Home Stretch

Ray and I just parted ways in Atlanta around 6:30 AM as we make our ways to our terminals for the final stretch of the trip home which has so far been in the realm of 28-32 hours. The time change and let lag has taken over and waiting another 3 hours in an airport for a flight now seems like a walk in the park. I could be delirious though as I'm waiting in a gate that is not for my flight while randomly staring at people since all they have to read is USA Today which offers 2% the entertainment value of the NY Post.

Ray has summed up the trip pretty accurately although I was graced by the airline gods and received a 1st class upgrade from Taipei to San Fran. I'm not sure if Ray was more pissed at my good fortune or that he now had to sit next some dudes with sweet Cajun accents for 12 hours. Ray has also learned I'm the worlds worst sight seeing companion. I forgot my camera 75% of the time and make sarcastic comments on the regular. We had a blast overall and even managed to break a few rules such as drinking coffee on the subway for which we received a few evil glances.

Overall 1st class is the way to go for long overseas flights, then again when you have nobody to talk to the nostalgia looses it's luster pretty fast. The Dynasty club's provided by China air for high rollin' travelers such as ourselves made the layovers a bit easier although they do not remotely accommodate anyone from the Western hemisphere.

I did have the opportunity to enjoy some Taiwanese beer called of all things, Taiwan Beer. The 1st class flight from San Fran to Atlanta was overbooked and seemed more like economy plus. The hot towels were borderline dangerous, the food we passed on and they let Ray board the plane despite giving the attendant a ticket for someone else or a different flight.

While I tried to sleep and get back on east coast time Ray was overly enjoyed at the vast selection of TV and movies available at his disposal. I'm pretty sure he could have flown for another 12 hours based on all the programs he'd wanted to watch but we both settled for Indiana Jones which he hated. Sorry Ray.

Lost in Hong Kong

Referring to Ray's "Copy, Copy, Copy" post it's all true. I was totally lost in Hong Kong for a good 2 hours. Hong Kong is just like any other city, easy to navigate on foot and retrace your steps in the event you get a little off the beaten path right?

Hell no!

So I ventured out in search of trinkets for the SEO team and family along with some new threads to round out my fall wardrobe. I somehow convinced myself that the winding corridor of alleys and off the beaten path stores would contain what I was looking for, and I was sadly mistaken.

Given the lack of street signs, ability to cross at 8 out of 10 intersections and not remembering the address or neighborhood which the hotel was in were all contributor's to my adventure. I did manage to get some sweet pictures of signs telling me things that I cannot do along with receiving various propositions from hookers.

And as you can see I made it back in one piece, just a little more jaded than I was before.

Also in reference to the lunch meeting where Ray ate the cow stomach, during the lunch meeting in the airport I was teased by the sight of a Popeye's Chicken and Biscuit restaurant.

If you've had the luxury of enjoying a Popeye's Po' Boy sandwich you know exactly how tempting it can be so on the way home I made a point to try it out in Hong Kong, knowing damn well I would be setting myself up for disappointment.

A Sighting?????

I didn't think it could get any more obscure than seeing Gene Simmons in the Portland airport but it did. As Sean and I are making our way to our gate in Taipei we see this big white guy in a leather jacket walking towards us. I notice because there are very few white guys here. An airport attendant asks him if he is transferring and he says, Yeah- to Bangkok and I recognize him immediately.


It was Michael Madsen. No not an A-List celebrity but this guy has been in a hell of a lot of things and is probably most known for his role in Reservoir Dogs. Regardless, Sean and I were happy to see a celebrity.

Random Rules

I'm not sure if the novelty of Hong Kong wore off the second time or if I wasn't as observant this trip but I didn't find as many amusing things this trip as I did last. I think Sean put it best when he said that Hong Kong is the land of NO. Every possible thing you can imagine has a sign on it telling you what to do or what you can't do. I'm thinking the sign maker is the richest man in Hong Kong.

Subway Rules

This sign was in the subway stating what you cannot bring on the subway. Pets? ok, Poisons? probably a good idea, I have no idea what the top right one is, but Balloons?? I honestly could go weeks without seeing a balloon yet in Hong Kong, people have brought them on the subway enough to warrant a sign.

Pool Rules

These were the rules of the Sheraton Pool. A few of my favorites.

1. All persons are required to shower with soap before entering the pool/jacuzzi. Who's job is it to check?
2. Do not use soap in the pool or jacuzzi. Really? Did this happen enough that they had to add it to the rules?
3. Spitting or blowing of the nose is prohibited. I actually like this one but it's ridiculous that you have to tell people this.
4. Appropriate swimwear must be worn, no cutoff jeans or long pants allowed. Ok what jack ass goes swimming in long pants? Apparently enough to warrant an addition to the rules.

