Back to Beijing for a bit. I was starting to get tired just being in the Air China lounge. As late in the evening as it was, 1000ish, the lounge activity had slowed. Just to keep the blood moving, took another quick tour around the lounge and discovered some interesting vertical cylinder-like features in one area of the lounge, right behind the entrance where the staff greet you. There were about 4 of them and on approach a sign was posted on each of them, where the entrance appeared to be, which read: 'Do not disturb'. They appear to be sleeping containers of some sort! So cool! Not quite sure how one rates reserving one but, just found it interesting. After my walk came back to where Rosie was sitting, told her about my discovery and she immediately went to see herself and to take some photos.
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| Sleeping containers in Air China lounge |
Not long after that, around 1030, we left in search of our departure gate, Gate E59.
Side Note: Before we left I decided to see if the Air China staff in the lounge might be able to help us with changing our currently assigned seats. At the time I had do idea what type of jet we would be boarding. We were currently seated in row 12, seats D and H. I knew that was back aft some in the Business First section and between both port and starboard seating, in the middle of the cabin. I was hoping we could score window/aisle seating. We approached one of the 2 staff people and made our request. The young lady we were speaking to said she'd be happy to check for us and make changes if there were any available seats. She walked over to an nearby adjacent area that had some computer terminals and started typing away. Eventually, she pulled up a seat view of the plane we'd be riding - it wasn't a B747 - and turned the monitor so that we could see what was open. Wah lah! Seats 11A and 11C were open and available. We said we'd take them and she immediately picked up a phone, called someone, and then made the change right there in front of us. Instead of printing out new boarding passes, she just annotated the change with a pen on our existing boarding passes and then stamped it with something. Done!! That would never have happened in the U.S. We were quite pleased and impressed.
The airport is huge and sprawling and appears to have plenty of space to accommodate more pax and planes. Believe they expanded it some years back to accommodate all the Travelers that would fly in for Summer Olympics held there. The signage, once again, is really poor for the gate we were trying to find and we wandered around some until we ran into the guy we met at the 2hr/1hr hotel who had broken the code: Gate E59 was actually 1 level below the main concourse level and you had to find the elevator or escalator down to it. So, with that detail in mind, we eventually found the gate. Decided not to go down until about 30min prior to published boarding time, 0020.
Turns out there are 3 gates at the lower level: Gates E57-59. The waiting area one level down was fairly busy and the crowd was growing. We made our way to the gate counter and just positioned ourselves right by it. There was no one around from Air China and it was now 40min from boarding time. We looked at the flight info on the monitor about the gate counter and it was indeed our flight: CA173 to Sydney. Boarding was supposed to begin at 20min after midnight with takeoff following, ideally, at 0050. Things just felt odd. Lots of Travelers milling about and no staff. Soon, a 'coBus 3000' (a large bus designed to transport people to/from aircraft) pulled up and stopped right outside the doors to the gate. So, it was now apparent that we were going to be bused somewhere, but where?
No staff yet. No announcements of the imminent boarding of Air China flight 173 to Sydney. Then suddenly, with no warning or fanfare at about 0005, 2 Air China reps appeared out of nowhere and manned the counter. They didn't say a word or announce anything... just started staring and typing away on their computer keyboards. Wasn't long before folks, primarily Chinese, started making a queue right at the desk and it was growing quickly. We were standing 10ft from the start of the queue right in front of 1 of the Air China staff. Rosie, instinctively, started to sidle up to that position. Still no announcements. Wasn't long before at least 2 other 'coBus 3000s' pulled up right behind first - that's all we could see from where we were positioned.
As I've said, official boarding was scheduled to commence at 0020 but it was obvious that that was just more of a ballpark time frame. Continued silence from the Air China reps. Suddenly, at about 0025, there was activity at the head of the queue where we were standing. There was also a 2nd smaller queue that had formed by the other Air China rep, all with zero (0) announcements or direction of any kind! Just felt highly irregular to those of us non-indigenous to China. The locals didn't appear to be fazed at all.
