APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 30 – Hong Kong Day 12 (or the return home)

We woke up at 5am and began packing immediately. During the night it had been raining heavily and thunderstorming as well.  I was a bit concerned that might cause issues with flight departures but there was nothing to do for it but head to the airport anyway. We had a short breakfast at the lounge before getting down to the hotel lobby and picking up a taxi.

The ride was without traffic and it didn’t take long to get there. We got in and I checked in to my flight quickly while Daniela checked her luggage weights and redistributed before trying to check into her flight. They said since she was so early (she was supposed to leave at 3pm) that it would be better to take an earlier flight because it would avoid air traffic problems in Shanghai. They said the later it got the more likely flights would be significantly delayed. So they gave her a chance on the 9:30 flight where I was to leave at 10:30.  We agreed and she got checked in.  Then we had to run to the gate as quickly as possible. We had to take a bus to get there and that was a slight delay so they were already on last call for boarding when we got there. We had  very brief (much briefer than enjoyable) good-bye before she boarded.

I immediately turned around got back on the bus and then took the train to my own gate. They were just lined up and only a few moments later started boarding.  The main gangway was broken so everyone boarded the 777 from the first class entrance.  I had seat 3D.  It was still raining out but we got out mostly on time.   I waited until they served the lunch before I tried to go to sleep. The lunch was a beef fillet that was good but more cooked than I would prefer in a brown gravy with mashed potatoes and vegetables. I had a the shiraz to go along. The dessert had cheese, crackers and grapes but I only took the cheeses and some port.  Following that they had an ice cream sundae which I did chocolate and caramel only on the vanilla ice cream.  I also had some tea.  During the meal I watched the Muppets Most Wanted which  was cute but like the opening act said was not as good as the previous.

After the Muppets I put on Robocop but as I expected I didn’t find it enjoyable and fell asleep during it without much issue. I could tell they took something that was originally a tongue in cheek humorous movie and tried to make it serious which was a huge failing. I guess it is better it wasn’t a word for word copy of the original but still it was not really something I wanted to watch. I continued to sleep for a couple hours after the movie was over. When I woke up I watched The Monuments Men as I started typing my entries for the day before and today on the computer.  Since I wasn’t fully paying attention to the movie I couldn't give it a complete review but I don’t think it was bad.  From there I watched another movie called Fall of Ming which was a based on fact story about the end of the Ming Dynasty and a specific "doctor" at the time who learned a lot about virology 200 years ahead of his time.  It was interesting and I liked it overall. I then fell asleep again until they turned on the lights with about an hour and a half to go on the flight and served a breakfast of sorts. I had cornflakes and fruit and some coffee then watched the flight map until we landed. The girl next to me (who was not the one originally there but must have been a granddaughter to the Jewish couple that was there was flight sick most of the flight and used up about 10 airsickness bags over the last 8 hours or so. Her grandfather kept opening the window shade while I was sleeping which was also annoying. The flight was very bumpy but I have well gotten used to that by now.

We landed and I checked through Global Entry and had to wait quite a while for my bags. Then it was on to customs which was quick then rechecking the luggage. Apparently the tram system in Newark is being serviced so I had to take a bus from the B terminal to the C terminal. I got to go through TSA Pre again but they were letting non-TSA Pre people through from the regular line into that security check and I got some kids that left too much metal on and that caused a brief delay. I got to the gate when they should have already been boarding but the plane was late at arrival and they changed planes to a different one to head to Boston or something so we ended up being set back about 45 minutes. I took that time to get some McDonald's and then headed back to the gate and boarded. Even though I was boarding group 1 I was in economy class and seated in row 29 of a 737.  The two people next to me were both huge and I was happy to lean into the aisle most of the flight. I slept almost all of it. 

I arrived in Boston got my luggage and then couldn't find the limo for about 15 minutes before the company called me and we figured out where each other was. I was in the "Limo" area and he was in the shared van area. No wonder I couldn't find him...  In any event it was a quick and traffic free drive home and I was there at about 7pm.  It certainly could have been much worse.

No pictures for the last day of the trip out of laziness...

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 29 - Hong Kong Day 11

We started the day by waking up early to go on the Lantau 360 tour that would bring us to Lantau Island in the new territories. That island is also where the airport is.  When we got up it was raining out though not any lightning or thunder.  The rain was moderately strong by this point.  We got cleaned up and had a quick breakfast in the lounge before getting downstairs perhaps a minute or two ahead of schedule and the tour bus was already waiting for us. Of course it was really raining by now.  The initial bus was a pickup bus only and we rode on to two more stops before being brought on to the tour operator’s location.  After a few minutes we were sorted onto the correct tour bus and starting on our way.

Our tour guide was named Roger and while he was Chinese it was obvious he learned English outside of Hong Kong. I thought his accent was probably from Australia or New Zealand but I later learned he grew up in Manchester, England. He was a glib fast talker who made a lot of jokes throughout the tour but apparently for those who weren’t native English speakers he spoke much too fast. Even the guy from South Africa who had been living in the states for many years thought he spoke to fast.  I did find him funny but I couldn’t help but joke back with him at times.

The first stop of the tour was at the Avenue of Stars near the harbor. Of course since it was raining out the guide sold it as a bathroom and Starbucks stop to try to keep himself out of the rain. It did slow down a bit while we were there though and although we started with ponchos on we took them off a few minutes afterward.  We got down to the statue of Bruce Lee and took a couple pictures. We also took a few minutes to get a hot chocolate at the Starbucks. 

The second stop was at a “Jewelry Factory” for the company TSL. As with the other factories we visited during the tour it was an over glorified reason to visit a jewelry store.  The information was brief and all geared towards selling their stuff. After that it was too many minutes in the store.  I don’t think anyone bought anything on this stop and the guide sold this stop also as a bathroom break saying we would have a couple hours before we could stop if we didn’t go here.  I don’t think he gets a cut of the sales so he was disinterested in it, unlike the Chinese tour guide in Beijing.

From there it was on the bus for a moderately long ride to Lantau Island where we would take cable cars up to the big Buddha.  We had opted to take the “Crystal Car” which meant the glass bottom car. The rain had basically stopped by now but we had all the heat and humidity still. The car we got on had all the windows closed and I opened as many as I could because I think we would have been steam cooked if someone didn’t.  The ride takes about 25 minutes and goes through a couple of turns in ground stations before it finally reaches the top. I am not sure why I was less bothered by the glass bottom cable car (which does reach heights that are enough that should bother me) than I would with a cable car that is normal does to me.  I would think it would be a more nervous experience but honestly I had less issue with it than I normally do. Especially for how long it is. In any event the guy from South Africa and a few Chinese guys were on the car with us and of course everyone took a lot of pictures.  Many pictures focused on the idea of the glass bottom whether we were over land or water.  You can also see the airport from the cable cars too.

At the top we waited for the guide to arrive on another car for a few minutes before he took us to the vegetarian lunch at the monastery.  The food was all served family style and there was a lot of different kinds of things such as mushrooms with broccoli, lemon bean curd strips, mixed vegetable dishes, vegetable fried rice vegetable spring rolls, rice chips and sweet rolls. It all came with Chinese tea as is to be expected. The food was enjoyable though of course I would have loved something meat based.

After the meal was over we had free time and walked around the monastery then on up to the big Buddha and through the Buddha museum. The Buddha is upstairs about 270 steps and in the heat and humidity it was a mildly unpleasant climb.  At least the rain had fully stopped before we did all of this.  We even had reasonably good views of the statue and the surrounding area though the clouds remained.  The monastery and the statue took up most all of our time so we didn’t get around the gift shop area.  Roger said that Daniela and I were close to his record for being the latest to get back to the meeting point.

We boarded an island bus and rode down to the fishing village next.  There he walked us through the village quickly and we got on a boat that rode through the village of stilt houses and then on out past the breakwater where we actually got to see some pink dolphins. The pink dolphin is apparently the national symbol of Hong Kong. We saw a bunch of them leap out of the water and such but it was nearly impossible to get pictures or even videos of them because each incident was so brief we couldn’t really see it, focus on it and get pictures.  I tried to get video but really only got one splash.  Too bad but they were very pink and it was cool to see. We then turned back around headed into the village after a few minutes and were given some free time where we bought some water and I got replacement batteries for my camera.  We took a quick pit stop then it was time for the bus back to the cable cars.

We rode the Crystal Car back also. There was a brief point where the car stopped for maybe 3 or 4 minutes but since it was a nervous thing it felt like 10 or 20.  I am not sure why it stopped. It must not have been a technical reason for the stop to be short. Perhaps someone had to get off at one of the stations the cars don’t stop at or something?  In any event, this time it was just the South African named Craig and Daniela and myself on the car. We were a bit nervous for a few minutes but the car did start moving again and the rest of the journey continued without incident.  We waited for the tour guide and were again put back on the bus this time to take us back to our hotels.  We were dropped off at about 4:30 and then basically after all the draining heat we took a small rest in the room for about an hour. We got cleaned up then headed back out for dinner and some shopping.

