodles. This restaurant had two levels, and was clearly suprised to see a westerner. For appitizers, they had KimChi and another Korean vegetable that seemd familiar. For dinner, we had the seafood flavored hotpot and the hand-made noodles. As a side dish, we had spinach with seafood. Now, as I took a bite of that side plate of spinach, I ate of of the seafood and asked if it was oyster. Indeed, it was. Oh oh. I immediately queried if they were cooked, and the answeer came back , yes. Now, as you can guess from the title of this post, I suspect that if the oysters were cooked, they weren't cooked thouroughly. More on that later. Anyway, we finished up the dinner, and by the way, the noodles were good, not great.
After dinner, we took a short taxi ride over to the bar that we visited Monday or Tuesday night.
We heard the same talented singers (really talented) singing a mix of Chinese and American songs. Some of the Chinese ones I recognized from our earlier visit. The night flew by, and by 12:00am, the singing was done. This time, two of the male singers came over to our table to talk to us. They were excited to hear I was from Milwaukee, as they are huge Harley fans. Additionally, the younger one, performed a couple of Stevie Ray Vaughn songs both nights, and did them extremely well. Since I don't know half of the lyrics to English songs anyway, it never got in my way of enjoying the songs that were in Chinese. So a good time was had by all.
I got back to the hotel by 12:30am and settled in for another restful nights sleep...
(Queue the ominous music here)
At 8:00am, I awoke, not feeling hung over from the beers, but a familiar grip in my stomach. As my worst fears were realized, by 8:30am, I was in the bathroom upon orders from my body. I will spare you the absolutely gruesome details, except to state that my stomach did not rest for more than 15 minutes until - I kid you not - 6:00pm on Saturday. Another top 5 worst medical days of my life - again complements to the Chinese oyster. Here me now on this - I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, eat anything close to an oyster in China again. I may have a tough time eating one at home after this one. By 6:30 pm on Saturday, I was able to finally hold down some water, by 8:30 pm a Sprite, and at 11:30 pm, I ordered a fruit plate from room service and was able to keep down 2 small pieces. I dozed off and had a rather poor nights sleep.
So much for my last free day in Dalian. To make matters worse, a few brief peeks out the window that day showed the weather to be terrific.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Thursday, December 9 - Man vs. Food - Sea Urchin Edition
For lunch, two of my team members, Carol and Becky, walked me over to a buffet style international restaurant. It is located about half-way between the office and the hotel, but about 5 blocks to the north (You can see the red building just to the north of the 3 tall condos in the center HERE). It was another comfortable day outside, I would guess about 45 degrees, so we walked. We took some of the back streets and traversed the confused path w/ each new block having a wide variety of places to walk - seldom of which on a sidewalk. Most of all spaces in front of each building are now packed with cars. In fact, I think I see more cars in Dalian every single day. To fight this, there is a massive subway construction project going on in the city. I have probably counted 25 metro stations under construction simultaneously. They tell me it is set to open in two years.
After a 10-15 minute walk, we reached our destination, a 5 story tall, 1 block long, shopping center, colored deep red (again, HERE). Inside, we proceeded to a restaurant which seemed fairly new, with colorful Christmas lights strung up everywhere. They ordered a couple of main dishes, and then we proceeded to the buffet. There, I found some typical western salads, dressings, and even a couple of different potato salads. Adjacent to the salad section, was a noticeably Korean section, with some small crab legs, Korean cabbage (Kimchi), and some small ceviche (just cooked in citrus) prawns which I just had to try. Back at our table the main dishes arrived: little steak kabobs, grilled shrimp, chicken livers, some beef strips, and some mushrooms. All were very good, however, I did have a bit of an incident eating some of the sashimi - the wasabi sauce was the strongest thing I have ever eaten. Fairly hot, but more damaging was the chemical reaction my body had. It shot through my sinus, then filled my brain and chest and I thought I may explode. So quick lesson learned for me, careful of wasabi. Apparently my reaction was easily noticed as my hosts commented on my very bright red face. When I was able to catch my breath, I explained what happened, and they had a good laugh. As far as the ceviche prawns went, they tasted just like the live shrimp from my last visit, however, they were small and eaten whole. Unfortunately, the shell was as hard as a shrimps, and was a bit pokey - especially it's head. I should mention that further down on the buffet line were plenty of desserts, fruits, and a western section, with small pizza slices, french fries, etc. And no, I didn't try any of that - as you know I am very conservative on my dining, so I didn't risk it. :) Near the end of the meal, they got around to discussing their favorite television shows and we hit a common one to both of us - "The Big Bang Theory". We joked for awhile on our favorite parts of the show, which they also enjoy in English, however, some of the talk is a bit fast for them. Small world.
After work, Winson, Carol, and I proceeded to take a taxi over to a very nice Japanese restaurant (which I had never been to before). The taxi driver noted to Winson that he knows I am American and said "Please" to me to show off his English. Winson then told me to drop a little of my Chinese on him, which I did. He was very impressed and laughed heartily. We joked back and forth for the 10 minute ride to the restaurant. I even told him to not to try and take the long way there, as I know my way around Dalian very well. At the stop, Winson paid the standard taxi fee of 8RMB (About $1.25). I really appreciated his fun interaction and gave him an extra tip of 10 RMB. His face really lit up and then he said, in near perfect English, "I will see you tomorrow!". We both had a great laugh. Walking in to the hotel Winson said that I really made the driver's day and he would surely tell all of his friends of the experience. Kind of neat.
In the restaurant, we were lead to a semi-private dining room. It had one large table in the middle that was divided with a large bamboo shade curtain as 6 other diners were already eating on the other side. Winson ordered our meal - it was an all-you-can eat type of affair with a fixed cost ($35 US) for each person. That is very expensive for China, but we decided it would be our project completion celebration. He first asked if I wanted to try the large fish, served alive, but sliced up. I have to admit that I did have to draw the line at that one. We then settled on a multitude of sushimi items, and some other foods as well. We each had a large and delicate lamb? liver which was amazingly soft and tasty - no hint of the minearly taste of liver from back home. We also enjoyed grilled shrimp, and a small wooden plate of orange blobs. At first I thought it may be roe, but it turned out to be a favorite of mine - sea urchin. Each small wooden box, held about 10 of them, and I would say we had 4 or 5 servings throughout the meal. For the sushimi, they were fairly standard: tuna, salmon, octopus, and some mystery ones that didn't have a good translation. Also for this meal, we shared a full bottle of Japanese wine - a fruity version of a white wine.
After the meal, we went back to the office to finish up some work, and then I headed home by 9:45pm for the night.
Final note: This will probably be my last post for a few days, as I can only access this from the office. After today (Friday), I have a free day Saturday, then I will travel via a 8 hour flight, to Singapore on Sunday. On Monday morning, I plan on being in the Singapore office. Since my flight into Singapore doesn't arrive until late Sunday, I probably won't get to my hotel until 1:30am on Monday, so I assume I will not get a chance to post again until Monday night (which is your Monday morning). Take care all. I will be back home on the evening of Thursday, December 16.
