I checked into my room at the Hyatt Regency Hangzhou around 11:30pm local time on the 17th (which is 8:30am in California time) and managed to stay awake long enough to plug in, unpack a few things, and get my bearings.
I managed to sleep a bit on the 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong (in addition to reading a complete book), hung out for 2 hours in the Hong Kong airport, and repeatedly caught myself dozing off on the 2 hour flight from Hong Kong to Hangzhou.
That reminds me... Why is it that airports in Asia seem to be far more quiet and relaxing than those in the US? Compare Hong Kong, Taipei, or Japan's Narita to San Francisco, Chicago O'Hare, or New York's JFK and it's quite a striking contrast. And the workers here (immigration, information desk, etc.) are all far more polite too.
So I was doing pretty well when it comes to being in sync with the local time zone. But then I decided to brush my teeth and wash up a bit so that I could go to bed. That, unfortunately, has given me a bit of second (or third?) wind so I'm writing blog posts and reading email hoping that the profound tiredness visits me again soon.
Flying across the international date line is always a trip. Sort of.
On the plus side, the hotel is a stone's throw from Hangzhou's famous West Lake, so I may go for a walk around the lake after breakfast. Hopefully some fresh air will help get me in sync.
I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about China in the coming days, not to mention having a few pictures to post. But that's all for now.
Posted by jzawodn at May 17, 2007 09:19 AM
I am exactly 24 hours behind you about to board the 14-hour flight to Hong Kong in a couple of minutes.
Nice. China's great. Historically speaking methinks, when it's on it's really on (and nowadays it is at unprecedented levels). No surprise you're finding the hospitality good in the major airports. You might find smaller airports more ruggedly competitive environments, though. At one of them I really wanted to accidentally spill some scalding tea on one of my fellow travelers, after a bit of what I'd have considered highly uncustomary rudeness from him, had I not the foreigner and he the native been.
If you get a chance to get out of downtown, out to some of the tea houses and farms in the resort area, you might like that as well.
have a nice trip in china! hangzhou is really a enchanting city.
I'll be interested to hear what the reaction to your corporate blogging talk is like. Transparency is soooo not the name of the game over here in China. Blogging is dominated by celebrities and pop intellectuals, and the almighty dollar (er, yuan) is the main driver in the majority of tech ventures. For example, at the first wiki conference held in Shanghai last year, the majority of attendees were businessmen who seemed like they were expecting a trade conference ("how can I make a quick buck off this?") rather than an idealistic, Bloggercon-style event for wikis.
Well you haven't seen the Mumbai or New Delhi airports in India. More often than not, chaos reigns supreme!
I should be there in 3 month from now and I'm excited. Let us know who are the women.
Kartik:
Actually, I saw in the New Delhi airport a few years back. It was nuts.
If you have some time while there make sure to check out XiHu TianDi on the banks of the West Lake. Its the cousin of XinTianDi in Shanghai by the same developer. When I went a year ago there were tons of great restaurants and bars if you are looking for a respite from Chinese food, just expect to pay Western prices everywhere on the grounds.
