November 2004 Archives

Bleagh. Back in the US. Not an anti-US screed, but more of an annoyance. Follow:

When you travel, there's usually two lines: one for foreigners and one for citizens of whatever country you're visiting.

Usually, the foreign passport line (especially in China) moves really slow while the citizens line moves fast. Makes sense.

But when I finally landed at LAX and walked from El Segundo (it really seemed that far) back to customs/passport control, guess which line was longest?

US Citizens, thatís what!

Although, the line moved kinda quick considering how long it was. Customs was a snap, much faster than it is in SFO.

After a few hours, I caught my UA connection back to San Fran. The service was horrid (in all ways) and people werenít too happy on the plane.

So in other words, it was United Airlines! =)

Landed and went straight to In & Out for my ìwelcome back to Caliî dinner.

Yeah, Iím back. And despite eating a lot, I lost 7 pounds! Yeah!

OK....so the ROK airlines (Korean Air, Asiana, etc) are trying to turn Seoul Inchon (ICN) into a regional hub.

Cool, but...

my flight arrived at 1715 from HKG. I have to cool my heels here until 2000 when I have to get on yet another steel tube (AKA 747-400 PAX) for the 10 hour flight to LAX.

Upon arrival, transit passengers have to go through a security screening (why, since we did this already in HKG?). Fair enough.

However, they only had two metal detectors active and the sensitivity was set so high that EVERYONE who went through set it off and got wanded.

You'd figure that a "world class" airport would be able to figure out when the majority of connecting flights are coming in and staff accordingly.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Wasted 30 minutes in queue and finally got to the lounge. Two saving graces from me being absolutely pissed about it all.

Numbah 1: There's free wireless internet in the lounge here, unlike in HKG where anything that has to do with commmunications MUST be controlled by Pacific Century Cyber Works (what a dorky name) so they can make a buck offa you..

Numbah 2: The lounge here has Shin Cup AND Pocari Sweat. And a shower.

Which may leave me about 30 minutes to do some actual work.

Now why did I call this a crapshoot? Because when I was heading to HKG through ICN 3 weeks back, it took all of five minutes to do this.

And oh yah, I like Asiana Airlines A LOT but be careful about the flights you choose. If they are using a 747-400PAX avoid that flight. These are combination cargo carriers/passenger jets and it has none of the in flight amenities that Asiana is known for.

It almost feels like a better maintained UA jet.

I got to sleep in today! Yeah! Until 0800!

Beats getting up at 0600 like I did yesterday AM...

Finally got to HKG after picking up 6 pairs of pants for a fren back home.

Yes, pants. It takes a bit of explaining.

Since I'm on Asiana going home, I got comped in the Dragonair lounge. It's cool! You overlook the gates, you can see airplanes and there's a noodle stand inside!

Bad part: They charge for wireless internet so you're forced to use these community computers...

The Airport Express is a wonderful thing. Not only do they get you to HKG fast, they have in town check in where you can check in and check your bags. Then all you have to do is putter once you clear passport control.

Or chill in the lounge...

Cleared customs and passport control.

Off the KCR and the long hike from East TST to MTR TST.

Recharged my Octopus card.

Switched the SIM.

I'm back!

I needed to stop off at Lo Wu to pick up a jacket I had tailored. I found a minibus that terminates at the Lo Wu Commerical Center that only cost 20 RMB so I took it.

SZX is on the fringes of the city and Lo Wu is on the southern end at the border with HKG.

I've always wondered why I use that term "border" when I talk about HKG. I'll tell you why it's a border.

There's a checkpoint on the expressway about half way to the border. It looks like the checkpoint on the 5 when you drive up from San Diego. Except here they actually stop you.

Our mini-basi was flagged for a spot inspection (I later learned) to see if everyone on the basi has permission to be in Shenzhen.

Since Shenzhen is a Special Economic Zone, you need a special residence permit to live there. At the time though, it looked like the PSB guard was trying to shake down the driver since they had a knockdown dragout argument about the whole point of the stop.

The driver lost. The guard pulled one passenger for a spot check and being disatisfied, ordered all of us out. We all piled off the basi, went into a building and flashed passports and papers. Then we piled back onto the basi and continued to Lo Wu.

Total delay, about 10 minutes or so. But kinda scary for the first 3 minutes or so when the guard and driver were slugging it out.

