Kobe, Lebron , Jason or Alex?

July 11, 2012
Hong Kong - Shenzhen (China)
Harbour Grand Kowloon - JW Marriott Shenzhen

The Harbour Grand is a 5* hotel located right on the breathtaking Victoria Harbour. My new friend, Sandy, who is the Director of Sales met me for breakfast at 9am and we spoke for an hour about the potential for our group staying at her hotel next time we visit. She showed me some of the additional rooms and suites and I must admit, they were quite nice. Not on the level of either of the JW Marriott's I stayed at, but probably closer to a 4 1/2 *.

After the tour I made it up to the rooftop pool, where it was considerably less crowded than yesterday afternoon. I was able to get in some uninterrupted laps in and enjoyed the morning sunshine.

I checked out at 11:30am and hopped on the subway for the 60 minute trip back to China, Shenzhen to be exact. There are two ports of entry in Shenzhen (from the Hong Kong side) and my entry port Lok Ma Chau was pretty quite, aside from about 50 1st and 2nd grade students who live in China but attend school in Hong Kong. They were out of control, but quite funny as well.

Immigration was a breeze and I was back on the subway... Shenzhen version... in a matter of minutes. It was just three stops to my hotel and after about 5 minutes in the train and a 10 minute walk from the station, I was checking in at the JW Marriott Shenzhen.

This was another "Free" room based on Marriott's summer promotion and I was once again upgraded to the Club Level, which included an upgraded room and concierge club access. If the JW in Beijing was a 5*, this hotel was probably a 4.8*. Things were exquisite, however there was just a small level missing in terms of attention to detail. I'd still highly recommend the JW Shenzhen though.

Shenzhen is a city of 10+ million people and just 30 years ago there were less than 300,000 people. This is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and they've done a great job managing the growth with an excellent infrastructure that has been put in place.

My goal in Shenzhen was to meet one of the future Knights of St. Joseph HS. This fall we are having 5 Chinese students and one of them lives in Shenzhen... HUANG, Ziyue.

Ziyue, along with his mother, father and cousin met me at the hotel for a buffet dinner and gave me a great welcoming gift of a gold dragon which will be proudly displayed in my office. Ziyue and his cousin both speak good English, while the parents mostly used them for translating everything. It was a lot of fun and Ziyue offered to take me on a city tour in the morning... which I readily accepted.

Most Chinese students arrive in the USA with a self-chosen Western name which helps us non-Chinese speakers who have trouble pronouncing words in the Chinese language. Ziyue came to the dinner thinking that he was going to choose "Jason" as his Western name, but he wasn't 100% sure. He asked my advice and my suggestions of "Lebron" or "Kobe" were met with some concern.

He told me that he'd think about names tonight and let me know in the morning.

Dinner was great, the company was even better and I think Ziyue's mom and dad feel more comfortable now with the fact that they are sending their only child across the world to continue his education. We gave our pleasantries and I returned to my room for an early night of slumber.

Heaven Is A Playground

July 10, 2012
Beijing - Hong Kong
JW Marriott Beijing - Harbour Grand Kowloon

My final day in Beijing began with another outstanding breakfast buffet before taking the airport express train to the airport.

Weather was once again hot, humid and the air was grey as usual. The 50 minute trip cost about $4.00 so it's definitely a bargain as are most things in Beijing as the government wanted Beijing to be "an affordable" city to visit because most people might only have the opportunity to visit once in their lifetimes. A subway ride costs just 30 cents, and most tourist activities are either free or very cheap. Very unlike most capitol cities around the world where prices are usually hyper inflated.

The3 hour flight to Hong Kong was pretty non-descript. Hong Kong is one of my favorite cities in the world and very easy to navigate. Beginning with the Airport Express train that takes you to the center of the city in just 24 minutes where you are met by a hotel shuttle bus, things are easy in "Asia's world city".

Check in to the Harbour Grand Kowloon was seamless and I was met by the director of Group Sales who was intrigued by me for some reason... so after telling her that I bring groups to Hong Kong on occasion, she offered to meet me at breakfast tomorrow morning to give me her sales pitch and a hotel tour... kind of like a timeshare presentation with a nice free breakfast buffet as the prize.

That afternoon was spent trying to catch some late afternoon rays on the rooftop pool... which as you can see by the pictures below is one of the coolest pools I've ever swam in.

