I'm home again, naturally...

After a four-hour delay, we finally boarded the Boeing 777-300ER with the tasty individual cabin and free comfy pajamas (of which I now have three pairs and look forward to acquiring as many more as possible on future flights, because they are so damn lounge-y). Turns out that our airplane wasn't delayed coming in; it had been in Dubai for a few hours. But many other flights coming into Dubai, carrying passengers who were connecting on our flight, were delayed because of the heavy fog. As the purser was telling me, there's no way they would have had our flight leave on time because there would have been only about 50 passengers on board - a waste of time, fuel, and space. So they delayed the flight until most if not all of the connecting passengers arrived in Dubai and were able to make the transfer. As a delayed passenger, I wasn't thrilled with this, but I'm a pretty easy going guy, especially when stuck in a first class lounge where I get to chat with other international travelers (those sitting next to me were from Nigeria, Austria, Egypt, and the UK)... and drink wine for free. But if I was one of those connecting passengers, I'd have thought Emirates was the best airline on the planet. United would have dumped my ass anywhere, uncaring in its attempts - if any - to get me on a connecting flight. Witness a flight back from  San Francisco where I was bumped from the business class seat I paid for back to coach because the aircraft was switched and didn't have enough seats in the new configuration to accommodate everybody. Getting bumped wasn't so much the issue - it was that United felt no obligation to reimburse me the difference between what I paid for business and what a coach fare was worth. (I'm still fighting this one.)

Anyway, onto more pics to make fellow travelers jealous....

 

My father and I are big tea drinkers during the work day. This was available in the Dubai lounge, and I thought, "hey cool, an Arabic tea for me to try!"

Look familiar?

 

A shot into business class. Not the full enclosed cabin of first, but what I think are almost-if-not-fully reclining seats, with the same control panel and almost-as-large LCD screen of first. When and if I take my wife and son over to China, we may have to go this way for financial purposes of paying my own way, and it will still rock.

 

The gray wrap in the back is like a little mattress pad to put on the seat when you recline to a flat sleeping surface. Non-slip backing and all. It does actually add a little layer of  comfort. Then you have the choice of a regular cotton blanket or a light down-type insulated one. Decisions, decisions...

 

I know I took a shot of this before on the way over, of some lotions for the flight, but it wasn't until this trip that I realised the "sleep" and "focus" snuff boxes. They were really little aroma-therapy containers with little beady things inside giving off the smells. Don't really think they worked, but hey - they were free, so I took them.

 

A shot of the phone/remote and the screen. And an empty champagne glass. Mixed with some really incredible Dubai-based orange juice, the homemade mimosas were a pleasant start to the flight.

 

Some nice perfume & cologne to freshen up, found in the bathroom.

 

Even though we got toothpaste and razors in the leather travel kit, they always kept them in stock.

 

A shaving/makeup mirror in the bathroom. I try to shave as little as possible, but I've been on dozens of international flights with uppity business folk who fly in their suits and shave right before landing, on their way to morning meetings in the city of their destinations. A sad life indeed. Believe me when I say I consider myself one incredibly fortunate guy who can go to work in ratty clothes and a 5-day old beard. With my dog.

 

Self portrait.

 

It's wasn't just the ***huge*** selection of movies, TV shows, and music to choose from, it was the fact that as soon as I got on the plane, I could start watching "Ratatouille".

 

See above. A perfect place setting and a fantastic appetizer. I know I'm missing out on a lot of cuisine with my disdain for all shellfish, most cooked vegetables, and mushrooms/tomatoes, but I do really appreciate that I've developed a love for most other kinds of international food. This was the mezze as described in the menu, and was a really great little dish. Seriously, who can pass up on tabouleh?

 

For dinner, the chicken with zaatar crust. Quite tasty, but the chickpea salad was what really did it for me. Admittedly, the curry on the flight over was more to my liking. But hell, if I had been awake longer, and hungrier, I would have devoured the gnocchi. Next flight, indeed...

 

A flight ahead of us takes off against part of the Dubai landscape.

 

It was a mild and foggy and morning...

