olafman

After all the ordeal of getting into China, I was so happy to be back in Beijing. My first visit was in 1987 when I spent three weeks backpacking through China. It was a very different place back then. Beijing barely had any tall buildings. It was much less accustomed to foriegners and I remember sneaking into a luxury hotel to use their bathrooms. We stayed at a “tourist” hotel on the outskirts of town for about $5 a day for our own room with bath. It was full of a young, backpacking crowd who were the early adventurers into China. Three years later I was back with work and I saw a noticeable difference.

It now had been 25 years since my 1990 visit and I was really shocked to see the amazing growth. I booked us into the Lee Garden Service Apartments next to The Peninsula and across from the Waldorf-Astoria. It was definitely the 5-star hotel area. For about $200 a night, we got a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with full kitchen and washer and dryer. Everything was very modern and stylish. This seemed a nice bargain after Japan’s prices. Jane and her daughter got a one-bedroom place for about $150. The best part was that it is located about 3 blocks from Beijing’s version of Times Square and walking street. The neon lights at night were just like New York.

We got in around 11:00 p.m. and were meeting our guide at 9:00 a.m. so we decided not to venture out. It had been a long, stressful day and I needed to book a ticket back to the US!

Luckily in about 20 minutes, I figured out that I could fly out of the smaller Seoul airport into Haneda to connect to my previously booked JAL 777 flight in First to San Francisco. The best part was that my old boss from Pearson now lived there and was going to be flying in the previous day from a two month stint in Jakarta. It was kismet. I would be able to have lunch with them in Seoul. It was all going to work out.

We got the team up and just had breakfast downstairs in the restaurant. It turned out to be expensive and not very good. At $20 a person, we could have done a lot better. But it was convenient and easy.

I had hired a guide to show us around for our two day visit to Beijing. I found the site on the website: http://www.utopia-asia.com/ I’ve used them successfully in the past to help me connect up with a local gay tour guide. I last used them in KL and had a great guide for the day to take us all around.

Sucer, our Beijing guide, was a delight. We really enjoyed hanging out with him. Even the kids thought he was great. For the first day, he also organized a car and driver to take us to the Great Wall and Summer Palace. Our driver was a sweet woman who had a large minivan to cart us all around. The air conditioning was the best part on this hot and humid summer day.

We drove about an hour and a half north of the center to reach our section of the wall. Sucer chose a part of the wall that he felt had fewer tourists. Sucer provided us with lots of history of China and Beijing as we journeyed out to the Great Wall. When we got there, I wanted a coffee and was shocked to pay $6 for a coffee. This wasn’t the China I visited in 1987. Our guide said that the prices were for the tourists but I couldn’t believe it.

Now caffeinated we began our walk up the famous wall. The boys as usual effortlessly ran up with the adults a bit behind. After a bit, our guide said he would wait near the bottom for us as he didn’t need to hike far up.


At the Great Wall


A damn long wall


And very steep


Hard to stand up straight


We were a little sweaty after a while


Not quite sure what the issue here is. I think that they were trying to warm me about something though.

We actually walked higher and further than I was expecting. It was a thrill for all of us to be there together. Visiting the Wall should definitely be on everyone’s bucket list. Even for my third visit, it was still impressive.

I had mentioned to Sucer that I had had several bad meals at “tourist” restaurants. I asked him to pick a place that was authentic. We are all great eaters but wanted something beyond the normal tourist fare. I also said we didn’t want ANY “factory” tours. I knew all the traps.

Unfortunately, Sucer dropped us off at lunch at a large “factory” where they made cloisonné and then offered lunch at a government run restaurant. Once I saw that it was a factory, Sucer promised me we could just quickly walk through and get to lunch. If they lunch had been decent, I wouldn’t have minded but instead, it was the same tourist crap that I had been served on previous trips. I let him know afterwards that it was not what I was looking for.

For the afternoon, we toured the Summer Palace. The boys enjoyed the morbid stories of the mean queen that built the place. The palace was heaving with tourist but most of who were Chinese. I enjoyed seeing the groups of kids running around.


Our guide, Sucer, tells us about the Summer Palace


The lily pads of the Summer Palace


The Marble Boat

I asked Sucer if he could book some acrobat show seats for that night and he got us great seats at a theater about 15 minutes from our hotel. We all enjoyed the show and were all really impressed.

