Big

As of today, I have sat in every commercial Airbus aircraft types, the A310, A320, A330 and now the A380. I took it this aft from Hong Kong to Singapore. It was hard for me to image such a beast could have taken off from a runway and "suspend" in air. I sat in the main deck on seat 48D. It was the only econo seat that had NO seat in front. So I got all the leg rooms I want! Other than that, it was not as roomy as people had said. The seats were like normal economy. 3-4-3 configuration. As I was sitting down, hard to imagine that there was another desk above running the length of the aircraft.

The wings were huge! I was sitting by the wing, couldn't see much out because the wings were in the way. Took a long time to have the flap lowered for take off. Ha! And since it was so big, heading down runway to take off didn't seem fast at all. Slllloooowwww was actually how I felt.

The plane was half empty. Wondering how Singapore Airline made $ on this trip over. There were much people lining up for the Biz class and the Suites. 4 people as I was heading in. The plane was quiet. Econo seat wise, comfortable enough for an econo seat. I notice on this trip, the food wasn't as "nice" as my previous flights with this airline. Guess, have to cut somewhere. But coffee was still 100% better than the burned coffee from North American airlines.

Wonder what was the justification of having a double-decker "bus" flying.

hotel view

I am staying at the Swissotel Stamford. From our hotel room balcony, this is the view. First picture, far left is the new Sand Hotel. The second picture is the "old" Singapore downtown.

The view was great but the hotel room was overprices. Good thing it wasn't us to pay: 280SGD a night. Ridiculous. The room was tired. And I meant TIRED. The maintenance just put some sealants in the bathroom, I could smell it and HAD to clean it up in the bathtub. Basically, I wouldn't pay that much! Just across the road at Pan Pacific, same price but 100% better.

Company just had too much $ and listened to the employees too much on this one. ;-) We are staying here but the training centre was one subway stop away. We could have stayed at the M Hotel downtown and walk across in 5 minutes! Now, hauling equipments, teaching materials and fight people traffic every morning. O well.

This hotel is next door to Raffle City mall and the City Hall subway stop. Basically we are paying for the convenience but for whose? ;-)

3

Three tropical storms in South China Sea all at once. The middle one is moving closer to Shanghai. The one to the left skirted Hong Kong and Macau and is heading to GuangDong. The one to the right is hitting Japan, maybe. Global warming? It's so bloody hot in Macau. Humid... I sweat.... Only left the apartment today to have a bit to eat - brunch and the tradition 5pm tea/noodle snack.

At 6pm, I dressed up - European style headed for Galaxy's 16th floor lounge to meet my cousin for Happy Hours. I walked from the apartment. I didn't sweat much despite the humidity and heat. Not good. I was climatized a bit... As I was crossing the street to Galaxy, someone was shouting behind me to get my attention. A mainland Chinese. Of all the people there, I was singled out. Not good. I kept on walking. Walked into the lobby of the Galaxy hotel/Casino was greeted by 6' slander Asian "female" staff. "female" as my cousin told me later that night: "Rumours that those female staff were not females". Umm... I was wondering how the heck we get 6' plus Asian females in ASIA! Genetically altered?

Anyway, I walked into the elevator behind a group of 3 mainland Chinese men and one female. As we were going up, the guy to my left as where I was from. I said "Canada". Then the guy to the right immediately ask if I could loan him 2M for a quick turnaround. He was in need of cash for one day. What did I look like? Was there something on my forehead or on my back that I was not aware of? Good thing the elevator door opened at that time. I exited and ignored them. Maybe it was my haircut, very short. My fashion: all my 3-year old Paul and Shark golf shirt and European cut pants with my loafer. Next time, either I stop going to 5-star hotel by myself or I could just dress very sloppy.