We decided to try to go to the Tsim Sha Tsui stop and search out dinner. I was not sure which exit to take out of the Tsuen Wan line (the red line) so we just sort of got out and wandered around. We weren’t fully sure what to get but I had in my mind to find the Italian restaurant I had eaten at 3 years ago and our wandering did provide me with the ability to find it. It is called La Taverna and is at the end of a dead end street.  I am not sure the name of the street. When we got in there was live entertainment in the form of a man and woman singing to music played on a keyboard. They were mainly singing older easy listening style American songs.  Stuff like John Denver and so on. We ordered some garlic bread and a bottle of the house red wine. I had the penne ai quattro formaggio and Daniela had spaghetti with shrimp.  Sort of a shrimp scampi.  Both the meals were really good. The wine was only average.  After we finished the meal we each had dessert. Daniela’s was named after Sophia Loren though I forget the full title. It was puff pastry with orange cream. It was tasty. I got the tiramisu and it was very good too. 

I think we took a bit too long at dinner but we were having a good night of it. Still we had to get to the markets before they closed. We took the train to the Jordan stop and walked to the Night Market on Temple Street.  We thought we wanted the night market for the things Daniela was looking for but it turned out that they didn’t have what she wanted at all so we got back on the train and headed to the Lady’s Market again which was much nearer to our hotel. Unfortunately we got there around 11 or so and everyone was beginning to close up shop.  This meant we had to rush around in circles trying to deal for what Daniela was looking for in quick order as the vendors shut down.  It was not a fun experience honestly and very exasperating for Daniela who had a time limit to get a reasonable deal. In any event she bought a carry-on bag for her sister which was the main goal. It was a fake Coach (or maybe Gucci) bag that looked obviously fake for the big Gs on it instead of the Cs it should have been. 

After the shopping we just headed back to the hotel and called it a night. It was hot and sweaty and I was completely done and drained from it all so it was easier to fall asleep.  We set the alarm for 5am to get packed up completely before we headed to the airport. 

The pictures from Hong Kong Day 11 can be found here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 28 - Hong Kong Day 10

We ended up with a late start partially because we were both very tired and also because morning was filled with some fairly strong thunderstorms. We originally intended to get out to Tsim Sha Tsui in the morning because Daniela wanted to attend a tai chi class but with the weather it was obvious the outdoor class would not happen.  So we got moving late and had breakfast just before they closed down for the day.

After breakfast Daniela had to do some work so I went down to the concierge and spoke to them about tours for the day and Saturday.  I brought the information up to Daniela and we talked for a little while then I went down and bought Hong Kong On Lights and Launtau 360. The former for that evening and the latter for Saturday.  The tour started at 4:30 with a pickup service at the hotel so we had a couple hours. We needed to get some socks (laundry just wasn't going to be done at this point) a suitcase for Daniela and to do some basic looking for other things we needed to buy so we decided to go to the Lady's Market just down the street. So when Daniela was finished work we got outside.

We started with lunch at a McDonalds so she could have 2 more of her Hello Kitty World Cup dolls. I had a quarter pounder with cheese and she had chicken wings.  After lunch we got into the market and started to search and bargain with the sellers. We bought me some shorts and after going through about 6 different stalls trying to find a suitcase she liked at a price they would sell that was reasonable we eventually got the suitcase she wanted enough to pay for it. I let her do all the bargaining. She set the prices too low at first and we found that no one would sell that low and worked out a price they would sell for by the end.  I think the process took an hour and a half. We also bought a bunch of socks at the end then headed back to the hotel where we had just enough time to shower from the heat and humidity before setting off for the tour.

The tour picked us up at 4:30 at the hotel. We were driven around to Tsim Sha Tsui where we picked up other passengers until the last stop where they loaded a bunch onto the bus we were on. The first stop was Temple Street which is the night market. We were expecting to go there on Saturday night so this was a good scouting trip but we didn't buy anything. We walked the whole length though, including both sides.  Then we were piled onto another bus but this one was an open top double-decker and we sat up top and were driven around Mong Kok for a while to see a lot of the different sites.  From there were were put on a dinner cruise ship to have a dinner buffet and sail for 2 hours. The start of the cruise is the same time as the Symphony of Lights over the harbor so everyone went outside and watched the show from the observation deck of the boat.

After the show we went inside and had our dinner buffet. I had some spicy chicken, rice, roasted pork and grilled fish.  I had fruit and ice cream for dessert. We both had a Kirin beer.  They had entertainment in the form of a trio of women singing international music during the dinner. It was funny to watch the Chinese people dancing. They had some odd ways to dance.  Some I think were really drunk too.  They sang in Chinese and English.  We stayed on the boat until 10pm where we got off and were taken back to the hotel.  We were the furthest from the harbor so were the last stop.  From there it was in for the night to sleep.

The pictures from Hong Kong day 10 are located here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 27 - Hong Kong Day 9

I woke up on time without much issue and got to breakfast probably only a few minutes after Don. We ate and left a bit closer to leaving time than we had other than the day before. I think Don just wanted the day over. We arrived just in time for class and I started my teaching with half of his class again (2 of his students had already been through this segment). This carried them through lunch where we were taken to the barbecue place again. This time I had a fried pork chop curry.  It was good.  After lunch it was back to class where Don finished out his day early but I stayed to help perform upgrades so that I left at about 5:10.  I got back to the room and Daniela had left me a note that she went to visit the ambassador to Peru in Hong Kong for dropping off some stuff. So I got dressed and headed to the lounge where I had a beer and a half until she arrived.

After she arrived we quickly got ready and headed to Hong Kong island. We decided to take the free shuttle from the hotel to Tsim Sha Tsui and then we walked to the Star Ferry and took the ferry to Central. From there we took a cab to Chicha, a Peruvian restaurant, well we sort of took a cab. The driver got us to the correct street but not in the right place. This meant that he couldn't get to the right place without a ton of extra driving (this street is sort of a pedestrian street that has lots of breaks with stairs). So he didn't charge us but we gave him a couple Hong Kong dollars for his efforts then used the GPS on the phone to find the place which turned out to be a fair walk downhill away.

The place is named Chicha and the head chef is a Peruvian named Arturo. When he found out a real Peruvian was in the restaurant he came out to greet us and provided suggestions for the food. He was very nice and very funny but also very on the other side of the field, if you understand me. It was sort of funny.  He and Daniela talked for a bit while he explained his menu and what was best. We got several things. Ceviche of course. Daniela would murder someone if she didn't get ceviche here.  Also a causa sampler with 3 types. There was a Aji de Gallina  version, a fried fish and shrimp version and I am not really sure what the last one was. We had some awesome cod anticuchos.  There was also a tiradito that Daniela loved but I was not as fond of. Then later came the pan con chicharon.  Oh yes and we had a couple of pisco sours and I had a San Miguel because they ran out of Cuscena. She tried another pisco drink that had avocado in it that I tasted and believe it is one of the worst things I have tasted in a long time. Also they made a mistake so we ended up with a different pisco based cocktail that was better. For dessert I had Suspena de Limena which is a caramel and meringue dessert and she tried their picarones but didn't like them. They were too heavy for her.  We talked to the chef for a bit after we finished. He had finished for the night too. Then we walked around central a bit. It started to rain and the humidity got terrible.  We walked to central train station and rode back to the hotel by the Prince Edward stop where we called it a night.

The pictures from Hong Kong day 9 are here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 26 - Hong Kong Day 8

The alarm didn't go off because the cell phone was turned off which meant that I didn't wake up until 45 minutes after I was supposed to. Still this was fortunately early enough for me to get showered and get into the lounge to get a quick breakfast. Don was already there.  After the small breakfast I had to run to get a few more HK dollars for some tasks we had and Don and I agreed to meet at the elevator after I ran into the subway station and then back to the room. I managed this easily and got back and Don took a few minutes more than I did. We ended up getting to the office just barely on time. The class carried until lunchtime very easily then they took us to Ocean Blue again and I this time had a Korean stone bowl of beef with vegetables an egg and rice. You pour the spicy chili sauce into the bowl and mix it all up. It was very tasty. I enjoyed it a lot. Back to class I carried until about 5:15. Don had to leave earlier so I got to the hotel on my own.  I met Victor briefly at the train station and then headed back.

At the hotel Daniela wasn't around. She had changed rooms but Joi gave me the new room card so I was all set. I got showered and met Don in the lounge and we waited for Daniela. She showed up a few minutes later and got ready herself then we took the subway (East Line to West Line to Tsim Sha Tsui East then walked underground to Tsim Sha Tsui. We had to guess a little bit and Don asked some locals where the place was and we were eventually guided to the correct building and got our way in only a few minutes late for our 7:30 meeting time.

Victor and his wife Jessie were already there and seated and the hostess brought us to them. When we got there Victor ordered a bottle of wine and started ordering various types of food. The restaurant was called Ye Shanghai and specializes in food from the region around Shanghai.  All of the food was really excellent. Victor said the restaurant has a Michelin 1 star and it showed.  Things he ordered: crispy fried eel, seaweed salad, drunken chicken, beef spareribs, a chicken and pine nut mixture that was eaten inside pastry shells, sweet and sour fish, marinated green beans, spicy tofu with cashew nuts and a stuffed crab shell that had a crabmeat and egg white concoction inside. Nothing was too far out of range for scaring us and it was all very tasty and well prepared. They didn't order any soup or noodles or rice which was fine.  We talked a little bit about work and a little bit about other things and it was a very pleasant evening. Victor and Jessie will be married for 38 years on Friday of this week, so a day after classes are over.  They have 2 sons in the US in Ohio and 2 granddaughters too. So they had just come back from visiting them.