After a 10-15 minute walk, we reached our destination, a 5 story tall, 1 block long, shopping center, colored deep red (again, HERE). Inside, we proceeded to a restaurant which seemed fairly new, with colorful Christmas lights strung up everywhere. They ordered a couple of main dishes, and then we proceeded to the buffet. There, I found some typical western salads, dressings, and even a couple of different potato salads. Adjacent to the salad section, was a noticeably Korean section, with some small crab legs, Korean cabbage (Kimchi), and some small ceviche (just cooked in citrus) prawns which I just had to try. Back at our table the main dishes arrived: little steak kabobs, grilled shrimp, chicken livers, some beef strips, and some mushrooms. All were very good, however, I did have a bit of an incident eating some of the sashimi - the wasabi sauce was the strongest thing I have ever eaten. Fairly hot, but more damaging was the chemical reaction my body had. It shot through my sinus, then filled my brain and chest and I thought I may explode. So quick lesson learned for me, careful of wasabi. Apparently my reaction was easily noticed as my hosts commented on my very bright red face. When I was able to catch my breath, I explained what happened, and they had a good laugh. As far as the ceviche prawns went, they tasted just like the live shrimp from my last visit, however, they were small and eaten whole. Unfortunately, the shell was as hard as a shrimps, and was a bit pokey - especially it's head. I should mention that further down on the buffet line were plenty of desserts, fruits, and a western section, with small pizza slices, french fries, etc. And no, I didn't try any of that - as you know I am very conservative on my dining, so I didn't risk it. :) Near the end of the meal, they got around to discussing their favorite television shows and we hit a common one to both of us - "The Big Bang Theory". We joked for awhile on our favorite parts of the show, which they also enjoy in English, however, some of the talk is a bit fast for them. Small world.
After work, Winson, Carol, and I proceeded to take a taxi over to a very nice Japanese restaurant (which I had never been to before). The taxi driver noted to Winson that he knows I am American and said "Please" to me to show off his English. Winson then told me to drop a little of my Chinese on him, which I did. He was very impressed and laughed heartily. We joked back and forth for the 10 minute ride to the restaurant. I even told him to not to try and take the long way there, as I know my way around Dalian very well. At the stop, Winson paid the standard taxi fee of 8RMB (About $1.25). I really appreciated his fun interaction and gave him an extra tip of 10 RMB. His face really lit up and then he said, in near perfect English, "I will see you tomorrow!". We both had a great laugh. Walking in to the hotel Winson said that I really made the driver's day and he would surely tell all of his friends of the experience. Kind of neat.
In the restaurant, we were lead to a semi-private dining room. It had one large table in the middle that was divided with a large bamboo shade curtain as 6 other diners were already eating on the other side. Winson ordered our meal - it was an all-you-can eat type of affair with a fixed cost ($35 US) for each person. That is very expensive for China, but we decided it would be our project completion celebration. He first asked if I wanted to try the large fish, served alive, but sliced up. I have to admit that I did have to draw the line at that one. We then settled on a multitude of sushimi items, and some other foods as well. We each had a large and delicate lamb? liver which was amazingly soft and tasty - no hint of the minearly taste of liver from back home. We also enjoyed grilled shrimp, and a small wooden plate of orange blobs. At first I thought it may be roe, but it turned out to be a favorite of mine - sea urchin. Each small wooden box, held about 10 of them, and I would say we had 4 or 5 servings throughout the meal. For the sushimi, they were fairly standard: tuna, salmon, octopus, and some mystery ones that didn't have a good translation. Also for this meal, we shared a full bottle of Japanese wine - a fruity version of a white wine.
After the meal, we went back to the office to finish up some work, and then I headed home by 9:45pm for the night.
Final note: This will probably be my last post for a few days, as I can only access this from the office. After today (Friday), I have a free day Saturday, then I will travel via a 8 hour flight, to Singapore on Sunday. On Monday morning, I plan on being in the Singapore office. Since my flight into Singapore doesn't arrive until late Sunday, I probably won't get to my hotel until 1:30am on Monday, so I assume I will not get a chance to post again until Monday night (which is your Monday morning). Take care all. I will be back home on the evening of Thursday, December 16.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, December 8 - An old Dragon is slayed!
For Wednesday's lunch, I was joined by a long -time friend from the office, Chrsitine. After letting me choose a style (Shanghai), she chose the location as the Dalian Shanghai Restaurant (soudned appropriate). It is located just west of the Swishotel in a very fancy building. Inside the quite elaborately decorated restuarant, we proceeded upstairs to the large dining area and received a small table next to the window. Entering the dining room, I remembered this as a place that I had been on my very first visit and dined on some tasty "winged crab". A slight sidebar discussion here - I was then reminded how I have not yet had the chance to eat my favorite food here in Dalian - the crab. I believe that is on the schedule for this weekend. From what I gathered, the oil spill that occured in the Yellow Sea this summer has the locals squeemish about the crab. I see it in the restaurants, but they are not ordering it.
Anyway, for lunch, we chose sweet & sour shrimp w/ cantalope as a main dish. This was absolutely fantastic. It was similar to S&S shrimp back home with the same sweet sauce - but in that same sauce was cantalope - it really worked well together. Best of all, the shrimp was actually peeled - finally. Additionally we had tasty servings of fried beef (think of soft fried beef jerky), mini asparagus, tufo wrapped mushroom, and chinese dumpling? All absolutely terrific.
After work the campus manager and others took me to an old nemesis. A Spicey hot-pot restaurant on the east side of town. I hadn't been there since my first Dalian visit (maybe the second one). Anyway, that is the place where I stupidly ate the oysters raw, instead of putting them in the hotpot to cook. Mike and I paid the price the next morning with one of the very sickest days of my life. It was 12 hours of the most wretched sickness imaginable. Think of wringing out a wet towel to the point that it turns to tiny dried pieces and that will approach just how hard my system squeesed out any drop of moisture in my boday that fatefull day. I dont think I felt 100% for a week after that. Anyway, we were lead to our private dinign room upstairs and seaated at a table. My old foe drew first blood - almost literally. Under the table was a small shelf about 3 " lower than the table that I nearly shattered both kneecaops on. Indeed, this would be a difficult fight for sure. Now knowing I would not be putting my legs under the table, I was fortunate to be at a corner, where I could sit sideways. There was just not enough room go get my knees under the table.
They ordered a large pitcher of was seemd exactly like Orange Julieus - delicious for a pre-dinenr treat. For the hotpot food, we received mushrooms, steak slices, shrimp paste (ground up shrimp shaped into small balls), tofu cubes, and some hand made noodles. One by one the went into the pot. The hot pots were actually divided into 2 sections. One had a very spicey red broth, and the other a cream colored broth that was much more suitable for me. Over the next two and a half hours we enjoyed our meal and even did some shots of Chinese white rice drinks. They were actually quite good, a bit strong, but w/o the strong alcohol aftertaste.
At the end of dinner, we enjoyed some apple slices and I was dropped off at the hotel via taxi around 9:00pm and called it a night. Fast forward to tomorrow (Thurday) morning and I can report that my system is fine and I have conquered the restarant (however, not the oyster, which we skipped).