A third Air China rep appeared from outside of the boarding area where the buses were idling. She had a conversation with 1 of the reps, left, and the other 2 reps suddenly started to take boarding passes! Still no announcements or direction from anyone. So, Rosie, bless her heart, muscled in and I followed. I felt a bit odd breaking into line but, no one said anything and we passed through and boarded the bus with no problem. We both moved to the front of the lead bus and started up a conversation with a blonde lady, her name was Elizabeth from Washington DC, about what was going on? She had no idea but did exactly what we did at the 2nd queue, which was shorter than the one we'd cut into. While we were chatting, we noticed a young black man had moved close to us and was listening intently. He politely joined our conversation and we found out that he was from Manhattan and headed to Sydney to surprise his girlfriend of just over a year. How exciting for him. All 4 of us had similar experiences with our ETA VISAs purchased online via the official Australian website - problems with the Chinese airline folks and the ETA VISA process - and we shared the hurdles all of us had to over-come as the coBus 3000s made their way in the dark towards remote parts unknown within the grounds of the airfield.
Not sure how the bus drivers knew when to start moving or whether they had a full load or not. We heard no chatter. The bus just started moving. It was dark and 'foggy' out but visibility was pretty good. All of this activity happened with absolutely no announcements or direction from anyone! I was stunned, still a bit unsure of what was going on, and impressed.
So, a small convoy of coBus 3000s were slowly making their way out to some remote location on the airfield. Along the way we passed several huge (a 747 and 777), darkened sentinels of commercial aviation made out of aluminum. They were just parked quietly, appearing to be asleep. Neither one could be our ride - zero (0) activity in or around the planes. Being at the front of the lead bus, I was looking out as far as I could see, still nada. Then suddenly off to our distant left, saw the huge silhouette of another 777 and just beyond and next to that, another large aircraft with all of it's exterior navigation lights on and all of it's interior lights on too. That had to be our target. It was.
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| Our stealthy approach to our ride to Australia, A330-300, in the gloom and fog somewhere on the BCIA field |
The buses headed towards her. I still couldn't make out what model of aircraft. As we drew nearer, it was obvious through the gloom that there was activity inside the jet. You could see the cabin crew scurrying about doing their tasks. The buses stopped near the foot of a large, portable ladder that led up to the open cabin door furthest forward in the fuselage.
I did not see any signs of any ground crew anywhere. You would have expected hand held flashlights bobbing about but, no. No portable lights at all around the aircraft - except for the odd cellphone light in the hands of we Travelers. All the buses unloaded their Pax at the same time and a wave of people started moseying over to the base of the ladder. If you paused for any reason along the way, this mass of people just pushed you along. Happened to Rosie while I was taking her roll-on and giving her my camera bag to lug up the ladder. It wasn't until we got closer to the landing area of the ladder that we finally saw 2 Air China personnel, 1 on either side of the ladder, taking the boarding stubs of each person trying to climb up the ladder. They had to move the stubs up very close to their eyes because no one had a flashlight! It was all so surreal and bordered on being tantamount to a 3 Stooges slap-stick scene! People shoving people politely out of the way, barrelling forward regardless of surroundings, while 2 hapless Air China employees tried their best, in vain, to see what was printed on tiny stubs with no lights! Wasn't sure how to feel... amazed certainly, incredulous too and the one thought I had in the moment, as I carefully passed over my boarding stub that had our baggage claim stubs stapled to it was, 'only in China?!'
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| A view aft from the front row of Business 1st. Way more spartan and packed than our last flight |
Boarding stubs back in hand, we made our way past the employees without losing/dropping either our passports or stubs and trudged up the ladder. At the top we were directed to the left and into the Business First cabin. Thank goodness we changed our seating arrangements. We were now the furthest row forward on the port side of the aircraft with a bench fronting us up against the bulkhead - 11A and 11C. I'm still amazed that we made it this far without any discernible problems ALL with nothing said and no directions from the Air China staff. Only after taking a seat did I notice that we were now on an Airbus 330-300. Another first. With our 'years of experience' flying Business First we empirically decided that the Airbus Business First configuration was lacking compared to the Boeing product. Just looked and felt more spartan than our first experience. Oh well, nothing like turning into a traveling snob after 1 other ride in Business First! :-)
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| So much more comfortable with slippers on than shoes |
While we were getting acquainted with our new digs and exchanging slippers for tennis shoes, the cabin crew brought around some pre-made beverages for our enjoyment prior to taxi. Rosie went with the champagne and I opted for water. I asked about Bailey's liqueur but apparently, after consulting with her colleagues, it was not one of the stocked offerings on board. Bummer. :-( We then placed our food and drink orders and Rosie started to crash - 33 hours straight of travel was catching up to her... and I. Fortunately, I'd caught a bit of a second wind - but only just.