After dinner was over we walked back to the subway station and rode back to the hotel where I was dead exhausted and we called it a night.

The pictures from Hong Kong day 8 are found here.  Unfortunately I was late on remembering to take pictures at dinner.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 25 - Hong Kong Day 7

I woke up after a good night's sleep and felt refreshed and got to breakfast even before Don did which is a first.  We got to the class with nothing different to report for breakfast or transit to the class. The morning lecture went by and Victor the manager of our Asia operations took the class out to lunch to the same restaurant we took the class out to last week in the area. It was basically very similar in that they ordered a lot of stuff and it was served family style. I managed not to drop or spray anything on myself this lunch.  I did try two new things in this mean which were century eggs which are fermented duck eggs and I had chicken feet this time. The one I tried was prepared with a black bean sauce and was actually very tasty. It was not the sickly looking yellow of the ones from the week before.  Otherwise all the rest of the meal was basically things we saw in the week previous.

After lunch we got back to lecture and then lab time and worked until about 5 to 5:15 or so before leaving. Billy and Han had to got to a meeting at 5 so we figured it best to stop there. Don forgot his phone in the office and realized it at the bus stop so went back to get it so I traveled back to the hotel solo and met Daniela who was just getting ready for the evening. During the day Jack had connected with me and said he could probably not get together with us except that evening after we went to dinner. He had to finish work late then get to the house and put his children to bed then he could come out. So we decided to stay close to the hotel for dinner and ate at a cafe in the mall that served some Italian and western style stuff. Daniela had a pasta with avocado and mushrooms where she picked out the mushrooms and I had fish and chips. The food was actually pretty good from my perspective but Daniela thought her dish was a little odd though she ate it and eventually said she liked it.  We then bought an ice cream from McDonalds so she could get another Hello Kitty World Cup doll.

After that we went up to the lounge and met Don there.  Don was talking with some new friends he had made, a Taiwanese couple who live in California named Larry and Ester. They were in their 60s and were very nice and Larry was very funny. So we hung out for the time waiting for Jack to arrive and eventually he came upstairs and joined us too.  We had a few glasses of wine each through the evening and then had one more drink with Jack down in the Lion Rock bar before he left for the night. That was just a beer each. Daniela and I had Sapporo and Jack had a San Miguel.  We talked about a lot of different subjects along the way. It was a very enjoyable night. We went to bed after 2am though...

The pictures from Hong Kong day 7 are here. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera later in the evening.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 24 - Hong Kong Day 6

Waking up at 6:30 I was amazed I could even remotely function on less than 3 hours of sleep but managed to get to breakfast and eat maybe a little bit more before we headed to the office. Nothing unusual about getting there. Victor and Billy were back from there travel. Moy See was still here and Bong had left for Vietnam.  We started class with a new set of students. I carried lecture until lunchtime. They brought us to the curry and barbecue place we had eat at last week and I had the barbecue pork with tofu with spicy sauce over rice. It was pretty good. There was an iced green tea that had a teeny bit of sugar in it that had a medicinal taste I didn't like.  I didn't finish my rice because the guy gave me far too much tofu.  After lunch it was back to a full day of lecture which carried us to 5:15. Don and I rode the bus back to the train station with Victor then got on the train back to the hotel where I got cleaned up and met Daniela in the lounge.

We had a couple drinks. I had some red wine. Then Don came over and sat with us and Daniela used him as a screen to take some more red wine in a bottle back to the room. He looked embarrassed about it but it was really funny honestly.  After we left the lounge we ordered room service. I got a hot dog and Daniela got a salad. The hot dog was a bit sweet. It was strange but the food was functional anyway. I shudder to think of the price of it all though...  After dinner we talked for a bit but really it was an early to bed night and I definitely needed it.

Pictures from Hong Kong day 6 (yes I know I could technically call it day 1 again) are found here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 23 - China Day 3

We were tired of course so we woke up later than other days I would say. Especially because we didn't have any official tours planned and were just going to pack up then hit Beijing's sightseeing spots before we flew back to Hong Kong.  We got downstairs with maybe 15 minutes left for the included breakfast buffet and got all our food and drinks quickly as they started taking everything away even before the time was officially over.  We ate and then went over and talked to the concierge about our options for the day. Instead of taking a taxi we could take a subway from Agricultural Exhibition Center to Guomao and then switch from the number 10 line to the number 1 line where we could get to Tianenmen Square East stop and see Tianenmen Square and the Forbidden Palace. This was going to cost us 2 Chinese Yuan rather than probably 50 yuan for a taxi. We also found out we could take the airport express on a change from the number 10 line only 2 stops away. This would cost us 2 yuan each to get to the airport express and then 25 yuan each to get to terminal 2 of the airport and would take us only about half an hour or so. The subway ride to Tianenmen Square was also a half an hour or less.  So we checked out of the room and brought our suitcase and heavy bags to the concierge who held on to them for us until we would return to the head to the airport then headed to the subway.

The Agricultural Exhibition Center was maybe 5 minutes away from the hotel. Less if you walk fast.  The subway system has you check all your bags for security at an xray machine before entering the subway system.  After that we bought our 2 tickets and headed down to the subway itself. Everything is in English enough that you can get around without much issue. There are signs and electronic displays that have English as well as Chinese to explain where the train is, which way it is going and what the upcoming stops are.  I am not sure if it was this way prior to the 2008 Olympics or if they added all the English to accommodate the foreign travelers that arrived to Beijing for the Olympics. I have to ask of some of the locals I think to find out. Still this made it easy for us to get on and change to the correct train and get where we were going. We didn't even have to exit and pay for a second ticket to get through.  The system works with a ticket you swipe at entry and put into a slot at exit. If you have more value on it then it gives it back otherwise it will just take it from you and you get to exit.  The trains were very crowded but not so much that it was uncomfortable.  Still, we were then only non-Chinese looking people on the train. Well, I was anyway and that meant a lot of uncomfortable stares from people who were probably wondering what we were doing on their train system.  On thing I've noticed on several trips to Asia is the tendency of people to wear shirts with incorrect English sayings or poorly spelled words or most often poorly constructed phrases that often times are very humorous to look at.  I saw several such shirts on this train ride to Tianenmen Square East.  It made me think about something and laugh a little bit. So many Asians wear English that they have no idea what it means on their shirts. But so many Americans get tattoos of Chinese characters and they are not necessarily certain that the character is what the tattoo artist told them it was.  I think the latter is worse. You might look like a moron to someone for a short time you wear the shirt but much worse when you have something tattooed on you forever. I admit I cannot ready more than 2 Chinese characters and some are only situationally, like the characters used for an exit which I will only remember when I see the exit so I wouldn't know if that tattoo is wrong but there are people who would know.

We arrived at Tianenmen Square east and you could instantly see the city center once you got upstairs from the subway. There is a big roadway doing a cross intersection right where we arrived. The road is about 5 lanes wide in each direction. Because of this access to the Square is from the underground. To get through the underground walkway we again had to check through some form of security which it appeared they were letting in certain numbers of people at a time.  We did the Chinese thing and pushed and cut so we got through by melding in with a tour then leaping ahead of them so we didn't end up waiting as long as we could have to get into the area. Once inside we pretty much started walking in under the gates with the picture of Mao after taking many pictures (by the end of the day I had 413 I think).  Walking inward there are several courtyards which I believe make up part of the Forbidden Palace but these areas are free. We kept on walking further in to see how far we could go for free. Along the way we saw some police taking a man into a van and an old woman yelling at and swatting at the police officers who were taking the man away. He was Chinese. I have no idea what he did or why he was being taken away or why the woman was yelling and attacking the police officers. There was a crowd that was forming to watch the spectacle but I thought perhaps it would be best to move on. I am not comfortable with the idea of them deciding they may want to bring more people to jail than who they already picked up.  So we just kept on walking and continued further into the complex.  Eventually we did hit a location that was no longer free and we found that there was a ticket booth to enter the Palace Museum.  Tickets were 60 yuan each I think and once you were inside you could buy an audio guide companion for 40 yuan.  By the way the yuan may be referred to as CNY or RMB which is a Chinese name for the currency as well.  We got Daniela an audio guide en espanol and I went without.  The guide was set up to be based on GPS and would start explaining things as you progressed to different areas. I was not privy to what was said. Daniela said the speaker was fast and the information was more about the specific points of architecture than anything historical like she was hoping.  So I really didn't get a lot of the information provided in the audio guide translated to me. But there were many sign boards in English that explained things well enough that I was able to get a good idea of the buildings and what was going on.

