Fall is here!

The sunny weekend continued! So I ventured out to the North Cascades to hike the Heather Pass and Maple Pass Loop.

The larches are beginning to turn, which brought out the crowds... Luckily, I woke up late and didn't get to the trailhead until 1pm, so while the parking lot was full, the trails were mostly empty.

This trail had everything, multiple passes, fall foliage, wild children, well behaved dogs, pika, chipmunks, multiple lakes, rocks, and it was a loop! no out and back on this day!


Those colors...


Heather Pass


Lake Ann


So the trail starts in Okanogan National Forest, but at Maple Pass, you can cross into the North Cascades National Park, so I did... and you get some reallllly nice views!


Larches in the Valley!


Looking back at Maple Pass


Heading down!


One last view before you hit the treeline!

China Airlines - WE501 - L/N 1227

Behold! the 1,227th Boeing 777 ever built!

This one in particular is a 777-300ER for China Airlines, and it was my most rewarding galley project yet!

Why? Because the airline and supplier team were a blast to work with, I was able to use my Chinese in meetings with them, and also because China Airlines was the first customer to choose a unique entryway... which happened to be my first product design project when I joined the company full-time in 2008.

Even though it took 6-years, it was incredibly fun to see a concept become a reality!!! They also chose a gorgeous day for delivery!

^taxiing to runway 16R-34L

A lovely view for the spectators


and off to Taoyuan International Airport!!!

25 hours in Singapore!

So we arrive on time at 5am, and the plan is to nap and stay at the airport until later in the morning (when things start opening up). In fact, I looked forward to the time at the airport cuz Changi is the best airport in the world. First stop? One of the many leg massage chairs.


Now you may be thinking, "whaaaaaat? is that a playground in the background?"

...and I would have to answer, "yes! it is! and behind that is a butterfly garden, a koi pond, free movie theater, more slides, and all sorts of other jazz!"

But since it's now 5:30am, I started looking for a place to nap. On my way to the designated napping area (yes, that exists), I found a little oasis consisting of reclining massage chairs that face a little rock garden with a mini-waterfall in that large planter thingy. Unfortunately, all of the chairs were taken...



I found a little area to catch some shut-eye, and when I woke up, I watched some airplanes putter around, and took a shower at the lounge.


And then left the airport...

^This is the area right before customs.

As I was getting my passport looked at by customs, the lady asks, "how long are you here for? your paperwork says 0-days."

I replied, "That's correct, I'll be back tonight, probably around midnight; to catch my morning flight."

She looked at me puzzled, "what are you doing here?"

I tell her that I'm here for the race, and she writes '1' on my paperwork, and off I went!

...until I hit the customs declaration area. The customs agent stared me down, and seemed to be curious as to why I only had a backpack. I did my best to avoid any and all eye contact, but his piercing gaze was irresistible. He was clearly a professional.

I tried to shuffle through to the "no declarations" crowd but he yelled at me, "HEY YOU! put your bag through the scanner!!!"

Luckily, I didn't pack any pixy stix or fun dip, and the x-ray scanner technician yelled "It's only camera gear!" ...and off I went!


I took the train to City Hall to pick up the race tickets, and afterwards, I ventured off to China Town, to visit the hawker centers.



Why China Town? cuz the one in Seattle is weak, and this one is legit. Look at all the playas here!

^(they're all playing chess!)

I wandered around the center and found a wonderful roast meat stall and got my plate!

^the plate and soup cost $2.40 USD. The mango pineapple smoothie was $2.00


The next stop was the Singapore Art and Science Museum... I got a bit lost, but found this fancy schmancy road...



After a while, I made it to the museum, where they were showing two photography exhibits. The lady at the box office asked if I was a resident, to which I replied, "no."

Then she asked if I was a student, and once again, the answer was "no."

She kept trying to get me a discount, and finally we succeeded when we found out there was a discount for those attending the race! woot!


The first exhibit was for Annie Leibovitz, but photography wasn't allowed. They had lots of her early works and a 90-minute documentary.


Second was works by Chinese photographers in an exhibit called, Flux Realities: A Showcase of Chinese Contemporary Photography.

