This is totally old, but I wanted to put it in here. Its from my trip to China back in June...
Saturday or is it Sunday June 5th or 6th - not really sure what day it is...or more like...what day am I in? I think its Sunday morning for me mentally, but Sunday night for me physically...since its dark out. 8:24AM Houston Time - 9:24PM Beijing Time
For starters...flying coach should be PROHIBITED. I flew out of Houston very early on Saturday (Houston Time) at 6:45AM to head west to San Francisco. I've never flown first class before, so it was pretty cool, to board first and get the all star treatment (water and OJ) while everyone else was boarding. Let's see...what did I do...I started reading my book "The Same Kind of Different As Me" and then they were playing "Valentine's Day" so I watched that for the second time ever, it was pretty entertaining. What was not entertaining, was the United Airlines Flight Attendant that kept refilling my GLASS glass with water....needless to say I was hydrated and I missed a few minutes of "Valentine's Day" due to this fact.
In San Fran, we visited the presidents lounge or whatever they call it, where we waited for hours (3), fortunately there were drink coupons and I enjoyed a bloody mary and a very yummy beer which I will have to seek out it Houston called Anchor Summer Ale. We boarded the plane and ... this is the reason why people should not fly for longer than 5 hours on coach. I had my own "Pod" if you will. It was a seat/recliner that extended out to a bed when it was fully reclined. I had a +24 inch screen in front of me where I had my choice of movies to watch, along with music and tv shows and games a three course meal, any type of drink you could think of, and just comfort for the next 11+ hours of flight from San Fran to Beijing.
My meal on board consisted of nuts (pre-meal) with spicy tomato juice, a salad, a cold cuts platter (salami and prosciutto),and braised beef with peppercorn sauce (that came with some spinach and au gratin potatoes that went uneaten), followed by a not so good tiramisu, and quite a few mini glasses of cabernet (how dare they not offer a MALBEC?!). I watched "Dear John" TEAR JERKER!! and "Edge of Darkeness" with Mel Gibson. I read before going to "bed" (they even had a little book light for when you reclined your seat into a bed) and then it was lights out at 7:30PM Houston time. I was awakened at around 1AM for a choice of chicken kabobs or fruit and yogurt...guess which one I chose...and then we landed.
The airport here is MASSIVE and the ceiling looks like the outside of the birds nest that was built for the Olympics, according to Bi, our driver, it was fixed up for the Olympics and man did they do a good job....but they forgot a KEY part...AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Imagine an April post run...yea. it was hot in there. BUT I was lucky, they let me in the country!!! Wooooooo!!!
We got driven to the airport and here are a few things I notes:
1) if I were to drive myself around here...I'd still be wondering where to go 10 hours later...some signs are written in English, but otherwise it is all in Mandarin, so unless you know it, or have a really photographic memory,...you'd be lost!
2) there are Argentine soccer fans in Beijing, I spotted the first Argentine soccer jersey here today, not 1 hour after arrival. Go Argentina!
3) MOTORIZED bikes! Those certainly would come in handy in Leakey!
4) A lot of the taller buildings here have Chinese characters kind of perched up on top of them. But I have no idea what they say! I keep imagining that they say Luxury condo's for sale or Rent here, or some company's name...but it has no logo. It really is very strange to look at places and not know what they are or what their purpose is. Is this what it is like to be illiterate? it is frustrating!
5) just when you think that you are the most secluded from anything you know or are accustomed to...you turn the tv on and you see someone you know...not the typical movie star, but actually someone you know, in the flesh, is on TV. REALLY! So I am flipping the channels to see what the heck I am going to watch when I am here...and there right on my flat screen, is Jane Figuereido, UH Diving and Russian National Team coach, coaching her girls at the Fina Diving World Cup, on my Marriott Philips Flat Screen. Welcome to Beijing. Hello Jane!
The hotel is BEAUTIFUL....See pictures attached. They have some beautiful art and decorations and my room is by far the nicest room I have ever stayed in. the wall between the bathroom and the rest of the room is made of glass and it has a screen you can put down, but I can literally take a bath and watch a movie and see out my window :) Nice!
Last but not least on this Sunday evening/morning...dinner....so they say that Pizza was a Chinese invention...so why not kick it off right....there was no strange Chinese delicacies for dinner tonight, instead, Pizza Margherita and wine....aaah!
I am signing off for today and hope that my friends have had a great weekend and a great run - I have been thinking of ya'll a lot!!!
More to come as my time here expands....