I want to say that the various sections of the Forbidden Palace do look sort of similar but the place is very massive. I believe the largest royal grounds I have even been on. I remember Versailles was very large too but I don't think it was anywhere near as large as this place was. I suppose it would have been nice to have some more variance in the architecture but I understand why it was the way it was. One thing I found really funny was the fact that I had about a dozen different Chinese people, teens mostly, or early 20s, ask to take their picture with me. I of course agreed and now I am probably in the photo albums of a lot of different Chinese people.  As we were continuing on we ended up running into Nathan and Anna the American and Swede from our tour the day before. Considering how massive the place is it was ironic we could remotely find each other in the place. It is a strange thing how we could choose to be in the same place at the same time among so many people we didn't know.  So we chatted for a couple minutes then moved on.  By the time we made it through the gardens at the other end it was about 3 and a half hours later.  This really put us at a point where we weren't going to be able to do much else but get back to the hotel and pick up our stuff to continue on to the airport.  But unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the gigantic Forbidden City's grounds and would have to find a way back to the subway station. I am sure it is possible to walk around the grounds and the moat to get there but it would be a significant distance and take quite a while to do so. There was a sign that said you could take a number 5 bus back to the subway and it was 500 meters to the west but it was not obvious where to go and we couldn't find any reference to a number 5 bus nor whether it was on the same side of the street or if we had to go underground to get to the other side of the street and find it there. It is basically confusing.  There are a ton of guys there waiting for westerners to come out of the gate and offer them rickshaw rides around the grounds to the other side for inflated amounts of money. They are all, like all the other Chinese very aggressive and very insistent and follow you around and grab you when you walk away. I got to the point where I was yelling no at them to get them away from me. It felt so rude but it actually worked and they stopped following us. We wandered a bit and Daniela heard a Chinese guy speaking in English to an Indian person and she started to ask him what we do. Turns out his western name was Luis and he is a tour guide that does the grounds and Tianenmen Square and all of that and he had just finished and was heading back to the subway also. So offered to lead us there.  We took a number 110 bus which got us to a subway station on the number 1 line which meant just reversing our directions to get back to the hotel. Luis was very nice and knew a little Spanish as well so Daniela and he talked a bit and exchanged business cards for professional purposes.  He rode the train to a stop beyond us where we got off and Guomao.  We then changed back to the number 10 line and on to Agricultural Exhibition Center and to the hotel where we stopped very briefly and got our stuff and then turned right back around to the subway station.

We got tickets for the subway and rode 2 stops in the opposite direction we had taken before. The name is too huge to write here out of memory. I am sure I have a map that gives its name.  We then bought tickets for the Airport Express to terminal number 2 which is the second stop on the express. It was amazing how long of a ride difference there is from terminal 2 to terminal 3.  I expected 5 minutes but I think the train loops around the entire airport and took probably 15 more minutes.  We got into the terminal and found our way to the check in desk but they had not started for our flight yet so we had to wait about 20 minutes to start check in. We managed to be first in line for that which was nice and it was quick too.  We then went though immigration and security which also both were quick. I again expected more difficulty than we got. I did have some Hong Kong money in my backpack and that apparently set them off for issues with the xray machine, so they took my backpack and searched it and found the $5 piece and gave it to me along with my backpack but they were polite and it was not difficult.  From there we found out terminal 3 is fairly small. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was past 6pm by this point and we were both starving so we ate at a restaurant near the entrance to the terminal after walking around and seeing how small the terminal was.  I had a New Zealand beef filet and Daniela had New Zealand lamb chops. It was expensive but the food was good. Both had a black peppercorn sauce on them which I really liked but Daniela thought was too peppery. I had 2 beers and she had 2 orange juices along with a shared bottle of Evian water.  When were done we did some quick gift shopping just as the stores all closed. Our flight was supposed to depart at 8:25 but it was delayed from arrival by traffic issues departing at Hong Kong and then a huge thunderstorm came through as we were shopping and that delayed it landing even longer so that it had to switch gates.  We boarded over an hour late and then we didn't depart for another hour after that which meant 2 hours late. The flight is 3 hours.  We were supposed to arrive to Hong Kong around midnight and then would have to get to the hotel so I have figured 1am but when all was said and done we landed late in the 2am hour and immigration and baggage claim were quick.  We had to wait a few minutes for cab as there seemed to be some sort of flow control keeping the taxis from entering the airport that eventually they all skipped around. The driver got us to the hotel directly. There was really no traffic. We checked in and got to the room with little issue. I think it was about 3:20 when we got there. After getting settled in it was significantly past 3:30 before I went to bed (yes, I had to teach the next day).

The images from China day 3 are located here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 22 - China Day 2

We woke up at 6am with both a wakeup call and the alarm from the hotel clock (which actually worked, so far I had been 0 for 2 on that).  After getting cleaned up we went downstairs and had a quick breakfast at the Italian restaurant which serves as their breakfast buffet which is included in the room. I had fruit, some bread, a small Danish and some homemade yogurt.  I also had some orange juice and some of their machine made coffee. The yogurt was interesting. I liked it.  From breakfast it was to the agency where we bought the tour in the hotel where we met our guide and were immediately put on a van for our tour for the day. 

Our tour guide was named Vicky and there were a total of 7 people on the tour. We had us and 2 from Chile (which made Daniela happy for the chance to speak some Spanish), a couple from the US that live in Hong Kong where the woman was actually from Sweden (that’s a mouthful, guess we’ll be something like that someday) and a guy from Sweden also. The last 3 knew each other because the two guys worked for the same company.  The tour started with a drive of about 2hours to the Badaling region of the Great Wall. This is a section of the wall that is from the Ming Dynasty and as such only 400-500 years old and in decent repair. The guide said they have not renovated it but we all think she was wrong, there was too much that looked new. She explained a little bit about the wall but she spoke softly for someone Chinese and her accent was kind of tough at points so I am sure I missed some important information.  We got to the site with only a small amount of traffic which was nice.  There we all chose to pay extra for a cable car ride to the top rather than trying to hike there ourselves.  The ride apparently was supposed to cost 80 round trip the Swedish woman told us but we were asked for 100 so the guide took an extra cut for the purchase. The CNY or Chinese yuan is supposed to be about 6 to 1 to USD.  That means 100 is about $16 and she took about $3 each extra. The cable car ride was actually very short. The guide just dropped us off and we had 2 hours to run around the wall area we were in. The wall is apparently something in the range of 4800 miles long a had been built in various stages since the time frame of 200bc.  Many sections are now collapsed.  The area we were in had a highest point of 840 meters or so and we had to walk some steep slopes and stairs to get that high. Without the guide it was just basically a free walk and Daniela and I climbed up then met up with one of the Chileans (Chilenos) named Claudio and walked around and down and in the other direction with him for a while. We took a ton of pictures.  The weather was sunny and very hot. I was sweating almost instantly and got a sunburn by the end of the day. The wall was very impressive to be on and see, especially knowing we had seen other portions of it significantly far away on the drive to and away from where we went.  It is an incredible undertaking. It is too bad it never really worked.  We managed to get a bottle of water or two on the wall and met up with Claudio and German from Chile to head back down the cable cars to the van.  At the bottom Daniela and I bought some coolie hats to ward off the sun. The process is all bargaining and we were given an initial price of 220 each and Daniela talked them down to 80 because some Mexicans we met had said that was how much they paid.

The van then drove us on to the Peking Garden Restaurant area. Of course the Peking Garden is not just a restaurant but also a “Jade Museum” which means it is really a jade store only slightly disguised. We had a guide there that told us a little about Jade but really there was only a small amount of real information and the rest was just sales pitch. No one bought anything at the jade store which I think made Vicky unhappy. We were all sure she gets a cut if anyone purchases anything.  The restaurant was generic Chinese food and had rice, soup (which was tomato based), two forms of chicken, one thing they called beef that none of us were certain was beef, cabbage, broccoli, fried apples, jasmine tea and eventually some sweet buns.  The food was reasonably ok though not the most exciting in the world. It was all served family style. Anna, the Swede, is vegetarian and couldn’t eat any much food there because even the broccoli and soup appeared to have meat based broths used.

From lunch we moved on to the Ming Tomb where we got to see a reenactment of a special ritual that was performed during holy days in the past. The descriptions was not great and to be sure the ritual was fairly boring but apparently they only reenact it on weekends at 2:30pm which is when we arrived. At the tombs we didn’t actually get to see the tombs, just the visitor center museum and the performance.  The performance maybe too 15 minutes so with the time we had I expect the tour is typically just that museum anyway.  The museum had some interesting information about Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty.  The coolie hats helped with this area to protect me from the sun.  This was definitely less than I was hoping for in the tour.

We were then driven on to the city of Beijing again and did a drive by of the Olympic park from 2008. It was literally a drive by and you couldn’t really do much but look out the window as Vicky explained a couple things. They apparently don’t let tours inside according to her.  Since we were in a moving van I didn’t take any pictures of this part of the tour.

The van continued on to a “silk museum” which meant of course silk store. At least Lisa explained a lot about the process this time and made a very good demonstration about silk and silk making before the sales pitches started. We took a long time here because Daniela bought some stuff as well as most all of the other tourists in our group so there was a bit of shopping to be done. They had some really nice stuff but most of it was so expensive it wasn’t funny. Especially the silk Hello Kitty sheets ($400+ US). They were neat but not worth that sort of money.  In any event, even though this was a trap to get us into a store it was ok by me.

The next trap was a “tea museum” where we were supposed to do a “tea ceremony” but really we did a tea tasting of a couple types of tea and had a bit of explanation about them and the history of tea.  This museum was yet again a shop and they wanted us to buy tea. We bought some stuff but not the full sale stuff they wanted us to buy (a canister was about $80 US but they also added another box of tea and a cup for that sale (plus a thing they call the pee pee boy which tells you the water is hot enough to make tea, long story).  Daniela bought some stuff but not the full purchase but Vicky was nice enough to get her the pee pee boy though the store didn’t want to give it to her. The teas were nice but I have a ton of it at home and so does Daniela’s house so it was more about the cup she wanted than anything.

