I got to the airport quite a bit early for my flight today from Beijing to Seoul, and didn’t yet have a boarding pass. I stopped at the ticket counter to check-in and the guy asked me where I was going. I answered “Beijing” and he looked at me like I had three heads! After a short pause I said “Sorry, that was yesterday. How about Seoul?” LOL I’m looking forward to staying in the same place for three whole nights!
Archive for the ‘Asia’ Category
Lunch in Wuhan
2010
07.18
07.18
After my long/late trip to get here, I didn’t roll out of bed till about 10:00 on Sunday morning. I pulled down photos of the trip, made a blog post, called my family, etc. By the time I left the room it was time for a late lunch. There’s a restaurant here at the hotel, but where’s the adventure in that?!?! So off I went in search of food and fun. Thankfully, I found both!
The restaurant that I chose didn’t have an English menu or even a menu with pictures. The ordering process was one of the funniest things I’ve ever experienced!!! But I’ll have to write more on that in another post, since I’ve got to get out the door.
I’m trying out a new photo gallery, rather than putting all the photos in-line. There are descriptions of the photos below each picture, after you click on a thumbnail. Please let me know if you like this, or prefer the images embedded in the post.
PS I had some family ask about the cost of my lunch. Food in China is very cheap! The fish was $4.32 , beans were $1.79, and beer was $0.89 for 16.5 oz bottle. CHEAP! The fish and beans could easily serve 3 people, so call it $2/each. The beer was drinkable. Not good, but worth 89 cents on a hot summer day. So for under $3/each, you got a delicious meal. Beats the pants of a $2.99 burger value meal!!! :)
Wuhan, China
2010
07.17
07.17
After 28 hours of travel, I arrived at my hotel on Saturday night just after midnight local time. This is my first trip to central China, and I’m really excited about experiencing the cultural differences here.
Unusual for Google, the street map and satellite views don’t line-up here; the satellite view is right. The Lake View Garden Hotel is the red building to the west of the park on the south edge of Swan Lake (seriously!). It’s a nice hotel. The grounds are very well maintained, with lots of beautiful garden areas. The room is well worn, but fine, and it has a great view of the lake and city in the distance.
I’m going to get cleaned-up and head out to see what I can find. I’ll grab some lunch and wander around for the afternoon. I’ll meet my colleague for dinner, then start our meetings in the morning.
This is the view from my room at the Lake View Garden Hotel
Asia Trip – July 2010
2010
07.14
07.14
I’m getting ready for a very hectic week in Asia, and have decided that I need a day at the start to recover a bit from jet lag before adding sleep deprivation. So on Friday I’ll fly from Atlanta to Wuhan, China, via Detroit and Shanghai. I’ll get to the hotel late on Saturday evening and will have Sunday to explore Wuhan. I’ve never been there before, so that should be fun. Wuhan is the largest city in central China (10M+ people). It’s also known as one of the “Three Ovens” of China, so it’ll be nice and toasty in late July!
I’ll have meetings in Wuhan on Monday, then fly out to Beijing that evening. After meetings in Beijing on Tuesday, I’ll fly out to Seoul that evening. Finally after two days of meetings in Seoul, I’ll fly home on Friday, via Portland. That’s 7 flights in 8 days, covering 16,861 miles. Please put your seat back and tray table in their fully upright and locked positions. And remember, smoking is…not allowed…on any Delta flight.
ATL-DTW-PVG-WUH, WUH-PEK, PEK-ICN, ICN-PDX-ATL
Travel Tip – Cash’n It In
2010
02.16
02.16
One of the challenges I face when traveling is dealing with local currency. On some Asian trips I need Japanese Yen, Hong Kong Dollars, Chinese Yuan, Korean Wan, and US Dollars. At home, I use a credit card 99% of the time. In Asia, that won’t work. China, in particular, runs on cash. My hotel takes credit, but I pay cash for all my meals, transportation, & entertainment. So the question is, how do you keep up with all that? (more…)
Splendid China
2010
02.10
02.10
We finished our meetings in Shenzhen early, so I had some time to do some sight seeing before my red-eye flight out. Our local representative was kind enough to send a lady from their staff to show me around, and we visited Splendid China (click here). This place can best be described as a “theme park” about China. I have to admit that when I first heard about it, I thought I’d be bored out of my mind. But I went out of respect for our rep, who wanted to share this with me. As it turns out, it was pretty cool. Not Disney World cool, but cool nonetheless. I got to see all kinds of regional architectural themes, and discover a lot about their culture. Here are some of the things I saw.
Dragons are a big part of Chinese culture, and they use them a lot.
Support Capitalism
2010
02.02
02.02
When I travel, I enjoy eating the local food. But as an American capitalist, I also enjoy supporting American franchises. Lots of people will tell you that “You can get McDonalds at home, don’t eat it in Japan!” What those folks are missing out on, though, is that the restaurants typically have different menus overseas. Some places (Subway and Quiznos come to mind) have identical menus, but most adapt to the local taste and ingredients.
Layover In Tokyo
2010
01.30
01.30
I saw Mt. Fuji from the air! :) I love sitting by the window, so I can see the world go by. Generally I see lots of “typical” landscapes, and a lot of clouds. But every now and then you get to see something spectacular, like this! Sorry the photo quality is weak. The skies were very hazy, and this took some pretty heavy processing to get to this point.
Mt. Fuji
Headed Home
2010
01.29
01.29
I took an airport shuttle, on my way Seoul for home. It was about 120 degrees in there, and the 70 year old driver was still wearing a jacket and gloves. I guess this is just training for Hawaii. :) This has been a long trip, and I’m anxious to get home…but there’s still a lot of travel yet to come.
I’m writing from the Korean Air lounge, where I’ve had a spot of breakfast, and will be boarding shortly. I’ll check back in from Tokyo.
Sausage & Egg
Saturday in Narita
2010
01.29
01.29
Last Saturday morning I got up, finished packing, and took a bus to the airport. I met-up at the airport with a friend from college who I hadn’t seen in probably a decade. We took a local train to Narita-san. There’s a big temple on top of the mountain, with a gazillion vendors at the bottom, mostly selling food.