So just a little bit of drama. It wouldn't have been drama if I understood Putonghua! =\

So travel tip is here: If you plan to fly back to HKG from PEK, it's best to purchase a ticket to Shenzhen (SZX) as opposed to HKG. Use this exit and walk straight. Then take this mini-basi to Lo Wu. Go past the Lo Wu Commercial City and the border crossing is right behind it. Clear passport control and take the KCR East Rail back to TST. It takes a little longer but the total price is something like 56RMB/HKD or so.

Just be ready to be boarded by highwaymen...

It ainít the PRC,thatís what! =P

Got back late from the Club last night and promptly went to bed. My flight to SZX was leaving PEK at 0915 the next morning.

That means leaving at 0715 to get to the airport and then another hour for check in.

Soooo....I did wake up at 0600 (if you know me, you know what a stretch THAT was) and I did leave the hotel at, urmmmm, 0730.

Since all the Hyatt has is the big black cabs, it was 120 RMB to PEK. Seems that they dun allow the cool (cheaper) red cabs there. Annoying, ainít it?

Since I was booked on a domestic flight, I didnít have to go through passport control. I get to do that at Lo Wu after I pick up my jacket.

Finding the gate was a challenge. At first it was easy enough since itís printed on the boarding pass. No problemo, right?

WRONG! Last minute gate change. But no english announcement over the PA. I figured it all out when I saw the woman with a bullhorn wearing a placard with my flight number on it.

When I got to the gate, it wasnít really a gate. Instead, it was a big corral where there was a BIG queue (hence the title of this post), they took my boarding pass and motioned to get on a bus.

A boarding pass to get on a basi? Are we driving to SZX?

Nope. The plane was over near the old airport. But that was far too. It almost seemed like the plane was parked past the sixth ring road.

And guess what, airstairs! Did I mention how bloody cold it is outside? Sorry, no pictures. Unlike Japan, frequent picture taking is frowned upon and remember where I am please!

So Iím on an Air China 777 waaaaaay in the back. At least Iím near the bathroom.

Hereís a picture of what passes for ìbreakfastî . At least no one is smoking in the bathroom like the last time I flew Air China a few years back.

Now the challenge is to get from SZX to Lo Wu Commerical City without too much grief. Of course, when the red monster is tipping the scales at 21 kilos, that alone is grief...

This is my first trip to BJ where I have not gone "mondo tourist", trudging around to various tourist sites.

It's kinda weird to do that when winter is about to set in. The touristy thing I mean.
Phoebe's great question: "Why are you coming out in NOVEMBER?!?"

Soooo this weekend was about hanging out instead. For example, I slept in and then went to yum cha with Ron, Phoebe and one of her friends. Then we went shopping for DVDs. Then puttered through a couple of grocery stores.

I bought a three pack of BlackBlack gum. Refreshing and caffienated!

Snack time was HK style fruit/tapioca stuff. Mmmmmm. Flipping through tabloids I can't read but can appreciate (cuz there's pictures).

It's almost dinner time now. Sheesh, Phoebe WAS right. All we did was eat all day!

Not that I'm complaining or anything...

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Long March (heh, pun intended!) home. First I fly to Shenzhen, pick up my jacket and then KCR back to Causeway Bay.

Itís shopping afterwards, mainly for some DVDs and to Bossini for pants. One of my friends asked me to pick up one pair of khakis in each color. And two black.

I think thatís the oddest request for stuff Iíve ever gotten.

The next morning, I fly off to ICN and connect to my flight back to LAX. Iíve got business to do over there for a few hours and then I catch my flight back to SFO.

Itís going to be weird being back but I think the order of my travels worked out fine. First leg was HKG. A cosmopolitian, international city. Then I was all over Japan where harmony, cleanliness and beauty were the norm. Then I was in Beijing where it was chaos, kinda dirty and optimistic.

Sorry, thatís just how the way it is.

Then Iím going to be back in the States, where whining, filth and subdued optimism is the norm. Sometimes you need to ease your way back in the swing of things.

Of course, Iím going to the In & Out just outside the airport. Mmmmmm. Double Double!

It's sooooo hard to leave!

As my friend Schulhoff notes in his blog (See links on home page, lah!), leaving Tokyo is like leaving a good friend.

I'll take it a step further by saying leaving Tokyo is like leaving a very good friend that you used to date once.