After the show, I tried out Uber in Beijing and saw something called People’s Uber. I did some fast researcha and it is essentially a cheap version of Uber. The 15 minute ride home only cost me 10 yuan, $1.61!!! Such a bargain. Needless to say we used Uber for the rest of the trip!


An evening acrobat show


You’ve got to love a $1.61 USD Uber ride for a 12 minute journey

That night we walked from our place over to the walking street. It was ablaze with neon lights and video screens. It was really a fun atmosphere. We headed to the famous night market for some street food and shopping. Corbin had previous said he would like to try scorpion but in the moment decided against it. Instead we stuck to prawns and a variety of dumplings and buns.


Enjoying some scorpions and millipedes at the night market

At the night market, I found a photo opportunity to play dress up in some fun Chinese costumes. These are my favorite pictures of the trip!


Corbin the Warrior


Jane and I take a photo for our new passports

The next morning we met up with Sucer and Uber’ed over to the Forbidden City. Having a guide always made getting tickets a breeze. A local guide sure is a wonderful luxury. We didn’t have to worry about anything.

That morning a friend of mine Andy from Los Angeles met up with us. He is living in Beijing for a year to help design theme parks there for their growing middle class. He had only been there two weeks so was happy to join our tour for the day.


The Forbidden City

Sucer arranged for us to have lunch at a private home in the old area of Beijing. It was fun to see these smaller more traditional house.


Eating at a family home in the old part of Beijing


Some local transport to get us around

After lunch we headed over to the Lamma Temple. Sucer was excited to show it to us as it is his favorite. We did enjoy it but we all were a little tired.

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Buying our incense

For our final meal of the trip, we treated ourselves to a Peking Duck dinner at Dadong. It was honestly one of the top 10 meals of my life. We ordered two ducks for the six of us plus a variety of other outstanding food. It was a great experience, never to be forgotten.


Our Peking Duck feast


Time for some martinis before the duck


Our duck is getting ready


We enjoyed lots of good food


Time to carve up the delectable meat


One of the best meals of my life

Our 72 hour visit to the People’s Republic of China couldn’t have gone better. I’m really glad the kids got to see China before it changes even more. I was worried about the summer pollution that I had heard so much about. Thankfully it has recently rained and it cleaned up things nicely.

It was great to see China grown up since my last visit. I was really happy to see the new middle class. They’ve had an amazing couple of decades and I hope they have considered success.

Up next, I travel from Beijing and try to get home to San Francisco.

roadwarrier

Such an awesome adventure! I was sweating about your visa issue - hope the rest of the trip goes along splendidly.

olafman

With China complete, it was time to get home. With the debacle of getting into China, I was the proud holder of an economy class ticket from Beijing to Seoul on Air China. From there I was able to book a ticket in Biz from the smaller Seoul airport, Gimpo, into Haneda and then connect back to my original flight on JAL in First. It was all going to work out.

The best part of this was that I was going to be able to see my old boss who now runs half of Asia for a large publisher. She and her family moved to Seoul a couple of years ago. I emailed her and they were just going to be back from two months at the Jakarta office.

As I sat down here to write about the Air China flight PEK-ICN, I honestly don’t remember a thing about it. I said goodbye to my son and nephew as they were flying home separately from me. I remember going to the Air China First Class lounge and eating a little. Then I remember walking a LONG way to get to the gate. But I actually have no memory of the flight, the plane, my seat… Maybe since it was just economy, it blended into all the other economy class flights I’ve taken and not a thing was interesting about it.

Anyway, I got to ICN and took the express train to the main station where I hopped into an Uber and got to my friend’s place in 10 minutes. They have a beautiful flat in the old embassy area of Seoul. They even have a big rooftop garden where they barbequed and their daughter played outside. It was a little warm to eat outside so we ventured back in. The whole afternoon was just wonderful. Seeing old friends gives me such a nice feeling. Throughout this trip we had met up with people that I hadn’t planned seeing.

I was really pleased to find a flight from Seoul’s smaller airport that is closer to town in Gimpo. After a great afternoon with my friends, I hopped into an Uber and was soon at Gimpo International Airport.