$abre rattling

Thanks to all these morons in power flexing muscles overseas, a 2-hour on every's ass on the plane again - air traffic congestion and $outh Chin@ $e@ milk-litary EXerC!$e; think about all those tax payer money spent just to "maintain circle of influence". Traffic congestion, extra burned fuel, the ozone layer, global warming, etc.... My flight was 8:40am, didn't have wheels up until 10:45am. And we were only 20 minutes behind the 8:00am flight to the same city, Hong Kong!

It was great I could use my frequent flyer points to upgrade the night before. I figure, I better due to the upcoming "sitting situation". One-way econo was 1,500RMB + my 12,500 for upgrade. Then when I got to the airport, I was offered to take the 8:40am rather than my scheduled 9:45am. Good thing I said "Yes". I would have still be in transit.

When I got onboard, the Dragon Air ladies were very nice. Since the Biz class session was not full, they offered everyone to sit by themselves. Spread out. Privacy and all. Good thing! Because this guy on the aisle across picked his nose with surgical precision. Then this young girl of about 25 kept refusing to put her bag up to the bin for take off. Hello? Wonder how some people got rich but yet they are that stupid. Note to all: Biz class on planes in China means less "ugly scenes". And Biz class on Macau/Hong Kong ferries, you take your chances. People were hacking up their nose drip, feet on the back of the tray where you would normally place things... And yes, the 暴发户(bao fa hu) the sudden riches, they were loud and obnoxious. I didn't take the Super class on the ferry to Macau. It was quiet and empty. The upstairs... wow... loud and all.

I finally landed in HK at 12:45pm. Walked to get a Macau ferry tix right at the airport. 1:15pm was offered to me. Really? I was at the tix counter at 1pm. No problem. The transit has improved. I didn't have to do the security check all over again. There was a new subway line taking transit passengers all the way to the Sky Pier. I was there by 1:08pm. There was a Starbucks at the Pier. O well, I had to catch the ferry. The Pier was much cleaner, prettier and above all comfortable. Not like the temp pier which we had to do a long corridor walk with no escape in case there was a fire. Ha, I guess from now on for my transit to Macau I won't be able to do any shopping.

movie

I started watching the remake of the Karate Kid by J@ck!e Ch@n yesterday afternoon. Maybe I know the places too well in the movie as well as flying. I laughed because: 1) Flying from the American East Coast over to Asia, a daylight flight over to Asia will never have the sun down. Always sunny until landing. But the in-flight clip shows darkness and sun rise before landing in Beijing. Umm... 2) The view of the famous CCTV building as the backdrop of the 2008 big O event, the car was traveling in the wrong direction. It was NOT heading to town but heading to the airport on DongSanWan, the #3 Ring Road. 3) The Arrival Hall in Beijing was actually a mix of shots of Hong Kong departure and arrival areas. What so funny was at the Arrival Hall, the number 2 meeting post, a 3-second shot. Nowhere in any Chinese airport uses that complex character. All airports use Roman numerics.

I could not believe how much stuff "wrong" I noticed. Well, I practically fly between Beijing and HKG too many times. The airport images ingrained in my brain too much to "fool" me.

merger

Delta+NWA, now UA+Continental, man, think about all those old planes flying out there to save costs and the ridiculously high fees, nickel and diming that will happen sooner. My plan for the next trip and future trip: AC from PVG->YVR->SEA then from there, Southwest as much as possible to have direct flights rather than the "Hub" groupy things we are currently being forced to do. And to have our bags lost in transit. With AC that's one option, or we can do CX from PVG->HKG->LAX-... Yes, seems like we are going to avoid the major US airlines at all costs. Seriously, why would I pay big bucks for crappy services and old planes with "skimpy" maintenance and cleaning just to save a dime?

An American friend we had dinner with last night is a Million mile member with UA. He kept getting crappy service. On one trip over, he asked for aisle and was told "Yes sir, you do." After he boarded his flight, the Biz class configuration was: 2-4-2. Hello? And he did NOT get his aisle seat as "confirmed" by the ground agent. Lier Lier pants on fire. Also, every time he checked in at the counter the UA staff offered a First Class upgrade for a mere USD 999.00. He refused on two reasons: 1) he paid freaking enough for the biz class - for crappy service and 2) he flew enough to be a Million Mile member, should he should get it for free?

