We had an early start to the day as we had booked the 7.30 am shuttle bus from our hotel to the Sydney International Airport. I had a very restless night and Alan woke up feeling nauseous and not at all happy with the world. I suggested it was perhaps the belly pork he had for dinner but of course that - or indeed any suggestion - was not wise at that time of the morning...

For the first time on our travels I had purchased a small hand held voice recorder which I thought would be useful for recording information for my travelogue and would hopefully negate hand writing notes while travelling in cars - a sure way to make me car sick and anyway often I could hardly decifer my notes when I got home because of the usual shockingly bumpy roads.

I am not sure it was such a great idea as that morning my recorder was a bit too accurate. My voice sadly drones "Alan is not at all well. He is complaining about the height of the bathroom ceiling and that the water pressure in the shower kept changing. He is now complaining about the lack of mirrors. I think things are getting worse..."

In hindsight I think we were both exhausted from the long and tiring lead up to our travels. Having several huge gardens and heaps of animals to organise always means we are flat out for weeks before we travel. We had renovated our house next door and I was still writing up my 2014 travelogue well into the late hours of the evening before we left home.

We often wonder why we chose to lead such complex lives. Then again, not much we have ever done in our lives could be regarded as straightforward...


We were travelling again with China Eastern Airlines which up until recently used the Qantas Business Lounge for its Business Class passengers. Amy Xu our China Eastern Airlines contact with whom we have become great friends with over the years, had informed us that we would be using the new SkyTeam (Airline Alliance) Lounge. We were disappointed. Qantas Lounge, like the St George Rowing Club, had become an integral part of our travels and is rather an icon of Sydney airport. Nothing we thought could surpass its great location and wonderful service. The SkyTeam Lounge was perhaps not quite as good, but it was pretty terrific and as usual, we toasted our trip with a welcome bloody Mary - and quite a few glasses of champagne. Alan's nausea and my tiredness had remarkably disappeared.

A very pleasant Chinese businessman who we had met earlier in the Immigration queue asked if he could sit with us. The softly spoken and very polite Hanson Liu worked for the food company Golden State Foods (GSF) as a Project Engineer at the company's headquarters in Xiantao City, in the central province of Hubei. GSF is a huge company with branches worldwide, including Australia and New Zealand, supplying fresh-cut foods to food service and other chain food outlets such as McDonalds. Ahh, yes we knew of Xiantao City because of its reputation for its famous Chinese beer. Hanson looked pleased and gave us his business card. The reverse side of the card detailed the Company Values:

"Treat others like you want to be treated. Make the best products. Give the customer a fair deal. Maintain the highest standards."

We reflected grimly on what we hear so often in Australia on the stereotyping of the Chinese business people.

We had a good flight with the usual great service and excellent food. And, of course the odd drink or two. Our flight would take us over central Australia and the channel country of the Northern Territory before flying directly over the Celebes Islands of Indonesia and then the Philippines, before our night landing in Shanghai.

The nine hour trip flew and it seemed that in no time we had landed in Shanghai's Pudong International Airport - now a very familiar airport for us. The motorways surrounding Pudong were lit up like a series of tattoos - with pin point fairy lights strung out in every direction. And once again, it was quite exhilarating to be back in our beloved Shanghai.

China Eastern Airlines now provides a transfer service and a night's free accommodation for Business Class passengers in transit at Shanghai Pudong Airport. And as promised, we were met by a representative who met us when we disembarked from our flight and took us through Immigration and Customs to and even guided us on to our hotel shuttle bus.

Our diminutive friendly young representative obligingly waited for us at our luggage carousel. It was sheer bedlam. Apparently a number of flights had landed at the same time and because of airport renovations, all luggage was being handled by just one carousel. It was chaotic and the loud jack hammering didn't help much either. I had never seen such bad behaviour in Shanghai before. There must have been some hundred people pushing and shoving to retrieve their luggage, a lot which was interestingly Armani and Gucci branded. We had always experienced the most polite people in China and hoped that the country was not changing quite that quickly.

We were delighted however with our China Eastern Airlines selection of the Ramada Pudong Airport Hotel for our evening in transit. Our room was lovely - large, nicely furnished and with a very comfortable king size bed. There were even tea and coffee making facilities, an iron and ironing board and a real hairdryer - as opposed to those appliances which you have to continuously hold the ON button on, for it to operate. Bliss...

We decided to have a couple of drinks in the very pleasant (but expensive) bar and then an early night before our midday flight to Moscow the next morning.

If we were impressed with the Ramada Pudong Airport the night before, we were in ecstasy the next morning. The buffet breakfast was probably the most splendid we have ever seen, comprising a wonderful selection of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Western dishes. It was just great fun to explore the different presentations. Huge displays of maki sushi, grilled fish and dumplings, steamed vegetables and congee together with traditional bacon and eggs were just too tempting. I opted for a purely Asian breakfast and Alan decided on a mixture of both. The miso soup was out of this world - heaven!

Just before we left the hotel we discovered the lock on one of our bags was missing. The Ramada Hotel shop was, as to be expected, quite expensive but it sold some beautiful and very tasteful souvenirs. I lamented that it was far to early to buy gifts but there were lots I could have bought. Our lock cost us around AUS $18 but at this stage price was not an option.

The elegant, elderly shop owner was delightful. She was very friendly and chatty but when she asked us what our years of birth were, she looked quite dismayed. Apparently, I was born in the Year of the Snake, Alan in the Year of the Tiger.

"A Snake should never, ever marry a Tiger" she whispered solemnly to us.

A bit late now, we thought. And just my luck to be the Snake not the Tiger....