FC
Francesca Cutaia Joined: March 20th 2006
Logged in: October 25th 2008
Logged in: October 25th 2008
Travel Blog Posts
Hyatt lobby
The sun was shining on the last day and we decided to head to the top of the world. Unfortunately the line to get to the tallest building was ridiculous. Lucky for us, the second tallest was right next door and the line was practically non-existent. So, up we went. The views were amazing. We even managed to send a few postcards from the worlds highest post office! The tallest lobby -Hyatt-also just amazing. The picture that looks like a gold tube is a view of the lobby from the top down. We had a great dumpling lunch. I tried my first ever soup dumpling. You poke the oversized dumpling with a straw and just drink the soup. It was really good. I also had my first ever dessert dumpling. Very neat. Filled with cinnamon-although the ... read more
Shanghai
After work Linda and I headed to the shops. The guys eventually met up with us, but not until after we did loads of damage. Although, truly, on a time/quantity basis, Colin kicked my butt. The deals to be had in Shanghai are like no other. Everyone is selling the same crap which is actually of ok quality. Not great, but really not bad considering you are paying less than $10 for just about everything. I didn't especially enjoy the price negotiations that day. I tend to prefer to shop around and get the best price. But that is not how it works there. Nothing has a price, you ask the price for everything and they give you a ridiculously inflated price. You can expect to get about 75% off. Of course, knowing this, I aimed ... read more
Parkyard
Talk about a whirlwind. Had an interesting flight in Business Class on China Eastern. Needless to say, I was the only Caucasian in business class. I was looking forward to relaxing but the state of the plane and the fact that the flight attendants struggled with English made for an interesting ride. Eventually I did arrive safe and sound, so no complaints. The hotel was gorgeous. If ever in Shanghai office area, I highly recommend the Parkyard. I lucked out with a two room suite. So, I settled in for the night and realized I was not in the least bit sleepy. Something about a 12 hour time difference. So, I headed to the spa for a relaxing soak. The rest of the team arrived after me and we headed to dinner. I didn't expect this ... read more
Pictures can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/cutaia Warning--I have not weeded through them...there are bound to be way way way too many. Will weed through once I get back home.... read more
10-26-2007 Snow Canyon Woke up to smoke coming over the ridge from California. We decided we better head out on the Grand Canyon tour sooner rather than later because the smoke was only going to get worse. So off we went. Great day for flying and Dave was a wonderful pilot as always. Forgot how comfortable and safe the Cirrus felt. We headed out over the canyon. The smell from the smoke was very strong while we flew through at approx. 6-9K altitude. The smoke was channeling through the canyon. It was eery and really amazing all at the same time. We soon realized there was a fire right near the mouth of the Tuweep butte at the Canyon. So the smoke we were seeing down below was from that fire while the smoke above was ... read more
10-25-2007 Zion- What a trip. About 1 hr from Dave and Eileen's place. Nice scenic drive...I had no idea what was in store! We got to the bottom of this mountain and Dave said, we will be at the top soon. ??? Where is the funicular? Where is the gondola? I think Dave thought I was kidding. Nope, not kidding. Seriously? We are going to scale Mt Everest here? Holy crap. So, off we start. After about 1 hour of me chasing them, they took off ahead. No way I was keeping their pace. So that left me to hike up but not pass out. I think Dave got nervous when I told him my heart rate monitor said 192. Incredible views. Things you just can't see or appreciate from the ground or from a gondola. ... read more
Brunei
Joeny came to pick me up again so we had a wonderful drive in to the Airport. We went past the Grand Hotel again and I got a few great shots of the hotel from a distance. It really is Grand. What a perfect name. I got to the airport early and headed to the Evergreen lounge. They have a wonderful buffet and I suddenly realized that I had forgotten breakfast. The food was very Asian without the usual American thrown in for good measure. I had a thousand year old egg (really, stay away unless you grew up with this stuff, not kidding) porridge with pork, a weird looking hot dog (also stay away from anything that you describe as weird before even taking it!), a brown sugar bun (nothing like a donut, more like ... read more