CHECK-IN: Grade 10/10
GMP is not a big airport. In fact, it reminded me of Burbank airport in Los Angeles. Check-in was empty I was quickly processed all the way back to San Francisco. I was pleased that I could get both boarding passes. The agent was surprised that I didn’t have any luggage to check. She even stood up to see the size of my rollie. She just smiled and said “You like to travel light!”. She let me know that the lounge was before security but they would be announcing the flight there.

LOUNGE: Grade 5/10
Japan Airlines uses a shared lounge that was pretty basic and small. There were some basic food items on offer with the typical beverages. It was a bit on the warm side and the internet was definitely slow. There was nothing special the place and unfortunately, it was not possible to escape the sound of the TVs.

I checked some work emails and continued some vacation reading to help pass the time. So enough, it was time to go!

BOARDING: Grade 8/10
Like Burbank airport, the security was empty and fast. By the time I got to the gate, I walked right up the podium for Business Class and was quickly on the jetway.

My plane tonight was a regional 767-300. Business was about half full and I was pleased to have a free seat next to me. The recliner seat was perfectly fine for the short-ish flight. I was offered a glass of bubbly which I gladly accepted.

INFLIGHT SERVICE: Grade 9/10
In spite of a short flight, JAL serves a very night meal. Everything was delicious. Like all JAL meals, it consisted of a large variety of items. I ate everything, lots of flavor and interesting food. The fish was especially nice.


Dinner from Gimpo, Korea to Haneda, Japan


Close up of the starters


Close up of the main

The flight attendants were very attentive and kept my glasses all full. I couldn’t complain about anything!

OVERALL: Grade 9/10
JAL did a nice job of getting me from Seoul to Tokyo. There is really no comparison to the equivalent domestic flight in the US. I loved landing at Haneda and seeing Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea where we started this trip to Asia!

Up next, the flight leg of the trip, JAL First Class to San Francisco!

LDNConsultant

I haven't been to Gimpo since 2006 to do a short domestic to Jeju but it becomes impractical for any LH flights since we shifted everything to ICN. If you live in Gangnam or anywhere SE of Seoul the time it takes to go to the airport is very similar (ICN is about 15 minutes longer). Hope you enjoyed the JAL F to SFO. Its a great flight!

farbster

Terrific trip report. I love that you climbed Mt. Fuji. Had you done any sort of training prior to the climb? When I say training, I mean did you jog a bit extra or any sort of exercise prior to your trip...

Thanks for doing the report

olafman

I am pretty active so I didn't do much special training. My friend Jane doesn't really go the gym or go on hikes much. She struggled a LOT! She says if it wasn't for my support, she and her daughter wouldn't have made it.

It is definitely an endurance slog. As we say on Kilimanjaro, "pole-pole" or little by little. Kili was much more difficult as it was 8,000 ft higher and a six day trek instead of just 1.5 days.

We read in many guidebooks that Mt Fuji is a hike you do once! You'd be crazy to do it twice. Worth it once though! ^

olafman

For several decades I’ve been a fan of Cathay Pacific First Class. I’ve been fortunate to experience it many times. I’ve sampled almost all of the competition and I still hold it in highest esteem. Our outbound flight on SQ in the Suites proved to be stiff competition. SQ definitely won with that great suite/seat.

But in planning my return, I looked chose to sample JAL’s 777 First Class instead of my usual CX. The last time I flew JAL in First was in 1991. It was back in the olden days when the non-smoking section of first class was Row 1 and the smoking section was Row 2. Needless to say the entire first class section was “the smoking section.

JAL has started to fly their newest first class product to SFO from Haneda so I was eager to see how they measured up against CX and SQ. I looked online at the product and it looked pretty nice. I’m also a huge fan of Japanese food so I knew that I was in for a treat.

LOUNGE: Grade 5/10

I arrived at Haneda and quickly found the JAL First Class Lounge. Since I had started my breakfast in Beijing and lunch in Seoul at my friend’s flat, the first thing I needed was a shower to rinse off the day. The showers was nice but the shower room suffered from the BA plague of a warm bathroom. I had already broken a sweat by the time I put my clothes on.