Over the couse of this visit, I am beginning to notice something very rewarding. I am now slowly becoming albe to pick out key words in their conversations and generally get the jist of what is being said. It is really hard to describe, one minute, their conversations were seeming like an incohent sequence of noises, and the next, key words were just popping into my head and making the conversation somewhat understandable. I hope that ability continues to grow and that I don't lose it once I return home. It is just like those moments in the movie "Awakenings" where the patients were becoming aware. Good night all!
Anyway, for lunch, we chose sweet & sour shrimp w/ cantalope as a main dish. This was absolutely fantastic. It was similar to S&S shrimp back home with the same sweet sauce - but in that same sauce was cantalope - it really worked well together. Best of all, the shrimp was actually peeled - finally. Additionally we had tasty servings of fried beef (think of soft fried beef jerky), mini asparagus, tufo wrapped mushroom, and chinese dumpling? All absolutely terrific.
After work the campus manager and others took me to an old nemesis. A Spicey hot-pot restaurant on the east side of town. I hadn't been there since my first Dalian visit (maybe the second one). Anyway, that is the place where I stupidly ate the oysters raw, instead of putting them in the hotpot to cook. Mike and I paid the price the next morning with one of the very sickest days of my life. It was 12 hours of the most wretched sickness imaginable. Think of wringing out a wet towel to the point that it turns to tiny dried pieces and that will approach just how hard my system squeesed out any drop of moisture in my boday that fatefull day. I dont think I felt 100% for a week after that. Anyway, we were lead to our private dinign room upstairs and seaated at a table. My old foe drew first blood - almost literally. Under the table was a small shelf about 3 " lower than the table that I nearly shattered both kneecaops on. Indeed, this would be a difficult fight for sure. Now knowing I would not be putting my legs under the table, I was fortunate to be at a corner, where I could sit sideways. There was just not enough room go get my knees under the table.
They ordered a large pitcher of was seemd exactly like Orange Julieus - delicious for a pre-dinenr treat. For the hotpot food, we received mushrooms, steak slices, shrimp paste (ground up shrimp shaped into small balls), tofu cubes, and some hand made noodles. One by one the went into the pot. The hot pots were actually divided into 2 sections. One had a very spicey red broth, and the other a cream colored broth that was much more suitable for me. Over the next two and a half hours we enjoyed our meal and even did some shots of Chinese white rice drinks. They were actually quite good, a bit strong, but w/o the strong alcohol aftertaste.
At the end of dinner, we enjoyed some apple slices and I was dropped off at the hotel via taxi around 9:00pm and called it a night. Fast forward to tomorrow (Thurday) morning and I can report that my system is fine and I have conquered the restarant (however, not the oyster, which we skipped).
Over the couse of this visit, I am beginning to notice something very rewarding. I am now slowly becoming albe to pick out key words in their conversations and generally get the jist of what is being said. It is really hard to describe, one minute, their conversations were seeming like an incohent sequence of noises, and the next, key words were just popping into my head and making the conversation somewhat understandable. I hope that ability continues to grow and that I don't lose it once I return home. It is just like those moments in the movie "Awakenings" where the patients were becoming aware. Good night all!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Tuesday, December 7 - To the Bars and the Gutter!
At lunch, Grace and a few members of the team took me out to lunch. Guess where we went - To the Sunshine Hotel restaurant (1 block east of SenMao building). Ok, I am now going to remember to ask to go somewhere else. Anyway, we did try some new dishes there - In addition to my fried mushroom plate, we (i.e. they) ordered large pigs feet, an absolutely fantastic eggplant dish, vegetables, tofu soup, and some "steak rice" shaped and colored exactly like small (1.5" diameter) pumpkins. I don't have to tell you that I have a strong stomach for trying things, but I am really beginning to want to avoid pigs feet, and pig knuckles - I think I was approaching a gag eating the large slimey cartilidge bites of that pigs foot. On the more tame side, I also tried a dish that I thought was jellyfish, but actually turned out to be the webbings from ducks feet. They had the consistency of cartilidge, were clear, and a crunch you would expect.
After work, Winson, and some other friends, took me to a Hong Kong style restaurant a couple of blocks to the north of work. I had actually never been there before and only had Hong Kong style a few times in my past trips. The restaurant was nearly empty, and we proceeded upstairs to our small private dining area. The menu was very colorful, and I chose a couple of the dishes myself: A Fried fish (tasted exactly like a baked whitefish back home), some lightly fried spicy shhrimp, and the restaurants speacilty dish - bullfrog! The frog was served in pieces in a bowl mixed with many different vegetables. The meat pieces resembed small pieces of pork that you would see if you ordered Chinese take out back home. The taste was nothing special, except it had a multitude of small bones to contend with. Some of the other dishes were fried chicken bits w/ vegetables, and a desert type cup of somethign resembling pudding that the Dalian folks didn't like.
After dinner, we headed over to the underground shopping area to the north of my hotel that I have been to many times. This time, however, we headed to the back area and down a couple of levels to a bowling alley. The facility had 28 lanes and I believe the cost was around $1.25 per person, per game. Having been to about 1 bowling alley in the last 15 years, I can say it is probably just like one back home, except for 2 big differences, they had no bowling shoes even close to my size, and the bowling balls had very small finger holes! For me, this was all a good thing as I had plenty of built-in excuses for not bowling well. In fact, I have been regularily beaten at Wii bowling by my children since the kids were 4). So, for shoes, they simply gave me a pair of socks to wear and I did my best. The results were about what you would expect: I put up a solid 98 the first game (after predicting a score of 100), but turned things around in game two with possibly my highest score ever - a 144 - complete with 2 strikes. So, from now on, if I ever would be teased regarding my poor bowling (do people even get teased for that anymore?), I can ask how many strikes they have had in China - cause I think I have the most of anyone that I know. After 3 games, we had had enough, and decided to head over to a bar for a couple of drinks.
We walked about 8 blocks to the east, past the table tennis store that I visited over the weekend, through the financial district, and over to another wealthy part of town where a pub-style bar, adorned with "Coors Light" signage, awaited us. Inside the smokey bar, Winson ordered the 2 of us 8 beers, some watermellon, popcorn, and peanuts (at a cost of 200RMB - quite expensive - about $30 US). The funny thing is, they brought all eight beers out at once and opened 4 of them. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except that they were not in ice. By 9:15 the live music started. The band consisted of 2 keyboard players, and 2 guitar players, and a rotating group of singers - I think around 4 of them. They played a mix of American and Chinese songs that were quite enjoyable to listen to. I did notice at least 4 other westerners in the bar, but it was largely occupied with wealthier Chinese. Even at a bar, I could easily notice just how many workers are at a given business in China. I think the ratio of bartenders to people was about 1:3. Our table seemed to have 1 full-time person assigned to us and he would have help occasionally opening bottles, and clearing off the table debris. The time flew by, and before I knew it, it was after midnight (10:00am Central US time), and the music was done for the night. Winson dropped my off via taxi at the hotel and I showered off the stink, and went to bed.