My goal this evening was to play basketball and fulfill one of the missions of my trip, and give reason for bringing my size 14 Kobe's around the world with me. From my past trips I knew there were public courts in Central that always seemed to be bustling. Tonight was no exception.

I arrived at the Southorn Playground around 8pm to 90 degree weather with 90 % humidity and four full courts of hoops action. With a mixture of locals and foreigners there were ability levels running the gamut... and for my first 3 on 3 game I had two locals who were absolutely horrendous and we lost 11-5. After sitting out for about 15 minutes while two other games finished, I picked up a Brit and a Frenchman and we proceded to win four straight games. After about two hours my feet were burning, knees aching and I don't think I had ever sweated so much, but there's nothing like playground basketball. Just like the movie "Heaven is a playground" the cast of characters and the storylines are constantly changing...however I hope the playground in heaven doesn't leave me sweating so much that I start thinking that I took the elevator down instead of up before I got to the pearly gates.

Come To The Great Wall...We Welcome You

July 9, 2012
Beijing
JW Marriott Beijing

I'm starting to win the battle with Jet Lag and after awaking at 5:45 am I was ready for my day. It started with the amazing JW breakfast buffet, which rivals any buffet I've ever enjoyed. With both Western and Chinese options, one could be there for days, but since I had a tour scheduled for 7:00am I could only enjoy it for 30 minutes.

Today's tour was highlighted by a visit to the Great Wall of China, one of the 7 wonders of the world. Thrown in were stops at Ming's tomb, a government run jade factory / store and a visit to a government run silk museum / store. Being the government subsidizes so many operations here, our tour group of 11 people paying $50 each were definitely assisted by our friends in the government as the tour was 9 hours long and included lunch. Lord only knows how much the bus driver and tour guide made... my guess is not too much.

So our group consisted of a couple from New Zealand, a Chinese guy from Winnipeg, a family of four from Paris, a guy from Munich, myself and a snooty couple from Fresno... yes Fresno. I think they were embarassed when I asked them where they were from and I told them I was from SLO and they were from "the valley".

So the tour began with the bus making 4 pickups at various hotels in the city... this took 90 minutes as traffic was similar to driving in a packed parking lot. We finally picked up everyone and our tour guide "LISA", introduced herself and talked about the beauty of Beijing in a straight forward and rough around the edges kind of way.

Beijing is actually an amazingly green city with manicured lawns, tons of trees and shrubbery everywhere. The problem is that the polution is so bad and the sky is a constant haze, it's difficult to appreciate all of the work they do to try and keep the place looking good.

Our first stop was Mings Tombs. This wasn't the most exciting of stops, but it was on the way and thus convenient for our group. After the tomb, we headed to the Jade Factory which was crazy. You could buy Jade formed into pretty much anything you dreamed off... if you do dream of jade. We were forced to mill around the huge warehouse for 30 minutes before they served us a complimentary and customary Chinese lunch...which as you all know, know matter how much Chinese food you eat, you'll be hungry again in an hour. True!

Following lunch we reboarded our bus, with Mr. Li behind the wheel. With over 10 years experience Mr. Li was considered a "Master" driver which I guess we all felt lucky about. Our next stop was the Badaling section of the Great Wall.

The Great Wall is one of the 7 wonders of the world and until you get the first glimpse of it, you don't really know what to expect. However when you see the huge wall canvasing the rolling mountains you can't help to be impressed by the shere magnitude of the project. We boarded a cable car to take us the 10 minutes up the mountain to where we'd climb onto the Great Wall. The cable car was a little sketchy in that probably was 20+ years old and never been refurbished or possibly checked for safety. However we reached our destination on only on the ride down did I notice a 950 pound limit for the 6 passengers. I don't know what the average weight is these days, but to try and find 6 people that weigh under 160 pounds is a tough task unless you're packing in a bunch of Chinese gymnasts in the cable car.

The Wall was impressive and this section of the wall is visited by over 20,000 tourists per day. So there were people everywhere and photos were in strong supply... check out the flower / flower / flower ensemble below. The Chinese believe that you can wear three different floral prints as long as they don't match. Very pretty I should say1

After two hours on the Wall, we headed back down on the Cable Car and returned to our bus for the 30 mile trip back to the Beijing parking lot / freeway system. Along the way we stopped at a silk museum...which was a waste of time, but par for the course.

We finally returned home at 5:15pm, just a tad over 10 hours since departure. A long day no doubt.

