The Mrs alighted with her tiny luggage, smaller than my briefcase, for our 5-day trip to Saudi Arabia and Dubai.

I have no idea how she packs so light, but when she said, “You are damn lucky,” I had to unequivocally agree.

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He explained: “It’s a 757, but looks like a fisher price plane. Had it done in Vegas on one of “those” type of trips.”

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Tajikistan attempts to figure out what it has to offer travelers (Skift). I only visited a corner of Tajikistan, the rugged landscape of the Marguzar Lakes left me wanting much more.

BBC’s More or Less looks at claims of massive crime activity by Romanians in the UK, listen to the 17 May 13 episode.

Why is it so much nicer to fly foreign airlines? (Seattle Times). Nothing new, but a question worth pondering. I will say, sitting in the Delta Sky Club in Tokyo-Narita, it is better than the Korean Air Lounge downstairs, so in this tiny respect Delta has something better.

The remote Pacific island that the U.S. military wants to turn into a bombing range (Skift).

Most U.S. clothing chains did not sign pact on Bangladesh factory reforms (Washington Post). The kind of headline that provokes a wearied head shake.

Cellphone Case Helps to Alleviate Wi-Fi Woes (NYT).

Extraordinary Museum Restaurants (Departures).

Mystery of the deflated Rubber Duck: were cigarette butts to blame? (SCMP).

China softens stand on Arunachal Pradesh (China National News). Can China and India ever get along? Not likely. Ditto for all of China’s neighbors.

American Samoa to Keep Flier Miles for Government Travelers (MilePoint – LarryInNYC)

North Korean Border Town Opens its Doors to Westerners (Vagabondish). Interesting option for those who do not want to do the full North Korea tour, not open to Japan, South Korea and US passport holders, though.

Does the Great Firewall Shape China’s Internet Habits? (China Digital Times). It sure is a pain in the router for me.

Delta is in no rush to buy new planes, CEO says let other airlines test them (Skift).

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With Delta moving into a rehabbed Terminal 4 on Friday, and me about to board in Shanghai for a flight to JFK, I thought back to to this woman capturing my sentiment of the many times I have wished there was a proper arrivals or perhaps a tow rope. I was always embarrassed as an American to see international visitors shocked at the decrepitude.  There are people who will miss these terminals, Flying With Fish movingly recounts his memories. For me, I can’t think of a positive JFK memory outside of Terminal 4 Oasis Club meals, so I bid a nice kick in the rump to Terminal 3 on its way out. Hopefully as Delta shifts to refitting Terminal 2 it will be possible to offer luxuries such as walking on level ground and even staying inside.

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Yangmei are quite tasty, the one downside is they bruise easily. If they are soft to the touch, bite carefully to see if that fermented taste of spoilage pops up. When firm and fresh they are a delight.

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Turns out Hyatt is very accommodating. They have a Combine Points online form that can be mailed or faxed. No restriction on amount of points, only limit is that each member can only be involved in “one point combining transaction (transferring or receiving of points) once every 30 days.”

I filled out the form, sent on to my friend, he signed and sent it in, and the points were transferred out right away.

Nice to liquidate orphan points, nice that Hyatt has such a customer-friendly policy.

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Xintiandi is still tending in its 10th year, unfortunately there are now some women of the night hassles though not highly aggressive. I paused with a bit of trepidation as my colleague look at the better people watching that food spots on the main drag, to my relief he said, “Are you familiar with the restaurants here?” I took him to a back lane and into T8, hopeful it had not fallen from its early heights at Xintiandi’s birth.

The menu now has touches of the molecular, including an elaborate machine to pull out essence of raspberries, leaving a thick, intense raspberry sauce. We sat at the horseshoe bar that surrounds the the open kitchen, and the constant fixation of the staff, right up to the executive chef, with that raspberry spinning machine , was amusing. The raspberry essence water, used on fois gras with a pipette, ironically was the least interesting taste of the evening.

Watching the calm work of the kitchen based on careful ingredient prep was fascinating. Why does it seem like chaos when I try to cook one dish at home?