After work, Winson, and some other friends, took me to a Hong Kong style restaurant a couple of blocks to the north of work. I had actually never been there before and only had Hong Kong style a few times in my past trips. The restaurant was nearly empty, and we proceeded upstairs to our small private dining area. The menu was very colorful, and I chose a couple of the dishes myself: A Fried fish (tasted exactly like a baked whitefish back home), some lightly fried spicy shhrimp, and the restaurants speacilty dish - bullfrog! The frog was served in pieces in a bowl mixed with many different vegetables. The meat pieces resembed small pieces of pork that you would see if you ordered Chinese take out back home. The taste was nothing special, except it had a multitude of small bones to contend with. Some of the other dishes were fried chicken bits w/ vegetables, and a desert type cup of somethign resembling pudding that the Dalian folks didn't like.
After dinner, we headed over to the underground shopping area to the north of my hotel that I have been to many times. This time, however, we headed to the back area and down a couple of levels to a bowling alley. The facility had 28 lanes and I believe the cost was around $1.25 per person, per game. Having been to about 1 bowling alley in the last 15 years, I can say it is probably just like one back home, except for 2 big differences, they had no bowling shoes even close to my size, and the bowling balls had very small finger holes! For me, this was all a good thing as I had plenty of built-in excuses for not bowling well. In fact, I have been regularily beaten at Wii bowling by my children since the kids were 4). So, for shoes, they simply gave me a pair of socks to wear and I did my best. The results were about what you would expect: I put up a solid 98 the first game (after predicting a score of 100), but turned things around in game two with possibly my highest score ever - a 144 - complete with 2 strikes. So, from now on, if I ever would be teased regarding my poor bowling (do people even get teased for that anymore?), I can ask how many strikes they have had in China - cause I think I have the most of anyone that I know. After 3 games, we had had enough, and decided to head over to a bar for a couple of drinks.
We walked about 8 blocks to the east, past the table tennis store that I visited over the weekend, through the financial district, and over to another wealthy part of town where a pub-style bar, adorned with "Coors Light" signage, awaited us. Inside the smokey bar, Winson ordered the 2 of us 8 beers, some watermellon, popcorn, and peanuts (at a cost of 200RMB - quite expensive - about $30 US). The funny thing is, they brought all eight beers out at once and opened 4 of them. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except that they were not in ice. By 9:15 the live music started. The band consisted of 2 keyboard players, and 2 guitar players, and a rotating group of singers - I think around 4 of them. They played a mix of American and Chinese songs that were quite enjoyable to listen to. I did notice at least 4 other westerners in the bar, but it was largely occupied with wealthier Chinese. Even at a bar, I could easily notice just how many workers are at a given business in China. I think the ratio of bartenders to people was about 1:3. Our table seemed to have 1 full-time person assigned to us and he would have help occasionally opening bottles, and clearing off the table debris. The time flew by, and before I knew it, it was after midnight (10:00am Central US time), and the music was done for the night. Winson dropped my off via taxi at the hotel and I showered off the stink, and went to bed.
Monday, December 6
Monday featured a standard morning breakfast in the hotel, followed by normal morning at work. It should be noted that today is quite cold and windy, maybe 20 degress or so.
At lunch, the campus manager took myself and two others out for lunch. We again returned to the restaurant one block away from the office (I believe the building is called the Sunshine Hotel). There, I picked out my fried mushroom plate that I enjoyed last week and let them choose the rest. We had a pork and vegetable dish, fried green bean dish, and a hot pepper and chicken plate - all were good.
After work, Winson and I went back to the hotel where he showed me an air traffic control program that he had started playing. We joked that it was funny that the two people that really enjoy flight simulator are located on opposite sides of the world. He also confided in me that people in the often sometimes make jokes at him for playing flight simulator - good thing I don't have that problem - oh wait, nevermind. :) At 6:00pm or so, we walked to the east, about 10 blocks or so, to a Shanghai style restaurant - which to me means, compared to Dalian food, a bit more taste and some dishes with sugar (like BBQ flavor, and sugar tasting deserts). Entering the restaurant, we proceeded up a flight of stairs to a small, plain, private dining room. There, Winson ordered us a number of dishes, promising some new tastes for me. First out was what looked like BBQ something - it turned out to be smoked fish, but in a sauce that resembled a sweet teriaki bbq - very tasty - In fact, now one of my favorites in Dalian - however, as most fish dishes are, it was loaded with bones and I was nervous with each bite. Next came out a new one - a simple looking baked chicken, only smaller - think the size of a pigeon and you would be spot on. In fact, it WAS pigeon. Tasted like chicken, but a bit more on the dark meat side of flavoring - but not too bad. We also had some cooked pork - kind of mashed into meatball sized pieces, mushrooms with vegetables, a fairly gross fish soup w/ seaweed, and for dessert, some very tasty chinese dumplings. We took a taxi back to the hotel, and I was back in my room by 8:45pm or so.
At lunch, the campus manager took myself and two others out for lunch. We again returned to the restaurant one block away from the office (I believe the building is called the Sunshine Hotel). There, I picked out my fried mushroom plate that I enjoyed last week and let them choose the rest. We had a pork and vegetable dish, fried green bean dish, and a hot pepper and chicken plate - all were good.
After work, Winson and I went back to the hotel where he showed me an air traffic control program that he had started playing. We joked that it was funny that the two people that really enjoy flight simulator are located on opposite sides of the world. He also confided in me that people in the often sometimes make jokes at him for playing flight simulator - good thing I don't have that problem - oh wait, nevermind. :) At 6:00pm or so, we walked to the east, about 10 blocks or so, to a Shanghai style restaurant - which to me means, compared to Dalian food, a bit more taste and some dishes with sugar (like BBQ flavor, and sugar tasting deserts). Entering the restaurant, we proceeded up a flight of stairs to a small, plain, private dining room. There, Winson ordered us a number of dishes, promising some new tastes for me. First out was what looked like BBQ something - it turned out to be smoked fish, but in a sauce that resembled a sweet teriaki bbq - very tasty - In fact, now one of my favorites in Dalian - however, as most fish dishes are, it was loaded with bones and I was nervous with each bite. Next came out a new one - a simple looking baked chicken, only smaller - think the size of a pigeon and you would be spot on. In fact, it WAS pigeon. Tasted like chicken, but a bit more on the dark meat side of flavoring - but not too bad. We also had some cooked pork - kind of mashed into meatball sized pieces, mushrooms with vegetables, a fairly gross fish soup w/ seaweed, and for dessert, some very tasty chinese dumplings. We took a taxi back to the hotel, and I was back in my room by 8:45pm or so.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, December 4 - Sunday, December 5
Saturday, December 4
After a pretty decent nights sleep, I awoke around 8:30am. I had breakfast, and did some emails in the morning. At 11:30am, one of my friends from the office, Carol, picked me up to do some shopping. We took a very lengthy walk to the North through the vast underground shopping areas, and down to the Dalian Train Station. I had actually never gone that far on my past walking excursions. It was very clear that we were out of the touristy part of the city (I use that lightly as I didn't notice any non-Chinese even by the hotel shopping). Any, we crossed a few busy streets and made it to a very large building complex a solid 2 city blocks long. Inside, on the first floor was a huge food market - seafood, candies, nuts, and fruits. We ventured up the various floors (probably 6 in total). On those floors were an abolsute maze of tiny 10'x10' shops and walkways about 10' wide (maximum). They were quite crowded, warm, and I actually was getting quite a few suprised looks from the locals as I may have been the first non-Chinese to ever venture into this shopping area. (I am not kidding).
