Thanks to my department, Hong Kong Research Grants Council and of course, the American Geophysical Union, my trip to New Orleans to attend the 2017 Fall Meeting was made possible. Also, many thanks to Danny, who organised a significant part of the trip. New Orleans is a small, very chill city in the state of Louisiana. It is proud of its exquisite food and French-American mixed culture. The most striking culture in the states is perhaps the very good customer service, and the need to give tips because of it.
10 December 2017, Sunny, Hong Kong > New Orleans
It was hard to define the dates since I am travelling to a different timezone. I left my room somewhere around 12 and set off for the airport with a few friends. It was a long flight, very uncomfortable indeed. We flew over the Pacific, riding on the jet stream, making the flight very fast. When we finally reached New Orleans, we booked a limousine to get to our hotels. Since we had twelve people, this option was actually a cheaper option. Danny and I checked into Hyatt Regency New Orleans.
After we checked in, we went out to the nearest grocery store called Rouses market and bought some food to satisfy our hunger. Fell asleep very quickly.
11 December 207, Clear, New Orleans
We started the day with a wonderful buffet breakfast by the hotel. It really was great. After breakfast, we found our way to Earnest N. Morial Convention Centre without any navigation tools, purely by remembering road names. There was a very long queue for registration, so we were late for two talks we intended to attend. In the end, we walked around the poster hall. We attended a talk about deep learning at about twelve. After the talk, we wandered off to a less visited place to find a local prepaid sim card. After looking at a few shops, we finally settled for a very expensive plan... Oh well, everything is expensive here. We the walked around the city to explore a little.
New Orleans does not have much content, it is just a really chill city. We had late lunch at Jimmy John's, which sells sandwiches. It was good, much better than Subway. We went back to the hotel for a very quick rest before coming out for dinner. We met up with our supervisor, Amos, for dinner. It was fried seafood at Deanie's seafood. It was just of average quality. We then returned to our hotel quickly and rested for the night.
12 December 2017, Sunny, New Orleans
We woke up slightly later than yesterday. I called dearie while eating breakfast, and it was an awesome call. After breakfast, we went to the convention centre. We hit the poster hall first. I talked to a few people who were standing by their very interesting posters. Lunch was with friends at Riverside Outlet. I had some cheeseburger, which wasn't nice. We then went back to the poster hall to check out the afternoon session, but we didn't stay for long. Danny called Uber and we were off to visit Lake Pontchartrain. We arrived at a nearby park called Lake Oaks park, and then walked to the lake along Lakeshore drive.
A very chill place indeed. Locals can be seen fishing. There were also a few others just playing and hanging out. We walked all the way to Pontchartrain park, which turned out to be a golf course. It was getting dark here and we didn't manage to get reception to get an Uber ride back. We walked towards the Wesley Barrow stadium, where reception is better, and got our ride back to town. We chose to eat dinner at Felix Restaurant and Oyster bar. ACME oyster house, which was very recommended, was always overly crowded. I had fried alligator meat, and some 11 fresh oysters on the half shell to complete the day.
13 December 2017, Sunny
Again, we woke up even later, ate the usual good breakfast and made our way to the convention centre. Today was not as productive, but I met Dadi, my old colleague. We had a rather long catch-up before heading to Riverside Outlet for dinner. It was rather healthy. I chose salads. I then spent the afternoon walking around the poster halls. In the late afternoon, Danny and I took an Uber ride to Jackson square to visit it while there was still light. I took a few beautiful shots of the area.
We then tried to walk by the side of Mississippi river, but it was difficult to find a route. There was some construction going on. We did find the Street car tracks and walked along it until we came across an opening, where we could see the river. We met Chen Xiang and her friend for dinner. Danny chose Estrella steak and lobster house, which has the theme of what we both want. The waitress here has really good customer service. She was exceptionally patient in helping us decide what we want to eat. I had New York strip, a rather nice steak that didn't break the wallet. The ambient music played by the saxophonist completed the atmosphere. After dinner, we did a short walk back to the convention centre, to find that it was closed. After a short trip to the groceries, we headed back to our hotel to rest.
14 December 2017, Cloudy, New Orleans
We just kept waking up later and later. We had the usual buffet breakfast in the hotel. In order to save time, we walked a different route to the convention centre, passing by Cochon butcher, where very good burgers were sold. I bought Le Pig Mac, a very nice double pork burger. In the morning, we walked around the poster halls again. At about 2, we walked to the south corner of the convention centre. Danny's and Amos' presentations were held there. I sat in the session and listened to the talks. Some were really relevant to my work. One of the speakers was working on the effects of future climate on aerosols, without land use changes, and has extended the idea further to include potential impacts on humans. After the session, I hurried back to look at Dadi's poster. He is doing really interesting work. I gained a lot from his poster. At 6, the poster hall closed. Some friends brought me to NanJing University's open house to grab some free food, which left us not hungry, but not full either. We then made our way to Riverside Outlet to eat some more. I tried the crawfish etouffe, which really tastes nicer than it looks. I returned early, snapping a shot of the entrance to Fulton street.
15 December 2017, Rain, New Orleans
We started the day with a nice breakfast as usual, but we were early today. I arrived at the convention centre, set up my poster, and immediately, I was bombarded with people and questions. The main getaway from all the interactions was that other scientists were actually getting similar results even when the methods used was different. That is really comforting to know. I hope I am on the right track. Lunch was back at Cochon butcher again, because it was nice. We even queued in the rain. I ordered their coleslaw this time, and it was not too bad. Although my poster session was in the morning, I decided to stay near it even in the afternoon. It was underwhelming, however. I went around the convention centre to take some pictures, marking the end of the five day AGU fall meeting.
