Jaunted

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Inside Dragonair's G16 Lounge at Hong Kong International

We've given you a glorious tour of the unbelievable Cathay Pacific airport lounges at the Hong Kong International Airport from The Wing to The Pier but today we're taking you inside the less-exciting G16 Lounge of Dragonair, a regional carrier of Cathay Pacific.

Located at, as its name indicates, Gate 16, the lounge overlooks the gate area up on high—sort of like a Loft Lounge. The seating areas are very traditional (no Solus pods here) although plentiful. The self-service refreshment counter features plenty of drinks and finger snacks (both Western and Asian, alcoholic and non) as well as coffee and cappuccino.

There's also a kitchen with an on-site chef to prepare Hong Kong specialties like fishball noodles. (We were hoping for some Dan dan noodles like the ones we ate at SFO but alas, we were out of luck.)

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China Eastern Flight Attendants Are the Latest to Be Kung Fu Fighting

Last April, we told you about Hong Kong Airlines training their cabin crew to ward off terrorists and unruly passengers by using kung fu. Now, the martial art safe for onboard combat is being offered to flight attendants on China Eastern Airlines.

The Shanghai-based carrier announced that the first group of 20 cabin crew recently finished their courses. In all, 2,600-plus flight attendants will be trained for self-defense by using the ancient fighting technique. Airlines executives think that flight attendants could be seen as an easy target for would-be baddies.

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Wish You Were Here: The Forbidden City

One of the most surreal moments we've had yet while traveling has to be our arrival the other day at The Forbidden City in Beijing.

Once the home for emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Imperial Palace today is now pretty much an outdoor museum for tourists (mostly Chinese) to walk through since many of the actual halls and rooms of the palace are off limits. You can peek into these various halls and take photos; however, be prepared for a mob of people attempting to do the very same thing.

But what actually moved us most about arriving at the Forbidden City was standing in Tiananmen Square, where we snapped this photo. We were young when the 1989 protests and subsequent killings happened but we do remember hearing about the uprising and even watching some of the news clips. We just never imagined in a million years we would actually go there one day. But that's the beauty of travel isn't it?

[Photo: Jaunted]

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Hong Kong Airlines Will Also Birth a Baby Budget Carrier in 2012

Asia seems to be the breeding ground for LCCs with announcements about Peach, Scoot, and Jetstar Japan. Last week the chief at Hong Kong Airlines announced that they'd be doing a regional subsidiary as well. Hong Kong Express will be re-branded and operate as a low-cost carrier to compete with the slew of budget airlines popping up all over the region.

The full transition will take place middle of 2012 and flights will serve mainland China, South Korea, Japan and southeast Asia. Airbus A320s will hit the skies, but what the livery will look like (or even the airline's name), we can't yet be sure.

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China Gets Its Very First In-Flight WiFi Flights Thanks to Air China

Alright this might not be as groundbreaking as United’s announcement to finally equip their planes with plenty of WiFi. However, it does have to do with airplanes and in-flight connectivity, so we think it’s a winner.

Air China is testing out their own flavor of in-flight WiFi this week, and that makes it the very first airline in China to do so. It’s even free for all passengers while the airline works to test it out, so that’s definitely a step in the right direction.

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Every Time a Bell Rings, Another Airline Gets Its A380 Wings (Or Something Like That)

Just last week a new airline just got the keys to its very first A380, and we’re thinking that they’ve got to be pretty pumped—especially the pilots. It’s not a well-known carrier like Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, or Korean Air; however, China Southern has some big plans for its big bird.

At a ceremony in France—home of the Airbus factory—there was plenty of handshaking and celebrating as the plane was officially transferred over to China Southern Airlines. They’ve got like five of the super-jumbo-jets on order, so this is just the first in a hangar filled with A380s. They’re the very first airline in China to get one of the double-decker planes, and to show it off they’re planning to utilize it on mostly domestic routes to and from spots like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

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Beijing Airport Will Ship Your Banned Items Straight Home, Thank You Very Much

Does anyone even remember a time when passenger were allowed to bring such threatening items as scissors and full water bottles through airport security? We've had perfectly good bottles of bug spray and shaving cream thrown out for being .5 oz over the 3oz rule, and once witnessed a foreign traveler having his giant jug of very expensive pure maple syrup confiscated at Vermont's Burlington Airport. It's no fun, for sure, and a couple airports have stepped up to at least offer an alternative to the trash can: shipping your banned items home.