I have planned my next trip in November for the last part of our Conversant course using YVR as a hub to SEA. SouthWest from SEA to DEN direct. Why stop at Salt Lake City as an airline transit hub just to be annoyed by flight delays and one more leg of potential bag lost. Twice to Denver, twice with lost bags causing us to wait and wait and wait.

stampede

Yes, I had to be at Expo today to help out a friend with her MovingEcoForum conference. We were at Gate #3 at the Puxi side of the Expo ground by 8:30am. It was already hot! And I meant hot!!!! All the reflecting surface from the concrete ground with sun beaming down. No way to hide. People already sweating and smelly. We use the VIP access, faster but still have to wait for 30 odd minutes in line. Then we were subjected to airport-like security screen. X-ray all the bags, pull out your mobile phones, metal detector then a more "personal" metal detecting with a hand wand. O yeah, the full meal deal.

It was funny that never occurred to the organizers to install ceiling fans. The mist spraying from the ceiling was an afterthought after last week's heat wave topped over 45C. The spray was installed overnight.

By 10:30am, there was no line-up! Take a look at the last 2 pictures. Scary a person in sight.

When I came out at noon. There was no way I would like to bum around in the Puxi side of Expo. The reflective heat from the concrete ground was just too stifling. Basically you just bake!!! Plus, not like I have not seen enough of other countries during my travel.

While I was in the conference, I got China Mobile text messages about the status of line up and all. On average, 3 hours. That was on average, the Kingdom's stats reporting and you know how the stats reporting here is, with only an inflation of 3% (released today). Right, more like getting close to double digits. And some of the potential iron-wife clients want to bargain us down telling us that this Kingdom is cheap. What news do they listen to? F0 X? Really.

nice people

There are good people and there are bad people everywhere. Doesn't matter where you go. I have the pleasure of meeting good people so far. And then other times, crappy attitude people but not "bad" people.

When I was in Beijing back in July, the taxi driver drove me from the airport was so nice; we chatted all the way. As we were leaving the airport, he told me the approximate fare and the total travel time. He also stated that he was not going to cheap me of the fare by driving the long route. Very nice. And the driving style, man... smooth... When I told him I had to be at my hotel by 4pm to have a meeting, he did even a shorter short cut. He knew his streets. We made it with 20 minutes to spare.

On that same trip, the taxi from hotel to airport was smooth and exceptional good. We stuck in traffic for about 10 minutes without moving; the taxi driver asked what time was my flight. He was worry. Now, that was nice to know.

On this last trip in Beijing, our usual driver drove us to Chengde; it was raining. Pouring at time. He drover carefully. Speed limit was 100K/h and he did 80-90K/h at the most. He explained: "we are out here to tour, lots of time, no need to rush and cause ourselves harm by getting into an accident." Yes, well, the rain was heavy and pools of water were everywhere. Having driven through the worst of good old Saskatchewan winters, I agreed. Of course, there were always dumb assess on the road and there were plenty of them on that stretch of highway.

Ah, yes.. the hotel staff at Kempinski and Courtyard Marriott... They were good. Treated guests as they should have been. And they all paid attention to each guest, maybe it was part of the post big O security training ;-) But I like it. That type of service oriented staff, I am not sure I say I have seen that in North America. They were genuine. The smiles and the willingness to help when asked. Granted there were times of odd behaviours but that was due to lack of detail trainings. Watch out though, if these people apply, no one can compete up to that level.

Flying

Nowadays, domestic flight delays in this kingdom is a daily life for people that fly alot. Last Friday, a student flew from Shenzhen to the capital arriving at 3am. It was scheduled to leave at 9pm for a 2 1/2 hours flight. If my flight was on time, that was like winning a lottery!!! I can count with my one hand how many times my flight took off on time: 3 in the last six weeks. On average, my ass was stuck to the seat inside a plane for an extra 45 minutes due to traffic control. The longest was 2 hours not because of weather. Weather delays, I can understand.