The people running Hong Kong have to be the most anal people in the world. Either that or they are related to the sign makers and are funneling government money to them.

Last Day in Hong Kong

That Temple is Sik

Today is the last day in Hong Kong for Sean and I. We had time to kill and hours left on our 24 hour subway pass so we decided to go to Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple. The extra Sik is because the place was off the hook. Ok bad joke. It's actually a popular temple in Hong Kong where Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism are practiced.

Temple Entrance

Lanterns where people were lighting incense sticks.

No idea what this was but people were standing in front of it waving incense so I'm guessing it was important.

There was one rule that had to be observed at the Temple. Don't climb the artificial rock. Regular rock climbing seemed to be cool with them.

Overall the temple was cool but Sean and I were the only non-Asians and felt like we were trespassing on sacred ground.


Nan Lian Garden

Next we moved on toNan Lian Garden which was this scenic public garden with a lot of rules. 12 to be specific. Here are some of my favorites.

No Tripods. I can't imagine what provoked them to outlaw tripods in the park but it must have been some incident for them to take such a drastic measure.

Ok, no littering is a given anywhere but I found it funny that they chose an apple core as a symbol of litter. The can I get but the apple core seems out of place.

Ok I have no idea what paddling means but they chose a picture of a kid parting the water like moses which adds zero context to the term paddling.

This one cracks me up because like the tripod, there had to be previous incidents that lead to this rule. "Charlie, we have a problem. People are bringing their stray fish and turtles to the park and letting them go". Ok, I'll call the sign maker.

Other than the stringent rules, the park was absolutely gorgeous. Here are a few pics.

Cool Pagoda

Oh yeah, there was a nunnery in the park.

Inside the nunnery. Wasn't really supposed to be taking pics but I snuck one.

The park was worth the trip, but here is where Hong Kong fools you. The park is 2 years old. Like everything in Hong Kong, it is new and build for tourists. I have yet to find history here.

Sean and I are lounging in the Dynasty Lounge which is China Airlines first class club. It is eerily quiet in here and Sean and I are the only two white dudes. 2 more hours till our first of 4 flights.

Copy, Copy, Copy

So Thursday Sean and I do some work in the morning and head out around noon to do some sight seeing. We decide to go to The Peak since it is just an awesome site. We take the subway which I have to say is super easy. Good job Hong Kong. While I got us to the correct stop, I inadvertently take us out the wrong exit from the train station. We follow the signs and begin this crazy hike up a steep street.


This picture doesn't really do it justice, but this street seemed to climb for ever.

So we finally make it to the point and it is as awesome the second time as it is the first. Not as clear a day as last time I was there but still cool.

The Peak Observation deck

2IFC building which was featured in Dark Knight. It's the building he is standing on.

After The Peak we proceed to the Ladies Market to do some shopping at the suggestion of our client. I am hoping it is like Stanley Market and will present the opportunity to haggle. And no, it wasn't a market just for ladies.

After walking through about 5 blocks of tents we were very disappointed to find that every block seemed to be the exact stuff. In addition, every tent was selling copy watches. Every tent had people grabbing you saying "copy wathces? you want copy watches? copy, copy, copy!. As if that wasn't annoying enough, we walk by one woman who I'm pretty sure says to me "Hey Pussy, you want copy watch?" I ask Sean if I heard her correctly and he thinks I did. I hate the Ladies Market.

After that, Sean and I head back to the hotel since we are exhausted. I do some work and take a nap and Sean apparently went out for a walk and got lost for 2 hours. He'll have to explain how that happened.

Meeting with Cathay

Ray is wrongly accused and punished

So Sean and I get up on Wednesday to go to Cathay, and our biggest concern is that the taxi driver takes us to Cathay's headquarters and not to the Cathay terminal at the airport. So the cab driver knows exactly where we have to go and we arrive at 9:15 for a 9:30 meeting. Perfect timing. As we are checking in, one of my contacts comes up and asks if either of us are Ray. Not a hard deduction since we are the only Americans in the lobby. She then informs us that we are late and the meeting was at 9:00. I begin to feel like an ass because not only have I made the mistake and feel embarrassed but Sean is guilty by association.