 

We missed seeing the Burj al Arab hotel on both flights, but was able to catch just a faint glimpse of the Burj Dubai Tower off in the distance. You may need to click on the link for the bigger picture, and adjust your monitor. But this either will be or is already the tallest building in the world. When completed, it'll be twice as tall as the Empire State Building. Hopefully next time, it won't be as foggy, and I can shoot it from the plane - it will probably be higher than our altitude on landing...

 

It was a great way to end the trip and get us back to the US. The only problem was that we were deposited back into JFK, a place I loathe within a place I loathe. Fortunately, the ride home took only about 2 hours, covering maybe 60 miles. Funny, when people land in Newark and think that New Jersey is nothing but oil fields and factories, I'm more than happy to let them keep thinking that. But when they get all excited that they're coming to New York by way of JFK, I feel the need to tell them that they haven't really yet gotten to the rest of the mainland states, because the god-awful trip from the airport, across Brooklyn and Staten Island, to at least the NJ Turnpike, can take them another 3 hours just because some idiot trucker didn't understand that a parkway means no trucks allowed.

But if you have to suffer in JFK, Emirates is the way to go.

 

It's good to be home. And nice to know I'll be heading back in about 4 months....

Stuck in Dubai

Looks like our aircraft coming in was delayed. It was incredibly foggy when we landed, but that was in the middle of the night.

So I don't get how foggy in the morning could be any worse.

But, there are worse places to be stuck for two hours, what with all the free wine/champagne/booze, dates with almonds (I picked some up at duty free), and all the hummous and pita pockets filled with spiced lamb and yoghurt I can eat.

Which is a lot.

But many fingers are crossed that we get the same Boeing 777 aircraft we got on the way over with the awesome cabin. Otherwise, the next 14 hours are going to suck.

Winding down

We went back to the restaurant in Langfang yesterday - another great meal where I ate and drank too much, and got cajoled into singing "Let It Snow".

 

Shark fin soup - a delicacy that comes from these.

Not so good in my opinion. I prefer the rest of the fish.

Best. Flight. Ever.

Most times I've flown to China, it's been on United, flying from Newark to Chicago, then on to Beijing. The car service picks me up at 4am, and I'm at the hotel at what is roughly 2 or 3am the following morning, so it's about 24 hours door to door.

Because the main flight is so long - about 13 or 14 hours - we fortunately fly first class, either by paying for it outright or by upgrading if possible. Thanks to help from a travel agent, the fares have been much better than just going online and booking it, trade secrets and all.

But now, even with airline bankruptcies and the populace's general hatred of flying, the airlines are still charging outrageous prices for service. So, with a United ticket hovering around $22k, we decided to look elsewhere. Dubai, actually.

We decided on an Emirates flight that goes from JFK to Dubai, then on to Beijing. A much longer trip, but at half the price of a ticket on UAL. I hate the drive to JFK, which can take anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours, but we left around 6p so traffic was pretty good. The flight leaves at 11:30p, so I figured I'd spend most of my time asleep. That is, until I got seated.

This is the first class cabin on certain Emirates flights. Fortunately, mine was one of them. It's actually an individual cabin, with electronically-controlled sliding doors and all. No roof, but who would want one when you have this to look at?

Oh, and it's not just a nice little TV to watch pre-selected movies on...

Nope - a 22" LCD. Controlled by:

A wireless control panel that also controls your chair and cabin environment, and...

a phone-slash-remote stored in the arm rest. Also doubles as a controller for the video games available.

 

And what can one watch on this display? A rough estimate would be about 200 various movies and TV shows. Not just recent movies that you could likely catch on other flights (I caught much of "Transformers"), but also a whole library of classics, anywhere from "North by Northwest" to "Finding Nemo".

 

Thirsty? Push the button to raise the refrigerated drink selection.

 

Care for a small traditional snack? A delicious date and some imported Arabic coffee with saffron.

 

If you can find a valid reason to work, will there be enough space for your laptop? Probably.

 

Ready for some sleep? Just press the button and the doors close and lights turn off...

 

But not until you've chosen what you want for dinner. Only when the rest of the cabin is served? Not here - just give them 20 minutes to heat up your food, and dine whenever you want. Which is fine, because it will take you at least that long to figure out what you want anyway:

Start with some of the best champagne ever? Why not?