Tokyo is expensive and sometimes exasperating. But it is full of good moments and secrets that are aching to be discovered that you tend to forget the annoying aspects. Until something like this happens...

The Keisei line is the cheapest rail option to get to and from Narita. As I blogged earlier, there's a tokkyu (limited express) and the Skyliner that stops at Narita City before reaching the airport. Tokkyu = many stops and 15 minutes longer than the Skyliner. Skyliner = less stops.

Since they run on the same track, it's a matter of timing on which train you should get (as I learned).

I was running late (as usual) and was a bit stressed about getting to Narita. So, when I got off the JR and was lugging the 20 kilo (yup!) red monster, I got to the ticket window and muttered "Skyliner". I made it with about 20 minutes to spare.

So good ending to entry, right? Nope.

When I got to the platform, a tokkyu showed up within 5 minutes. Then I had another 15 minutes to wait for the Skyliner.

There's only one track, which means that the tokkyu will get to Narita before the Skyliner will. And the 15 minutes I waited on the platform would have equaled the difference in time between the two lines.

So the moral for the story is: When you get to the Ueno/Nippori Keisei ticket office, see which train is leaving first and jump on it.

If you're good, you'll get a tokkyu and an extra Y1000 in your pocket for omiyage!

Spent last night in Nagoya. A medium sized city which serves as a transit hub to historic and cool places inland that we didn't have time to visit this trip.

Like Takeshima and Matsumoto and places like that. Bummer.

But riding back on the Shinkansen meant about an hour into the trip, we got a view of Fuji-San.

Besides building a rail line nearby, there's all sorts of games out here too.

It's funny.

I've been in Japan, one of the most technologically advanced nations on the planet.

It's clean and safe. Their keitai are the most advanced in the world. The food is great. Transport is safe and reliable. Manners matter.

What you can't count on is getting online where you are staying. Follow.

I normally stay at ryokans booked through the Welcome Inn group. This is an association of small independent lodgings throughout Japan. The catch is they can't be over Y10000 a night. There's a LOT of great places to stay around Y4000 so you'd dun have to worry about breaking the bank.

Anyway, for most of the trip, I've been staying at Welcome Inns. Chances are that if I write about sleeping on the floor or if you see a tatami mat with a futon on it, that's a Welcome Inn lodging I'm in.

However, I stayed at a Hyatt on Saturday and a JR Hotel last night. Guess what? No wireless internet at either place and the Hyatt only had broadband if you brought up a modem kit to the room.

Still, that's better than the JR Hotel that had none!

Now both hotels allegedly cater to business types. Wonder how they connect their laptops.

Tonight, I'm at a Toyoko Inn in Nagoya. It's a mid price business hotel. Definitely cheeper and more downmarket than the latter two. Guess what? They have wireless internet in the lobby and free wired access in the rooms. All broadband.

Soooo the lesson is: cheeper places have wi-fi and broadband for free and the more expensive places don't?

Yup. Go figure.

Went to Sakurajima today. Thereís a smoking volcano there!

See? Itís smoking!

Took a ferry over to the island. It was a 15 minute ride that costs Y150. Thatís Y10/minute. What a deal.

We hiked around a bit taking in nature and all that stuff.

Sakurajima is an active volcano, last erupting full scale in 1995. Full scale meaning fire, brimstone, lava and smoke. Basically the worst disaster film youíve ever seen.

Back in the early 1900s, Sakurajima erupted and lava flow wound up in the ocean, connecting a small island. Fierce!

The best part was being able to relax in the nearby onsen. One of the pools has minerals taken from the lava rocks. It was pretty relaxing.

Note: If youíre visiting an new (to you) onsen, ask about towels BEFORE you go change and wash up. Fortunately, I dry quickly and T-shirts are absorbent.

Now we are on the Tsubame Sooper Express, bound back to Hakata. Ramen Yatai tonight! Itís basically a big area near the river full of ramen stalls. Hakata is (in)famous for eating throughout Japan.

All I had to do is mutter the words ìramen yataiî when we were at the JR ticket office and the guy at the counter let loose a silly grin.

Kyushu has a brand spanking new shinkansen called the Tsubame which started revenue service earlier this year. It has a lot of Kyushu touches such as wood window shades, wood seatbacks and tray tables and rope curtains. Great looking design.

Also very friendly conductors!

