Formula 1, Friends and Food. Exploring Shanghai.
Apr 19, 2016, 6:45 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 6km East of EPAYE
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, AS & DL GM Marriott TE, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,582
Formula 1, Friends and Food. Exploring Shanghai.
I have Anthony Bourdain's voice stuck in my head. Snarky, relaxed, meandering and just the right amount of drunk; I hear him. Maybe it is because I watched the Shanghai episode of Parts Unknown half a dozen times honing my pronunciation of Xiaolongbao or maybe it's because "...even if I dedicated my life to learning about China, I [will] die mostly ignorant."
This was a trip of many firsts. It was my first time in Shanghai, my traveling companion Sean's first time in Asia, and both of our first Formula 1 race (Go Lewis!!). It was an action packed four days which included helping TOMFORD find true love which is, last time I checked, a work in progress. It's time to board our last flight home - trip report starts tomorrow.
-Madone59
Thailand Honeymoon
Italy 2014
Thailand 2014
Beijing Trip Report
This was a trip of many firsts. It was my first time in Shanghai, my traveling companion Sean's first time in Asia, and both of our first Formula 1 race (Go Lewis!!). It was an action packed four days which included helping TOMFORD find true love which is, last time I checked, a work in progress. It's time to board our last flight home - trip report starts tomorrow.
-Madone59
[SIZE="2"]PREVIOUS TRIP REPORTS[/SIZE]
Thailand Honeymoon
Italy 2014
Thailand 2014
Beijing Trip Report
Last edited by Madone59; Aug 27, 2019 at 7:10 am
Apr 19, 2016, 6:51 pm
#2
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: AA, SPG
Posts: 202
This season has not been well for Lewis so far. I'm excited HAAS is doing so well. Can't wait for this trip report. I was at Austins F1 race last year and we're planning a trip to see them at spa next year.
Shanghai is a really awesome track
Shanghai is a really awesome track
Apr 20, 2016, 1:06 pm
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 6km East of EPAYE
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, AS & DL GM Marriott TE, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,582
San Diego to Shanghai
I was laying in bed last Thursday night thinking "when I wake up I will get to have DaDong for dinner." DaDong, the peaking duck restaurant of Beijing fame was going to be our first meal in Shanghai and nothing was going to stand in my way. I had been dreaming about my next serving of duck since I last looked back while walking....no....rolling away from my lunch Beijing almost a year ago. My phone buzzed, it was a text from Sean "Shanghai tomorrow" followed by many thumbs up.
Before I get to side tracked, I think you need to know how we got here. If you have read my trip reports you know by now I travel a little for work but frequently and happily pad by mileage bank with mileage runs. I'd come home from an hour in Boston or a day in Hong Kong and regale Sean with my tales of avoiding DVT. Which, to no ones surprise, over time fueled Sean's travel bug. Now not being Sean's girlfriend or his job I find that I need the jaws of life to get some time out of his schedule so in January of this year I forwarded him a reservation confirmation from American Airlines and told him to 1. Get a Chinese visa and 2. pay me back. What are friends for, if not for booking trips to China without your permission?
Shortly after booking the tickets I noticed the Chinese Grand Prix would be in town that same weekend. I am a big F1 fan, and Sean loves all things on four wheels, so with the help of Sean's parents and a friend at Hugo Boss I cooked up a plan to surprise him with tickets to the race AND a inside tour of the Mercedes AMG Petronas pit.
San Diego Airspace lounge. You can still access the lounge with either an Admirals Club membership or American Express Platinum. With AMEX you get a $10 credit per person towards food and beverage.
Ed Force 1 in LA!
A short bus ride to T4 followed by a quick walk over to TBIT, and right into the KAL lounge thanks to Priority Pass.
Snack time
This was my first time in TBIT, what a great facility!
Shopping anyone?
Spotted from above in the lounge, the rare american Cheetah Leopard!!
About ten minutes before boarding we headed to the gate. On the way we got to see a whale being fed
Our ride to China
Coming and going. SAS touching down as we taxi out
Sitting in 8A you get a great view of the 787's wing bend. It's very hard to give perspective through a photo, but it's a really cool sight to see.
The AA MCE seats are great, I felt like these seats were a little narrower than the 77W's but still not a bad place to park it for 13 hours. While thinking about this TR I had made a note to scold AA for the awful food on this flight but then we were served the meals on the flight home and I changed my tune right quick. The food on the flight home made this stuff look like Thomas Keller's finest!!
Dinner: beef or chicken, chicken or beef? It really didn't matter.
Dessert
For those who have not flown on the 787, and I hadn't until this trip, the windows grind my gears so heed my advise and DON'T SIT ON THE SUN SIDE OF THE PLANE! Have you see the 80's movie Trouble With Dick? Of course you haven't it was awful, that was a rhetorical question. The main character, Dick who is a sci-fi writer, is dreaming about being on Mars and half the movie is shot with an annoying green filter. It is like Traffic but a lot less subtle. Well because we were on the sun side of the plane I spent the day starting out to a purple universe wondering if I was landing in a world where the sun had been blocked out by the purple haze Jimmy Hendrix had been trying to warn us about! Why did no one listen, why oh why....Jimmy tried to warn us but we didn't listen!!! Now we live in a world where they wear hats on our feet and hamburgers eat people. PEOPLE! You catch my drift, the purple is annoying.
Welcome to PVG
Our gate was not available, so after a short driving tour we were parked at a remote gate which allowed for some really great plane photos!
SQ reflection through the bus window
After a short walk and breeze through customs we briefly had the opportunity to chat with MJR1975. It does not happen a lot but I always like when fellow FTers spot my yellow luggage tag and say hello ^. After an inexplicable line through customs we were ripped off for a taxi and on our way to the Yu Garden Renaissance.