I can't go into any detaiil as to what I was shopping fo, as it would ruin suprises, but I was very suprised when almost no haggling was done - repeatedly they named a price (always very reasonable I thought) and stuck to it. Out of principal in China, you are always supposed to haggle on the price as they would take you as a sucker and think less of you if you didn't. This is even true on items that cost 5RMD (about $0.75). I did actually sport some really nice jet airplane displays, but they were still pretty expensive (around 300 RMB), so I passed on them.
It was now almost 2:00pm and I was getting worn ouf from the 3 hours of crowded walking, and confinement. Additionally, I was getting very hungry. We navigated our way all the way back ot hte Parkland Mall (just East of the Swishholel) and went to the food court on the fifth floor. Carol wanted the baked fish in a bowl meal (this one had some hot peppers and other vegetables in the broth). I also ordered the fried green beans, and a plate of spicey lightly-fried shrimp. Lunch was ok, a bit spicey for me. I believe the total cost (including 3 bowls of rice and a Coke) was 110RMB (about $15). Not too bad considering the shrimp could have fed 4 and the fish bowl - at least 8.
We then backtracked a bit and headed SE to a local sporting goods store recommended by Winson for Table Tennis supplies. I was looking to get some cheap Chinese paddles (which are still better than the generic ones I got with my table last year). We soon found the store, and noticed right across the street was a professional table tennis store that I had to check out. It was pretty small (about 20x40), but had tons of clothes, table tennis shoes, and of course tons of paddles (not prebuilt). We then went across the street to the sporting goos store and went downstairs to the table tennis section. The store featured about 100 different types of "blades" (the wooden handle and paddle), and then a ton of different rubbers (that go on the blades). Unfortunately they would cost at least 200RMB for one paddle (about $32). Not too bad, but since I don't know exactly what type I wanted (various spin and speed values), I just bough a pre-built DHS chinese paddlle for 100RMB (about $16). Looking later at Amazon.com, they were $25 - so not too bad. Plus, now I have a paddle that I can try out at the office next week.
We headed back towards the hotel and took a walk through the high-end international grocery store under the hotel and then called it a day. I thanked Carol for here time on a Saturday and headed up to my room. It was now 5:00pm. I took it easy for the night and ordered room service at 8:00pm. I went with the Russian beef Borsch soup, a BLT w/ french fries, and a glass of milk. Nothing special, except the milk tasted a bit nasty and they do not provide any where near enough ketchup for the fries.
Sunday, December 5
I again awoke around 8:30am after a restful night's sleep. I showered and had my standard breakfast in the Swishcafe. At 11:30am Winson came by the hotel as we had planned to do some mountain walking, however, the fog/pollution was too heavy today to see anything, so we simply went across the street and walked through "Labor Park" across the street for an hour or so. From there we took a taxi over near Olympic Park where we ate lunch at a small Hot Pot restaurant. This particular restaurant specialized in very thin slices of a river fish, whic was quite tasty. Additionally, we had shrimp, other fish, mushrooms, and two more unique pieces - stomach and congealed duck blood - oh yeah. The stomach wsa simply which spongy strips with very little taste and the consistancy of calamari. The duck blood was shaped into mini-meatloaf looking slices. They were a bit slimy, but nothing too crazy. Additionally, at this restaurant, you could choose various dipping sauces - with their specialty being ginger. I tried a number of them and they all closely resembled the sauces from Ginges Kahn's Mongolian BBQ in Wauwatosa. After nearly a 2 hour lunch, we took a taxi over to a sporting goods store, roughly the size of a Dunhams, to look for more table tennis paddles, but their selection was small. We then headed back to the hotel, and I showed Winson some more flight simulator things and called it a day (around 4:00pm).
The rest of the day I spent in my room, doing some reading and more flight simulator.
After a pretty decent nights sleep, I awoke around 8:30am. I had breakfast, and did some emails in the morning. At 11:30am, one of my friends from the office, Carol, picked me up to do some shopping. We took a very lengthy walk to the North through the vast underground shopping areas, and down to the Dalian Train Station. I had actually never gone that far on my past walking excursions. It was very clear that we were out of the touristy part of the city (I use that lightly as I didn't notice any non-Chinese even by the hotel shopping). Any, we crossed a few busy streets and made it to a very large building complex a solid 2 city blocks long. Inside, on the first floor was a huge food market - seafood, candies, nuts, and fruits. We ventured up the various floors (probably 6 in total). On those floors were an abolsute maze of tiny 10'x10' shops and walkways about 10' wide (maximum). They were quite crowded, warm, and I actually was getting quite a few suprised looks from the locals as I may have been the first non-Chinese to ever venture into this shopping area. (I am not kidding).
I can't go into any detaiil as to what I was shopping fo, as it would ruin suprises, but I was very suprised when almost no haggling was done - repeatedly they named a price (always very reasonable I thought) and stuck to it. Out of principal in China, you are always supposed to haggle on the price as they would take you as a sucker and think less of you if you didn't. This is even true on items that cost 5RMD (about $0.75). I did actually sport some really nice jet airplane displays, but they were still pretty expensive (around 300 RMB), so I passed on them.
It was now almost 2:00pm and I was getting worn ouf from the 3 hours of crowded walking, and confinement. Additionally, I was getting very hungry. We navigated our way all the way back ot hte Parkland Mall (just East of the Swishholel) and went to the food court on the fifth floor. Carol wanted the baked fish in a bowl meal (this one had some hot peppers and other vegetables in the broth). I also ordered the fried green beans, and a plate of spicey lightly-fried shrimp. Lunch was ok, a bit spicey for me. I believe the total cost (including 3 bowls of rice and a Coke) was 110RMB (about $15). Not too bad considering the shrimp could have fed 4 and the fish bowl - at least 8.
We then backtracked a bit and headed SE to a local sporting goods store recommended by Winson for Table Tennis supplies. I was looking to get some cheap Chinese paddles (which are still better than the generic ones I got with my table last year). We soon found the store, and noticed right across the street was a professional table tennis store that I had to check out. It was pretty small (about 20x40), but had tons of clothes, table tennis shoes, and of course tons of paddles (not prebuilt). We then went across the street to the sporting goos store and went downstairs to the table tennis section. The store featured about 100 different types of "blades" (the wooden handle and paddle), and then a ton of different rubbers (that go on the blades). Unfortunately they would cost at least 200RMB for one paddle (about $32). Not too bad, but since I don't know exactly what type I wanted (various spin and speed values), I just bough a pre-built DHS chinese paddlle for 100RMB (about $16). Looking later at Amazon.com, they were $25 - so not too bad. Plus, now I have a paddle that I can try out at the office next week.