So today, there was a local language article written up about this frequent delays now. The head of Civil Aviation said that majority flight delays inside this kingdom is due to weather. Right! One of the experts on his side provided explanation that, even though the destination and departure points have clear sky do not mean that in between is. Right! Planes can fly over those weather patterns buddy! These two guys neglected to say that Civil Aviation gets to control up to 25,000 ft of space, only particular corridors are open for flights; any over 25,000.0001 ft is the domain of the Arms group. And one of the top officials that had approval power was taking in $ for routings. Got caught last month I think. Compound by all these factors, we are getting delays! Not weather. As a matter fact, $CmP published an article back in late 90's had the former Brits golden egg's Civil Aviation talking to the Kingdom about opening up this restricted space. Because they had predicted that with the amount of traffic, by around this time we are getting into a grid lock.

O yeah, also all those people along the southern cost with lot$ and lot$ of $$$$$$ are buying private planes and helicopters to fly at their lei$ure. But 97% of those had no Kingdom approval to fly them in the Kingdom's airspace. These guy$ flew their plane$ without authorization from tower$ and just flew them, just becua$e they can...

At this rate, highspeed trains maybe better; but with such rapid development without good QA, another problem await. What if someone cuts the power and we got stuck inside? Totally sealed up for speed. This scenario has happened several times in the last 3 months.

I am sure someone will be smart enough to figure this out.... Maybe after a disaster.....

Progre$$.... Urbani$ation... Who's growing food?

Road to Chengde

It was a weird touring day. We were suppose to do an overnight trip to Chengde, the Summer Palace of the old emperors. Started out rainy from Beijing. After 210K and about 3 hours on a newly opened highway, we arrived. Along the way, the sky began to open up - pouring. Rain pools were forming on the highway. We said 3 accidents. Fender benders but the last one was the worst! It appeared to just happened not long ago. Parts littered on the road. The main cabin was intact but I couldn't see there were any injured people inside. The car instantly became very quiet. Iron-wife and two other friends wanted to call the police. The driver pressed on. The reasons: 1) dangerous to stop by the road side as it was raining heavy and we could have been rammed by oncoming traffic. This was very true. First thing of safety, ensure the rescuers are safe first. And 2) all our mobile phones are from Beijing and Shanghai. When we called 120 (equivalent of 911), the local police will refuse to pick-up. Go figure. So we kept going.

As we arrived at Chengde, the rain seemed to subsided a bit. Since the hotel was very busy with 5 big buses load of mainland tourists, we decided to eat lunch first. Found a very nice local restaurant. It's slogan was: "Our food is affordable and tasty". Judging from the parking lot (Full), either the food was really good or the Chinese just went for the cheap stuff. In China, a long queue in front of a restaurant does not = good food. It would be just dirt cheap. Oily? Who cares. Anyway, the pictures showed some of the dishes we ordered. Let's just say, we ordered too many dishes. Northern China = large portion.

The Bun d

The Bund has just gone through millions of People'$ $ to show case "Bett er Cit  y B  et er L !fe", the Ex  po.  Well.. there you go.  The unpredictable side effect of becoming an outdoor "hotel" for out of town tourists.  People are scattered all over the B und to sleep after dark!  The city mgnt is trying to discourage touri$t$ from using the va$t space as temporarily sleeping quarters. 

progress

These pictures were taken today at lunch time; I was at City of Dream, Crown Plaza's Horizon restaurant for lunch. We got a window table overlooking a "nice" view of the Coita Strip developed by US casino tycoons. What's there pre-1997 used to be oyster farm and sea as far as eyes could see. Now, all the glisters caster to the mainlander money. So basically destroying the environment, milk all the money from people, fatten the Corporate @merica'$ bottom line.... The road in the middle of each picture used to be a narrow bridge connecting two outer islands together.