Feeling like a sweaty pig, I needed a trip to the pool and spa for a quick swim, hot tub and shower. 30 minutes later I was feeling like a million bucks and returned to my friends at the executive lounge for a nice buffet dinner.

Day #2 in Beijing was in the books and tomorrow I'm on my way to Hong Kong.

And You Thought L.A. Smog Was Bad?

July 8, 2012
Tokyo - Beijing
JW Marriott Beijing

My last few hours in Tokyo were spent staring. I must admit that I'm intrigued by interesting people and walking the streets of Tokyo at 6am to catch my train/monorail to the airport provided me a great chance to gawk.

Japanese men are known to work hard and play hard. Subways in Tokyo stop running at midnight and so usually after "closing time" the men must either take a taxi home, or as I found out today, just pass out where ever they desire.

As a light rain continued to fall, I walked the 10 minutes to UENO station to catch my 6:30am train. While crossing one of the main streets, a well dressed Japanese man in his 30's was laying in the crosswalk definitely drunk and definitely just waking up from a hard slumber. He was yelling incoherently and the fact that it was raining and everyone was staring at him, including yours truly did not affect him in the slightest. He didn't care that he was in the middle of the street sleeping... and neither did anyone else. I continued walking and over the next 5 minutes I saw 3 or 4 other normal looking people just passed out on benches, under awnings or on the sidewalk. Kirin and Sapporo were the victors last night!

Arriving at the subway station, reality hit home once again as there were two men in their 20's, dressed in the latest fashion just snoozing away on the subway platform. My CSI detective work tells me that they were trying desperately to catch the last train and when they got their too late, they said "screw it" and just decided to sleep on the train platform. Only in Japan!

The day wasn't all about drunkards passing out on the street... I had a plane to catch... a plane to Communist China!

Arriving at Haneda Airport, which is much more centrally located than Narita which I flew into three days prior, I had about 90 minutes before departure so I headed to the Sakura Lounge for some breakfast. The lounge was very busy and I was one of two Geijin (foreigners) in attendance. The breakfast was actually quite good and after 20 minutes in a massage chair I was ready for the 3 hour flight to Beijing.

Sitting "Up Front" in seat 2A, the business class cabin had all 36 seats occupied. Meal service commenced with a Western or Japanese option and I chose the Western beef option which was terrible. But being that it was only 10am, I didn't need a huge meal so it was OK to pass on.

After a bit of turbulence, the big bird set down at Beijing Capital Airport, the 2nd busiest airport in the world at 11:30am. The airport was huge, modern and very impressive. What wasn't impressive was the SMOG. Unbelievable is the only word that I can use to describe it... along with disgusting, gross, and thick!

I took the Airport Express train the 10 miles or so into town, connected with the local subway and then found my hotel, the JW Marriott... although it was a bit of a walk from the station as I turned the wrong direction and turned a 10 minute walk into 30 minutes and with the 90 degree weather and high humidity I was soaking wet upon arrival.

Needless to say, the JW Marriott was an amazing property. Service was impeccable and being a newly minted Executive Platinum member I was upgraded to the concierge floor which enabled me free food and drinks all day long. So it looks like I won't be spending any money on food while in Beijing!

After a quick snack in the lounge I headed down to the 2nd floor for the fitness center. Impressive to say the least as the gym would rival any in the USA. The best thing, there was no one else working out so I had all of the machines to myself. Attached to the gym was a SPA area with swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, etc. A few laps in the pool and a soak in the hot tub ended my experience on floor number 2.

The evening was still young and after another brief stop on the executive lounge for a buffet dinner I headed out to the Beijing evening. Taking Subway #1 to Tiannemen East, I disembarked right underneath the world famous Tiannemen Square. Joining me on my journey were thousands of Chinese who were lining the square with the desire to see the flag lowering ceremony which occurs daily at sunset. It was quite the ceremony and to think of all of the history that had occured in this area was pretty amazing.

The sun set at 7:45pm and within minutes the crowd had dispersed and I began the 20 minute walk to the Wanjufung pedestrian street. This street, like seemingly everywhere else in Beijing was packed with people. With both the western stores on the main boulevard and the Chinese shops in the alleys running horizontal, there truly was a store for everyone... even those that like fried starfish, scorpions or sea lions on a stick (see pictures).

After receiving two propositions for dates from some Chinese women of the night... and declining both, I made my way back to the Subway station and a return home to the JW. A busy day in the capital city and another busier one tomorrow.