We headed back towards the hotel and took a walk through the high-end international grocery store under the hotel and then called it a day. I thanked Carol for here time on a Saturday and headed up to my room. It was now 5:00pm. I took it easy for the night and ordered room service at 8:00pm. I went with the Russian beef Borsch soup, a BLT w/ french fries, and a glass of milk. Nothing special, except the milk tasted a bit nasty and they do not provide any where near enough ketchup for the fries.
Sunday, December 5
I again awoke around 8:30am after a restful night's sleep. I showered and had my standard breakfast in the Swishcafe. At 11:30am Winson came by the hotel as we had planned to do some mountain walking, however, the fog/pollution was too heavy today to see anything, so we simply went across the street and walked through "Labor Park" across the street for an hour or so. From there we took a taxi over near Olympic Park where we ate lunch at a small Hot Pot restaurant. This particular restaurant specialized in very thin slices of a river fish, whic was quite tasty. Additionally, we had shrimp, other fish, mushrooms, and two more unique pieces - stomach and congealed duck blood - oh yeah. The stomach wsa simply which spongy strips with very little taste and the consistancy of calamari. The duck blood was shaped into mini-meatloaf looking slices. They were a bit slimy, but nothing too crazy. Additionally, at this restaurant, you could choose various dipping sauces - with their specialty being ginger. I tried a number of them and they all closely resembled the sauces from Ginges Kahn's Mongolian BBQ in Wauwatosa. After nearly a 2 hour lunch, we took a taxi over to a sporting goods store, roughly the size of a Dunhams, to look for more table tennis paddles, but their selection was small. We then headed back to the hotel, and I showed Winson some more flight simulator things and called it a day (around 4:00pm).
The rest of the day I spent in my room, doing some reading and more flight simulator.
Friday, December 3
Note: Sorry for the long delay, I cannot access the blogsites outside of work. They are blocked.
Friday was an uneventful day at work other that Winson informing me that he hurt his back a bit last night during his badmitton. For lunch we went to the spicey restaurant just down the street that I had frequented on all of my other visits. There, we had boiled fish in a bowl of broth, green beans, and a great mushroom plate picked out by yours truely. The fish bowl is a staple here, as it seems every restaurant serves it. My only real complaint is the number of bones hidden in the fish - you have to be very careful when eating them. The mushroom plate looked exacly like a plate of calamari - complete with the light batter and onion. Very delicious - one of my favorite food items on all of my Dalian trip. I will be sure to return and snap a photo. Winson ended up taking the afternoon off as sick time so he could rest his back. finished up with work around 5pm and headed back to the hotel. Since Winson was still not up for dinner, he volenteered his girlfriend Anna to join me for dinner. I knew her from my previous Dalian trip in January and thought it would be fun, as well as a bit of a challenge, since she is not nearly as fluent at English as Winson.
Anna met me at the hotel at 6:00pm and we went outside to catch a taxi for the 1 mile ride to the restaurant (a Korean BBQ). Unfortunately, at 6:00pm on a Friday, taxis are hard to come by, not because there wasn't enough of them, just that none were interested in taking us only 1 mile away. I went back in the hotel and had an attendant flag us down a taxi - which actually worked. A short ride later had us at the Korean BBQ. I have actually never tried one, but have enjoyed Koren food a number of times before in my work travels. The restaurant was fairly fancy and crowded. The women workers had large elaborate dresses on and let us upstairs to our table (downstairs was full - maybe 100 tables). Once we sat down, we ordered our dinner. A selection of then steaks, 2 large prawns, and what looked like a whole smoked fish. Another lady came out and setup the BBQ in our table. It consisted of a small 1' diameter depression in the table filled with coals and covered by a metal grill. There she placed the steaks and cooked them for us. She cut them into bite sized pieces and served them ona piece of slightly bitter lettuce (I am sure there is a special name for the leaf, but I will just refer to it as the lettuce). You could also add some peppers and potato? to the wrap. Additionally, I would dip my steak pieces in a seasoning dish before wrapping them up in the lettuce. The meal was tasty, but very filling - it seems she was cooking pieces of steak continusly for 30 minutes. Finally, she cooked up the whole prawns. Those were definately my favorite, as the tasted exactly like lobster. The fish was also good, was a consistency slightly drier than sardinees, and nothing special to report on the flavor. After paying, I was taken to a spinning wheel in the restaurant lobby where I was told to spin for a prize. As the gasps from the audience got my attention, Anna informed me that I just won the grand prize. The spinner ended up dead center on a tinly wedge of the circle - that also told me I did something good. The prize was a certificate for "LA beef" - the most expensive meat plate available there. I believe that it was about $30 or so.
Leaving the restaurant Anna told me that Winson would be treating us to a couple of drinks at a bar with live music. As it turned out, this was the same bar I had gone to on my first trip to Dalian. I did not catch the name of it, but did note that it was only about 3 blocks east of the Swishhotel. Entering the building we were lead downstairs to the bar area. The room was quite large, with table seating for about 200 or so and a large central bar that formed a rough circle. I am not much of an expert on decorations, but will describe it as having alot of dark woods and beams. In the corner was a small stage were the musicians soon arrived. 2 base players, 1 drummer, a pianist, 1 saxaphone playerr, and a lady singer. I actually recognized some of them from a couple of years ago. They sang mostly American songs with a jazz beat. Even played "All of Me" and threw in a jazzy rendition of "take me Home Country Roads" if you can believe that.. I had a small Captain and Coke's, while Anna had a Gin and Tonic and a Beer. By 10 pm, we called it a night and Anna had the taxi drop me off at the hotel.
Friday was an uneventful day at work other that Winson informing me that he hurt his back a bit last night during his badmitton. For lunch we went to the spicey restaurant just down the street that I had frequented on all of my other visits. There, we had boiled fish in a bowl of broth, green beans, and a great mushroom plate picked out by yours truely. The fish bowl is a staple here, as it seems every restaurant serves it. My only real complaint is the number of bones hidden in the fish - you have to be very careful when eating them. The mushroom plate looked exacly like a plate of calamari - complete with the light batter and onion. Very delicious - one of my favorite food items on all of my Dalian trip. I will be sure to return and snap a photo. Winson ended up taking the afternoon off as sick time so he could rest his back. finished up with work around 5pm and headed back to the hotel. Since Winson was still not up for dinner, he volenteered his girlfriend Anna to join me for dinner. I knew her from my previous Dalian trip in January and thought it would be fun, as well as a bit of a challenge, since she is not nearly as fluent at English as Winson.
