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It just gets easier and easier to do things in Mainland China.  During my last trip, I broke down and purchased a China Mobile prepaid SIM for use during my visit.  It makes things a lot easier when you're out there.

It was a lot simpler to buy a SIM card than it was before.  Here's what you need to do:

1.  Find a China Mobile (they have better coverage) store.

2.  Walk inside and ask if someone can help you in english (对不起，你会说英文吗?). 

3. Bring Passport and unlocked GSM phone; the former to register your SIM card and the latter so the staff can test it out for you.

It really was that easy.  Here's a site with more detailed information.  It's a couple of years old, but the information is still valid. 

I ran the SIM card on my unlocked Nexus One.  Phone calls and SMSes went through fine.  I was able to purchase a data bucket to run Google Maps, the internet, Foursquare and most importantly, Google Translate! For standard GSM phones however, you will be running on EDGE.  If you're wanting 3G speed, I've read conflicting reports that China Unicom has a prepaid 3G service.  Unlike most prepaid service in Asia, you can't punch in a USSD code to pull up your balance or to purchase services.  You need to call 10086 and press 2.  Service is 24 hours and their English speaking staff is pretty good. 

One more thing; Boingo Mobile works with a lot of the pay-hot spots around Shanghai.  So if you have that service, you can always save your data by logging onto Wi-Fi. 

So, the moral of the story is: be adventurous and ask!  Usually people will be nice enough to be helpful, especially if you try to speak Putonghua.  Which I can't. 

So the SF Airport publicity team released a Australia-targeted video touting SFO's charms over LAX's, although not naming the latter specifically.

It's merely called "the other airport" and since flights from Oz go to either SFO or LAX, it's not hard to figure out what airport the video is calling out. This is the most obvious example of airport competition in the US, although since they practically all suck rocks, it's a matter of advertising how much less airport A sucks compared to airport B.

True, LAX is a deep dark hole with no facilities and in some areas, very old, outdated and sketchy (if it's possible to be that way while still remaining an airport). The train connection is a 20+ minute ride from the terminals and you have to wait forever to get from one end of the airport (say, Terminal 7) to the International Terminal (TBIT) because all there is to get you there is a bus. One. That's it.

SFO is not all peaches and cream either, despite the upbeat tone of the video. First off, the nicer, more modern planes (like the A380) fly into LAX. Why? Because LAX has the runways and the jetways to handle the big fat hen. SFO's International Terminal, despite being designed for the A380, does not have the runway space (due to inbound parallel runways too close to each other) for landing nor the long runway needed for takeoff. A few years ago, Mayor Brown proposed to build a new runway that would need a tiny bit of reclaimed land. The environazis whined about "wanting to fill in the bay" and got the plan killed. So SFO wants more flights without having to provide more space. Typical.

The video goes on to show typical happy things, like a BART train, flight attendants riding kick scooters in the terminal and waiting with you for your baggage and for the eco-mentalists, a Pious Prius taxi being held open by Mayor Newsom. Some caveats: You will pay US$8.10 for a 30 minute, 12 mile ride on trains that show up every 20 minutes. If you choose to take a cab, you will pay close to US$65.00 including mandatory optional tip to get downtown. And contrary to popular belief, relatively few of the taxi fleet are Piouses.

LAX is definitely a hole. Transit from the airport is such a non entity, you either get a local to get you or you rent a car. Since you're down in LA, you will need a car anyway. SFO, the International Airport is probably the nicest in the USA. The building is new (2001) and it's reasonably thought out. However, the connections to the airport still suck rocks if you insist on taking transit. The best way is to get a local to collect you and to buy said local brekkie/lunch/dinner/supper for the ride into town.

So if you're coming to California from Oz, take the advice of a fellow flashpacker. Fly into the airport that is near where you want to visit. And on the airline that can upgrade ya!

Not to be outdone by ANA's Pokemon jet, UA now issues their 747s window shades so the dashboards wont be dried out by the sun when the plane is parked.

Do you suppose the headrests have doilies and there's a keychain alarm?

This was the plane that flew me back to SFO from HKG. My SWU finally cleared when I landed HKG from SIN. Too much excitement for an upgrade...

Speaking of excitement, there was a passenger who decided to give the HKG based crew grief BEFORE TAKEOFF. Apparently he did not approve of the contents of the kosher meal he special ordered. AFAIK, on UA, you get to order the type of special meal, not the contents. This ain't SQ and you can't Book the Cook with any other airline but. Anyway, he kept name dropping "Global Services" every 15 seconds and threatened to get off the plane (which he should have done). The captain had to come out of the cockpit to read the riot act to this bozo, who because of his shenagans, prevented the cabin crew from locking down the plane for takeoff. The bozo (which shall be his name now) tried the "Global Services" namedrop but the captain simply said, "I don't know and I don't care about what Global Services is, my job is to fly this plane which is now late for take off. Do you want to get off the plane?"