They are building the line in stages to replace the current Tsubame which is a tokkyu line or Limited Express. From Hakata, itís called the Relay Tsubame, covering 150 km in about 90 minutes. Then you switch to the shinkansen about half way down the island. Then you cover 130 km in about 25 minutes. A testimony to speed, eh?

We are heading to Kagoshima , a city that has its own active volcano and on the map, looks like the southernmost city on the Japanese main islands. Itís a neat town, compact and walkable from our Ryokan which took us all of 10 minutes to get to from JR Kagoshima via tram and foot.

The owner of the establishment is also an unofficial cheerleader and tourist bureau chief all in one. Heís proud of his city and its working class roots and itís place in modern Japanese history.

Since we got in after dark and many of Kagoshimaís sights are best appreciated in the daylight, we puttered around downtown, taking snaps and hunting down ramen shops. We found a good one and ate. They make the speciality tonkotsu broth ramen with pieces of cha siu that is tender and just falls apart when you pick it up with your hashi.

We got back around 2200 so that we could prepare for an early start touring the volcano, Sakurajima tomorrow AM. Also, since doing the wash here is free (but drying is the usual Y100 for 10 minutes), Iím doing laundry.

It's always a late start to the day when thereís high-speed internet in the room.

Also when you ask the hotel concerige to help with arranging lodging in the next town. Or actually the town after the next.

I left two days open (without destination or hotel reservations) in the trip so that if we wanted to be flexible in where we went, we could do so. We decided to head to Nagoya on the way back to Tokyo and I asked the hotel concierge to make some calls to find lodging.

Sold out. Sold out. Soooooold out!

He then brought us some suggestions which were out of our price range. I asked for an internet terminal so I could do a search. No dice. And no business center.

I wound up going to an internet cafe to try to locate a hotel in Nagoya.

Internet cafes here are different. Besides the fat pipe and lots of Pee Cees, thereís a fully stocked library of manga and magazines, free beverages, junk food (cup noodles and chips of all sorts), massage chairs, VIP rooms and theyíre open 24/7 pretty much. People who stay out too late at the bars have been known to stay the remainder of the evening at these cafes which is why they have a more expensive rate from 0000 to 0800 on the weekends.

In either case, I had to take about an hour to locate a place to stay. Between that and our helpful concierge who tried to find us a place to stay, we lost two hours. So I call that a late start.

Made it to Fukuoka yesterday about 1900 or so.

Thatís Hakata to all of us commoners. Itís the terminus of the Sanyo Shinkansen.
Although Fukuoka is the official name of the city, everyone calls it Hakata because it was once called that. They merged the two cities a while back. JR calls the city Hakata too.

Thereís a Hyatt Regency Fukuoka here. Iíve extra Gold Passport points, so this is a pit stop of sorts and a free place to spend the night.

Itís an older hotel (12 years) designed by Michael Graves of Tar-jay fame, prior to his obsession with things egg shaped.

The service was very good. High speed internet (via an ADSL modem they bring to your room) was quick and didnít have many hiccups.

Since we got in late, we explored close by the hotel. There is a big big Yodobashi Camera store which is actually a deepato for guys. Cameras, computers, A/V equipment, watches and pens, keitai and oh yah, a floor full of restaurants.

Many of Japanís deepato have food floors. Went to Genki Sushi for dinner.

It's a Y100 (Y105 with tax) zaiten sushi place (that means the maki comes out on a conveyor belt) and the sushi was pretty good, albeit with a limited selection.

Here's a question. Which one is the one you do NOT put on food despite it being green colored?

Yup, the stuff in the canister was NOT powdered wasabi. It was green tea powder that you add hot water to. This is what wasabi looks like here as it comes around on the belt in a green bowl.

Heh heh....Good to know for next time...

I like this. It's a guy who is selling sake at JR Hakata Station.

The best part is that he's giving out samples!!!

Yum!

And unlike the US, where he would either be mobbed by freeloaders or arrested for violating some archane local law, Schu and I were the only ones partaking of free sake while we were there.

And if we didn't have to lug it around, I would have bought a bottle of "fire sake".

Beppu is known for a few things. For example:

The undue enthusiasm of the JR lady who announces the destinations of trains.
"Beppuuuuuuuuuuu! Beppuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
Actually, I thought it was cute, but that's just me.