Maybe they'll have wine from one of my favorite vineyards...

Feel guilty about overfishing for caviar and force-feeding for foie gras (which I am)? Then just have a more traditional appetizer. Plus it'll just taste better than any other airline, and most restaurants.

Curry you say? How could I not?

I'm always hesitant to eat bread on airlines, because it's so often hard as a rock. These rolls tasted fresh out of the oven. Oh, and is that an actual metal knife I see tucked in the napkin?

 

Some dessert, if there's any room left (there wasn't).

 

Unfortunately, I did need to get some sleep, as there was still a lot of traveling ahead. After a few hours' rest, it was time to change out of the complimentary lounge-wear (which I kept) and freshen up:

 

Seat backs up and tray tables stowed. Welcome to the richest place in the world:

On the way to the lounge for a 6-hour layover, but not without some window shopping first. It was even busier on the way out at 2am.

A fine place to lounge indeed. But wait... what happens if I get hungry, again?

Just some appetizers here. To complement the multitude of dishes like:

Chicken jalfrezi, lamb rogan josh, blue cheese ravioli, and vegetarian spring rolls. Plus the best lemonade ever, with a great mint taste.

The second flight, from Dubai to Beijing, was about 8 hours, and was very well serviced and also had great food and entertainment selections, but was a more common business-class type of cabin. I slept through most of that flight. After some Thai-style spicy chicken before landing, of course.

 

I've been pretty good this trip in doing my best to not eat too much, but I have the feeling there will be no stopping me on the flight home.

 

Two words... In. Sane.

Factory lunch

We ate at our main factory yesterday, where they have a chef from a local restaurant come in to prepare the food. It's mostly seafood - lots of crabs and shrimp - but again the owner is nice enough to make sure to have a dish or two that is really more for me, like a beef or chicken. Not like I don't eat the fish or soup, or the veggies and peasant food, but the whole shellfish thing is totally lost on me. Just so happens that one of my all-time favorite dishes here is one of the chef's specialties:

Kun pao qi di. Had this first about two years ago, and couldn't stop eating it. I asked for its name so that maybe I could find a place at home that could make it, and after the fog of too much drink faded, I realised it was Kung Pao chicken. Only actually worth eating. It's spicy, the peanuts add a lot of flavor, and it's not the kind of syrupy sauce you get in the states. Over here, it's as clean a dish as you could ask for.

 

Fried peppers. I was eating them like potato chips.

 

Why waste energy storing cabbage in a refrigerator when it's 36 degrees outside and there's room in the parking lot?

 

A full table to start with, then as dishes get eaten they are moved to smaller plates to make room for more food. I would peg the cost in US dollars for the whole meal, excluding multiple bottles of beer and liquor, at maybe $50. For eight of us.

 

The one thing I missed this time is a chicken dish that's served cold, and it tastes like the meat has been salted. It's just a couple of breasts with the skin still on, but it's soooo flavorful. Hopefully next time - I'll put my request in early.

Happy birthday "cake"

Like many things, it's done a little differently in China...

 

At least it stopped moving by the end of the song.

More food porn from Lang Fang

We ate at the restaurant I described again on Wednesday. And we'll be back there on Friday. We ordered many of the same dishes because they're that good, like the grilled sardines, but had to try some new ones too.

Going back again today (Friday for me) as well. I may almost start getting tired of going there.

 

Didn't have these. Because they're not much fun.

 

Selecting fish.

 

Hot corn juice. Actually not too bad, kind of like a chowder only not as thick.

 

This was about halfway through lunch. Meaning, not all the dishes had even been brought out at this point.

 

Pickled garlic cloves and cabbage in a sauce. Yummy peasant food.

 

Ostrich! We chose it just to try, and it wasn't bad, but nothing worth noting really. Other than the fact that I ate ostrich.

 

Fish, or "yu". The thicker sauce added a nice flavor than the vinegar-based one we usually get at our factory.

 

Dumplings ("jiaoze") and spicy beef strips. The dumplings are a nice treat usually served at the end of the meal, but I'll admit to liking the good old Americanized version of pot stickers. The beef dish though is something I could eat all day.

 

 

A long noodle means good health. Match this, Rigatoni!