It’s June 30, 12:40PM JST (Japanese Standard Time) and I’m on an Air Canada flight on route to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. Aside from a 3 hour delay (apparently do to clogged toilets, so we were told) and crying babies sitting in the row behind me, the flight has been great so far.It’s a 13 hour flight, 6200 miles and I’m just a bit over halfway there.
“halfway there”
I will be travelling to destinations in China and Japan in the next 30 days (June 29-July 29), visiting family and doing photography as well as acquainting with my Asian roots in the process. I’ll be trekking major cities like Beijing, Nanning, Dalian, and Tokyo, living a traditional life in hamlets and villages, visiting the highlands and prairies of Inner Mongolia, possibly exploring the Shanghai Expo and visiting friends in Nanjing and Hong Kong (and more if time allows). I’m looking forward to experiencing different cultures and food. Yum.
Of course, I’ll be posting my journey on this blog during the next month, whenever I get the chance to access WiFi. And post lots of photos? You bet :) You can subscribe to my RSS feed (link on the sidebar to the right) for updates using your favorite RSS reader.
After arriving in Tokyo, I’ll be taking a connection flight to Beijing and arrive there at 21:55 (9:55PM) June 30, CST (China Standard Time). If you see this post, it means that I have arrived in Beijing or Tokyo since there is no WiFi on the plane.
UPDATE 1: July 1st, 2010 9:14 AM JST Tokyo
Contrary to my plans to arrive in Beijing yesterday, I’m still at Tokyo Narita International Airport, 14 hours after arriving from Toronto. Thanks Air Canada. Upon arriving to board the flight for Beijing last night, I was greeted by an apologetic All Nippon Airways (ANA) representative who politely told me that she could not find my connection flight booking in the system, despite me having the physical ticket for the flight by Air Canada on behalf of ANA. After 40 minutes of talking with the Air Canada supervisor at Narita (who was also very polite and understanding), I was booked for the earliest flight to Beijing the next morning at 10:35AM JST. Accommodations were made and I was shuttled over to a nearby plaza hotel where I stayed for the night. Morning came soon after and I was shuttled back to Narita at 7:30AM JST. It’s 9:33AM JST now and I’m sitting at the gate to await boarding. I’m due to arrive in Beijing at 13:25 CST.
“Moeeeeee”
This morning I had my first taste of BOSS coffee. While it tasted good, I don’t feel any more “moe” like advertised. (search BOSS coffee Akihabara commercials on YouTube, heh.)
UPDATE 2: July 1, 2010 16:47 CST Beijing
“Over Tokyo Narita Airport – 11:00AM JST”
The ANA (All Nippon Airways) flight was awesome. I had a window seat and beside me sat a Japanese businessman. Like all the Japanese people I’ve met on my trip so far, he was polite and very friendly. My Japanese is rudimentary at best and his English and Mandarin were equally poor, but we made do through a combination of all three languages and drawing on napkins and chopstick wrappers and hand gestures and smiles. He told me that he worked for Sinopec as a part of their management, a Chinese national petroleum company that runs many of the gas stations across the country. Mentioning sightseeing in China to him triggered a nostalgic recollection of his past trips. “Wo he sen huan beiijiing de yie de jinng, heh”, he tells me over beer (which I will get to) which translates to roughly “I love Beijing’s night scenery, heh” and “Dalian de hai xian watashi ga sugoku daiisuki” which is a combination of Mandarin and Japanese meaning “I love Dalian’s Seafood.”
“Itadakimasu!”
Lunch was fantastic for airline food. Beef sukiyaki, soba noodles, edamame, Japanese salad, and for desert, a warm custard pudding of some sort with a sweet sauce, along with green tea to wrap things up. Air Canada’s dinner menu could not even compare to this. My new Japanese friend was remarking about Chinese hotpot (essentially meat/veggies cooked in a broth base over a fire and eaten with sauce) and comparing it to Shabu-Shabu which is the Japanese version. After lunch was over, the drinking began.
“It’s happy hour over the Pacific!”
Flight attendants came around offering a selection of beer and wine. With choices being foreign to me, what resulted was a tasting session of domestic Japanese beers. And as expected, the Japanese businessman offered words of encouragement in a way I, or perhaps anyone, could understand.
“Nomu! Nomu! Nomu!”, while raising his cup. (Drink Drink Drink)
So for the next hour, I had Sapporo, two types of Asahi, Suntory, as well as some white wine. And consequentially, many trips to the washroom were made. The verdict was that Asahi “Super Dry” was the best. Very smooth. We had a discussion about Chinese and international beer spanning Budweiser, Corona, Shiue Hua, TsingDao, and Nanjing.
The flight arrived in Beijing on time, but picking up my checked luggage took a good 40 minutes. Maybe it’s because Beijing Airport is crazy big. I had to take a train from my arrival gate to the customs/immigration ward and it took 10 minutes. This is in comparison to Toronto airport where the trip was only a 30 second walk. My cousin came to pick me up and then we took the subway to the city core to her home.
Coming out of the airport, the temperature was downright boiling and extremely humid. 37 degrees Celsius.Ever imagine what it would be like to take a shower in your clothes? Yep, in sweat. A thunderstorm had just passed so the city was blanketed in a layer of thick fog.
More to come about my first day in Beijing in my next post. I’m going to take a shower now :)