Qantas International lounge is quite possibly one of the worst lounges going around.
The Qantas first lounge is absolutely amazing though as is the Emirates lounge.
Upgraded to business class (equivalent)âŚon a 13hr flight⌠life is good.
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Fantastic stuff. Hopefully a nice comfy bed to get some shut eye
I think itâs a pretty amazing book cover, if I can say that without people getting all stupid and weird.
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If anyone is ever in Paris I canât recommend the Pullman highly enough. We had 3 nights there on the way home and the service was top notch and at a pretty decent rate too.
Oh and the view from our balcony wasnât too shabby either
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Well, you should have went to the Q First Lounge. That has a view, good food etc. 
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Now in Qingdao, famous as the beer capital of China.
Better go try some now!
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Tsingtao is awesome.
Make sure you try a takeaway beer bag whilst there
Need an alchemist who can turn gold into platinum.
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Thanks for the tip! I will check it out. The bottled Tsingtao comes at less than A$2/l which seems hard to beat. They are now advertising â1903â which I hadnât noticed previously. In a country with thousands of years of history, it is interesting they brag about something as recent as that.
Dinner tonight at the Schloss Wackerbarth.
Tell you what.
The prices are pretty incredible. Donât like the stuff myself, so stocked up on gifts for people.
Iâd read that itâs hard to find much aged stuff as the Chinese go crazy for it.
The Chinese go crazy for it�
Consider this.
Kweichou Maotai is now about A$800 for a 500ml bottle. (At least in this hotel; I have not been able to get any in Australian airports duty free for several years now - the last time I did it was over $600).
The company has said a big FU to their fans, saying they sell out everything they make every year, so they are going to put their prices up by 10% pa hail or shine.
I can see their argument. Every important business banquet involves KCMT. There are A LOT of business banquets in China every day.
After tonightâs banquet with a baijiu probably only half that price, I can see why KCMT puts their price up.
The most expensive bottle of KCMT ever sold was about A$300,000 for one made in the '50s
But this may be an opportunity for an Australian company to make a great baijiu to sell into China⌠What we lack in culture, we can make up in quality (cf recent gin makers in AUS).
What do BB entrepreneurs think about this opportunity? Calling @Aceman @Bacchusfox @micinbeijing196
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That stuff is rocket fuel.
It would be more ethical to make ice.
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No, you may have not had KCMT - you may have had lesser brands.
I reckon most Australians can handle toasting all night with KCMT without bad effects.
But I could not take the lesser brands.
That is the opportunity.
You mean the stuff that is $399 a bottle at Dan Murphy?
There are different grades of it. Oils ainât oils, mate.
A local big shot at that trip we met at brought a bottle from his own personal collection to a dinner on the last night. Chatter at the table is that it was very expensive. Over a $1000.
It was a good drop. Easy to drink. But the Chinese are crazy.
The hotel I am staying at has some rare bottles for sale, oldest is from 1972. Only ~A$20,000!
That would have been a good investment to make back in the day when it would have cost about $2.
We are the only two in the Melbourne Etihad lounge currently. The poor girl behind the bar is that bored she is making us some funky cocktails ad lib
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