I'm in a fortunate (really?!) position, because the school is paying for the airfare to and fro. This means that I get to save a lot of money for such an expensive trip and get all the miles on my card. The downside is, that it's not in my hands how I'll travel. I, however, tried to negotiate. What usually happens if the employer pays is: a) you're given two or three options to choose from and they book it or b) you can ask for money instead and book whatever flight you want.
If you go for option A, you'll travel economy and are likely to have long stopovers and many connection flights. That's why I chose option B. What works fine with the Arabs, didn't seem to work with the Chinese. I tried hard to negotiate option B, but they seemed to be in a hurry booking my flight and told me what came across in a harsh tone, flight 2 (out of the two I could chose from) is best for you, and we'll book it. That was the end of discussion.
What does this mean? Aeroflot to Moscow, then to Shanghai and from there to Guiyang. All that ECONOMY!!!!! Length of the flight: 24 hours.
Since it is a last minute booking, I can't upgrade because the planes are fully booked. Whatever. Aeroflot didn't sound promising to me, but an internet research revealed that it is a very good airline apparently. Well, the inflight entertainment I was reading about doesn't exist on the first leg to Moscow. No TV screens, no radio, nothing. Some of the flight attendants are not necessarily warm, but friendly and caring and some are Russian cool. Quite authoritarian, the ones you don’t dare to argue with or even ask a question. Food is great though and plenty.
At the airport in Moscow I have a closer encounter with the Russian sense of humour. Out of the plane, I have to go through pass control and then to the transfer gate. There are two transfers gates: domestic and international. So the passengers split in two groups, but most of them go to the international. I line up. First we have to show our passports and boarding cards and then scan our hand luggage and empty our pockets. Two metres before me is suddenly an argument with a female passenger and all stop to work. What is going on? The female passenger was on the same plane as me and is flying to Kiev in the Ukraine. According to the border police, she is wrong here and should go to the domestic transfer gate. Since when is the Ukraine part of Russia? The poor lady is visibly upset, but has no choice. She’s taken to the domestic gate.
I have a few hours to kill and wander around the airport. I see the usual luxury shops selling luxury goods and booze and chocolate. I discover a few newsstands and have a closer look. No foreign press. Is it due to the embargo or try the Russian to withstand the westerners and have banned all western press?
It’s time to board the second plane. This one is bigger than the first one. The second leg is quite long. Moscow to Shanghai is a ten hours flight. My seat is in the centre, aisle on the right hand side. It’s a three - five - three seating arrangement. Next to me sits a Chinese woman. We greet each other without exchanging any words, I help her to store her things in the baggage compartment above our seats and as soon as I sit down, another passenger asks for my help. The Chinese are short in size and can’t reach the compartments. I might be the tallest on the plane with my 6.2” ft. A few more passengers ask for my help, until a gigantic female flight attendant appears and I stand in awe before her. Svetlana is her name and looks taller than me on her high heels.
I finally sit down and take out a book. As I start to think that this will be a long boring flight, the lady next to me asks me in English what I read and what language it is. I look at her astonished, not believing what I just heard. Does she really speak English? At a high level too? Really?
‘Do you speak English?” I ask.
‘Yes, I do!’ she replies.
Fantastic! We start a conversation and talk quite a long time and over dinner. She is an architect and has also worked in Guiyang and gives me some valuable information about the city and the rest of the country. I learn a good deal about culture and do’s and don’t’s. Then we fall asleep. It’s not very comfortable, but what can you do? Aeroflot has provided us with two different stickers to stick on the seats. A green and a red one. The former says: please wake me for breakfast, the latter says: let me sleep. I haven’t seen anyone using them, so I leave them too. There are pillows, slippers, blankets and sleeping masks to be used. I make use of all the items, plus my earplugs, I always carry with me.
A few hours later, I hear through my earplugs the voices of the flight attendant and the lady next to me, talking about breakfast. I open my eyes and see that it’s morning and bright outside. My wristwatch still says past midnight, but due to the time difference, it is breakfast time. Still a bit to go and we arrive in Shanghai.
China, here I am! A new adventure is about to begin. Or has it begun already?
I was told in Athens that I would receive my luggage in Shanghai and would have to check it in again for the last leg of the journey. This I do. I walk to the belts, wait for what it feels an eternity, take my luggage and go to the money exchange. Arian, a colleague and friend from Hull, who has lived and worked in China, told me that China is a closed market. You can’t use your foreign credit or debit cards, no switch, solo, maestro, cirrus, etc. Exchanging money is also difficult. The best is you do it at the airport. I check the rates on the board and cross check them with xe.com. No difference. Good! I walk there and put a handful USD on the counter and receive two handfuls of RMB. Chairman Mao is on all the notes. I’m surprised to see that there is no difference to the official rate on xe.com and the charge is tiny.
I then go in search of the domestic terminal. But first I want to get out of the building and breath some fresh air. But before that, I have to go through passport controls and have my luggage scanned. Then I walk towards the entrance and out I am. Before me lies a road with several lanes and opposite are some buildings of the other terminals. I stand there for a while and watch the cars come and go. Taxis loading and unloading. Motorcycles passing by. Many people staring at me. I guess this will happen very often from now on.
Sting’s Englishman in New York comes into my mind. I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien, I’m a Bavarian in Guiyang…
I go inside and ask for the terminal. I’m told that I have to go to terminal 1, which is a 10 to 15 minutes walk. Jeez! It’s not easy to walk with the heavy luggage and I get thirsty. I see a water dispenser at some point and approach it. I see right of it the cups and a notice on the wall that reads: The cups are not suitable for hot water. I take one and try to figure out which of the three buttons is the cold water. A Chinese approaches me and asks if I need help. Yes, I say. Where’s the cold water? No cold water in China, he says. Are you kidding me mate? Here, he says. Warm, warm, hot. I press the button in the middle and the display shows 30 degrees. I press the one on the right and the display shows 29. I go with this. I knew from my assistant Jing that Chinese don’t like cold drinks, but it’s unusual to drink 29 degrees warm water. But I have to say that it is somehow refreshing. A study I read many years ago pops into my mind. The study said that it is better to drink warm water in summer, because it refreshes you better. Cold water cools the body down for a bit, but makes us sweat. Warm water doesn’t apparently.
I continue my walk to the gate. Go up some flights of stairs and find finally the check in. There I line up and when I look around, I see that I am the only westerner and some people stare at me. The check in lady doesn’t speak a word of English, but we manage to understand each other. I have some time to kill again and walk a bit around.
Then it’s time to board. This plane is a normal one, with three seats on either side. Thankfully it’s not fully booked and I choose to sit in the back and not on my seat with two others next to me. I make myself comfortable and sleep for a while. The flight attendant wakes me for lunch. I look outside the window and see some spectacular green landscapes. My gut feeling is jumping joyfully. A few hours later, in total 24 since I boarded the first plane half across the globe, the plane lands in Guiyang, province of Guizhou, southwest China.
Welcome to Guiyang.
Shanghai Airport. My first even photo in China.
If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.
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