That was to be it for the tour but we wanted to go the Peking Opera in the evening. We ran so late in the various stores and in general that where we were supposed to arrive back at around 5pm it was more like 6:15pm. Vicky said we would arrive late to the opera if we did that because it is very far away and she couldn’t guarantee that traffic wouldn’t make us even more late. We talked and decided we would go to the Kung Fu show because it was closer and we could arrive on time. But this meant no dinner and no shower (which I desperately wanted after the hours of sweat).  So we pretty much got to drop some stuff off at the room, pay the agency for the tickets and then get back on the van. Claudio and German were not going to the same hotel and we detoured them to the site before they got back but they were gracious. 

We got in and immediately found the snack counter. We bought two bags of some really disgusting chips and a couple of cans of beer and settled down for a minute or two before finding our seats and waiting for the show to start. The title of the show was called Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu.  The idea behind it was that it was the story of a boy who was afraid to join the temple to learn Kung Fu (afraid to leave his mother behind and the world behind) who was being told a story by the temple’s master. The story explains how Chun Yi learned kung fu and became a great warrior and fought with the temptations of life along the way before becoming the temple’s new master when the old master died.  Of course the old man telling the story was Chun Yi. The demonstrations went from martial arts to dance to acrobatics and there was some music that was nice involved. They didn’t allow pictures so I didn’t take any. They also did some of the feats of strength and will things like the spears in the chest and the bed of swords and nails and all that along the way. It was very entertaining and Daniela and I enjoyed it.

After the show we had to get our own taxi back. We asked Vicky before she left us and she told us it should be about 40 to get to the hotel. We walked outside and the taxis waiting there were trying to charge us 100 and were only going down to 50 so we walked away from them. We crossed the street and two different motorcycle taxis tried to offer us. We explained we were too far. One of the said it would be 10-15 minutes which was not remotely possible as the van took half an hour. Daniela was laughing hysterically at the idea of the moto taxi taking us there but we didn’t take it obviously. Another taxi wouldn’t tell us a price so we sent him away. He and one of the moto taxi guys were saying horrible things about us in Chinese for a few moments before they both gave up and drove away.  We then found a guy in a mini-van driving an illegal taxi (like many of the taxis in Lima).  He agreed to the 40 price and we got in but he then picked up 2 more and offered to drive them as they were going to place “on the way” to our hotel. This meant he drove us in a less than direct route and right after we dropped the two guys off we got stuck in traffic that made us take a half an hour more than it should have from that point. It should have only been another 10 minutes and chances are if we took the direct route we would have been back to the hotel in half an hour instead of an hour and 15 minutes.  Aside from that he didn’t drive fast and every stall of the traffic or red light meant he was not paying attention and huge gaps would open in front of him. That meant that 3 other cars cut him off and we started to yell go every time he was slow. We were getting perturbed at the process because I am sure we could have shaved another 15 minutes off if he was just attentive and quick. When we got to the hotel he tried to say he didn’t have enough change for my 100 and was trying to get more than 50 off us. Daniela took the 100 back and went to get it changed in the hotel while I waited with the guy.  We gave him the second bag of chips because we both thought the Italian red meat flavor was disgusting.  He was miffed that he didn’t get more out of us but I pointed out he is the one that got us stuck in traffic and Daniela definitely held her ground and beat his tricks. She is much more a city girl than I am.

We immediately got into the Italian restaurant which was still open. I ordered a pizza and Daniela had the last call on the buffet. I also had a draft beer.  We ate and there was a singing group of women in the lounge next door we could hear.  When we were done we finally got up to the room to shower and I pretty much passed out instantly.

The pictures from China day 2 are here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 21 – China Day 1

We woke up at 3:45am which gave Daniela the chance to watch some of the opening game from the World Cup in Brazil.  She was excited about the idea because the World Cup is being held in South America more than anything else. The game was going to start at 4am but she had some difficulty finding the channel that was going to show it. It is a fair thing to guess it would be one of the sports channels but after she gave up all dejected I was able to find it in the regular channels. The game was Brazil vs Croatia. By the time we were watching Brazil had already scored an own goal which was bizarre to see Croatia leading but then as I was getting showered Brazil scored the tying goal and we had to leave by the end of the half where it was still tied. We both got cleaned up and finished packing up the tiny bits that needed to be done then headed straight downstairs where we were easily able to pick up a taxi to the airport from the front lobby. It appears that by 5am there are already taxis waiting.  The ride to the airport didn’t have any traffic really so we got there in maybe 35 minutes. We found the check in desk for Hong Kong airlines. There were a couple people in line but the process was quick and easy all the same. One Chinese woman tried to push past us with her family in the line but we didn’t let her. I cannot fathom any reason she had to go ahead of us.  Too bad for her. 

We decided to check security which was also quick and easy then head in to the main area to find food. I got a sausage McMuffin from McDonalds along with a hash brown and coffee.  This allowed me to buy her a World Cup Hello Kitty referee doll. The put milk in the coffee unfortunately. Daniela got her breakfast of fruit and a veggie filled bagel from Panopolis next door. I trade my coffee to her and got an iced coffee from them that was black.  I also got a marble cake.  We finished eating then had to take a train to the gate area we needed and arrived maybe a few minutes before boarding. The boarding was general and the line was huge but like in Japan there was almost no carry-on luggage so the line moved fast. 

The plane was an Airbus 330 and had in seat entertainment. When the flight took off I chose to watch Mr. Peabody and Sherman and somewhat enjoyed it. It had a few nods to the original show while probably being a touch more modernized than I expected with slang type stuff. I guess also the butt jokes were a bit weak but to be expected. If you were thinking of watching it I would say go ahead it won’t kill you.  The flight otherwise was uneventful. They served a breakfast that had scrambled eggs but I didn’t even open the hot food section and only had the fruit and bread and some of the nastiest coffee I had ever seen. The bottle cup thing of water was partially frozen. 

After we landed I had expected a horror show through immigration but most of the flight was Chinese nationals (mainlanders) and they had their gigantic lines but we foreigners had only one line but there was not many people in it. The guy scrutinized our passports both but not for long and we both got through without issue.  Then we moved on to the baggage claim and the bag was there already (probably because I had to stop to pee along the way to getting to immigration) and we almost rolled through customs but they paused and talked to Daniela about where she was from and if she was with me before letting her go. I think they racially profiled her.   It took us a few minutes to find an ATM that worked then we talked to an information person and tried to find a cab.

The cab is where things got bad. Not horrible bad but sad bad.  I handed the reservations page to the driver and he said he was not sure where it was.  This really set off Daniela because she didn’t like that he was dressed in regular clothes much like in Lima.  There is no meter here so that also works on negotiated rates as well.  So he called up someone and spoke to them and they gave him some information in Chinese and he guessed and couldn’t find the place. It was supposed to be a Sheraton Four Points. He eventually pulled us over and said he we were there but we obviously weren’t so he tried to call some more. The person on the other end wasn’t much helpful.  Then Daniela saw a policeman who said the station was around the corner so she and the drive went to the police station and they found out we were on the wrong side of the city to the Sheraton Four Points. We started to go there and ended up finding another cab driver was aware of where to go and swapped off at the request of the first driver.  We only gave him half the rate we were expecting and he left us with the new guy. We sat through traffic forever to get to the other side of the city but he did indeed drive us to a Sheraton Four Points.

We got to the front desk and were told they didn’t have reservations for us. The reservations from my page were for a different Sheraton Four Points in a far off city. I am not sure why the company booking page had done this too me I set to Beijing and close to the city center.  In any event this place was also really in the middle of nowhere so we called the Sheraton Great Wall and set up reservations there.  I will not be able to explain in detail all of the exasperation Daniela was feeling during this process and it did point out to both of us that we both did things against our gut instincts (I booking through our company website instead of my normal channels or the actual travel agency people and Daniela for getting into the first cab in the first place).   In any event we managed to get another cab to drive us through hideous traffic back to the Sheraton Great Wall which we had passed a couple times in our travels through the city. The traffic made a half hour drive take an hour and thirty minutes instead. I had to cancel the other booking still. I did that on the phone with the company’s emergency hotline for travel. The lady was very pleasant and the process quick.

We got to the hotel and checked in to room 1628. The hotel is maybe a little bit old but still it is reasonably clean and the room is a decent size.  I took picture and gave Daniela only a few minutes to relax before we headed downstairs and booked our tour to the Great Wall for Saturday.  We then chose the Italian restaurant and ate. It was almost dinner time from missing lunch with all the time in the taxis. Daniela ordered some Quesedillas first. I had a lasagna and Daniela had a chicken piccata which was not quite a chicken piccata.   We got a bottle of New Zealand Cabernet Merlot.  The food was reasonably good.  We relaxed for a while then when we settled up.  We headed outside and across to the Landmark building for a few minutes then found the area that appears to be now unused behind the Sheraton and wandered around for a while before heading into the room to call it an early night. I at the least was beyond exhausted and Daniela was tired too.