We arrive to the meeting with roughly 20-25 people waiting to hear our presentation. I jump right in and am flying through my slides which is making me nervous because I need to make it last the entire morning and I've already made it through 10 slides in like 10 minutes. Thankfully an Australian dude with sweet glasses begins to break the ice and ask questions. His inquiries open the door for others to ask questions and stretch the first half of our presentation to almost noon which is great.

With the embarrassment of being late still in my head I didn't think the day could get worse. Then we went to lunch. We take a shuttle bus over to the air port to have lunch at a Dim Sum restaurant. The Cathay team orders a bunch of stuff for the table to share, very similar to Tapas. So as stuff arrives they are polite and wait for Sean and I eat first. They are also very persistent with filling our tea cups which never seemed to reach half full. I'm not kidding, two of the guys with us were literally jumping across the table to fill our cups every time we took a sip.

So as I was saying, the food arrived and they wait for us to begin. I ask the logical question of, "what are each of these dishes?" to which they responded; "eat first and we will tell you later".

So being a good account director, and not wanting to come off as an ignorant American I begin to try everything on the table and fumble with my chopsticks. I am proud to say I refused utensils. So there is one dish on the table that just looks nasty. Very similar to the following pic:


So my first assumption is that it was cooked in curry. I like curry so I am thinking that it will mask the taste but I still don't know what the hell it is. It has these sort of pockets and reminds me of Sponge Bob Square Pants so I think to myself, it's probably some sea urchin that I am unfamiliar with. So I take as little as I possibly can and begin to eat it. While it is loaded with curry, it is the most vile texture I have ever tasted and I do a quick mix of chewing and swallowing to get this down. I quickly take a huge gulp of tea to get rid of the taste and feeling. The tea is scalding hot since these dudes are not letting my cup cool off. Regardless, It was a blessing in disguise because I burned my taste buds and didn't taste much after that.

While there was a part of me that didn't want to know what the hell I ate, I am just to curious and had to ask. I don't know what my face looked like when they said Cow Stomach, but I'm sure it wasn't good. Now looking back I realize that I am the only person at the table that actually ate it. They must have been punishing me for being late.

So as we get back to Cathay I am still bothered by the cow stomach and the fact that we were late. Sean and I have some time before the second half of our meeting begins so I go back to my email to check the meeting times. What I am happy to find is that I was correct. Proof below:


So now I am left with the dilemma of vindicating myself or letting it go. Since my laptop is hooked up to the projector I leave the email up on the screen for a few minutes as people filter in but decide to pull it down since it has passed and they didn't seem too concerned.

Flight to Hong Kong

So my flight to Hong Kong was no where near as nice as last time. Sean and I are unfortunately booked on 4 flights to get here. My trip takes me from Philly> Salt Lake City > San Francisco>Taipei>Hong Kong. The first two legs of the trip are on Delta and are fine. Sean and I meet up in San Francisco since he flew out of Albany. The next two legs are on China Air. Additionally, Sean and I aren't sitting together so I have nobody to talk to which sucks, but I guess is no different than last time when I sat next to William the entire trip. ZING! Actually William slept the entire trip but I couldn't help myself.

So I typically judge an airline by whether or not they still have ashtrays in the armrest. Not only did they have ashtrays but they were big ashtrays. The plane is very dated and doesn't have the sleep pods like North West. By the time I got on the flight to Taipei I was exhausted and slept for about 4 hours. When I awoke I figured I'd watch some in-flight entertainment. To my dissaoppointment, all the good movies are being played on return flights. In addition, I had no control over what I watched. They had 8 channels that just played movies in a loop. I watched Wanted with Angelina Jolie. Sucked. I then watched Death Defying Acts which starred Catherine Zeta Jones and Guy Pearce and was about Harry Houdini. Sucked. I am looking forward to Dark Knight and Tropic Thunder for the ride home.

After the movies I decided to play some video games. The inflight games were Super Nintendo Games from 1993. Agian, giving indication as to how old this plane is. Now for nastaligic sake you may think this is cool, but they had the worst choices of games. Other than Super Mario and Street fighter they sucked. Give me some Tecmo Bowl or RBI baseball please.

Looking at the big picture, the plane got us there safely and with very little turbulance so score one for China Air.

Irony?

So while I was waiting to board my first flight for my HK trip I was standing next to a mother, daughter and the daughters son. So the mother was concerned because a guy they were sitting with had left his bags and didn't return. So she is conveying her concern to her daughter who replies with "I don't care, it doesn't effect me and my life". I understand that she doesn't want to cause an airport evacuation and I'm sure it was probably nothing, but the irony of the whole situation was that her son is standing there wearing a Ground Zero 9/11 baseball hat.