Being the onsen capital of Japan, there's a LOT of onsen here, along with the smell of sulphur all over. The sulphur comes through along with the mineral hot spring water.

And the "Jigoku Meguri" or the "9 Hells". It a group of hot springs for looking at because they're so hot. Since it would be boring to cough up yen to see bubbling mud and steam at each one, each of these places have an added attraction to spice things up.

One had a sad looking zoo, another had an aquarium and another had a lot of crocodiles.

Yup, crocodiles.

Still another had a greenhouse, one had an aquarium, and one had nothing at all but a geyser.

Some had some nice gardens and waterfalls with the whole "nature" theme. And then there were some demons and dragons around too. Some of the hells were beautiful too. This is red. Nice shade of blue here. And they all had a place to soak your feet (except the geyser place) and useful advice.

Shockingly, I don't have a whole lot to say about it all, except it took 6 hours to tour it all. It's neat to see, but you only have to do it once.

If your friends want to check this out and you've already experienced hell, send them along on the tour while you chill at the onsen.

Beppu is, according to Lonely Planet, a (hot spring) tourist mecca that rivals Las Vegas in tackiness. The secret, according to them, is to enjoy and appreciate the tackiness.

Okay...

Arrived at JR Beppu Station around 1900 this evening. After searching for about 15 minutes with a woefully inadequate map, we located the Minshuku Kokage just off the main drag that leads to the station. Here's the sign that shows you where it is.

Itís a small family run place that has curfew (00:00) and has a hot spring in the back (well, itís actually more of a warm spring, but more on that later).

The room is big and I have a bathroom with a very cramped western style toilet that looks like it was grafted onto a Japanese squat toilet. Verrry cramped!

And now, enough potty talk! Heh heh.

Dinner time drew near which means that itís time to stroll around looking around for food. After browsing through several used CD/DVD shops (not my idea), we went to the end of the street where you can see the Beppu Tower.

I read somewhere that each major city has an observation tower of some sort. Maybe itís a law...

Anyhoo, it was my idea to walk back via a parallel street. And boy, was that some street! Strip clubs! Hostess clubs! Bars! Ramen shops. And a really neat restaurant that made various forms of donburi. And apparently old too.

Hereís the menu. And a very happy customer!

Good stuff, that katsu don.

Afterwards, we went back to JR Beppu Station to shop at the Daiei (owned by Wal-Mart, I think) for tomorrowís snacks. I got yoghurt and coffee for tomorrow AM and pudding and drinks for this evening.

Then I tried out the hot spring in the Minshuku. It was relaxing and all, but more of a warm spring. Not hot enough! The hot onsens are for tomorrow.

Rode the Sanyo Shinkansen past Shin-Kobe this afternoon to Kokura and transferred to the Limited Express "Sonic" for the 65 minute ride to Beppu.

Passing Shin-Kobe marked the furthest south I'd ever been in Japan. Wah.

The Shinkansen was marvelously fast, at one point the announcement sign blinked to notify the passengers that we were traveling at 285 KM/hour. That's hella fast, even if you translate that into MPH.

Transferring to the Sonic was an example of how they do things differently in Kyushu, compared to the rest of Japan.

For one, the floor of the train was wood. The seats were leather. The train had a hood ornament (!) And we were stuck in the back of the smoking car...!

Koff koff.

To JR Kyushu�s credit, the ventilation system was very efficient. I lit up a small cigar, blew some smoke rings and voila! Smoke be gone.

Despite that, Schu and I wound up sneaking up to the non-smoking non-reserved seat car. We explained to the Conductor via stilted Japanese and pantomime why we were up there instead of our assigned seats in the back of the smoking car.

He nodded and stamped our tickets again.

Inbetween each car is a small area where people can stand around and socialize or in the case of car #3, watch sattelite TV while socializing and waiting for the bathroom.

For a limited express, it went pretty quick. So quick, the train rocked back and forth like a boat that's anchored out on the ocean. I was feeling a bit seasick for a while.

It was nice to stand on the platform for a minute after we had arrived at Beppu to take in the fresh, rotten-egg (cuz of the sulfur that's part of the hot springs) smelling air.

Long Entry Ahead!

I've been to Kyoto a couple of times before. This will have been my fourth visit. And there's so much around here and in the City that I haven't seen yet (like Nara) that I'll probably have to come back here yet again.