After seeing that namedropping Global Services meant nothing to the captain, bozo shut up and takeoff resumed. Apparently, bozo lived in San Francisco. He was full of smug and was heading home (how appropriate!). I found it interesting he gave far less grief to the non-HK based crew on the plane. Typical. When we landed, I made it a point to shake the captain's hand and to extend my support for his actions. He and the cockpit crew appreciated the gesture.

My good deed of the week...

I'm in Kuala Lumpur right now, relaxing and trying to regroup. This is what I'm trying to figure out right now.

There are two hotels in the KL Sentral, a Hilton and a Le Meridian. The Hilton has a boring lobby and restaurants but awesome rooms with an open bathroom and wood floors. I stayed here last year and blogged it. The Le Meridian has boring smaller rooms, but the lobby and bar is pretty nice, they have a cigar lounge and for US$40, you can purchase access to a lounge that includes free Wi-Fi, free beer, food and beverages and a nice view. The interesting thing is that the Hilton is more expensive for just a room, but if you get a room at the Le Meridian and you purchase lounge access, it's the same price as the Hilton, sans the benefit of the club floor.

Since the two hotels share the same building, they both share the pool and access to KL Sentral, what's the verdict? Here it is: If you're with someone and plan to spend a lot of time in the room, stay at the Hilton. The rooms are bigger and much nicer with flat screen TV, open bathrooms and big wide beds. If you're looking for a nice place to crash and you're not going to spend that much time in the room, stay at the Le Meridian. If you don't buy club level access, it's cheaper and if you do, you can make up the price of the club level add on by drinking lots of beer, having brekkie and happy hour there and drinking lots of coffee. Those things can add up if you purchase them elsewhere and the view can't be beat!

Actually, I'm in the lounge right now, having a lunch of Guinness Foreign Extra and nuts. I'm sure FA would approve...

Last week, I wound up at Tokyo Haneda (HND) Airport for a short hop to Sapporo via New Chitose Airport (CTS) for a few days. Besides reveling at the fact that HND is a MUCH nicer airport than NRT and that their observation deck has a snack bar, I found this travesty at the gates.

Yes, it's THAT jet...the ANA Pokemon Jet.

I shouldn't have said anything because that jet became MY jet for the 1.5 hour flight to CTS. Here's the obligatory close up of one of the most silliest liveries to grace a Boeing 747-400.

It shows that ANA has a sense of fun, since there is one other Pokemon jet in the fleet as well as a flying panda and a couple of Snoopy based jets as well. You want Kitty-Chan? You'll have to fly EVA for that one!

Inside, the head rests were covered by Pokemon covers but otherwise, it was standard ANA in the rest of the cabin. No cabin attendants dressed up as Pikachu. Service was pretty good for a short hop. Apparently, the HND/NRT-CTS route is one of the busiest in the world and the loads are so high that they regularly fly jumbos on this route. They also fly itty bitty CRJs on this route as well, which was my return flight into NRT. There's something not very nice about a plane where you can't even stand up straight in the aisle!

This route is also hella expensive unless you get the mega discount 8 weeks ahead fare and then it's close to 30000 yen. I got a round trip with two weeks advance for 22000 yen and got UA MP EQM for the flights on top of it. How? I purchased the ANA Skypass before I left the US. Info here (why should I type it when I can link it)?

When you fly, you want to make sure you follow the rules. When you know what time the gates will close, always get there BEFORE that time. Don't expect the doors to be held open for you simply because you can't be bothered to tell time. Otherwise, you'll turn out like this:

Well, if she tried this stunt in Singapore, she'd already been in cuffs and perp-walked away. If she tried this in San Francisco, she'd be appointed to the Board of Supervisors...

Thanks to Lucky and Cheesie, who both had this video before me!

New York is probably my favourite city in the United States. If you've recently done a hotel search here, you're safe to conclude that it's everyone else's too.

Decent hotels begin at US$300/night for a weekend!! So for my last trip to NY, when I made my pilgrimage to Ippudo NY, I wound up staying at a hostel in the Upper West Side. US$30/night for a bunk in a 4 bed room. It wasn't bad and it was clean. The latter characteristic is the exception rather than the rule for low cost lodging over there. And speaking of low cost lodging...

Expedia has ran some adverts offering cheap lodging in New York for under $60.00. Better read this story before you buy your plane tix and book a "hotel". BEWARE!

I flew AirAsia from KUL-SIN last weekend.

AirAsia A320 really close to the doors!

