Brent visits China

Brent traveled to Beijing and Shanghai, China for business and I think he had a positive experience! After a 12 hour flight to Beijing, starting Friday 2pm Pacific time and arriving Saturday 7pm Beijing time, they rested up for a group tour on Sunday.

The tour started at the Forbidden City, touring the huge square in front of the Palace. Brent explained that it was even larger than the pictures do it justice - Tiananmen Square is the fourth largest in the world.

Brent said it was hot that day. Temperatures soared in to the upper 90's. He cooled off in the car ride out to the country for the climb up the Great Wall (only to sweat all over again).
Between stops they stopped at a local eatery the guide suggested. This was a common theme - Brent said all the meals he had there were amazing.

After a 45 minute drive, they reached the Great Wall.

Guide and co-worker across the Wall

Brent is in pretty good shape and he even commented the steps were steep and difficult. They are all irregular - so one step could be 4 inches high and the next 6 inches and the next a completely different measurement. This is also the renovated section - there is a section that you are "not supposed" to walk that continues beyond where the tour stops (but this is not America so no one is stopping you).

Obviously the point of this trip was for him to work with Amazon China and get their payroll set up.... But he definitely made time for some more nice dinners.

Sesame Chicken - the real stuff. 

Peking Duck

At the end of the first week, the crew traveled to Shanghai for two days to do some business there. Brent stayed at a pretty swanky hotel - The Grand Hyatt.

This was his room on the 61st floor! All windows! And right outside the hotel he watched the cranes work on Shanghai Tower, expected to be open 2015 at a height of 2,073 feet (121 stories). Brent shared that Shanghai was a very wealthy city (definitely a city of haves and have nots) as walking the city he would constantly spot Lamborghini's, Porshe's and Ferrari's driving around.

View across the river at Shanghai's cityscape

Brent may have done a bit of shopping while he was there.....

Besides the Peking Duck, his favorite dish was the Beijing apples. He explained they are similar to candy apples, but without the red candy shell. You have to eat them within a few minutes of their arrival to the table otherwise they get too hard.

Final comments by Brent: I left on Thursday at 4pm Beijing time and arrived in Seattle on Thursday at 12:30pm PT, 5530 miles later.  It was the first time I have ever been able to complete a true act of time travel.  Next stop could be Tokyo.