I couldn't even sense any direction because in the middle of the road all I saw was buildings without seeing where the sun was!

The last picture was my lunch's main course; Australian beef, tough. my cousin got a free lunch of two at Horizon. Honestly, I would not bother with the food there. It was so so... The free lunch was a 3 course set lunch excluding any drink. We had a bottle of sparkling water and two cups of coffee after, still had to pay MOP 140 with 10% service charge! The set lunch was MOP 168 per person.

drinks

3 glasses of water, 1 glass of Scotch and a bag of mixed nuts later... I was still stuck on the ground in the plane in Shanghai Pudong airport. My flight was to leave at 2:30pm yesterday, we took off at 5:30pm. I was sitting on my ass from 3:00pm inside the plane. Pretty bad waiting now at the airport here. I landed in Hong Kong at 7:35pm. Good thing I anticipated the flight delay so got myself a biz class seat. But yesterday was the longest in my record of PVG-HKG delays.

2-hour flight turns into an all day event. Welcome to the "civilized progression for the better C! ty B et ER L! Fe".

air cond anyone?

I took the subway to Longyang Road station to ride the Maglev to Pudong airport this morning. Yikes. I was torn between paying RMB 250 for my driver or RMB 54 for the subway and Maglev combo. Shouldn't be that bad right? Well, in terms of crowd, it was no where to be seen. Too hot to go anywhere with the humidex going up to 43C+ (commie version was like 35C or 37C).

I was soaked riding from my station, Nanjing Road West to Longyang Road station. The reason? No air cond in the cart!!! I kept pretending to stretch my arm toward the air cond vent, just to be sure; yes, there was no air coming off. Ridiculous. So for 30 some odd minutes, my sweat just keep poring out. I had a bottle of water with me, drank it all 600ml+. Come on, no air cond? Good thing it wasn't crowded. Can you imaging the smell of sweat? Yuck.

Just to be sure that we are safe, the commie even had the Maglev speed tuned to 301Km/h vs the normal 401 Km/h.

To those that are coming to this city, I don't take you to subway line except VERY VERY early in the day. If I want to be overheated, I'll do it outside walking! Rather than being cramped into a cart.

Godo thing this Summer we haven't been here "home" much!

crossing path

Can you believe that iron-wife and I had a brief 10-minute hello at the Shanghai Pudong airport? Her flight from MSP on Sunday was delayed over 2 hours due to mechanical problem and then refueling time. When she arrived NRT last night; only the Shanghai-bound flight did not wait for the connecting passengers; others bounded for PEK and beyond were held for the delayed passengers. Soo..... She flew "home" this morning from NRT arriving at 11:26am. My flight for HKG is going to leave at 14:40 now. We crossed path earlier this morning just to say hi and passed off other "home-related" news items. There she went with our usual driver. Me, headed for immigration.

After a lot of loud announcement for the Seoul flight between Koreans and Chinese, a 20-min long savos, all quiet. I could even hear the clinging of plates at the food counter in the Dragon Air/Cathay Lounge. My ears are soooooo sooooo happy, specially the Korean in numerical sounds really hurt my ears.

Till we meet again iron-wife virtually on IM or this Friday in Beijing.

Flight

Thank goodness of the DVD conversion from the DR family and Steve J's iPad! The combo saved the flight! The AC's in-flight entertainment system programming was pretty bad. Nothing enticing. And it was the same as I flew across 3 weeks ago from PVG to YVR.

I got my upgrade at the gate. Lucky me. It was a 14 hours 10 minutes flight. Uneventful. Food was "ma ma fu fu". That means "so so". The fish was great, a bit over-cooked but hey... no expectation. Cajun Halibut. The starter was a good chunk of smoke salmon. A fishy lunch meal in flight. Service was still "sub-standard" compared to Singapore Airline, Cathay and Dragon Air - Econo class. Sad when I was in AC's Biz class. I pretty much just pick out the "heathy" stuff to eat.

