[simongr]

Well as widely reported in this thread (Oneworld circle asia fare.) this is not a CircleAsia fare to Asia – it’s just a really expensive ticket

The objective of this trip was to visit a new business that we had bought who have offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The guy that works with me (tgtwwmTM) is also on this trip. Through lots of messing around we finally decided to scale back the work at the new businesses and do a normal audit at our existing Shanghai office. This meant an extended visit to Hong Kong shared service centre (where at least 1 of my bosses is based).

So my routing is:

SYD-HKG-PEK[stop]-HKG[stop]-PVG[stop]-HKG-SYD

This is a maze of flying for me – I have my first whY flight in a long time (waitlisted for J) but we are travelling SYD-HKG-SYD in F on QF – so that will be nice. Although a little too early to sample the new SYD F lounge and F service (I will need to work on that).

[simongr]

Journey – SYD-HKG
Flight no. – QF127
Class – First
Seat – 2A

After a crazy weekend for my birthday staying at the Hilton in Sydney I was very rushed getting ready for the trip. So it was a bleary eyed simongr that was putting the final touches to packing and burning DVDs as the car arrived on Monday morning. This the foggy day in Sydney where a number of flights had been diverted inbound to Sydney.

The new Lane Cove tunnel is a dream and made my trip to the Airport take about 40 minutes rather than 60. At the airport I was through check in quickly as ever in F and its off to the lounge.

Sadly as this is a morning flight I won’t be tucking into the Moet too heavily. A nice little breakfast of ham and cheese rolls and a latte was ok. This lounge with its lack of any view really does need to be closed (and I am now wondering what will happen to it when the new F lounge opens?).

I am still fuming at the lack of free wireless in the lounge. Fortunately I have a Telstra account so it’s a simple connection for me. A little while catching up with AFF after the weekend off and my colleague joins me in the lounge and we discuss my antics over the weekend and our plans for the week. He is disembarking at HKG whilst I head on to PEK.

The flight isn’t quite called but we head off to the gate anyway – unsure how far away it is. After a minute or two waiting to board we are off. On board the F cabin does look a little old. It will be strange (if I get the chance to fly F again soon) to go from the new sleek F lounge to a tired and old looking F seat on QF – that old A380 problem again.

The onboard welcome is great. The staff member takes care of everything with a nice glass of champagne and some almonds (I decline the olives on the grounds that they are the devil’s fruit). We have a brief chat about the fog at Sydney this morning and the journey in and I am thinking this is going to be a good flight.

I am straight into my PJ’s (I still waited for one person to crack and change first) but tgtwwm is adamant that there are no PJ’s on daytime flights). He does however succumb to a Crown lager after take off whereas I stick to the (now) traditional G&T. This is ok if a little strong.

As ever I have trouble finding the power outlet (yes I now know its near the ottoman) but eventually I am settling in to watch Smallville and Lost from this week. The menu looks interesting but there is nothing that grabs me. Whilst deciding they bring out these fantastic appetisers – Cold cauliflower soup with salmon roe (much, much nicer than it sounds) and a thai beef roll wrapped in seaweed – absolutely lovely.

I opt for the Calzone (I am trying to be more innovative in food choices) but sadly the experiment fails There is a choice of cheese or tart and of course I opt for the cheese (there are even sufficient biscuits).

I am slowly slugging back the shiraz and sliding down in the chair whilst watching laptopTV and eventually I crash out for a couple of hours (good or bad thing – not sure at this point). Eventually I wake up and find that I don’t have any in seat power any longer even after fiddling with the outlet. Ah well – no work for me then

I then discover that the pax in the seat across the aisle is in fact staff (I see that written on the menu choices that the staff are writing down (I really am too nosey for other people’s own good) and he doesn’t touch a drop of alcohol on the flight – good news for the shareholders

Eventually they run out of crown (I Blame tgtwwm) so I have to switch to HP :bleh:

About 90 minutes before descent I am offered and accept a delicious steak sandwich – this is good preparation for me as I don’t expect food on the ground. It is a really good steak sandwich. As we descend they switch on the purple mood lighting (mrssimongr would love it) and we are soon into HKG.

