Some China trip recaps...

I've been back almost two weeks, right into the thick of it at work. So I'll briefly post a few pictures. The rest of the trip was uneventful, fortunate given all that's going on in China with Tibet, the Olympics, etc. One constant is the good food at least.

 

My favorite side dish - huang gua. Cucumbers in a black vinegar and garlic sauce. Ask for these the next time you go to a chinese place, even if they're not on the menu.

 

The CCTV building nearing completion. I'd be very surprised if it's not finished in time for the Olympics.

 

Szechuan bean curd with spicy sauce. Looks gross, tastes better.

 

The gate in Dubai. The walkway on the right is for the current generation of planes. The higher one on the left is for the Airbus 380. They're way ahead of the curve over there.

 

Air traffic control in Dubai.

 

Dubai from the sky. A lot of desert.

 

A champagne cocktail and mezze, right after takeoff.

 

 

Some neat shots from the plane - pardon the blue cast.

 

As close as I'll ever need to get to this city....

Another great meal in Lang Fang

Our secondary factory - one whom I hope will become our primary someday - took us again to a fantastic restaurant in Lang Fang. Many of the dishes from our last trip were ordered again, they're just that good. But to make you jealous...

 

A spicy fish soup that has a kind of Thai influence.

 

"Chinese pizza" - you can often find scallion pancakes in American chinese restaurants. This is the same dough but with pork inside. Very tasty.

 

Most chinese restaurants have a lazy-susan center so you can spin around the dish you want. This restaurant has one that's motorized, so you tend to horde what you want so you don't have to wait for another full rotation. Not a good way for keeping intake in check.

 

We've got two free days left before we go, though there's still a lot to be done. We just won't go back to a factory again. When I leave China, this is the restaurant and the people I'll miss most. But I'll carry a few extra pounds to remember everything by.

Things I've tried on the trip so far.

Deer tendon - gross.

Chicken feet - not too bad actually, but not meaty enough.

The "true" version of Kung Pao chicken continues to amaze me in how good it is over here.

I'm in the Qingdao area for a quick trip to a new factory - home of the original Tsingtao beer, and Haier Appliances. There's actually quite a German influence here, evidenced in the architecture. I was here on my first trip to China in 2000, as this is where our manager lives, but spent the whole weekend laid up in the hotel sick. Not a problem this time around, however it's cold and rainy while we're here, so any pictures I look to get won't be very impressive.

It's also a huge seafood city, being right on the coast of the Pacific. This is where I had sea cucumber for the first time.

And last.

Airplane food done right

I see no reason to ever fly United Airlines to Beijing again, even with the addition of at least 12 hours total transit time, especially with Emirates (currently) at half the price.

Indian-spiced mini sandwiches with cucumber slices and a little chili sliver. Total nummers....

What amazes me about the food on Emirates is that not only can you get it whenever you want throughout either the 14 or 9 hour flight, but when it's served it does not taste or feel like it just came out of a rubberizing microwave. I don't know how they do it, but the food never tastes like it was made in an airplane.

Back to Lang Fang today....

Hello, Dubai...

Another 24-hour trip to China, through Dubai again. TSA confiscated my hand lotion, because it was not in a "commercial container", or at least one that had writing on it. So I went on a mission in the duty-free area to find something to help my addiction. Found some, but thought this would have made a better purchase:

A $400 bottle of Johnnie Walker.

Maybe next trip....

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.