I am not sure who was cleaning the plane before we departed TO. I saw it pull in to the gate at 930am. And it sat there until we depart at 1:20pm. Surely, the plane could have been cleaned thoroughly. Nope. I had to use some of the plastic wrapping from the ear muffs and toiletry bag to cover a side the storage bin. It was crusted with food and dirt. And when I leaned back, garbage was in the well where the motors for the reclining arms located. I believe these flat bed were started in use last year and a half. Already, they looked beat up and filthy. The condition reminded me of the US airlines... AC, the best of North American airline last year, no wonder, there was nothing to compared to.

I have found myself eating less and less and drinking more and more (H2O) on the plane; food was crappy and not appetizing. Or am I just advanced and the airlines simply went backward?

Internet

in the AC Lounge for International travel.... Now, DataValet wants to collect the name and flight number before allowing ME to get connected. OK, so why I NEED to provide "Exact" boarding information to access? Who is collecting the information? And who is cross-matching the information when you don't really need to? Just simply create an encryption code and provide it to guests entering the lounge will do the trick, just like other International airport lounges I have visited. Really silly and scary.....

O yeah, once I am in the lounge I cannot get to go2mypc from the HP desktop provided. It was one of the shortcuts presented; but hey... the security on the computer blocked the Java Applet from being downloaded and run. Stupid? Or simply an oversight of QA testing? Aggghhhhhh.....

Not a very positive start of my latest blogs.

rip off

Forget what you read from a AC voucher saying "Immediate upgrade" with this special system wide upgrade voucher. I read everything from top to bottom. Got the right fare and all. Whamp.... No. You are on a priority waitlist. Right. So what kind of f^&^&%^nking "Immediate upgrade" was that? I am out 600CAD extra and not getting anything! So, that's how to beef up bottom line. Something is smelly in the state of Denmark.

And they are soooo "friendly" about it too. Now, I am on this 20-hour journey started from Boston early this morning from this moron check-in staff that couldn't read. She flatly said " I can't read this ID card so you need a Visa going to China.". Right, dumb ass. I guess what I had learned in Denver last week just blew into the wind with that kind of bloody f%^%(**_(niking attitude to customer, your frequent flying customer! This was part of what I dragged flying into North America. Pathetic service. So, a supervisor overheard our little exchange and came over. Spoke the "AC" language as she could immediate switch something on that dumb ass's brain. "O, Chinese resident card; you live in Shanghai... Here's the expiry date, issue date.... "; that dumb ass was pretty quiet after that. Some other staff chuckled. Get these rude dumb asses away from "greeting customers".

So... I'll be on the back of the bus later this aft from TO to Shanghai (possibly) knowing full well that I could have paid "LLLLESSSS" sitting in the same g%^%&ddam seat! Maybe Friday the 13th flying is not such a good idea.

Wow, am I steamed........

Denver

Finally had a chance to post more blogs.

These pictures were taken last Saturday when we had time touring around Denver. We went to Dinosaur Ridge (by accident) and Red Rock Amphitheater (planned). The Amphitheater was just across the road from the Dinosaur Ridge.

See the foot prints... The whole valley used to be a sea.

Amazing scenery!

Schtick/Purpose

What an interesting and enlightening week here in Colorado.  This week was the second out of the three for the Credibility, Impact and Influence conference.  

It was time to make each of us "unstuck" from our current mind set and thus freeing ourselves to our potentials.  Let me say this, this week was deep.  Very deep.  And very philosophical.  I actually watched a David Whyte DVD called "David Whyte, Live in San Francisco" (http://www.davidwhyte.com/).  What said resonated to me to make the shift.  "Every conversation is vulnerable", "... always lives at the edge of tears...", ".. with each "No", there is a larger "Yes".  ....  Just notice he has a seminar in Vancouver on Nov 20 (http://www.hollyhock.ca/cms/index.cfm?Group_ID=4587).  Quite an interesting fellow.  