The First Class lounge was slightly underwhelming overall. It reminded me of a nice Business Class Lounge. The food offerings were all buffet with no “a la carte” menu items. There was a chef making hamburgers but I expected a much higher quality of food in general. Even the sushi was not very inspiring. The pieces of fish were tiny and thus you could barely taste them. I think about the amazing food I’ve had the BA Concorde Lounge, EK First Lounge and CX First Wing. This was no where in the same league. I’d even say that EK’s Emirates Lounges at their non-Dubai outposts are much better than this “home base” First lounge.


Lounge food


There also wasn’t any staff offering refills of beverages. Even my dirty dishes layed around much longer than I would have liked.

I was very surprised at the whole lounge experience. My guard was up and was hoping that the inflight experience would be a big improvement.

BOARDING:
The gate was very near the lounge and boarding had started by the time I arrived. Luckily I did not have to wait to present my boarding pass and get onboard. I was greeted at the door and escort to my seat.

Almost immediately I was offered champagne and newspapers. As it was just after midnight, I decided to change into my comfy flying clothes rather than waiting until we were in the air. The flight attendants took this as a sign that I didn’t want the sleep suit. I later asked for one to take home for house guests.


The perfect way to start a flight

The seat was nice and wide which I love. I love sitting with one leg tucked under me and there was plenty of width to stretch out. The weirdest thing of all is that the seat had this weird open area between the seat and aircraft fuselage. Other airlines cover this with some sort of grill. But JAL leaves it open exposing all the wiring and tubing. The worst part was that everything was very dusty and dirty. A small sign was visible indicating that the area was not for storage! Yuck.

INFLIGHT SERVICE:
This flight is about 10 hours and leaves around midnight. Most airlines offer a “supper” menu giving the option of eating a meal after takeoff. The only proper meal that JAL offers in First Class was a “breakfast” prior to arrival at 8:00 p.m. California time. If you want to eat at any other time, you can choose from the snack menu. With an evening arrival, my goal was to stay awake for as much of the flight as possible.

So once in the air, I continued with the champers and ordered a couple of the snacks from the menu: caviar service and lobster roll.

The caviar arrived along with another one of the snacks that I hadn’t even ordered. The quality of the caviar was good and it helped remind me that I was in first class.

The lobster roll was much more bread than lobster. It was definitely a sub-par offering. The whole “meal” felt very much like a snack service. I also am not a fan or tan/brown tablecloths and napkins.

I ended the meal with a lovely tea service.


Time for more food


A little caviar and other bits


Mama loves caviar at 39,000 ft


A rather bready lobster roll


Tea time

I took a three hour nap but pushed myself to wake up so that I could sleep when I arrived home. JAL offered a fairly hard Japanese style mat to sleep on. I much prefer the memory foam mattresses of other airlines. It was not a great nap.

About one and a half hours before landing, I requested “breakfast” even though we were landing around 5. I happen to love Japanese breakfast and it was a very good meal. I really enjoyed all the offerings. The irony was that for most Americans, they would have never recognized the food as “breakfast”. The quality was excellent but the one tray presentation was slightly less than First Class.


Japanese breakfast


Closeup of the main


The sides


Miso soup

OVERALL: 6/10
Japan Airlines offers a product that easily beats out all the US carriers. The trouble is that their competition is ANA, Cathay Pacific and Singapore. Within these competitors, they trail the rear. I don’t think I would go out of my way to experience their First Class again when I can experience the great offerings of so many of their neighbors.

I’m sitting here now planning another trip to South Africa. A friend really wants to join me and visit Dubai. So I think another EK A380 First Class experience is coming. But I am debating how to get home. The worst part is that SQ and CX no longer fly first class to South Africa. I’m still tempted to flight Business JNB-HKG just to be able to have another flight with Cathay HKG-SFO in their First. We are also thinking about Lufthansa as the timing is among the best. These are good problems to have.

Our trip to Asia to climb Mt. Fuji was overall a great success. My son was really happy to experience more of Japan and a brief visit to China. We’ve also started talking about his next summer plans. His cousin Colin that also came with us to Asia and he might head off without any parents to Iceland. I think it’s time for him to start having his own adventures.

halfcape

Thanks for sharing your report. It was so much fun to follow your trip and I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into your report. Your son is growing up very quickly! Thanks again.