Airline food and pretty lights from my Asia work trip

I have been insanely busy at work. Besides continuing the huge project I am leading on understanding and innovating a product, I also do the regular work I give other projects. Unfortunately for me, almost all those projects are planning updated releases in the near future so I am trying to keep up with pre-work that it takes to make sure the product design for each project is heading the right way before getting to the support-as-needed during implementation. Usually this not too bad except that there are multiples of these at the same time. Some of the planned releases also have major updates or even completely new features- which I'm glad for since I advocated some of these changes or I am enhancing the original proposed feature capability to be more strategic. But it's a lot of work to juggle. I'm a great multitasker, but I have found my limit.

This blog entry I just wanted to recap some of the visual highlights of my trip to Asia. Just as a summary of the Asia trip, it was for work, I left from Chicago to arrive in Shanghai, took a train stopping in Suzhou for a customer visit to then arrive in Nanjing and continue visits there. Then I flew to Shenzhen, spent the weekend in Hong Kong, then back to Shenzhen to complete my customer research visits there before heading to Taiwan to wrap up a few visits there.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how different airline in-flight service is in Asia. The flight attendants on Asian airlines (yes this is a generalization and it's my blog, my opinion) just have a totally different demeanor bent on making customers comfortable and less grumpy – this sometimes takes on a interesting mix of both subservient and motherly (yes even male attendants). This was a contrast with my flight back. Also, even flights of 2 hours or 1.5 hours still get meals. The meals on Asian airlines are also a lot better then the stuff on US based airlines. My favorite airline now is still Korean Airlines, but on the Japan Airlines flight/China Airlines flight offerings of the soba/curry meal wasn't too bad. Of course, I am also a pretty brave eater (ok except for fruit), so I always opt for the Asian style meal rather then American one.

I was only in Shanghai for one night before leaving to other locations in China, but the city is beautifully lit up. In general, the skyscrapers in Asia have a much higher tendency to be all lit up with colored lights and even light shows on the buildings, something which you might see in the US in Vegas but not major cities unless there are major events the city is trying to support. I can imagine that if the same thing was tried here, there would be protests of electricity consumption, causing traffic jams or accidents because of the lights, visual pollution that decreases housing values of those who live in the area, etc. To me, the pretty lights of the buildings are such a vast improvement over the smog of the day though.

Shanghai

Shenzhen

Hong Kong

Taiwan

In Nanjing though, we were lucky enough to be there as they were preparing to celebrate a festival, and so it was particularly beautifully setup for evening viewing with lights in the Qinhaui Scenic Area. This area also had a Confucius temple, market area, and was an area where scholars used to take the officers examination to become politicians/government workers back pre-Communist era.