Singapore's Changi International pioneered the service, whereby travelers holding more than the allowances or with forgotten box cutters in their bags can now just ship it right from the airport to their home.

Following Changi's lead is Beijing International Airport, where Shanghaiist reports Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 2 is charging 20 RMB for items weighing less than 3kg shipped to Beijing addresses, and 100 RMB ($15.50) to be shipped anywhere else. Not too shabby at all! Everyone is getting Chinese ginseng and swords at Christmas this year!

[Photo: nemo's great uncle]

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New York May Get McQueen This Summer, But Beijing Has a Louis Vuitton Exhibition

Tis the season for fresh museum exhibitions, and this year seems to be all about the blockbuster fashion brands. Alexander McQueen is the talk of the western hemisphere, with the giant Metropolitan Museum of Art show in New York, and it seems Louis Vuitton is set to he be the talk of the eastern hemisphere, when the Voyages exhibition opens at Beijing's National Museum of China on May 29.

The Louis Vuitton: Voyages exhibition will last from May 29-August 30 this year, tracing the highs of the Vuitton Maison since its establishment in 1854. As the name of the show suggest, the focus will be on the traveling heritage of the house, from the handmade trunks of the past to the modern globetrotting figures who continue to stand by the brand.

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Planning a Trip to China? You Should Know About Spring Airlines

This week seems to be new airline week—or at least new to us—as we’ve shared the secrets to a cheap Europe vacation thanks to XL, a frugal find to visit down under, and today we want to talk about Spring Airlines. Just like everyone else this week they have some pretty cheap airfare—like around $100 roundtrip before taxes—but any money you save on airfare you’ll be blowing upon arrival. That’s because these planes are going to Macau.

In case you haven’t heard, Macau is like the Asian version of Vegas, so expect plenty of gambling, boozing, and spending—all while having an awesome time of course. Spring Airlines is looking to cash in on the booming travel market, as they just started up service between Shanghai and Macau each day of the week.

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Where to Find the World's First (and Only) Store Devoted to Moleskine Notebooks

We bet New York, San Francisco and Paris are quite jealous of Shanghai right now. Why? Because earlier this month, the world's first standalone Moleskine notebook store opened in the city's Xintiandi Style Mall. Shanghaiist kindly reminds us that Moleskines are "supposedly the notebook of choice for Oscar Wilde, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Henri Matisse," but we know them to be equally beloved by contemporary travel writers and creatives as a stylish physical alternative to tapping away on a laptop all the time.

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Happy Year of the Rabbit! It's Chinese New Year Today

Happy New Year! It's the Year of the Rabbit in China now, and although the streets of China (and Chinatowns in the US) will fill with dancing dragons today, the party really won't end until next week begins. Thus, for many, China will be on the mind, and although you'll have problems accessing Twitter, Facebook and the like over there, we say it's time to book a trip (or enter the Cathay Pacific contest). For a little inspiration, here's some of the recent great stories on China Travel:

· Three of the Best Cities for Welcoming Chinese New Year
· Go Around the World, For Free, with Cathay Pacific's New Contest
· How to Get a Chinese Visa (for US citizens)
· The world's 5 Most Shocking Malls has a China entry, of course
· Our Southwest China Field Trip
· Tour a Nuclear Plant...in a cave!
· One of the most scenic (and surprising) McDonalds' in the world
· Visit the China Sex Museum
· The Top Five Counterfeit Shopping Districts in the World
· Hong Kong's Crazy Late-Night Laser Show

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Things We Like to Hear: $777 for Six Nights in Beijing and Shanghai, Airfare and Hotels Included

The World Expo is over, the Barbie flagship store has opened and President Obama has said 再见 (goodbye) to the Great Wall for now...so what else is going on in China these days? Well, you can go see for yourself as a huge trip deal just hit our inbox and we'd be booking it right now if China didn't block sites like Facebook and Twitter. ChinaSpree.com is offering a $777 Winter Special package that includes air from San Francisco (New York is $200 more), 6 nights in four-star hotels with breakfast, airfare between Shanghai and Beijing, and airport-hotel transfers.

Okay now think about it: $777 for all that—a week-long trip to the two big Chinese cities with air, hotels and transfers—costs less than just the regular airfare should be. Granted you'll probably be flying Air China, but we've been before and would fly them again.

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