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June 7, 2009
13 Days In Asia, Part 1
My job took me to Beijing last year, which was cool enough at the time (Go to China? For work? Score!), but, as luck would have it, the plan calls for me to go back - and go back several times, in fact, over the balance of 2009.
Trip #1 happened during the last two weeks of May. As per usual, I took a few notes during the trip:
- The food at SeaTac is getting better. I've grown so accustomed to the traveler's standby (read: plastic wrapped sandwich) that I've come to subliminally associate airplanes with sad, flavorless and dry ham-and-cheese. However, I rolled the dice this time and tried this QDoba BBQ burrito thing that was damn tasty. Definite recommend.
- (The wisdom of trying a new food - and a burrito, no less - before getting on an airplane for 11 consecutive hours is a subject for another time.)
- The travel plan was the same trip as last time - take Northwest Airlines, fly from Seattle to Tokyo, and then on to Beijing. It's a long day. Unlike last time, I'm kicking it in coach instead of business class. It's not so bad - the food's good, and the seats even have electricity (sit north of Row 28, folks) - but the cramped seats really do get to you.
- As an aside, Northwest Air sells Skyy Vodka for $7. Depending on how badly you need to sleep, that's a smokin' deal.
- Just a quick plug for the laptop privacy screens: I have a PF15.4W from 3M, which fits perfectly on my 15" MacBook Pro. I bought one because I like to do my e-mail on the bus (or the plane), and I'm not so crazy about the guys to my right (and left) reading over my shoulder. The filter works like magic - once you're a few degrees off to the side, things get totally opaque. The one drawback is that you have to attach these janky little plastic tabs to the edges of your screen to keep the filter in place. (Steve Jobs would not approve.)
- Swine Flu Is Serious Business, Part 1: so we land in Japan and are told a) to remain in our seats, and b) that the Japanese Ministry of Health is coming aboard to do flu screening. Fine, I think, no big deal. Then the doors pop and about a dozen guys walk in wearing these blue Haz-Mat suits - the gloves, the face masks, the whole thing (think "Outbreak lite") - and wielding infrared thermometers. They then proceed to scan each and every one of us, and collect health questionnaires. The whole thing takes about 45 - 60 minutes, and, once we're let off the plane, we're all handed complimentary face masks as we tromp down the gangway.
- Roughly 70% of the people I see at Narita airport are wearing face masks.
- The connecting flight from Tokyo to Beijing was delayed from 7:15 PM to 10 PM (a consequence, I assume, of the Swine Flu screening), which is not, generally, the news you want to hear when you've been traveling for 13+ hours. I did what you're supposed to do in these cases, which is to go find something familiar and just ... chill. In Narita airport, that means McDonald's. Thank God for American consistency - that burger could have been served in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boise or New York. Exactly what I needed.
- So now it's an hour later, the burger's balled up at the bottom of my stomach, and I'm trying to keep myself awake and my attitude positive. All I can envision is Louis C.K.'s hysterical bit on Conan O'Brien ("Everything is amazing, nobody is happy") about air travel ("Delays? Really?"). It works.
- Apparently, Narita airport likes its WiFi like some people like their booze - on the down-low, in a quiet corner, and a little obscure. The good news is that there is a Boingo Wireless node in one of the concourses. Just do your best Egon Spengler impression: pull out your iPhone and walk around, refreshing the WiFi list. You'll get there.
- I slept - dozed, really - for most of the flight to Beijing. We touched down about 28 hours after I'd gotten up in Seattle the previous day. (It tried not to think about the fact that I still needed to get to the hotel.)
- Swine Flu Is Serious Business, Part 2: We land in China, taxi for-freakin'-ever to get to the gate, and are summarily informed that the Chinese Ministry of Health will be coming aboard to screen us for flu-like symptoms. The doors pop and these very chilled-out Chinese guys come aboard wearing button-down shirts, khakis, latex gloves and masks. (Compared to the Japanese, they're positively reckless.) They get the entire plane screened in 20 minutes and we're out the door, grabbing our bags, and walking toward customs. At one point, we turn down a long hall and see a "health inspection" station that we need to pass before we're allowed in to the country. The folks working the desk are very polite and businesslike ... and not terribly fast. It wasn't until I was through the screening and about 100 meters past the station that I realized the entire "inspection station" was being scanned by infrared cameras hooked up to digital temperature sensors. Every single person was being checked for body temperature while they stood at the station, and (I assume) the reason the inspectors were taking their time was to give the cameras a good chance to do their job.
- I later learn that if you've been in Mexico at all two weeks prior to your arrival in China, you will be a guest of the Chinese government for 7 days, no questions asked. They're terribly polite, but they're not screwing around, either.
- My iPhone works here. It's not really surprising - it worked last year - but it's still amazing, both from a "holy crap, the world is small" standpoint and from a "holy crap, tech standards are wonderful thing" standpoint. It's only after I get home that I see how much this technological freedom costs - $7.50 for 15 text messages, and $9.16 for four calls home. (Totally worth it, IMHO.)
- I finally arrive at the hotel registration desk at 2:45 AM, local time. I'm processed, handed a room card, and pointed in the direction of the elevators. I push "11", zip 110 feet into the air, slouch down the hall, and unlock my room. It's clean, and, for a guy who's been up for 30 hours straight, a sight for sore eyes. I unpack as little as I need to, and drop.
I sleep like a rock.
Posted by Gavin Shearer at June 7, 2009 9:17 PM. Posted to MSFT | Travel.
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I love reading these posts of your travels. Very interesting and entertaining! I would certainly not be brave enough to buy a burrito before getting on even a "local" flight!
:)
Posted by: Mr. Sharumpe at June 8, 2009 6:21 AM
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