This turned out to be fantastic

^Yang Yongliang  杨泳梁
  Artificial Wonderland II: Wintery Forest in the Night​ ​

the detail...



^Liu Xiao Fang  刘晓芳

Some commentary on the routine in China...

^Wang QingSong - Follow You

A FAT CAT!

^Wang Ningde


At around 6pm, I got sleepy, so I took a nap on the conference room floor of a random hotel, and at 730pm, I found a food court, got some Green Tea + Calpis + Aloe Jelly and made my way to the race!!!


I sat the same grandstands as I did 5-years ago, and after the race started, I left the seats to walk around and see if I could grab some photos of the race. Unfortunately, all of the locations I used last time were now blocked off. To get this shot, I had to pre-focus on a spot, hold my camera over a fence, and hope I got lucky...



After the race, I returned to the airport, showered, slept, and flew out in the morning! The HKG to SFO leg was on a United 747, which doesn't have seatback TV's, so I watched a Korean Drama that I had loaded onto my tablet. I don't think I've ever been so addicted to a show. If you are reading this, you must watch.


Many hours later and a few layovers later, I was home.


Would I do this again? Probably!

A Weekend Trip - Narita

I've never considered doing a mileage run before... until I noticed that I had a chance at hitting 1K with United... However, I needed one extra trip this year to reach it.

Then, a few weeks ago, I came across a cheap fare (on United) to Singapore. I poked around with the dates, and noticed it was available the weekend of the Singapore Grand Prix, which I attended 5-years ago. The Singapore GP also marked the starting point of this blog.

At this point, I'm thinking, "hm! this could work!"

Next, I looked to see if race tickets were still available, and they were... and my thoughts went from "hm!" to "shewwwwwwt..."

I ran the silly idea by my lead at work, who was like "why not? just do it!"

Thus, I BOUGHT ALL THE TICKETS!!! For maximum mileage accrual (21,003 PQM), I booked a roundabout routing of:
SEA-IAH-NRT-[6 hour layover]-SIN-HKG-SFO-SEA

...and those were the only things purchased. Hotels wouldn't be utilized on this trip.


First up? Narita! With the long layover, I left the airport and wandered around the town of Narita. One can take the Keisei line from the airport to the city, and ditch their bags in a luggage locker.

It took me a few tries to figure out where I was... If you go, take a right when leaving the station and that will take you to Omote-sandō, a giant shopping arcade filled with restaurants and souvenir shops. This is also the path to Narita-san Shinshō-ji (aka, where I wanted to go).



The street is filled with shops that make an assortment of rice crackers, and also restaurants that serve up fresh unagi!


After a short walk, you'll be at the temple. Here's the main hall of this Shingon Buddhist temple.


Looking up at the three storied Tō


Prince Shōtoku Hall


Shaka-dō


Daitō


Tsukubai


Kūkai


Niomon Gate



After a few hours, I returned to the airport for my flight to Singapore, only to find that United had cancelled it... The agent offered to book me on a JAL flight, but that would mean less UA miles. I pushed back with my best Japanese "ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?" and asked if I could get a hotel for the night and then fly out the following morning, in order to keep with a United/Star Alliance routing.

Pro Tip: If you're ever in Japan, definitely utilize the power of the, "ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?"

The longer you "ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?" the more they know you care about something. Or something like that.


^caution: ehhhhh? at your own risk.


As a compromise, they re-booked me on a Singapore Airlines red eye flight from Haneda Aiport.

The really big positive out of this was that I'd arrive in Singapore at 5am, instead of midnight. Meaning, I could sleep on the plane; instead of my original plan to sleep at the airport. They also gave me a bus voucher to transfer from Narita to Haneda.

The even bigger positive was that I now had time to head to Tokyo. So, I exchanged my bus voucher to Haneda Airport for a ticket to Shinjuku Station and met up with Aaron for Mexican food. Cuz you know... no trip to Tokyo is complete without getting taco rice and drinks w/ Aaron!



After dinner, I made my way to Haneda, got on the flight, snuggled up against some random Japanese couple in my row, passed out, and woke up in Singapore!