Throw the bags in the room, change of socks and shirt no time to waste the clock was ticking. We had to get to DaDong. After going up and down Nanjing road a few extra times our cab driver finally pulled over, shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands palms up -you know, the international sign for I have no idea where this place is- Sean and I took the the streets and finished the quest for duck on foot. For those looking to go to DaDong just to go the corner of Nanjing and Changde Road, it is directly across from Shanghai Landmark HUGO BOSS, China, Shanghai, Huangpu, Nanjing Road.
If you have ever gone to a restaurant and said "There are just so many choices I don't know what to order. It all looks so good" save yourself the pain and don't go to DaDong. The menu is bafflingly dense, and if you see something you like good luck finding that page again!
Sean explores DaMenu
DaSetup
DaCondiments
DaBears
DaDuck!!!!
Stuffed to the gills we took a short walk up Nanjing road looking for a taxi where we encountered this fellow head on the steering wheel, asleep in the middle of an intersection! We kept walking.
Nanjing Road at night
Taking a look out of our window. Good night Shanghai. Tomorrow Formula 1.
Before I get to side tracked, I think you need to know how we got here. If you have read my trip reports you know by now I travel a little for work but frequently and happily pad by mileage bank with mileage runs. I'd come home from an hour in Boston or a day in Hong Kong and regale Sean with my tales of avoiding DVT. Which, to no ones surprise, over time fueled Sean's travel bug. Now not being Sean's girlfriend or his job I find that I need the jaws of life to get some time out of his schedule so in January of this year I forwarded him a reservation confirmation from American Airlines and told him to 1. Get a Chinese visa and 2. pay me back. What are friends for, if not for booking trips to China without your permission?
Shortly after booking the tickets I noticed the Chinese Grand Prix would be in town that same weekend. I am a big F1 fan, and Sean loves all things on four wheels, so with the help of Sean's parents and a friend at Hugo Boss I cooked up a plan to surprise him with tickets to the race AND a inside tour of the Mercedes AMG Petronas pit. San Diego Airspace lounge. You can still access the lounge with either an Admirals Club membership or American Express Platinum. With AMEX you get a $10 credit per person towards food and beverage.
Ed Force 1 in LA!
A short bus ride to T4 followed by a quick walk over to TBIT, and right into the KAL lounge thanks to Priority Pass.
Snack time
This was my first time in TBIT, what a great facility!
Shopping anyone?
Spotted from above in the lounge, the rare american Cheetah Leopard!!
About ten minutes before boarding we headed to the gate. On the way we got to see a whale being fed
Our ride to China
Coming and going. SAS touching down as we taxi out
Sitting in 8A you get a great view of the 787's wing bend. It's very hard to give perspective through a photo, but it's a really cool sight to see.
The AA MCE seats are great, I felt like these seats were a little narrower than the 77W's but still not a bad place to park it for 13 hours. While thinking about this TR I had made a note to scold AA for the awful food on this flight but then we were served the meals on the flight home and I changed my tune right quick. The food on the flight home made this stuff look like Thomas Keller's finest!!
Dinner: beef or chicken, chicken or beef? It really didn't matter.
Dessert
For those who have not flown on the 787, and I hadn't until this trip, the windows grind my gears so heed my advise and DON'T SIT ON THE SUN SIDE OF THE PLANE! Have you see the 80's movie Trouble With Dick? Of course you haven't it was awful, that was a rhetorical question. The main character, Dick who is a sci-fi writer, is dreaming about being on Mars and half the movie is shot with an annoying green filter. It is like Traffic but a lot less subtle. Well because we were on the sun side of the plane I spent the day starting out to a purple universe wondering if I was landing in a world where the sun had been blocked out by the purple haze Jimmy Hendrix had been trying to warn us about! Why did no one listen, why oh why....Jimmy tried to warn us but we didn't listen!!! Now we live in a world where they wear hats on our feet and hamburgers eat people. PEOPLE! You catch my drift, the purple is annoying.
Welcome to PVG
Our gate was not available, so after a short driving tour we were parked at a remote gate which allowed for some really great plane photos!
SQ reflection through the bus window
After a short walk and breeze through customs we briefly had the opportunity to chat with MJR1975. It does not happen a lot but I always like when fellow FTers spot my yellow luggage tag and say hello ^. After an inexplicable line through customs we were ripped off for a taxi and on our way to the Yu Garden Renaissance.
Throw the bags in the room, change of socks and shirt no time to waste the clock was ticking. We had to get to DaDong. After going up and down Nanjing road a few extra times our cab driver finally pulled over, shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands palms up -you know, the international sign for I have no idea where this place is- Sean and I took the the streets and finished the quest for duck on foot. For those looking to go to DaDong just to go the corner of Nanjing and Changde Road, it is directly across from Shanghai Landmark HUGO BOSS, China, Shanghai, Huangpu, Nanjing Road.
If you have ever gone to a restaurant and said "There are just so many choices I don't know what to order. It all looks so good" save yourself the pain and don't go to DaDong. The menu is bafflingly dense, and if you see something you like good luck finding that page again!
Sean explores DaMenu
DaSetup
DaCondiments
DaBears
DaDuck!!!!
Stuffed to the gills we took a short walk up Nanjing road looking for a taxi where we encountered this fellow head on the steering wheel, asleep in the middle of an intersection! We kept walking.
Nanjing Road at night
Taking a look out of our window. Good night Shanghai. Tomorrow Formula 1.
Last edited by Moomba; May 12, 2017 at 4:39 pm
