Saturday 29th September
Woke up this morning at 6:30, got dressed, washed face, and put the 2 big laptops on our desk at home into the cupboards. Checked that we had everything, Miao ate breakfast, and we left by taxi, to goto the Airport. 30yuan poorer and 25 minutes later we arrive. Attempted to check in on the automated self-check in desks, but they were not ready for us yet, and refused to give us tickets. At which point we hunted for somewhere to sit down to wait for the right time. We bumped into a couple of Miao’s class mates who were also going to Shanghai, and Miao and them had a chat. I went off in search of the Bank of China branch that seems to exist in most airports in China. Unsuccessful, I tried to ask one of the information staff, but he didn’t speak English, so no joy there. I did however come across the usual airport brand of book shops, luggages sales women, and over-expensive resturants. So returned to Miao and class mates. One of them works at HSBC, and we had a short chat about interest rates in the UK and how much money you need to earn in China and Hong Kong regarding having a “premier” account. Check in time arrived and we queued up. Miao and her friend both showed their inexperience of flights, by not knowing you cannot take liquids (and gels) for example water and perfume onto the plane. This resulted us hurredly drinking the milk and water Miao’s mother packed for us and the friends perfume going into our checking luggage. There seemed to be some problem with our luggage at the checkin and we were asked to stay for a while while they did some sort of more detailed check of it. Everything was ok so we proceeded to the security check point, which to me was very quick, from my experience of waiting for ages in Heathrow. Miao’s friend had some hair gel or shower cream or something liquid in his hand luggage, so had to go back and enter it as checking luggage. I forgot about the coins change we got back from the taxi driver and set the metal detector off. So had to get the hand detector sweeped across my body. We then went in search of toilets for Miao, and I rushed her to the gate for our flight because I thought ours was boarding. However it of course was a different flight, and the machine that read my ticket beeped in a disapointed way. Miao’s friend having gone through the security checkpoint found us and we went to have a drink in a restaurant nearby. The coffee was shockingly expensive, small and not made well at all (didn’t use enough coffee grains to make it). I read “The economist 2008” that I had bought in London the last time I was there, and still haven’t finished reading it, while Miao and her friend had a chat. I showed him my student card and driving liscence, the former having a rather hairy and fat picture of me, and the latter a young picture. He was a little shocked by how much weight I’d lost in China. Which brings us to boarding the flight for real, onto a really small walkway and small plane. “A320” Run by “Spring Airlines”. I was dissapointed to find only 2 mistakes in the English in this whole experience so far. First, before we checked in, the Departure board was showing a flight to Munich as a Domestic flight, even though there was a separate board for International flights. Secondly the safety instruction sheet on the plane has a “Pull the inflation tab, blow into the mouthpieceS if it is not fully inflated.” So over all quite smooth so far, and apart from the stupidly tight tops on the water bottles they gave us free, on the flight, resulting in me spilling water on myself. We’re not doing too badly. More anon, maybe after the flight. 11:10AM
Recent Comments