Put Me In Coach... I'm Ready To Play

July 7, 2012
Shin Fuji - Tokyo
Coco Grand Hotel Ueno

The morning began with another nice run through the neighborhood of the Scruggs Family. It wasn't quite as humid as yesterday, however it didn't take long to get the muscles warmed up. Following the jog it was time for breakfast, an American - Japanese hybrid of an English muffin with cream cheese and jalapenos. Not too Japanese I'm afraid... but delicious nonetheless. Clouds continued to cover the Japanese sky and at 11:00am we departed for the train station to catch the bullet train back to Tokyo.

Arriving in Tokyo at about 1:00pm, I made my way to my hotel, dodging rain drops every step of the way. Finally arriving about 1:30pm, I was told that check-in wasn't until 2pm and thus I had to hang out (or go get lunch) until then. Luckily, the golden arches were right around the corner and one can never go wrong with McD's.

I made my way back to my hotel a bit past two, and checked into my very nice, but very tiny hotel room. The room was outfitted with every amenity, but in miniature size. I'd say the room measured less than 150 square feet, with the bathroom being the smallest bathroom that I'd ever been in, it was nearly impossible to turn around, but it was indeed very nice, had a great shower and the lovely Japanese toilet that is everywhere... (look it up!).

After drying off from the day dodging rain drops it was time to make my way to the Tokyo Dome for the baseball game between the Giants and the Swallows. Baseball in Japan is CRAZY!! The fans are out of control, the majority are drunk, and the gear they wear should be illegal. But as a Gaijin, it is something that all of us must see. The syncronized cheering, trumpets, thundersticks, and beer girls all add to the ambiance. Unfortunately, I only had a standing room ticket ($13) as everything else was sold out, so I only lasted 5 innings before I was tired of the madness. It was fun while it lasted though and the Beer Girls were kept busy all night long!

It was back to the hotel and a night of slumber... heading to China in the morning for the first time so that should be interesting to see how I do with 2 days sans Facebook... hopefully they haven't blocked blogging sites!

Goodbye Japan... Hello China!

We'll Be Coming Around the Mountain...

July 6, 2012
Shin Fuji, Japan
Scruggs House

Jet lag has it's plusses. It's always great waking up at 4:00am knowing that you have extra hours in your day to accomplish the things that you might not get done if you sleep until 7 or 8. So thank you for a brief case of the J-Lag as I was able to start my first full day in Japan with a nice jog along the banks of the Fuji River. Although I waited until 7am to do this, the humidity had received the same wake up call that I had, and thus the air was thick as I set out to explore the local area.

Running in a foreign land is always an adventure and especially when you are nearly a foot taller and a different shade than most of the people you come across. Running over the moss covered paths and through a few community gardens I finally arrived river side, a small snake greeted me and didn't through me off my course and I returned home feeling energized to start the day.

Today's goal was to drive around the mountain. Mt. Fuji is a national icon to the Japanese people and standing over 12,000 feet it's presence is definitely felt. After a nice breakfast of toast, salad and coffee, my host and I departed for our journey.

Japan is a very mountainous nation with 73% of it's land mass considered moutainous. In addition, there are trees everywhere. So our drive today was through amazing forests of trees while winding our way up and around the Mt. Fuji region. Along the way we stopped at a Temple, a variety of lakes, streams and waterfalls and had a traditional Soba lunch in one of the most eclectically decorated restaurants I had ever been to. Think dolls, lots of flowers, a stuffed deer, photos of japan, and menu items all joined together on the walls. Probably not too many design awards are won by that interior designer. However the noodles were great and that's why we were there!

The journey around Mt. Fuji was approximately 100 miles and took us about 4 hours to complete with a variety of stops along the way. It was a real eye opener to see the natural beauty that most people, including myself, don't even know exists. Nature is everywhere and today we experienced it in it's finest form.

We returned home close to 5:00pm with the excitement of a great sushi dinner closing in on us. We travelled the mile or so to Matsui where we indulged on some amazing fish... no California Rolls could be found anywhere!

Jet lag has returned... it's 9:00pm and it's time to hit the hay in my tatami room.

I return to Tokyo tomorrow with a Tokyo Giants game headlining the schedule.