My first visit, I stayed in Osaka with Schu and one of his "friends". The person in the quotation marks requires a separate entry to explain. I'm pretty sure that if you poke around in the archives, you�ll find an entry or two that tells the story. My second visit, I stayed in the Ponto-Cho district near Gion. That was pretty fun. My third visit, I stayed at J-Hoppers, which is now the preferred lodging of me and the Walking Ixus.

On this visit, I was actually able to reserve a room at Tour Club. On my previous three trips, Tour Club was sold out. It's easy to see why. Tour Club also serves as a gaijin central, with plenty of other tourists to meet. Staying at a place that has been written up as much as Tour Club pretty much guarantees that you, english speaking traveler, will meet many of your own kind if you stay there.

Which we did and we did.

Once we got settled in and grabbed some dinner, waffles for dessert and a wet night tour of Gion, we came back and hung out in the common room. We met a lot of people including Gen (an Ozzie girl teaching english in the ROK with a soldier boyfriend), Kyle (a Houston native who teaches in Sendai, in southern Kyushu) and people from the UK, Ukraine, Slovakia, France, Japan and Singapore.

The default lingua franca was English, much to the chagrin of the french speaking duo staying there.

Kyle was arranging a early morning trip to the Golden Temple. It requires a walk to Kyoto Station and a bus ride. We left the Tour Club before the owner was up and stashed baggage in the lockers at the station.

They still have lockers here. How civilized.

The bus ride was boring until about 40 high school students on a field trip to the shrine boarded the bus. Then the bus became a lot more lively, loud and navy blue.

Besides the attraction of the Golden Temple, the grounds are gardened to within an inch of its life. Which means that it was absoultely beautiful.

I wish my backyard could look like this. =p

Then we went to the temple with the famous zen rock garden that is supposed to be the world in metaphor. Much of these grounds are devoted to the concept of zen as you can see with the clensing sink, lake and lots of souvenir shops.

Or omiage (oh-me-yah-gay) as they call it over here. Remember, you�re not buying for yourself, you�re buying for peoplel you know that couldn�t make the trip.

Kyle continued on his temple trek, while Gen, me and Schu headed back to downtown for lunch at the Misoka-an Kawamichi-ya. It�s been around since the 1700s and for me, this is a return engagement. I thought it would be a neat place to bring Gen and Schu to. And I was right. It was good food and fun. We even chatted up the woman at the next table, winding up taking a lot of snaps.

After lunch, Gen went on to the Imperial Palace and Schu and I left for Beppu. Two changes of train (Shin-Osaka and ) and 4.5 hours.

I call this "nap-time".

Dinner in Shinjuku at Jyumei-Ya. That's the ramen place "across the street from the Citibank" that I've been raving about since my first visit here.

Again, here's a picture of practically perfect cha-siu miso ramen. With mood lighting! Mmmmm.

Walking up the big street toward the JR Shinjuku station brings you to the South Entrance. With lots of ramen stalls! Look at this guy shag ramen! Wah, so fast!

Aiya...

So last evening, I got into Tokyo and am staying at the Juyoh Hotel. It's another affordable place near Minami-Senju. It's worlds nicer than the New Koyo. And more importantly, they have free Wi-Fi and a hard ethernet hub to plug into.

Yippee! Here's my disaster of a room. Only took a night to mess it up.

Anyway, as is tradition, I met up with Yumi-chan at the Izukaya. Usually, I simply follow her there. This time, she went ahead while I attempted to meet her there.

Long story short: I missed the turn and wound up in the wrong alley. After a few calls and her coming out to meet me, I found my way there.

Again, by following her. This time I paid attention to the way we were going. =/

Too much beer and too much sake and the last subway train back to the hotel = sleeping in to 1000 this morning and a medium sized hangover.

I was trying to avoid the greasy food cure so I tried to walk it off. I went to Asakusa and wandered around the temple grounds, trying to chill.

That worked. The chill part that is. I still had the "hit on the head with a softball" size hangover.

It's not as bad as being hit by a truck and wondering if you're still alive. Now that's a bad hangover!

I gave in and went to McDonald's. I figure that's the greasiest thing I could think of. An hour later, it worked! Wah!

Moral of the story: Stay hydrated before you drink. Or be ready for greasy food!

Apparently, I took these pix last night on my way back from the Minami-Senju Metro station. Here and here.

I don't remember taking these, but when I iPhoto'd my Ixus these pix were on there.