I met with some Singaporean friends, three of which I just met on the same day. We went to eat dinner at Mulates, and we all shared our stories of how we ended up where we are, far away from home. I ordered seafood gumbo, which I think, is quite similar to etouffe, except more liquid. We shared a whole platter of fried stuff, which we quickly got sick of, but still finished. It was a pretty awesome chat with people who speak in a similar accent. I went back pretty late, after the long chat.
16 December 2017, Cloudy, New Orleans
So now that AGU has ended, we are free to explore New Orleans. Our first stop was the World War 2 Museum. The museum was a lot larger than I expected!
I really learnt a lot about world war 2, from the American perspective. Peace sure does not come easy. We stayed at the museum from morning till about 2 PM. After the museum, we took Uber northward to meet with our friends who went there for shopping. We stopped at Cheesecake Factory first to have our very late lunch. We were famished when the food finally came at 4 PM. I had a vegetarian pasta, which was pretty okay. We then went to the mall, called Lakeside Shopping Centre. This mall is large, in terms of area, not height. I walked around myself and bought some gifts for my family. We went back rather early today, skipping dinner. I had two friends who came over to stay in our hotel because they needed to check out of theirs. We had to share our beds.
17 December 2017, Rain, New Orleans
It was the last morning of our stay in Hyatt Regency. We went down for the usual breakfast and reluctantly checked out. Since it was a rainy day, we tried to reduce our time spent outdoors, resulting in a rather uneventful day. We stayed in the hotel till about noon, when we bid farewell to Danny. He will fly to Austin to continue his trip in the US. When the rain finally stopped, I brought my two other friends to check out Willie's chicken shack, a very local style fried chicken, fast food, bar. It was all in one, and had a very local atmosphere. We did get a few weird glances from the locals, but that did not deter me from enjoying myself. We ordered some fried chicken and sat down to eat, while watching the live rugby match, which was actually going on in the city itself. It was in fact, in the giant dome behind Hyatt Regency. After the meal, we decided to move our luggage to Hilton Riverside, because that is where our other friends are. We met with them there, and then made our way to meet up with more friends for dinner. Dinner was at French Quarter, in an oyster bar called Desire.
Such buildings are a common sight in the French quarter, which also means the entire place is very pretty, full of holiday decorations. I ate very good for this meal, to prepare my body for the long travel back. I ate some meat mixed with rice, a cocktail called Tropical Hurricane, and then finished off with a dozen of oysters. Needless to say, I spent the most, out of all my friends. When I went to the toilet, I actually chat with a local youngster. I found it so amazing that random people will just come and talk to you, and it isn't awkward. I can literally see his eyes lit up when I replied his greeting and started talking to him. After the sumptuous dinner, we walked towards Jackson square. My friends wanted to see it, even at night, so I brought them there. After the short visit, we sat down at a local cafe called Cafe du Monde. The beignets here are a local treat, or so I was told. It is actually some form of bread topped with a lot of sweet sugar icing on top. It was actually pretty good, I had it with hot chocolate. It was a really comforting supper. After this, we walked back via Bourbon street, checking out the night life of New Orleans. I gave away all our coins to a busker along the street. There were many loud pubs, strip clubs, people dancing on the road, and most importantly, police officers to maintain the order. There was one quiet and peaceful pub along the street, which was more of my style. We left Bourbon street at about ten, and made our way back to Hilton to rest for a few hours.
18 December 2017, Fog, New Orleans > Dallas > Mid Air over Arctic
In the wee hours of 2 AM, I was awakened by my friend, telling me it is already two and it is time to go. We hurriedly collected our luggage and went down to meet the Uber driver we have previously arranged. It was a smooth ride to New Orleans airport. We continued to rest there until about four, when we then begin to check in our flight. I was lucky enough to get window seats for both my flights. The security here is really strict. I had to remove all electronics from my bag, as well as take off coat and even shoes. The flight took off at six. It was the most beautiful flight I have ever witnessed so far. I saw the sunrise from the plane. When it was about to land, the wheels came out while the plane was still above cloud level. I thought something was wrong. I took this picture when the plane was just above cloud level.
The answer revealed itself just when the plane penetrated the clouds to reveal the runway, not far below (How did the pilot see?). Turns out Dallas was experiencing foggy weather. We stayed at Dallas airport in transit for about two hours. We did a little window shopping before sitting down to wait for the next flight at ten. This flight from Dallas to Hong Kong was the longest plane ride I ever had in my life. Due to some delays, we only took off at about 10:45 AM. The flight took us eastwards, which means we're kind of going back in time, and when we pass the international date line, we just go to the next day. Rather complicated. We flew over the arctic. Since it was December, the northern hemisphere was having winter, night time. I witnessed a beautiful sunset. I tried to get some sleep when it was dark. I shall consider the day to end here, when we cross the date line.
19 December 2017, Cloudy, Mid Air over Arctic > Hong Kong
I only caught a glimpse of the arctic ice using the first rays of light from the rising sun. When there was substantial light, we were already above Russia. Over Russia, I saw the vast landscape of snowy mountains.
It was quite an amazing sight. My jaw dropped when I first saw this. I guess I am not that well-travelled after all. The plane ride dragged on. I tried to get as much sleep as I can, but it was not comfortable. A snowflake formed between the two layers of airplane window glass, and this was my company for the flight. It melted when the plane lost altitude when landing. Again, I witnessed a sunset. From my 24 hour perspective, I witnessed the sun cross the horizon four times. We landed safely in Hong Kong at about six, making the entire flight about 17 hours long. This marks the end of the nearly ten day US travel. I have had amazing experiences, and the gain in this trip is definitely much more than the sights, sounds and tastes of New Orleans. Till my next travel, or rather an exchange programme.