My colleague summed it up when I was if he was not going to have his popover-esque bread roll. His eyes flashed with intensity at the potential threat, “Oh, oh, oh, I am having it. I will be on the treadmill in the morning if I have to, but I am having it.”

T8 open kitchen

Prepping appetizers

Boys playing with toys

First taste

Watermelon salad

Fois gras

Sea bass

Barramundi

Chocolate indulgence

Ice cream, sorbet and more

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AviancaTaca LifeMiles has been the hot program since last fall with an award chart ripe for taking advantage and bonus-laden buy miles opportunities. I doubt anyone felt it would last long-term so it favored those who could jump on it by either having the flexibility to travel immediately, or the predictability to plan far in ahead. My life seems to have neither, so I decided to just let it all slide by without investing the time to learn. Now comes the devaluation (LoyaltyLobby), some will have made out like bandits, some will be stuck with high balances.

Alitalia is another program that I have heard has value, yet reports like this on the difficulty of redeeming on their partners (Upgrd Matthew) puts it on the shelf with Korean Air of programs I will not unleash on myself.

Delta:

• Delta Starwood Crossover Rewards points have been posting to my account, I haven’t done a strict audit, has anyone had issues? Interesting how Delta works the margins to incentive and de-incenvtive customer behavior. I just flew Shanghai-Beijing and took Air China over China Eastern at the same price and schedule because that fare earns 100% on United rather than 75% on Delta. I am curious about the economics of partner earning levels and costs.
• Delta kicked up a kvetching storm by ‘enhancing’ its Sky Club drinks. Why do US companies insist on spinning everything? I just miss self-service soft drinks when I have to wait several minutes just to get someone to give me some Apple juice.
• Seasonal JFK to Copenhagen and Stockholm service have resumed, these less-noticed flights might have less competition for award space, whether there are any low awards is a different matter.
• Points to Be Made shows how delta.com is useful for something: avoiding KLM booking fees.

Credit Cards:

• The Miles Professor reports that visits to Chase bank branches can yield attractive sign-up bonuses for Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase United Explorer card. Reminds me that my Explorer annual fee is coming up and I have not found a reason to keep it, even if I move my flying business to United. Time to emerge into the sunshine and visit a branch.
• Noob Traveler discusses The quirkiness of Barclays. I have explored Barclays a fair amount and the only rule is inconsistency.

Teapot Tempests:

• View from the Wing attracted some controversy over a ‘win-win’ sign-up bonus for hotel booking site PointsHound. I have been meaning to looking into PointsHound in detail. The argument over the bonus interests me. Gary seems to strive to be transparent yet that attracts just as much criticism, perhaps more, than certain highly financially successful miles and points blogs that have minimal transparency with their link carpet bombing.

Fernando's suckling pig, photo by goodiesfirst

Fernando's bread, photo by goodiesfirst

The bookshelf on Macau is thin, however a thoughtful survey is Macau: The Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1577 to Present by Jonathan Porter, exploring the history of its flowering under the Portuguese through its eclipse by Hong Kong and up to handover to P.R. China.

Please leave a Macau-related comment with valid email address by Monday, May 20 at 11:59 EDT. Available to US addresses only. One winner will be selected at random. Note that this book is out of print so the winner will receive a second-hand copy.

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And the winner is #13 Kun, who wrote:

I’ll be leaving to Macau this Jun 3rd for my wedding. I booked PHX-MFM-PNH, NRT-PHX, for 4 for only 260 United miles + $360 taxes, its a steal. I grew up in Macau and remembered how great the pork chop sandwich and the Portuguese egg tarts were. I stumbled upon A-Lorcha 2 years ago when I was in Macau, it was great. The best egg tart I ever had were at Lord Stow’s Bakery in Hac Sa(Black Sand Beach) in Coloane.

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As we crossed from the jet bridge to the plane I said “‘Is it a 2×2 seating plane?’ will be the line of the trip.”

On we stepped to an Air China 777-20 with 2-5-2 seating. Full on a mid-Saturday afternoon.

He kept raving after, “First class had amenity kits!” “We were served a meal in economy.”

Oh, and Chinese airlines still hassle passengers for having their phones in airplane mode, though enforcement is only by the most stern flight attendants.

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