As I sat and composed myself and my thoughts, I started reviewing in my mind what we'd just been through. The whole evolution just felt odd, weird and, covert with no one was running the shop. Just 1 big group think and motion. I hope there weren't any 'special needs' travelers because there was no helping them climb up the boarding ladder. They'd have been challenged in this 'free for all, all for one' motion. Certainly felt like we were being spirited away having done something wrong or illegal under the cloak of night. I can't emphasize how strange it was for us not of China to experience. Really felt like we were sneaking our of Beijing to places unknown rather than starting the 3rd leg of our travel adventure... I would definitely characterize this event as an adventure, most definitely. Were we really going to Sydney?? Anyway, the cabin crew and most of the folks around us all appeared non-plussed so, when in Rome....
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| On our way to Sydney |
Side note: The whole evolution also reminded me how we operated back in my carrier aviation days. We did everything, unless there was a problem or emergency, under strict radio silence. We were all extensively trained on and practiced aircraft carrier operational procedures. Everyone had to know what everyone else's job was: who was doing what for instance - how to enter the overhead pattern above the carrier during the day or queue up in the approach stack at night; when to start to come down to land from overhead the boat during the day or 'push' from the stack at night? Every evolution extremely well choreographed and executed. Maybe that was what was happening on this evening - it was just that we from the West hadn't been trained on these no communication evolutions?
Still, it is so awesome occupying a seat that reclines flat into a bed! Really makes you feel spoiled and the traveling experience SO POSITIVE. We taxi'd out 5min after scheduled takeoff time, 0055, headed over to Rwy36 (I only knew this since I saw taxiway signs). Once we got to the 'hold short' position just off the runway, we sat there for another 25min before we took off. Not sure why? Weight off Wheels: 0130. Climb out included a wide right hand turn to start heading in the right direction. Climbed to our cruising altitude of FL350.
About an hour after takeoff, we were served our hot food and drinks, wine and water. Needed to wake Rosie so that she could partake. The spread was quite tasty. We also looked for and found USB charging ports for each seat. Rosie plugged her iPhone into her USB and the phone immediately began to surge between charging and not, vibrating continuously - not good. Unplugged from that port and plugged her phone into my USB port, worked just fine. With that done, Rosie went back to sleep. I fought to stay up a bit longer.
The flight map on the cabin monitor had us headed towards Seoul, South Korea, and not Australia? I had to suppress my conspiracy urges and just let this play out. Flight time to Sydney appears to be about 11hrs. I'm definitely not impressed with the Airbus' flight tracking software. Not nearly as good as in the Boeing.
OK, back again. It's now 0645 Beijing time... just woke back up. Sometime after we enjoyed chow at ~0300, I dozed off - that parts a blank. I must have been tired. Woke up once to go to the loo. Went right back to my seat and back to sleep, a fitful one. I did, however get over 3hrs of rest. Trying hard to get acclimated to Sydney time. Rosie's gotten about 4-5 hrs of sleep on this flight so far.
It's now about 0900 Sydney time and I'm awake. Stood up and did some leg stretches and walked up and down the aisle to get some blood flowing. Asked one of the Flight Attendants for a hot cup of green tea and he had it to me in no time. I'm enjoying it now as I type this. Rosie's up and we're both a bit 'peckish' so, called over another Flight Attendant and put in 2 orders for hot ramen noodle soup. They carried 2 varieties. Rosie went with mild, I went spicy. They had them made and back to us in 10mins. We just finished them - delicious!
OK, time for a break. I may sign back in before we land or sometime and someplace in Sydney!
Fuji
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