The pictures from China day 1 are found here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 20 – Hong Kong Day 5

I was able to wake up somehow even though I was very tired and I got ready and made it to breakfast by 7 where Don was already there. We made it to the last day of class for this week with a fair amount of time to spare even though we left later than we had. Class started on time and I ran though a segment I teach with my own students until lunch time. We had lunch at a place called Toms Bar and Grill which specializes in Thai food and I had a Thai yellow curry with beef. The waiter said it wasn't spicy and brought me a couple samples of spicy. I tried and used the "special spicy" and it was just at the limits of my tolerance. We had a coffee after the meal then it was back to class where I taught the same segment to Don's class then went on to have a 30th birthday cake for Bong then to finish up a few things and we basically still left at 5:30pm. This time we didn't take the same bus to University but took a mini bus to Sha Tin and then rode the train back to Mong Kok East from there. This was at the suggestion of Bong who rode back with us.

I think I got back around 6:30 all the same. Daniela and I got packed for the trip to Beijing and then walked around a bit before settling into the Executive Club lounge to have snacks and drinks. After that we transferred some luggage to Don's room so we wouldn't have to take it all to Beijing then spoke to the concierge and settled up for this part of the Hong Kong visit then headed out to the Lady's Market where Daniela exchanged a dress she bought then bought a pair of New Balance running shoes for the coming days. She really didn't have appropriate shoes for tours.  After we got in it was very late and we called it a night expecting an early start for the airport.  

The pictures from Hong Kong day 5 can be found here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 19 - Hong Kong Day 4

We decided to wake up and meet later. So I got to breakfast by 7. Don apparently couldn't sleep any more so he was there at 6:30 apparently but he didn't quite go out so late as we did. I had toast, hash browns, bacon and yogurt along with orange juice and coffee. We left probably around 7:45 to 7:50 and with the normal connections made it to the office by 8:30 easy. We got set up and I started class at 9am as they want here.  We carried the first lecture into lab time which got us to lunch.  We went to lunch at a pay first cafeteria. I had curry beef brisket and rice with instant coffee. The curry was good but the coffee was what you would expect from instant coffee.  We headed back and finished up the class by 5:30 and I had to run after a few minutes back to the hotel to get Daniela so we could go out to dinner with the people from the office. They chose a restaurant in Shatin which was not where we are staying. Don said he would come with to drop off his stuff at the hotel as well.

When we got there Daniela was still not back from shopping at the Lady's Market and we had to wait a while for her to return which was unfortunate because the reservations were made for 6:30 and after all we didn't leave for Shatin Station until 7:10. We probably got there around 7:30 an entire hour late.  The restaurant was a Chinese Shanghai style.  They had shark fin soup with a dumpling in it, sweet and sour fish, other dumplings, cabbage with ham, duck, other fish, chicken, soups, and a bunch of other things. Everything was really good and I managed to drop a beef thing into a bowl of broth and completely splash my shirt with the broth.  They had a rice ball soup for dessert which was interesting. We had tea and some Tsing Tao beer as well along the way. The food was all tasty and they made sure we tried basically everything.  I was full and didn't want the dessert by the time they forced it on us.  We left the restaurant at about 10:00 and went straight back to the room. I was exhausted and passed out after a few minutes.

The pictures from Hong Kong day 4 are located here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 18 - Hong Kong Day 3

Don and I agreed to meet for breakfast around 6:45 and I was probably a few minutes late to arrive. He was already eating so I grabbed some toast, fruit, bacon, yogurt, apple juice and coffee.  That looks terribly like a lot but really it wasn't...  After finishing eating we left for the office at about  7:30. With the train schedule and the bus schedule we were the first to arrive at the office by 8:15. Fortunately they had given us badges. We let the cleaning staff in. I am not sure if we should have.  We talked about recalibrating our departure times to be a bit closer to when the local staff arrives.  We'll see what we do for Wednesday.  The class pretty much was ahead of schedule and of course stayed ahead of schedule throughout the day. Even though we stopped at noon for a slightly longer than normal lunch we still got through material meant for the next day.  At lunch the office took both classes out on the company. We went to a real restaurant in the back and upstairs to the food court area. It was all real Chinese food and we had a lot of different things. Too numerous to know what it all was and to eat all of it. Both of us skipped on the chicken feet. I agreed with Moy See they looked the wrong color. Like just plain boiled. I did have rice, dumplings, fried squid, hacked chicken, soup, noodles and who knows what else. It was all very good. They had dessert of cooked peanuts and barley in a sweet broth which was different. We had a lot of tea.  I managed to spill the contents of one dumpling onto my leg staining it badly.  After lunch we ran on till 5:30 then Don and I headed back. We missed the first 272K bus but were able to get seats on the next one instead of standing. As we got to the train platform a train just arrived and were were able to get on and ride back very quickly.  We had to stand but the train wasn't too crowded. We managed to exit the correct way from the station. When I got to the room Daniela was not there nor was she in the lounge, so I got changed and waited for her to arrive. We were going to meet my friend Jack at 7:00 and it was already 6:30 by the time I got back.  Daniela arrived a few minutes later she had been searching the mall for something.

We got ready and met Jack at 7pm in the hotel lobby and took a cab to the harbor area of Hong Kong on the mainland side.  It was good to see Jack. It has been 3 years since the last time I had seen him. He had intentions of visiting the US but did not get a chance to do so. He had his second daughter a year and a half ago and he looked very happy about it.  He is still working for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  He took us to the Peking Garden restaurant right by the waterfront. He said it is a very touristy place but the prices are decent so it is a good place to go. The food was good. It was similar to what I had for lunch maybe except that we had the Peking duck which was very tasty to me but I don't think Daniela liked it. He got some cabbage, fried shrimp, pork dumplings (including the ones with soup inside which this time I didn't spill all over myself).  There was beef and scallions and a few other things (he and Daniela got hot and sour soup too).  The food was all very good and I enjoyed it. We had some Kirin and also tried San Miguel from the Philippines which was a reasonably good beer too.  There of course was also tea.  We talked about old times and friends that we had or hadn't seen in a while during the course of the night. I was  not surprised to find out he is still a smoker.  It does seem that we have fallen out of touch with a lot of our old friends from the Digitas days though.

After dinner we walked out along the harbor and met up with his coworker friend Phoebe.  She was very much a friend of Jack in that she was smart and sarcastic and I liked her a lot. She gave Daniela some tips about shopping in Hong Kong and teased Jack about his knowledge of how to get around aside from the fact he has been here 7 years or so and still hasn't adjusted to the heat and humidity. He was sweating worse than I was.  We walked by the Hong Kong walk of fame and saw the stars of the HK actors we know and the statue of Bruce Lee.  Then we stopped at a small outdoor bar and had a beer. Jack and I had more San Miguel. Daniela had a Saigon from Vietnam and Phoebe had a Stella.  We talked for a while longer until the place closed at 11pm and then took a taxi back to the hotel where Jack and Phoebe continued on to get to their homes. Unfortunately Jack's wife Angela was not able to make it out with us. Pretty much as soon as I got to the room I passed out exhausted.

The pictures from Hong Kong day 3 are located here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 17 - Hong Kong Day 2

I woke up to get ready for class and met Don in the Royal Club Lounge where we had breakfast. I had some toast, bacon, yogurt, grapefruit juice and coffee. From there we agreed to leave at 7:30.  We caught the train on the East Line of Mong Kok to University where we switched to the 272K bus. I got some money at the station before getting the bus.  A few moments after we got on the bus Han got on so we waved him down and he sat with us. It helped a bit because he was able to get us directly into the office with his ID when we got there. The class started at 9 and we had a few minutes to get set up and see the facilities and meet some of the other people.  The class went well enough and we worked until 5:30 with a stop for lunch at around 11:30.  The lunch was at a Chinese restaurant in the food court near the office. The restaurant was called Ocean Blue.  I had eggplant with pork and dried shrimp with rice.  It was reasonably good.  When class was over we got on the bus with one of Don's students, Bong who works in the Hong Kong office. The line for the bus was huge and we didn't think we would get on but the bus holds 124 passengers and we did get in after all. Bong rode the East Line back towards Mong Kok but got off a stop earlier than us.  We got back to the room and Daniela was waiting for me to go out for dinner.

I got cleaned and changed and we looked at La Scala which is a buffet restaurant in the hotel but decided I didn't want buffet so went instead to Di King Heen on the 3rd floor of the hotel. You have to go to the lobby to get to it.  We had a set meal and one other item. The set meal included a bunch of appetizers, bird's nest soup, scallops, waigyu beef in wasabi noodles and dessert. Daniela's order was a live prepared chicken that had a lot of fire involved in the preparation. Kenny the waiter was very good and attentive and we liked him a lot. We had a shiraz to accompany the food.  All the food was very tasty and we enjoyed the meal. Daniela particularly liked her chicken which is eaten off the bone though hacked into small pieces.  We basically shared everything because Kenny was very helpful about that.  After dinner which took a long time it was back to the room for the night.