Let The Journey Begin

July 4-5, 2012
San Luis Obispo - Los Angeles - Tokyo
Miles Flown: 5448

A 5:45 wake up call began the day as my shuttle from Santa Maria to LAX was scheduled for a 7:00am departure. Riding shotgun with Don the Steve Carrell look alike driver the 4th of July provided us with traffic free roads and a 2:45 minute drive time to LAX. Five other passengers joined me on the shuttle... an unassuming couple headed to Amsterdam, two people flying on Southwest and a "strange bird" of 60 years headed to London to go on an RV trip with some of her friends. The "strange bird" spent the 2:45 minute journey making wire names for her friends, reading her bird watching books and telling the driver potential alternate routes to LAX. Needless to say, much of what she said was ignored although I'm sure two weeks in an RV with her would be an amazing experience.


Check in was seamless, with the lovely American Airlines agent suggesting that I buy a new camera for my journey... not sure why, but she was pretty adamant about it. She was nice enough, gave me my boarding pass and wished me luck on my journey.


With 90 minutes until departure I had some time in the Admirals Club Lounge. Being the first lounge of the journey there is no doubt that the US lounges can't hold a candle to the international versions that I will encounter over the next 5 weeks. I'm a big fan of the pre-flight shower, so the shower room scored an A+, however the rest of the lounge could have been better. Most international lounges offer complimentary food and beverage... the Admiral's Club offered a great mix of free food and drink consisting of Chex Mix, mini muffins, and juices. If you want the real food... there's a price tag attached. Knowing that seat 9A was awaiting, I did not mind waiting.


Boarding began and Flight #169 pulled back from the gate about 12:45pm with 1/3 of the seats in Business Class being occupied. Great for me, great for the flight attendants... not so great for the bottom line. I settled in to seat 9A, with 9B remaining unoccupied I was able to borrow the pillow and duvet and make myself at home.


The meal service on any US carrier is usually 2nd tier when compared to many international airlines... today was no exception. Starting off with the obligatory glass of Champagne, the flight attendants delivered menus with today's selections:

To Start: Warm mixed nuts
Appetizer: Vegetable rice noodles with shrimp
Salad: Fresh seasonal greens with cream wasabi dressing
Bread Basket: Assorted gourmet breads
Main Course: Shoyu Chicken (chicken breat topped with a soy-teriyaki-ginger sauce accompanied by seasonal mixed vegetables, daikon and fried jasmine rice.
Desert: Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream


I'd grade the meal about a B-. Obviously better than a normal meal at 36,000 feet, but nowhere near the quality and attention to detail that I'm envisioning with my next few flights on Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Royal Jordanian.


The next 5 hours were split between catching some shut eye and watching some movies and TV shows. After watching 3 episodes of The Office, 21 Jump Street and a few others it was time for our second meal service:


Meal Service #2 - Light Meal
Main Course: Uno's Pizza (an individual deep-dish four cheese and pesto pizza served with a green salad and Caesar dressing.
Dessert: Glazed peaches with sugared puff pastry.


Meal Grade: C- . It's tough for most food options to taste good after being on a plane for 10+ hours and this was no exception.


We landed at 3:35pm local time which is 16 hours ahead of Pacific Time.


My overall grade for American Airlines Flight #169 was a B-. Can't wait for the Asian airlines next week!

With only a carry on in tow I deplaned at 3:45pm and make it through immigration and customs in time to catch the 4:05 express bus to Tokyo Statiopn where I would pick up the Shinkansen (bullet train) out to Shin Fuji where my hosts live.

Tokyo is served by two major international airports, Narita(which I flew into - located about an hour from downtown) and Haneda (which I fly out of - located much closer to downtown). There are a variety of ways to mae the journey from Narita to Toyo station and I chose the new bus service which surpisingly only cost 800 Yen ($10).

Driving through an overcast Tokyo the vastness of the place really catches your eye. There are people everywhere, tiny streets with houses jammed into every square inch. Towering above all of this are huge apartment buildings where the masses live. A huge city witha great energy.

Arriving at Tokyo station at 5:15pm, I had 40 minutes until my train left for Shin Fuji. The weather was about 85 degrees, with the air thick and steamy. At exactly 5:56pm, my train departed for the 65 minute journey reaching speeds in excess of 150 mph, the bullet train lives up to it's billing.

Day 1 & 2 concluded with my host picking me up at the train station, grabbing a quick bite to eat - Curry Rice and Shrimp, with the smallest water glass ever which the waiter refilled 17 times for me. Then it was off to their house for a quick recap of the day, a wonderful hot shower and bed.

The Journey Had Begun!