This is a big deal because this is the first carrier that has been able to break the price barrier between the two cities. For over 30 years, Singapore Air and Malaysia Air have operated an oligopoly, keeping prices very high between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. And despite MAS' loud objections, AirAsia and JetStar have been allowed into the market, albeit with only two flights per day in each direction.

It's still cheaper though. I was able to purchase a 3 week advance one-way flight from KUL-SIN for just under US$60. Beats the SQ price of US$300!!

One thing to keep in mind that AirAsia IS a low cost carrier and flies from KLIA' Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) which is located in the boondocks of KLIA, near the Malaysia Pos building and the kargo warehouses. It's almost as they're ashamed of LCC flyers and somehow it will ruin their "Best airport in Asia" ranking that they got two years in a row..

Anyway, as soon as you get off the bas and enter the warehouse LCCT, it's like entering a very clean Chinese train station (and keep in mind how oxymoronic THAT statement sounds).

Clean, yes?

To its credit, the LCCT recognizes that people here need to eat and that's not a privilege granted to passengers who fly out of the real KLIA. There's a Coffee Bean, a McD's, a Secret Recipe and the usual Duty Free shop. If you're hungry, best eat first before clearing immigration because there's only a coffee shop and another Duty Free on the secure side of the terminal.

When you check in, you get your bags scanned but once you've checked in, you can step out back into the main hallway. Passport control is facing the check in area from the opposite side of the building.

Looks like a train station in China. Except it's more clean than a Chinese Train Station will EVER be

Once you're there, it looks like a train station. It reminded me of the Shanghai South railway station (except it was a whole lot cleaner and better ventilated). There's no skybridges here; this IS a LCCT and these passengers don't deserve shelter from the heat and/or rain!!

The doors to the plane...

You WALK onto the tarmac, partially protected by an awning. Once that awning ends after about 20 meters, there's a lot of umbrellas that are handed to you to make the final dash to your flight where you surrender the umbrellas back. No free souvenirs here!

Now about the AirAsia experience. They have a STRICT 15KG checked baggage limit. Any more and its something like 25 ringgit/kg over. Hella expensive. If you're flashpacking here, use a backpack or get one of those fancy new unbreakable light polycarbonate plastic suitcases. My Kirkland 26" roller weighs close to 8 KG by itself so even with only three day's worth of clothes and stuff, I still went over by 2 KG. Also, splurge on the Priority boarding. It's truly worth it because it's practically a scrum boarding the plane and it's all open seating. Note: Get the bulkhead seats; they have more room and these were the first seats gone. 1C was taken by yours truly. Other than that, the stewardesses were pleasant and professional and the flight took off and landed on time. And the best thing was getting off the plane at Changi's T1. Beats the LCCT any day!

Everyone here was going to SIN; the priority line is on the right!

How to get to the LCCT: From the KLIA Ekspres stop at KLIA it's another 20 minute bus ride (and 1.5 ringgit!) and more waiting around. Or you can get up hella early, pay 9 ringgit and take the bas ekspres that goes direct to the LCCT.

A word of advice: getting up early is worth it because there's NO traffic on the road at that hour and the 75 minute transit time I was told was only 45. Which kinda tells you how bad the traffic is over there.

If you wind up traveling enough, eventually you'll acquire a small collection of luggage. Big 26" rollaways for the extended trip, 21" carry-ons for the quick weekend in LA or NY. You may even have a largish backpack for those occasions when you'll need one.

I dug out said backpack today. Opened it up. Look at what I found inside...

Waaah! Forgotten-about money! In big denominations!

Looks impressive! 236,000...erm, dong??

Yup, I found US$15.00 in my backpack. Whee. Now how come I can't find any forgotten about Euro in my luggage??

UPDATE: Click here. Guess the producer no longer has a job. Or his freedom.

Street food is one of the staples of traveling. In a nutshell, street food is a reflection of the tastes and priorities of the society you're visiting. What does this say about mainland China?

Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said. Link.

Original CCTV report

Now keep in mind that this isn't a a "western propaganda outlet" muckraking to make the motherland look bad, this report was from CCTV, the state propaganda arm! Kudos to whoever approved this story (assuming he still has a job there) and had the guts to see it through...

Really makes you think about where and what you eat and whether or not "cheap food" is such a good deal. I think it depends on where you are. I've usually no qualms about eating from a hawker stand in Singapore or in piss alley in Shinjuku or even one of the remaining Dai Pai Dongs in Hong Kong. Those countries make an effort to regulate food stalls and there are laws and fines that are enforced for violations. Even here in San Francisco there are regulations as such.

But obviously not mainland China. They've got a LOT of work ahead of them...

Here's a Japanese story on the CCTV report...