The pictures from Hong Kong day 2 are located here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 16 - Hong Kong Day 1

We woke up very early (3am) to get a taxi we had reserved the night before to Haneda Airport.  Too early for train service we really didn't have much of a choice. Our flight to Hong Kong was departing at 6:20am.  The taxi was waiting when we got downstairs after finishing up packing and getting cleaned and dressed. I checked out and we got in the taxi and rode to the airport. I think it took about 45 minutes or so to get there.  The taxi cost us about 9700 yen which is about$97. We checked in on the 3rd floor which I thought was an odd level for departures. It required us to take an elevator with the luggage cart.  The check in was a touch confused. We had to add a bag and they were very nice and made sure we paid the least rate we'd have to for checked luggage. I appreciated that. The flight was on Hong Kong Express Airlines which is a budget airline that may be an offshoot of Hong Kong Airlines as they were using a Hong Kong Airlines plane.  After check in we headed through security then on to immigration and both were quick.  At the gate we waited only a little while and we were boarding. They used a general boarding style. There is no fare other than economy class so there was just one boarding group.  We got on and did manage to find space in the overhead. The seats were very close together and my knees were almost touching the seat in front of me even without that seat reclined.  Still the staff was friendly and nice. They didn't serve free beverages but to be honest, we both slept through almost the entire flight.

We disembarked and had to take a bus to the main terminal area where  went through immigration which looked like a terribly long line but moved quickly anyway and it was only a few minutes till we were through. From there we got our checked baggage then walked through customs without any issues. We found our way to the taxi stand and took an urban taxi to the hotel. It cost us $253HK which I think is about $37 or so.  We checked into the hotel and our room was ready because we were on the Royal Club Floor as I was last time I was here. We checked in downstairs because upstairs was busy but technically we should have checked in upstairs on the 19th floor where our room 1972 would be. I thought the English name of the guy that checked us in was funny because it said, "Kanny."  Anyway Daniela was exhausted and took a nap right away. I got stuff situated then had a coffee and some cookies in the club lounge and started writing blog entries.

We relaxed for a little while then walked into the mall and got oriented.  We decided to try to have lunch in the mall and found the Food Opera food court. Inside Daniela got a fresh mango juice then I found a place called Pepper Lunah.  There we had pepper beef rice dishes, though we tried to order Daniela a chicken dish they gave us beef anyway. I liked it a lot. The dish was a cast iron plate that was super heated to cook everything. There was a lot of black pepper in the food and it was very spicy.  I ate all of mine and most of Daniela's beef as well.  After the meal we went shopping briefly at Yata, a supermarket then walked around a little bit more then headed back to the room where we took a real nap this time.

I woke up at about 5 to 5:30 and got cleaned up and called and spoke to Jack then headed over to the Club Lounge and had a beer and some snacks. Don came in a while later and we each had a glass of wine and talked for a while. Daniela stayed asleep and eventually when I got back to the room she had awakened and gotten cleaned up. We ordered room service. I got a burger and she got a salad and we each got a glass of wine but it was not as good as the wine in the lounge. We ate then a little while later I passed out while she was watching some documentaries on TV.

The pictures from Hong Kong day 1 can be found here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 15 - Japan Day 15

We had to wake up early for our tour to Mt Fuji and Hakone so we did so and chose to get to the area of the Hato Bus terminal rather than try to eat breakfast in the Asakusa region. I originally wanted to have breakfast at the Mr. Donut down the street but I felt we had to go too far out of the way to risk using up the time.  We took the Asakusa line to Daimon and came out right at the World Trade Center where the Hato Bus terminal is.  We found the Food Garden and a Choco Cro therein and had breakfast there.  I had something I thought was a cheese sandwich and a pig in a blanket, but the cheese sandwich was not really cheese. It was something odd and sweet. I ate it anyway.  We both had coffees, I think Daniela had a cappuccino.  Daniela had two types of croissant, with and without chocolate.  After breakfast we shopped in a Family Mart right there to get snacks and drinks for the tour. I knew this one would have lots of bus time so it was better to stock up a little.

We got to the bus terminal and found out that Hato Bus had canceled their tour due to the weather. They did give us a full refund. They were surprised we had the tickets at all.  We had bought them the week before.  They told us JTB Sunrise tours was still going and we could get on their tour instead so we ran over to their counter. The lady told us we would not be able to see Fuji but we said we would go anyway.  This tour had a couple more options so we chose to have lunch included then also to take the shinkansen home to Tokyo Station.  The tour was by no means full and we were able to get seats that had a lot of room at the back of the bus.

Our tour guide was a nice older gentleman named Tetsuo.  The start of the tour was the over 2 hour bus ride to the area of the tour which had to detour because of road closures because of the heavy rains the day before. It was raining at that moment but not that hard it stayed a light drizzle most of the day.  This meant that we didn't visit the Fuji Visitor center and our closest point to the mountain was the First Station which is sort of a scenic stop point but the clouds prevented the scene if you understand.  Still we got pictures with the sign saying First Step.  We didn't stay more than a few minutes.

After the first station we moved on to Lake Kawaguchi where we had lunch at a restaurant near the lake. The food was Japanese style samplings. There was soup, tempura, a strongly pickled fish, pickles, rice and tea.  It was all reasonably good fare. I liked the tempura best, the pickled fish and the soup not so much.  I ate 2 helpings of rice.

We then went to the Kachi Kachi Ropeway and took a cable car to the top of Mt. Kachi Kachi. This was maybe 800-900 meters and did offer a nice view of the lake. Technically the mountain view would have been nice but it was obscured by the clouds.  Still we walked around and took pictures and tried our hands at throwing the lucky clay disk through a rope (we both failed though I was close).  The ropeway used a rabbit and raccoon as its mascots.  They were cute and the ride had them talking to each other.

After we went down we shopped in a store for a couple minutes then it was on to the Lake Kawaguchi pleasure cruise which was a 20 minute spin around the lake.  It was coolish and wet out but when we started inside the cabin it was too hot and both of us felt not so good so we moved outside. At least there was a roof overhead to protect from the rain. The cool air felt much better.  Still the cruise was nothing to write home about even if I have just done so here.

When the cruise finished it was back on the bus and this time on the ride to Odawara where we would take the shinkansen back to Tokyo Station. The guide was supposed to go with us but a group of Chinese passengers wanted to go to the Hakone Station instead and he had to go with the bus to escort them. There was one Japanese passenger who spoke English who offered to help get the tour on the train and he did so nicely. It was over 2 hours until we got to the station but I think Daniela and I slept through most of it.  At the station we shopped for a brief couple of minutes then got on our train. This was the first time Daniela got on a real shinkansen and she was really excited. She was also impressed seeing the trains going through the station at speed. Bullet train speed that is.   The ride was about 35 minutes and we were able to get nice seats even though unreserved on the regular cars. I know, I know, I was spoiled with all my green car riding...  Still she loved feeling the speed of the train.  It was cloudy out and bits of rain but not so bad that you couldn't see anything.  At Tokyo Station we switched to the Yamanote Line on the same ticket and rode to Ueno. At Ueno we switched to the Ginza Line and rode to Asakusa Station where we exited and headed back to the hotel.

We dropped our stuff off and made a quick pit stop before heading over to the Don Quixote where Daniela did some shopping for things she was looking to take back home. This process took over an hour and maybe more but I lost track of it. I bought some tea and coffee packs. She bought enough that she got a 1000 yen certificate to buy more stuff. So I brought the stuff back to the room and waited for her to pick out her $10 of stuff. I started my packing and watched some Japanese baseball.  The Yomiura Giants and the Seibu Lions.  Slow version of the game...When she came back she had bought a Hello Kitty digital clock. It was past 8:30 so I chose to eat at Itanova for the rain and the lateness (we needed to pack for the trip to Hong Kong and I was tired to be honest).  I had a 4 cheeses pizza and Daniela had a chicken and plum pasta dish that also had bonito flakes and seaweed in it.  She ate it all after she added some olive oil and hot sauce to it. We also had some garlic bread and some beer.

We got to the room and finished the small store of beer and Smirnoff Ice she had bought earlier in the trip while packing.  Honestly I had a lot less to pack and I was done before her and passed out almost instantly.  She continued until she was done then also came to bed.

The pictures from Japan day 15 are here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 14 - Japan Day 14

Probably because I needed a lot of extra sleep we started the day later than normal. The first course of action was to get to the Ebisu stop of the JR line around Shibuya. We first had to take the Ginza Line to Shibuya then switch to the JR Yamanote Line then switch to a bus where we were right at the Peruvian Consulate.  The goal was for Daniela to meet the Ambassador to Peru in Japan.  I should point out that before we left the room it had started raining. A serious rain. And it didn't stop until after midnight when we got back to the hotel and went to bed. And it stayed a serious rain that whole time.  Daniela met with the Ambassador and they spoke about opportunities of sending Japanese travelers to Peru and what could be done to promote it. He was as serious looking man in a suit. Of course he only spoke Spanish but I couldn't help but feel that I was sitting in with the Godfather.  I mentioned this to Daniela later in the day and she laughed and agreed readily.  He was a nice and positive man though so that was good. He was very helpful and gave Daniela the contact information for the ambassadors in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

After we finished with the ambassador we headed back to the train station. It was past lunchtime so we stopped at a place on the way. It was called Osteria Lucca.  They didn't have an English menu but the waitress could explain their lunch set menus to us. We each got a pasta set menu that cost 1000 yen. That's about $10.  I got a spaghetti with cream sauce, prosciutto and broccoli and Daniela got a spaghetti with fish in a white sauce that she really loved. My dish was very good too. They started with a fish soup which was nice and a potato salad where the potatoes were mashed which was very interesting as well. They served bread.  Then after the food was done we got a coffee or tea each. The food was excellent. Daniela loved the place and the price couldn't be beat really.