Anna met me at the hotel at 6:00pm and we went outside to catch a taxi for the 1 mile ride to the restaurant (a Korean BBQ). Unfortunately, at 6:00pm on a Friday, taxis are hard to come by, not because there wasn't enough of them, just that none were interested in taking us only 1 mile away. I went back in the hotel and had an attendant flag us down a taxi - which actually worked. A short ride later had us at the Korean BBQ. I have actually never tried one, but have enjoyed Koren food a number of times before in my work travels. The restaurant was fairly fancy and crowded. The women workers had large elaborate dresses on and let us upstairs to our table (downstairs was full - maybe 100 tables). Once we sat down, we ordered our dinner. A selection of then steaks, 2 large prawns, and what looked like a whole smoked fish. Another lady came out and setup the BBQ in our table. It consisted of a small 1' diameter depression in the table filled with coals and covered by a metal grill. There she placed the steaks and cooked them for us. She cut them into bite sized pieces and served them ona piece of slightly bitter lettuce (I am sure there is a special name for the leaf, but I will just refer to it as the lettuce). You could also add some peppers and potato? to the wrap. Additionally, I would dip my steak pieces in a seasoning dish before wrapping them up in the lettuce. The meal was tasty, but very filling - it seems she was cooking pieces of steak continusly for 30 minutes. Finally, she cooked up the whole prawns. Those were definately my favorite, as the tasted exactly like lobster. The fish was also good, was a consistency slightly drier than sardinees, and nothing special to report on the flavor. After paying, I was taken to a spinning wheel in the restaurant lobby where I was told to spin for a prize. As the gasps from the audience got my attention, Anna informed me that I just won the grand prize. The spinner ended up dead center on a tinly wedge of the circle - that also told me I did something good. The prize was a certificate for "LA beef" - the most expensive meat plate available there. I believe that it was about $30 or so.
Leaving the restaurant Anna told me that Winson would be treating us to a couple of drinks at a bar with live music. As it turned out, this was the same bar I had gone to on my first trip to Dalian. I did not catch the name of it, but did note that it was only about 3 blocks east of the Swishhotel. Entering the building we were lead downstairs to the bar area. The room was quite large, with table seating for about 200 or so and a large central bar that formed a rough circle. I am not much of an expert on decorations, but will describe it as having alot of dark woods and beams. In the corner was a small stage were the musicians soon arrived. 2 base players, 1 drummer, a pianist, 1 saxaphone playerr, and a lady singer. I actually recognized some of them from a couple of years ago. They sang mostly American songs with a jazz beat. Even played "All of Me" and threw in a jazzy rendition of "take me Home Country Roads" if you can believe that.. I had a small Captain and Coke's, while Anna had a Gin and Tonic and a Beer. By 10 pm, we called it a night and Anna had the taxi drop me off at the hotel.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The trip over and day one in Dalian
I left home at 6:00am on the Morning of Tuesday, November 30 for trip number four to China. The night before, I had picked up my rental car, this time a Toyota Camry. The drive was uneventful and I was checked in at the airport by 8:30am. At 10:00am, I boarded the American Airlines 777 and grabbed my business class seat - 10G. I was a little surprised that I ended up with a center isle seat - normally, I get a window seat. This proved to not be a huge deal as I could still see out the side windows somewhat, and the shades are all typically closed for most of the flight anyway. With the isle seat, I could get up and walk around whenever I wished. I, of course, pulled up the GPS display on my screen and noted only 7500 miles and 14 hours for the flight to Shanghai.
By 11:40am we were just north of lake Superior and headed on the route known as "Polar One". This would take us due north near the north pole then down to Shanghai. All but one of my flights there have taken this route - I assume due to the West-East jet stream. I received a bowl of warm nuts, a hot towel, and a sprite. At 12:15pm, nearing Hudson Bay Canada, lunch was served. I had the spicy shrimp w/ beef roulade, a salad, and stir-fried ginger beef. For the record, my other choices for main dish were: stuffed salmon, pork tenderloin, or garden lasagna. Lunch was tasty and I passed on dessert - I have found that stuffing myself on the plane and then sitting for 14 hours isn't a good combination. by 1:30pm we were exiting the north end of Hudson Bay and I took a Lunesta (prescription sleeping pill) to get some sleep.
As you may recall, I don't sleep well on a plane and for this trip decided to bring some sleeping pills along. I did a test run of the Lunesta about a week earlier and hoped it would do the trick. When I took it then, I found that w/in 30 minutes, it felt like a 1000lb sack of sleep over my head. So, I did indeed fall asleep fairly quickly on the plane, woke up occasionally, and officially woke up around 8:00pm (10:00am China time). I now had 9.5 hours of the flight behind me and only 4.5 hours to go. At that point, the plane was over Siberia and I walked up to the galley and grabbed a diet Pepsi. For the rest of the flight, I watched a couple of episodes of 30 Rock, and listened to my mp3 player.
We landed on time in Shanghai at 2:40pm local time (12:40am Central US time) and soon deplaned. There it was a surprising 63 degrees. I went through immigration, grabbed my luggage, and headed over to terminal 1 to catch my connecting flight to Dalian. Unfortunately for me, that flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 9:30pm - uggh. Once at terminal 1, I spotted an earlier China Eastern flight leaving for Dalian at 4:30pm - so I found a ticket counter and managed to describe what I wanted well enough that I got my ticket changed. I actually would have not had enough time, but the the 4:30 flight to Dalian was delayed until 6:00pm as the inbound plane was late.
As I sat at gate 12 in the Shanghai airport, I saw the workers post a sign. On examination I was happy to see an English section, but was not too happy on what it said. The flight would be further delayed due to weather. With the warm temperatures, the entire region was socked in with fog. I knew the delay was going to be long as they served us our airplane dinner and drink at the gate. It was rice, dumplings, some sort of fish patty, and corn. Actually pretty tasty. There I continued to wait and watch occasionally angry passengers complain at the desk. Finally, they moved us to Gate 15 - where the waiting continued. It was quite an uncomfortable wait sitting on the airport chairs that long after sitting on a plane for the last 14 hours - so I would occasionally lay down across 3 chairs with my head on my backpack. I actually slept a bit on and off until they finally made the announcement that we would board the plane around 9:30pm. Unfortunately, after waiting another 15 minutes, they again announced a flight delay due to weather. More and more angry passengers began to gather around the agent counter until I would guess the crowd reached 50 or so. People even had there video cameras out recording it. At 11:15pm the sign suddenly changed to "Now Boarding". We got on the plane and took off around 11:40pm. Better late than never.
I actually had to wonder if I had kept my 9:30pm flight, if that would have already left. In any case, on the plane I managed to move to an unoccupied row where I could spread out somewhat. The seats were actually much closer together than typical coach seats in the US. In fact, I noted that from the front of the seat to the back of the one in front of it was only the length of my hand (~8"). At 1:00am we landed in fog in Dalian and my hotel driver was there ready for me to go. The 20 minute ride to the hotel was quiet and not surprising very little traffic. I was again staying at the "Swissotel - Dalian" - however this time, the hotel is known as "Swish Hotel - Dalian". Funny thing is, I had noticed a couple of years ago that on the Swissotel website, they never listed a Dalian branch. So, I imagine they were just "using" the name to give it credibility and in our ever shrinking world, The real Swissotel chain found out and put an end to that.