I'm amazed that I could hold the camera still...well, not quite so still.

The second leg of my trip has begun. 9 days in Japan followed by a weekend on Beijing.

And to all of you that ask "how can I afford this?"

The answer in two words: Frequent Flyer Ticket.

OK, that was three words. Sue me.

Here's a good reason to use a Star Alliance award instead of a UA award if you have the choice:

She was our Air Hostess and I had the exit row seat across from her jump seat. 1 year on the job and 3 years out of University. Speaks better english than many of the people I know.

And great service too! Beats the UA battleaxes anyday!

In case you didn't know...

Now we have to teach the 2.3 billion or so people just north of HKG this simple fact.

WAR walking to find open Wi-Fi in Hong Kong can be an exercise in futility. There just aren't as many networks out there (open or otherwise).

begin social commentary
Maybe it's because there's lots of things to eat and things to do. And since it's easy to get around, it encourages people to go out (unlike San Francisco).
end social commentary

If you go to Pacific Coffee, Starchucks (yes, they're out here too o_o) or try to log on at HKG Airport, you will get the login page for a pay service similar to T-Mobile Hot Spot.

Except it asks for HK specific information to register for airtime. Like your HK Residence Card number. If you're a tourist, chances are you won't have one of these.

I have found one place that offers free Wi-Fi with a purchase. Come in, plunk down HK$34 for a yummy white chocolate mocha and log in.

Here's how to get to Zambra Coffee in Wan Chai:

Take the MTR Island Line to Wan Chai
Exit A1 and turn right. Go down two stoplights.
Second stoplight should be Stewart Road. Cross Stewart Road (the Novotel is on your left before you cross).
Make a left and walk about 50 meters.
Corner of Jaffe Road and Stewart Road, across the street from the HK Jockey Club is Zambra Coffee.

Wah, useful!

I took the roller-coaster doubledecker bus ride to Stanley. Ride on top and try to get the front seats for best effect.

In Central, go to Exchange Square and head down to ground level. The bus terminal is there. Get on a 6X (there are other buses that go to Stanley, but that's the fastest one, I think) and make sure your Octopus Card has funds on it.

Otherwise you have to cough up exact change in odd amounts like HK$5.95 or something like that.

After shooting through the tunnel, around down the hills, through low hanging trees, past questionable architecture in Deep Water Bay, you finally land at the terminus in Stanley.

It really feels like a small seaside town here. The big draw is the Stanley Market choked full of tourists hunting for bargains. Being the sucker I am, I picked up two rugby shirts for HK$150. Not bad, I guess. He wouldn't go down on the price, even with the "I'm outta here" trick.

There's also a block full of restaurants and a couple of bars. Good looking food and the brunch deals weren't bad. There was even an impromptu concert by a local HK band that has a following of sorts.

This is how I could tell: Band sets up. Big big crowd forms around band. Cameras get whipped out. And not wanting to stick out, I did the same.

Click click.

The HK Government pitches the Murray Building as the big draw to come here. It's an old restored building with restaurants inside.

The fact that Stanley is quiet with a shoreline and is walkable should be enough of a draw. It was a good break from the urban chaos.

When you cross back into HKG from SZ, you walk over a river that is the official border. That's Shenzhen in the distance with the tall buildings and the like.

It's a tepid stinky icky river that if you were to try to swim it, you would lose body parts on the way.

Really gross. Makes Victoria Harbour seem like a clean swimming pool by comparision.

But with everything out here, this too reeks (bad pun!) of politics. When you cross over to SZ, you don't see the river because the hallway that leads over is covered up.

Coming back, it's an open bridge so you get the full smell and sights of that icky river.

Phew!

There used to be a plaza that connected the LWCC with the Shangri-La hotel. Now there's a big hole in the ground that looks like the beginnings of another high rise.

To get to the Shangri-La after an exhausting afternoon trolling the warrens of LWCC, you now need to walk up and down a lot of stairs and you need to go around what was once the plaza.

However, once you get to the Shangri-La, it's all gravy. Clean bathrooms. Afternoon Tea. Habanos. It's a welcome break.

And to continue my still life series started in Paris, here's my afternoon break. A Partagas (Habano) and some ginseng tea.

While preparing for this trip, I picked up a multiple entry visa from the PRC consulate.