We returned to walking back to the train but got hijacked by a restaurant with desserts in the window called Choco Cro. We each had a coffee (Daniela had the Vietnamese coffee which was very strong) and I had an ice cream dessert that had pudding, soft ice cream, hard ice cream (all in vanilla), chocolate sauce, flash frozen strawberries, crumbled cake and breakfast cereal (I think Special K or the equivalent).  Daniela had a pastry with ice cream and frozen berries in a berry sauce on top. The desserts were tasty and cost near as much as our lunch.

We got the train station and headed back to the room where we picked up some stuff to be sent to a local Peruvian by Daniela for purposes of promoting tourism to Peru in Japan. That did take us a bit of time but we managed to accomplish it by finding the Asakusa post office which isn't too far from the hotel. I was a bit worried the rain would damage the stuff but the carry on suitcase we were using seemed to protect it all.

After the post office we got back to the room quickly and dropped off the suitcase. We headed straight to Shinjuku by way of the Asakusa line to the Shinjuku line, changing at Higashi-Nihombashi.  The goal for Daniela was to find a dollar store which she had the name of one but an area guide told us to go to a different one in the top of the Pepe mall. So we did. We shopped in that store for quite a while then looked around the rest of the floors.  Daniela and I managed to buy about $85 of stuff there.

When we finished shopping we walked around a bit and randomly chose a restaurant because a guy caught us and said the place did have an English menu. Inside, I have no idea the place's name, we each had a couple beers. Daniela ordered some yakitori and I guess it would be tontori?   I ordered a bowl of stir fry rice with pork and spicy cabbage. The food was excellent but the service a bit slow. The place was very busy. The rice in particular I really liked. Daniela really liked the pork sticks and ordered a couple more. She ordered 2 but somehow we got three which was fine.  If the service would have been faster we may have stayed longer. It may have been for the best though because it was getting late.

We had to search a bit to find our way back to the train station but we got back on the Shinjuku line and switched back to the Asakusa line and eventually made it back to the hotel (it was still pouring out). It was late, past midnight, and we called it a night.

The pictures from Japan Day 14 are located here.  I admit there are few mostly because of the rain...

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 13 - Japan Day 13

I woke up late honestly. Since we had been out late it was a bit difficult to wake up especially after the second late night in a row. I met Han and we rode out to the training center and arrived on time anyway.  This was to the be last day of class and we had a handful of different things to go over. I managed to get the most major components finished before lunch which started at about 12:15. I had some sort of chicken and vegetable stew that was a little spicy and rice.  After lunch we covered a bunch of smaller components that took us to about 3pm. At 3 we officially finished the class then took I distributed their training certificates officially with a bow by calling their names and having them come up and get them.  Then they presented me a couple of gifts including a couple of Japanese bandannas and a tea cup set.  Then we took a bunch of pictures on our several cameras of the whole class.  After the students were dismissed I worked with the the trainers a little bit and then was asked to provide a small amount of tech support for an issue happening at that moment.  Han and I left the office at about 4pm. It was not raining at the moment we left but by the time the train arrived in Asakusa it was raining. Daniela waited outside and brought an umbrella to me. So finally she met Han.

We went into the room and relaxed for a little bit then were going to go out further for dinner but it was a total downpour when we got to the lobby. Han was coming back in from his dinner and he was soaked even with his umbrella. So we ate at Itanova (which apparently hotel residents get a 10% discount).  I had a grilled hamburger patty with demiglace sauce and rice and Daniela had a pizza margherita.  We also had some "focaccia" which was more like pita bread but was still nice enough. I tried a glass of shochu made from potato. Daniela had a glass of red wine.  After dinner we had dessert which was a piece of banana cheesecake for Daniela and  caramel macchiato. I had a bowl of assorted stuff including oranges, peaches, tapioca, coconut ice cream, red bean paste, rice mocchi dumplings and more. It was served with a black sugar sauce and a small glass of matcha.  I also had a coffee.  The dessert was surprisingly good.

After dinner we went out for a short walk to the temple and back. The rain had lightened up a bit so it was tolerable. Then we went back to the room and I crashed hard because I was so tired from the two nights before.

The pictures from Japan day 13 are located here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 12 - Japan Day 12

I woke up a bit later than I had been because we were out late the night before but still with plenty of time to get ready and go.  Han and I made it to class at the same time as we had been without anything really different to report. Class started with lecture then a lab before lunch time which all appeared to go smoothly. The lunch started around noon. I had piece of fried chicken with what looked like an egg sauce on it along with some rice. It was reasonably good. After lunch we did lecture then lab then one more lecture which carried us to 5:30. During the course of the day I received an email from home that the USCIS had approved our petition for immigration and now the paperwork is moving on to the National Visa Center where we will be contacted for the consulate interview.  I was very happy for the fact that the case is moving forward finally.  The lawyer said we should be contacted for next steps in about 4-5 weeks, maybe less.  Han and I rode back to the hotel with the switch at Yashio.  I think we got back around 6:30.

Daniela and I left the hotel at about 7:30. She had it in her mind to try a restaurant called the Roast Chicken Restaurant because she was hoping it was like pollo a la brasas.  The restaurant was in the Maranouchi region very close to Tokyo Central Station.  We took the Ginza line to the Kyobashi stop and then walked to the restaurant in concept. However, it proved to be not so easy to find. She asked one Japanese man who pointed us in relatively the correct direction but we got ourselves screwed up and went to far. Another very nice Japanese man who had lived in the US in Chicago for 2 years and by coincidence also did a vacation in Peru before helped us. He walked us right up to the building. I still can't imagine that ever happening in NYC.

Inside the restaurant was bigger than we expected. At the bar some folks were singing karaoke when we got there.  We were seated in the back room at a large common table. The place looked very busy.  We ordered a pitcher of Heartland beer which was reasonably good. We ordered a half of the spicy herb version of their roast chicken and a half order of roast vegetables, fried potatoes and garlic bread. The food was good though the chicken was a tiny bit under-cooked in one piece which I ate. Daniela was not impressed as it was not pollo ala brasas. I think it was not rotisserie though and just oven roasted.  The sides were all very good though.  They came out at random times instead of all together or closer together which was odd. When we finished that Daniela got a panna cotta and a "rose hip tea" and I got a coffee and their strawberry "gelato" which was more like a sorbet.  Anyway it was good though the coffee was made espresso with extra water style which is not my favorite.

After we finished eating we found our way back to the subway station much easier than I expected and rode back to Asakusa and walked to the hotel and basically called it a night.

The pictures from Japan day 12 are found here.

APAC Training Trip 2014 Day 11 - Japan Day 11

I met Han downstairs a bit early as I needed to recharge my PASMO card so I could continue to ride the train without having to buy tickets.  We got to the station and ended up on the same train as we had been taking. It was notable that it was late by about 2 minutes. I wonder if someone was fired for that? There is small wait built in at the Yashio stop and we appeared to correct there because we didn't wait long.  We made it to the office at basically the same time as any other day and I was able to get information that resolved the problem we finished with the day before. We then began the day's presentations and finished those about an hour before lunch where we should spend the rest of the day in the lab. Which is exactly what we did.  We broke for lunch at about 12:15 and restarted at about 1.  The rest of the day was work in the lab that lasted until 5:20 or so.  From there we got back to the hotel with the same switch of trains at Yashio to speed up the process. When I arrived at the room Daniela was not there, nor was there a note though she had left me a text that she was having a small lunch over 2 hours before. I checked the restaurant of the hotel and then came back up to the room to watch TV and wait for her.  Fortunately she showed up only a few minutes later.

We headed out quickly and our intention was to get to the Sky Tree and go up to the top. But I was starving and we decided we would get food on the way and then go in. We walked across the bridge over the Sumida River and right next to the Asahi headquarters building. The building with the big yam on top of it.  We found the Sumida River Brewing Company Restaurant right next door and decided to try to eat there. They had an English language menu but it didn't have everything they serve on it we are sure. We each had some of their craft beers. I had an ale which name escapes me and Daniela had the Sumidagawa Weizen. Both were very good and we had a couple before the night was done. Daniela ordered a large salad that had a lot of avocado and I had spicy fries and the sausages assortment as this place turned out to be a beer garden in concept. They were playing German folk music in the background the whole time.  Unfortunately it is more a bar than a restaurant so we got stuck next to the only party in the place that was smokers.  And they were chain smokers too.  I know that is very Japanese but it was a little rough at times before we finished our last beer the place had emptied out some and I requested if we could be moved to an empty table further away and the wait staff let us.

I had to check on my phone what time the Sky Tree observatories shut down and it was 10pm so we ended up taking too long and couldn't go. We did walk that way anyway and got very close to the tower but we basically ended up taking the Sobu line back to Asakusa instead of walking back once we got there.  The ride was quick as it is only one stop over the river.  Then we walked back to the hotel and called it a night.

The pictures from Japan day 11 can be found here.