My reflections on this flight is that the staff were superb and were all asian which makes wonder if they were HKG based staff with an understanding of service, the seats are old and tired but the control panel is neat and effective. Finally I realise that on my last (and only other) QF F flight there are two extra F seats in the cabin. I am sure in the SYD-SIN flight the front two F seats in the centre of the aircraft weren’t there – maybe that was CX…

[simongr]

Journey – HKG-PEK
Flight no. – KA906
Class – whY (dear god please save me from this)
Seat – 43H Yup you read that right – 43H

Well here we are – its time to face the music, pay the piper, let the mice run free, hang out the washing on the Siegfried line and swallow done my pride – I am back in whY. Its clear from both lounges that I try it on – I aint getting no lounge access today. It’s more annoying as I don’t have any juice in the laptop, I am tired and I need a glass of champagne (ok maybe that last part sounded a little snobbish).

I manage to find the departure gate which seems to be as far from the rest of the airport as humanly possible. It comes time to board and despite having asked about 12 times now I really am not going to be sitting in J. I am not even getting priority boarding – this is just not cricket.

Way back in 43H I do however have 3 seats to myself which is nice (as I had moved from 38A) but I am wondering if I have walked off the aircraft as I cant even see the front of the plane!

Right so this is economy – I think I remember this. Seats so narrow my legs have to be at an angle to fit in. No-one has offered me any champagne (that must be coming soon) and I don’t seem to have any PTV or AVOD.

Well off we go. After a while I notice the seatbelt sign hasn’t gone out – I guess that must be turbulence. Also no-one is offering food and the FAs are in their seats still. After about 90 mins of this (the flight is about 3 ½ hours) I am really wondering what is going on – the turbulence isn’t even that bad. Finally an announcement:

Originally Posted by ThePilot

Ladies and gentlemen we just wanted to advise that due to a mechanical problem we have been circling HKG airport for the past 90 minutes hoping that we could push on to PEK. However we are going to have to land back at HKG and transfer you to another flight.

Due to us being loaded with fuel we are going to have to lower the landing gear to enable us to burn a little more fuel (apologies for the excess CO2) so you may hear a little noise.

On landing we will be transferring you to another aircraft for your onward trip to PEK

Hmm – this is not turning out well….

R-O-A-R

A little noise might be an understatement….

Anyway back to HKG an don’t back to the lounge it’s onto the BUS after deplaning and back to the terminal for a cookie and a bottle of water. Some people aren’t taking this well (one woman stamps her feet as they tell she needs to get a transit passenger card – don’t think she was too happy earlier that her and partner were in AB with someone in C and I had 3 seats to myself )

This is my first serious flight delay whilst travelling on business and I am tossing up whether to proceed to PEK but I push on – imagine the stress when people realise they are going to be more delayed whilst they get my bags

I phone the hotel and explain the situation and ask that they re-arrange the car that is going to collect me – I have no idea if I managed to get the message across – my visit to PEK is looking worse by the minute.

I notice on re-boarding that although the aircraft is the same the seats are slightly different. I decide though as it is now 11PM my time it is really time to sleep. This was a tricky exercise given I am 6’ 2” and no matter which way I fold I am not going to fit. I actually skip dinner as I am so tired I even doze a little.

We arrive at 2AM (note the lack of curfew) into a very quiet airport. It was interesting going through immigration to see that I could decide rate the performance of the immigration staff – as I had no benchmark I decided against that

The baggage was pretty much ready at the carousel and the Sheraton guy was waiting for me – he took both bags and then handed me off to a very silent driver for the ride to the Sheraton on the Great Wall.

[Shano]

Good reading simongr, look forward to the rest.

Just a hint of English satire.....

[garyjohn951]

When you become a WP you shouldn't have that lounge problem !

[simongr]

Literally just got home (not even unpacked) - sadly I wont be WP as i am aiming for AA EXP - but might go for WP f from Sep 2007 qualifying period.

PLan to potentially finish this today - but deadlines do tend to whoosh by

[NM]

Originally Posted by simongr

Finally I realise that on my last (and only other) QF F flight there are two extra F seats in the cabin. I am sure in the SYD-SIN flight the front two F seats in the centre of the aircraft weren’t there – maybe that was CX…

QF has always had 14 F seats in Zone A on their 3-class 744s. CX has 12, with no 2E or 2F seats.

