Beijing, Xi'an and Chengdu

Our home for the next three nights in Xi'an is the Sofitel Legend People's Grand Hotel.  This used to be the State Guesthouse and has been beautifully restored into a stunnigly beautiful hotel. 

The lovely Lobby Bar 1953, with complimentary drinks and hors d'ouvres each evening between 5:30pm and 7:30pm.   Bartender Eddie was wonderful.

The 5th floor hallway.

Simply gorgeous decor, artwork and fixtures.

Our Suite 1511.

After we settled in, we headed down for dinner at La Dolce Vita.

Breakfast was served in La Dolce Vita and was an impressive spread.

The top floor  Louis XIII bar, which we didn't have time to stop by for a drink during evening hours.

And we're off to see the pandas today and tomorrow, one of the highlights of the entire trip.    Today's stop is the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, a lovely park with numerous panda viewing areas.

The walk into the park, with lots of flags and pandas.

Pandas basically eat, poop and sleep, and this guy has perfected the art.  

Probably the most exercise he gets all day, stretching for more bamboo. 

Oh yeah, this is much more comfortable.

Man, eating breakfast took a lot out of me.  Off to nap.

And the oh so cute baby pandas...

Pretty clear that Chengdu is the center of Panda-mania.

After our panda morning, we headed to Qingyamg Temple in the heart of the city.

Then back to the hotel for a bite to eat and nap before our 5 hour Chengdu Food Tour.  OMG.

Our wonderful salad at The Temple House Café.

Today is the big day, when the girls get to sit with a baby panda.  We're off to the Dujiangyan Panda Research Center.

Where you can pay $100 or so for the privilege of scooping up panda poop and cleaning the panda enclosures.  What a great racket.  They actually make money on labor.  LOL.

And then there's a group of us that will pay close to $300 for 20 seconds with a 2 year old panda.   Man, this is an even better racket.  Mrs. SFO777 at the head of the line.

And we're off for our 20 seconds with the baby panda.

Over in a flash is an understatement.  But it was pretty cool nonetheless.   Adjacent to the Panda Research Center is the Quincheng mountainside with a stunning park which eventually leads to the Quinyang Taoist Temple.

The Temple is located at the top of the mountain which can be accessed by cable car... but not until you walk up a long, long series of stairs.  Personal porters are a big business here.   Our guide Alex.

After initially resisting, Mrs. SFO777 decided to accept a ride.  

OK, now we're much happier.

We're not even close yet.  The cable car station is across the lake.   You can walk around, or take the ferry.

At the top, more stairs...

With the actual temple another 30 minute (uphill) walk away, we all decided we'd seen enough and headed back down this beautiful spot.

An hour later we were back at the hotel and all pretty hungry.   So we headed for The Temple Café for a late lunch.   A simple "Bonjour, comment ça va?" toward Chef Jerome and we were BFFs, as he came to our table and prepared a wonderful spread.  

And desserts.

OMG, what a fabulous lunch with two bottles of Chablis.    After a nap, we headed out for our final night and the Sichuanese Opera.

Where visitors can dress up in period costume including full make-up.  SFO777Jr and the future Mrs. SFO777Jr were great sports as they went for the glory.

Jr. has already decided that this was not a good idea.  LOL.

Wow.  What a great finished result.

We all fell for the ear cleaning scam.  Seriously?

And the show, which was pretty hokey and touristy.

After the show, back to the hotel to pack and try to get some sleep before our 4:30am wake-up call, and the start of the long trek home.

We arrived on time at Incheon and parked at may have been the furthest gate from the train.  After the long trek and security, we bid adieu to the kids who were flying home on Asiana.   We headed for the Korean transit desk to check-in for our ICN-LAX flight.  And then to the Korean First Class Lounge, where the mediocre breakfast spread had been replaced by a mediocre lunch spread. 

At around T-50, we headed out to our gate.

Where our A380 had just pulled into the gate.  I guess that this flight is not departing on time today.

Our flight crew waiting to board.

Eventually it was our turn.

Sure it's a dated open cabin with the old Kosmos 1.0 suites, but it's still a very pleasant cabin, especially today when there was a very quiet family of 3 in front of us in Row 1.

Pre-departure champagne.

Although not sure how our flight attendant missed this.

Today's menu...

This was a little confusing.  Korean offers Jedong Beef...

... but then says all of their beef dishes are prepared with only New Zealand or Australian beef.  Color me very confused. 

The universal KE wine list...

Playing around with the IFE, I discovered K-POP Dance music which I still can't get out of my head. 

After take-off our wonderful cabin crew began what was simply flawless service.

Our amuse bouche of Seared scallop and black mushroom with spicy orange sauce.

Next up was the Foie-gras terrine with fig compote.  OMG, it was divine.

Even better with a glass of the 2013 Rieussec Sauternes.

Nah, I didn't like it at all.  LOL.

The Chestnut cream soup was delicious.

The Seasonal Salad was fresh and delicious.

Mrs. SFO777's Jedong chicken.

While I went with the Jedong Beef rib-eye, with Madeira sauce and baked potato.  

I like my steak medium rare, but this is a little too raw for me.

I sent it back to be cooked a little more and a few minutes later, perfectly medium rare.

A little cheese? Why not.

And still with the K-POP.

For dessert, the Pecan Pie with ice cream was fabulous.

And the damage...

It's certainly not like Emirates, Qatar or even Etihad, but Korean has a mini-bar First Class at the front of the cabin.

Oh yeah.

Since the Korean First Class cabin is on the lower deck, they don't have the spacious lavs that most airlines have at the front of the upper deck.  While not an issue today with only 5 of us in First, a single lav for a full cabin of 12 pax seems a little light.   

I moved over to 2K and slept well for nearly 5 hours.

Showtime for our pre-arrival meal.

My Korean style beef rib and cabbage soup was quite tasty.

Our descent to LA on a beautiful morning.

We touched down 30 minutes late and were at the gate shortly thereafter.   Not the most modern product, but quite an enjoyable flight on Korean.