LAX

For all that LAX sucked, HKG rocked. It was huge, well made, free internet EVERYWHERE, and more noodles than you could shake a cheaply made chopstick at. I was feeling pretty wiped out when I got there because I think I got a total of 5 hours sleep (fitfully at best too) on the LAX to HKG flight. Then I found a Noodle & Congee place. This is the true meaning of Asia:














I found some sofa chair thingys to rest on and I read some "Shogun" for about 4 hours, and then wandered down to my gate for my next meal. "Slippery" would probably be the best word to describe that meal. Imagine taking sticky white rice, pureeing it, and then compressing it into thin spippery slabs. That's pretty much what I had.

After that it was just a lot of waiting around until my flight arrived.

Day 1. The Flight - LAX / Second Leg

Now it's just getting stupid. My flight landed in LAX 20 minutes late due to a hydraulic failure which wouldn't let the gear go down. The pilot came on the intercom and told everyone that it was an issue that they had had on that plane before, and that it would soon be in opperation. I don't think any of us were too sure that was true, but we didn't really have any options but to wait. We circled the airport for about 15 min until finally they were able to HAND crank the wheels down...

well, that's what SHOULD have caused the delay.



All I REALLY know is that the flight was 20 minutes late landing, and then the terminal bus was forever in arriving. You can see in the picture the layout of LAX.

The international departure gate is THAT far away. So like I said, the flight took forever to arrive, and then the bus took forever to arrive as well. Before I knew it, I was arriving at the Cathay Pacific check-in with only 40 minutes before my flight was supposed to depart at 11:20.

Here's where it gets good.

THEY CLOSE THE GATE 1 HOUR BEFORE THE FLIGHT DEPARTS.

.................

So NOW my NEW flight was leaving at 1:30 Pacific time. That's 2 hours MORE I was going to have to wait. The kicker: The flight that I wasn't allowed to board because I was ONLY 40 minutes early instead of 60 minutes early?... ended up boarding at 11:40. Yup, that's an HOUR after I arrived at the check-in I wasn't allowed to be a part of.

Shoot me in the face.

... or stick me on a plane designed for little Asian people and put me behind the ONE other tall lanky dude WITH the malfunctioning seat that leans farther back than it should,,, AND let that guy be the one who reclines as soon as the wheels tuck after takeoff. Hahaha... that would almost be worst than being shot in the face....

Day 1. The Flight - First Leg

Apparently you can't travel to China without a return ticket.

Well, that's what the lady at the United desk at the airport said anyway. It was a really cool and fun way to start off my trip. I had purchased a one-way ticket to Guilin, China about 2 weeks ago with no mention of need for a return ticket. In fact, I had gotten my Chinese Visa from the embassy in DC about a month and a half before that. The Chinese didn't seem to care if I had a return ticket or not either, but the buck stops at Helen.. or at least the little manual she was reading the rules out of anyway.

After much huranging and "round-about-ness", I got my way... and had to purchase a flight back out of China.

Speaking of China, United Airlines has potentially the worst in-flight movie selection I have ever seen. No, really. I was hoping for something that might involve Chuck Norris, or Charles Bronson - like "Death Wish 12". Or better yet, something with Sylvester Stallone pumping thousands of rounds of molten hot lead into the bellies of impoverished southeast Asian villagers.

"August Rush". That's what I got. It's about a kid who hears his parents singing in the wind of guitar strings... or something like that.














It wasn't the molten flesh carnage I was anticipating, that's for sure.

And yes, he finds his parents in the end.