[BlacKnox]

Good stuff simongr - keep it coming. And PS, I'd be reluctant to ever order a calzone, burrito, tortilla or anything "tex-mexish" on a flight. Best left to restaurants and those wonderful curbside stalls found in California and Texas (& for the adventurous) Mehico .

[simongr]

Sheraton Beijing – Sheraton on the Great Wall (technically it isn’t in fact ON the great wall…) - Part 1

I check in at 2:20AM local time – about 4AM my time. I am given an Executive Floor room but no executive floor benefits – basically breakfast isn’t free I was offered the opportunity to “upgrade” my room to include Executive Floor benefits for 1,500 Starwood points per night. As I have commented elsewhere given that Starwood points are very hard to earn I wasn’t going to give them up for breakfast that the company would pay for (yes I know the company paid for the original hotel stays that earned the points but ethics is a discussion for in the lounge one day).

Although I was exhausted I couldn’t sleep. I am the sort of person that if I am truly knackered I can have a 15 minute “power nap” and then I am ok for another 6 – 7 hours so my little kip on the flight is in fact having adverse effects on my sleeping.

Eventually I get to sleep at about 3AM local time – that is 5AM Sydney which ironically is when I normally would be getting up

I iron a shirt and head down the Trattoria for breakfast – yes that is correct an Italian restaurant in a Western Hotel in Beijing is responsible for breakfast. I am glad now that I didn’t upgrade with points as the buffet is pretty good and sets me up for the day.

Now the real expedition begins. I have in my hands a piece of paper (no not like Neville Chamberlain), a very important piece of paper. Written on it is the English and Chinese (with Chinese characters) is the address of my office in Beijing. The Soho Buildings – Building B. Pretty easy I think. I had the paper to the bell captain (he looks more like a lieutenant but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt) and he instructs the driver exactly where to go. This is a relief for me as I have no idea where I am in Beijing, where our office is and I don’t speak a word of Chinese (perhaps my readiness for taking on an APAC role is not as ready as perhaps it should be).

We set off into the calm and measured world of driving in Beijing. Hmm – let’s reconsider that phrase – there are about 10-14 marked lanes on the road outside the hotel and we seem to be using all of those plus a few in between and around the edges. I don’t feel in any real danger – perhaps that is the lack of sleep and all blood has drained from my body in fright. The drive is slow but scary and eventually I see signs for SOHO. Thank god for that this little nightmare will be over soon.

[simongr]

Part 2

We pull up outside building B and I hop out and pay the pittance that the ride costs. Into building B and I look for suite 601… hmm we don’t seem to be listed in this building at all. Perhaps the signs are out of date… I grab a lift to level 6 and look for suite 601 – which appears to be a now closed import/export business. Oh dear.

A not so quick call to our new business and I eventually find Raymond and try and work out what is going on:

Raymond: Hello simongr is there a problem?
Simongr: Well the cab brought me to Building B in the Soho buildings and you don’t seem be here…
R: Which SOHO building did you go to?
S: Which? There is more than 1?
R: Grab a cab and call me back and I will direct the driver
S: Riiiiight….

Back outside and into another cab who when he reads the instructions shakes his head and points into the distance. At this stage I take a punt and ride with it eventually landing outside the red SOHO buildings (the others were white). Phew we are actually here.

A good day’s work is done and I manage to make it back to the hotel without much drama. I then decide to take a walk to do some shopping (I need a USB Bluetooth adaptor for Skype as I left mine at home). Beijing is so different to both my expectations and anything else I have experienced. Where we are at this hotel I don’t really get a feeling of the Chinese history and culture – in fact as I look out over Beijing I don’t get much of an impression of anything at all. What I do see though is people everywhere and very expensive German cars.

After a longish walk around and a little bit of browsing its back to the hotel. A bit of dinner from room service and I crash out only to wake at 4AM local time – this is going be a tiring trip I feel.

Again I am screwed over by the cab driver and AGAIN I am taken to the white buildings. this time he refuses to believe that we are at the wrong place - are we having fun yet?