Anyway, this blog was not about him but me; ha!  Back to the title of this block.  Basically "Schtick" is my body mechanism to protect myself from harm and was a reaction to perceived threats.  There were some underlying "factors" that triggers it.  I am not going to tell here ;-)  Then the Purpose.  It was how to "unstuck" from the Schtick to propel me forward into a purpose in life.  

During this exercise, we were told to write a letter, first after our Schtick was formed.  Then another one after the Purpose was created.  We were told to read the Purpose letter.  Wow.....  The entire room filled with adults... Cried and cried.  Yes, Men and Women....  I had to say, a very powerful tool.

Mine were great.  Both for the Schtick and for the Purpose.  Both were equally contributed by my team that formed a bond from the May conference.  Now I present my Schtick and Purpose.  (The "Asshole" was added by me to make the Schtick more "jabbing to me". )  What do I do with them?  Will know very soon......  

Irresponsible Bystander: 

I judge you as unworthy and withhold my value: I become invisible and watch you suffer, Asshole.  

Ingenious Designer Of Possibilities:

With righteous solidity, I create the structure to generate action.  I explore new horizons for those around me.

Rioja

Not to be confused with the Spanish wine. Rioja (http://www.riojadenver.com/) was the restaurant where we had dine in Denver just off the 16th Street Mall by Larimar Street. We are having a brief stopover after receiving a week long intensive training session; this training session was the second of a 3 part series of a Conversant program iron-wife and I are taking.

Yes, back to Rioja. It was a hip happening place. When we called after we got into Denver, it was not taking reservation until after 930pm! That was after we called another restaurant. Same thing.... Friday night in Denver, it was a happening place. Food, in my opinion, so so.... But the Soup Duet was great. Tomato capacio in a tomato and a corn soup at the bottom of the bowl. Played a nice contrast. The two way cooking of lamb.... Greko's in Regina was much much better. Portion wise with at the Rioja, was just the right size. Not too big not too small. Our German friend, Stefan, who attended the same course had dinner with us. His prime rib steak, well... not that great as well. Would I go back? Nope. Something was missing with the food. Yet the place was packed. Price was not cheap either. But yet pack.... So recession? Or just business accounts?

bag

I was sitting in DIA (Denver International Airport) for my b'fast waiting for Iron-wife. Well... flight delay for her so she missed her connection to DIA. Now, I have 4 hours plus of waiting. Good thing I had my iPad with my books! Yes, thanks for the movies; will save that for the long flight from YYZ to PVG.

Finally, iron-wife arrived and we waited for the bag. 20 minutes later, nothing. Her bag did not make on the same flight as her. Well... delivery to the ranch then. That was 1 1/2 hours away from DIA. Delta did delivery the bag but the next day. Fortunately, I have some extra clothing.

For real?

Yes! Our flight from YQR to DEN arrived 30 minutes early. By the time we were parked at the gate, it was about 8:45am. The captain came thru on the speaker saying "Sorry folks, due to US Custom regulations I cannot let you off the plane until 9am. ". The border/Immigration counters do not open until 9am. What? What International airport is that? Wow! 5am... I can understand. But 9am? Ummm.... So we were stuck on the plane and wasting fuel with the engine running to keep us cool. Now what Carbon Foot print is that coming from the top? That's 10 extra minutes of fuel could be saved for the Airline.

Then, the bridge could not get to the plane; we waited for mechanics to fix before we could deplane. 9:25am... Finally! What a walk to the Immigration Hall; it was like the mountain trail; first you climbed and climbed; over the hum and you dropped to the basement for the line.

I had to tell the guy there which page to look for my previous entry stamp. Page 31. Why? I had no idea; so he stamped there. So how the heck can one establish a proper sequence of events using the passport? And yes, the CDN did that too... Page 13.... Must be a new method. There must be a reason for this recommended by "experts".