I awoke on Thursday morning (remember China is a day ahead) at 8:30am after a reasonably good first night of sleep. I headed down to the hotel restaurant and had my normal breakfast: melons, yogurt, and the gauntlet of juices: Grape, Pineapple, Tomato, Orange, and Apple. The restaurant changed a little bit since my last visit - they added an aquarium which overlooked the sushimi. Additionally, I didn't see the serving stands that typically housed pancakes, waffles etc. American Christmas music filled the background.
I then walked over to work (about 6 blocks) enjoying the surprising warmth (about 50 degrees). I got settled in my office, then went with Winson over to the nearby Japanese restaurant for a quick lunch. I had the whole fish, with egg/shrimp soup, sushimi, and another type of soup. I then worked in the office until 4:00pm when I decided to head back and rest up a bit.
I ended up being so tired that my nap from 5:00pm to 6:00pm turned into full sleep until 11:00pm where I then decided to just try and sleep through the night. At 3:00am I awoke feeling that I had made a big mistake falling asleep so early the night before. I struggled to sleep all the way to 6:00am Friday when I finally got up and took a picture of the skyline right before the sun came up (will be posted eventually). Side note: I actually forgot to bring my camera - so I will be taking photos from my phone. However, I cannot unload them until I return from China - sorry about that.
So, I then spent the next hour writing this entry. I will now actually try and exercise a bit and get some breakfast and head into the office...
By 11:40am we were just north of lake Superior and headed on the route known as "Polar One". This would take us due north near the north pole then down to Shanghai. All but one of my flights there have taken this route - I assume due to the West-East jet stream. I received a bowl of warm nuts, a hot towel, and a sprite. At 12:15pm, nearing Hudson Bay Canada, lunch was served. I had the spicy shrimp w/ beef roulade, a salad, and stir-fried ginger beef. For the record, my other choices for main dish were: stuffed salmon, pork tenderloin, or garden lasagna. Lunch was tasty and I passed on dessert - I have found that stuffing myself on the plane and then sitting for 14 hours isn't a good combination. by 1:30pm we were exiting the north end of Hudson Bay and I took a Lunesta (prescription sleeping pill) to get some sleep.
As you may recall, I don't sleep well on a plane and for this trip decided to bring some sleeping pills along. I did a test run of the Lunesta about a week earlier and hoped it would do the trick. When I took it then, I found that w/in 30 minutes, it felt like a 1000lb sack of sleep over my head. So, I did indeed fall asleep fairly quickly on the plane, woke up occasionally, and officially woke up around 8:00pm (10:00am China time). I now had 9.5 hours of the flight behind me and only 4.5 hours to go. At that point, the plane was over Siberia and I walked up to the galley and grabbed a diet Pepsi. For the rest of the flight, I watched a couple of episodes of 30 Rock, and listened to my mp3 player.
We landed on time in Shanghai at 2:40pm local time (12:40am Central US time) and soon deplaned. There it was a surprising 63 degrees. I went through immigration, grabbed my luggage, and headed over to terminal 1 to catch my connecting flight to Dalian. Unfortunately for me, that flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 9:30pm - uggh. Once at terminal 1, I spotted an earlier China Eastern flight leaving for Dalian at 4:30pm - so I found a ticket counter and managed to describe what I wanted well enough that I got my ticket changed. I actually would have not had enough time, but the the 4:30 flight to Dalian was delayed until 6:00pm as the inbound plane was late.
As I sat at gate 12 in the Shanghai airport, I saw the workers post a sign. On examination I was happy to see an English section, but was not too happy on what it said. The flight would be further delayed due to weather. With the warm temperatures, the entire region was socked in with fog. I knew the delay was going to be long as they served us our airplane dinner and drink at the gate. It was rice, dumplings, some sort of fish patty, and corn. Actually pretty tasty. There I continued to wait and watch occasionally angry passengers complain at the desk. Finally, they moved us to Gate 15 - where the waiting continued. It was quite an uncomfortable wait sitting on the airport chairs that long after sitting on a plane for the last 14 hours - so I would occasionally lay down across 3 chairs with my head on my backpack. I actually slept a bit on and off until they finally made the announcement that we would board the plane around 9:30pm. Unfortunately, after waiting another 15 minutes, they again announced a flight delay due to weather. More and more angry passengers began to gather around the agent counter until I would guess the crowd reached 50 or so. People even had there video cameras out recording it. At 11:15pm the sign suddenly changed to "Now Boarding". We got on the plane and took off around 11:40pm. Better late than never.
I actually had to wonder if I had kept my 9:30pm flight, if that would have already left. In any case, on the plane I managed to move to an unoccupied row where I could spread out somewhat. The seats were actually much closer together than typical coach seats in the US. In fact, I noted that from the front of the seat to the back of the one in front of it was only the length of my hand (~8"). At 1:00am we landed in fog in Dalian and my hotel driver was there ready for me to go. The 20 minute ride to the hotel was quiet and not surprising very little traffic. I was again staying at the "Swissotel - Dalian" - however this time, the hotel is known as "Swish Hotel - Dalian". Funny thing is, I had noticed a couple of years ago that on the Swissotel website, they never listed a Dalian branch. So, I imagine they were just "using" the name to give it credibility and in our ever shrinking world, The real Swissotel chain found out and put an end to that.
I awoke on Thursday morning (remember China is a day ahead) at 8:30am after a reasonably good first night of sleep. I headed down to the hotel restaurant and had my normal breakfast: melons, yogurt, and the gauntlet of juices: Grape, Pineapple, Tomato, Orange, and Apple. The restaurant changed a little bit since my last visit - they added an aquarium which overlooked the sushimi. Additionally, I didn't see the serving stands that typically housed pancakes, waffles etc. American Christmas music filled the background.
I then walked over to work (about 6 blocks) enjoying the surprising warmth (about 50 degrees). I got settled in my office, then went with Winson over to the nearby Japanese restaurant for a quick lunch. I had the whole fish, with egg/shrimp soup, sushimi, and another type of soup. I then worked in the office until 4:00pm when I decided to head back and rest up a bit.
I ended up being so tired that my nap from 5:00pm to 6:00pm turned into full sleep until 11:00pm where I then decided to just try and sleep through the night. At 3:00am I awoke feeling that I had made a big mistake falling asleep so early the night before. I struggled to sleep all the way to 6:00am Friday when I finally got up and took a picture of the skyline right before the sun came up (will be posted eventually). Side note: I actually forgot to bring my camera - so I will be taking photos from my phone. However, I cannot unload them until I return from China - sorry about that.
So, I then spent the next hour writing this entry. I will now actually try and exercise a bit and get some breakfast and head into the office...
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The rumors are TRUE - I am back in China!!
Well, I am now sitting in my office in China, fresh off of a travel marathon that started when I left home at 6:00am on Tuesday, November 30 and arrived in my hotel room this (Thursday) morning at 2:00am (That is Wednesday noon for you back in the States).
I am catching up on some work emails and will try and get a real post this evening, but wanted to let you all know that I am here, safe and sound, justa bit sleepy, however.
Dave
I am catching up on some work emails and will try and get a real post this evening, but wanted to let you all know that I am here, safe and sound, justa bit sleepy, however.
Dave
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