The single entry visa is $60 and the multiple is $75, if I remember correctly. SZ is sooo close that it's almost a foregone conclusion that it may be part of a HK visit. It's about 40 minutes on the KCR, but it's a fast trip.

However, under the fiction of "one country 2 systems", it still requires a visa to visit. And getting an on-the-spot visa issued at the border or at the consulate in HKG is an exercise in patience.

Best to cough up the extra $15 when you're getting your visa in advance. Saves time and headaches.

Anyhoo, since SZ was there, I went. Solo. Alone. Tis a bit of an adventure, yah?

Most people who go to SZ head directly to the LoWu Commercial Center. It's a big mall rignt next to the border crossing that has tailors, artisans, the usual bootleg DVD hawkers, bootleg golf shops, bootleg leather goods and ready to wear clothing.

In short, it's a place where HKG people go to shop for stuff now (cuz it's way cheeper).

If you've been there before (hey Ana, are you reading this?), you'll notice that there's a big hole in the ground where there once was a plaza. I think maybe there's a skyscraper going up. It would explain the escalators coming up from the ground.

I got fitted for a tailor made suit jacket. Fitting took about 1/2 hour with the assistance of an HKG gent who was picking up his shirts.

Travel tip: Bring someone who is fluent in Putonghua. If the HKG gent wasn't there, I would have gotten a slim-fit euro tailoring that doesn't work with my body type (yet).

Now here's the deal about tailor made clothes over there. Normally the turnaround time is 3 days. But you need to have a visa to get back into China. Normally a multiple entry visa would be fine, but if you're going to pick one up just to go to SZ, you've tacked on an extra US$75 to your purchases over there. That's not a great deal. But...

Since I'm going to Beijing later this month, I'm going to use the second entry for that and then I'm flying to SZ after I leave BJ. It's 1/3 the price of flying into HKG AND I can pick up my jacket on the way back.

See? Genius!

Sooo counting all the transit time, I've been up for 24 hours and lost a day. Here's how that works:

Up at 0500 on 9 November.
Flight to LAX at 0730
Flight to ICN (12 hours!)
Flight to HKG (3 hours)
Basi to Taikoo.
In bed at 0200, 11 November. That's 26 hours of being awake and catnapping!

The flight was OK. Asiana's 747s feel like UA's. But the service was wonderful! The food was good too.

Makes me want to cause mischief in Seoul...

Anyway, I woke up with a nasty headache, probably because of all the airline food.

I discovered the best cure for that. Yum Cha along with a pot of tea (that I drank) and all is well. Yay.

Sooo this is Asiana.

I read that their equipment varies. Their 777s and newer planes are kitted out so that it's heaven (along with their service) for passengers. Nice seats, seatback movies, etc etc.

Unless you get their 747s. In which case it's UA quality and amenities (no seatback movies on demand, big screen in the front of your seating section, etc etc).

Naturally, both my flights were on 747s. Despite that, the service was still magnificent (I'll take some pix on the way back home) and the food was pretty good.

For lunchtime you got the choice of Korean or Western Style. Dinner was Western style or Western style.

But the absolute best thing about Asiana (besides the magnificent service!) was this. It's a tube of sweet spicy sauce that they provide on request. It's a more managable alternative than Tabasco. Mmmmmm!

Saw this looming through the window of the gate next door to us as we were boarding.

A message, perhaps? Not likely, since I can't make it over there on this trip! No roti prata and chili crab for me this time. =\

Iím flying out of LAX today. OZ201 to Seoul with a connection to HKG. I'm looking forward to experiencing the "great Asiana service". But first, I'm cooling my heels in what passes for a lounge.

The Tom Bradley Intíl Terminal is where all the intíl flights depart. Itís an old building and it shows.

The business class/first class lounges are on the 4th and 5th floor of the terminal building. It looks like a depressing office block with small lounges with none of the usual amenities that one would associate with ìBusiness Class Loungesî.

No showers. No food other than snacks and the Silver Kris lounge is a shared lounge with Varig.

LAX had better embark on an improvement scheme.

And the absolute worst thing? No Wi-Fi here!

Addendum: China Airlines has an open network that just reaches here. So that's why I can post!

Pic of depressing hallway to come later.

I was in New Hampshire on a business trip.

Inbetween the business, I've been taking snaps.

Here's a house with a big tree.

This is the road that leads to a better day.

Or the grocery store.