This was my third and last trip to China this year and again I found myself flying the old worn Boeing 767 direct flight to Beijing. I truly believe in direct flights from Seattle, so I don’t have much choice from Delta when it comes to flying direct to China. The last few international flights I have flown I have been fortunate enough to get upgraded to first class; this makes a huge difference when you are on an 11 hour flight. Leaving customs with my one piece of luggage and heading out to the taxi line I got that familiar sniff of Beijing’s nasty polluted air.

Delta has one of the latest time-slots for landing at the Beijing Capital Airport, which usually lands around 11:00 p.m., but coming in late does have advantages…a short taxi line and considerable less traffic. The taxi line was maybe a 5 minute wait and when it was my turn, the airport taxi porter pointed me towards an unofficial taxi or a non-metered taxi. I quickly bellowed out bullshit and a few other 4 letter words; he got the message that I was only driving off in an official metered taxi! I am not your usual blue-eyed tourist and I wasn’t about to let these local yokels scam me. China is on a national holiday and if I was actually leaving the airport during the day, it would have taken me at least one hour to my downtown hotel, but…at 11:30 p.m. it was only a 15 minute cab ride.

The next day started off with a huge buffet breakfast and an hour workout at in the hotel gym. I was very surprised when I walked out for the first time to catch a taxi to the 798 Art District, the sky was actually blue and air smelled clean. When in Beijing, one must visit the 798 Art District www.798district.com. Linna (my beautiful wife) flew in on the same flight I did but just a day later; I took a taxi to meet her coming out of customs.

Since I had business in Xuzhou, Wuxi and Wujiang the following week we were off to Shanghai. After landing we started our day at the Yuyuan Market area for a little shopping, it’s part of the beautiful Yu Garden. I picked up two oil paintings and one of the paintings was a fake Van Gough, cheesy in a way…but vogue in my world. Linna picked up a bunch of silk scarfs for herself and for gifts. For all the times we have been in Shanghai Linna and I haven’t been up to the Pearl Tower together. The last time I was up in the Tower was 2003, during the SARS outbreak; they had heat monitors that you had to go walk through.

We finished the day off at a restaurant on the Bund with views to die for called New Heights, which is part of Three on the Bund restaurants www.threeonthebund.com It has a gorgeous terrace overlooking the river and the Pudong District. The food didn’t match the view though, it reminded me of a local restaurant in Seattle, Salty’s…great view but the food can be a hit or miss. The next night we had the opposite dining experience; food to die for and the view only so so. Lost Heaven www.lostheaven.com.cn is located in the Bund area and specializes in Yunnan dishes that are incredible. The dark, rich décor and romantic spotlighting provided the perfect atmosphere for a wonderful dinner; after dinner we headed to their cozy outdoor lounge for a nightcap.

Our last day in the Shanghai area was spent mainly in Wujiang, a city due west. After my business meeting we found ourselves exploring Tong Li; this beautiful water town is about an hour train ride due west of Shanghai.

The last full day was spent back in Beijing visiting Linna’s good friend Rebecca Liu. We had dinner at 1949, one of the best places to eat Beijing Duck.