Postcard from Shanghai-2

Wowwww...!!! Look its here..! The Second Postcard from Shanghai! Well actually it has been sent from India only but never mind..... finally we get to know what happened in Bangkok and the journey onwards....That's where we left at the end of the first postcard remember..I had just landed at Bangkok.. Well it was 4 in the morning...local time.... So here it was... I had stepped onto a soil not Indian for the first time in my life... Wow... Now I don't know if any of you who have been out of India ever realised that but I did...It was a strange feeling.... Like the beginning of the expedition to explore the Unknown...
Anyways, in the flight they had shown that Transit passengers had to restrict their access to specific areas of the airport.... Now from the videos of the airport that I had seen in the flight.. I knew that it was amazing... but you got to see it too believe it.... It was the first truly International Airport that I had been to...it was huge...you would get tired just getting out of the airport..must be like a kilometer or so from the terminal.. so they had these conveyor belts...just stand on them...you wont get tired when you come out.....

It took around 20 minutes to reach the spot where I would get the boarding pass for my next flight... however it was so early in the morning that all the counters were closed...they would open at 6 am I was informed...

So i was just strolling through the Airport and exploring the duty free shops.. Then another guy approached me and asked if I was getting any Network Coverage on my cell.. He was Indian and from Accenture Bangalore going to Manila, Philippines...He had to make an urgent call...I told him that I wasnt on roaming...He had to send an important message to his manager..So now we started looking for an Internet Cafe..We didnt have to look very far...But guess what the charges for browsing were like... any guesses..?? It was $3 for half an hour... i could not believe myself... but later on even I spent $3 to surf the net...even I had to send a few messages to my team members...

It was morning and after having explored the length and breadth of the Airport we decided it was time to go back and get our passes...I wanted a window seat coz I wanted to see the Shanghai skyline when we flew over it...After getting the boarding passes...I bid the gentleman goodbye॥and sat there waiting..there was still a good 4 and a half hours before the departure....

So I decided to surf the net for a while and bought a coupon for 30 minutes for $3.... I checked the mail and responded to people back in office and to some of you as well... and guess what... 30 minutes had gone by.... So I left to refresh myself... after that I decided to check in and then wait... After passing the Baggage security, I walked down along the long stretch towards the last gate where I was supposed to board... I found a bench and sat down.... I was one of the first guys to get in... A few other people came but there was still a good 2 hours for the departure... Feeling absolutley heavy and with nothing interesting to do and no stranger chicks to talk to, I decided the best thing to do was to sleep..Some people were already asleep on the bench..and no they were not Indian.. So convinced that sleeping on the bench would not harm India's reputation in any way as other countries were already doing the same, I set an alarm in my cell and went off to sleep...I woke up to find people boarding an aircraft and panicked that I had over-slept...but I quickly heaved a sigh of relief when I realized that it wasnt for Shanghai..I went and washed my face and came back to see the Thai staff getting ready to start the boarding... Observant as I always am, I was just lloking around at the people who would be boarding the flight... Predominantly there were Chinese and you could make out that the flight was taking you east... Someone had commented.."The more east you go...the thinner they become..." ....What becomes thinner..? Any guesses.... Well I dont know what was on your mind but I am talking about the eyes.. The transition from wide eyed India to Thailand and now Thailand to the more Chinki China was apparent... There were all kinds of people.. Young, Old, Married, Single, Asians, Europeans, Americans.. There was this lady I remember who I was sure was from China who looked to be the CEO of some company...If I remember correctly she was carrying a simple backpack which had the logo of IBM or TI (am not very sure which one) and looked to be around 40-45 years old..though you really cant tell their age just by looks... She was accompanied by a fair guy wearing a jeans, shirt and a blazer who I felt was probably from America and was mouch younger than Her...CEO to be maybe.. I thought...They were walking around and talking and it looked as if she was explaining him something...like how to do business in China... And he was listening very keenly....I wondered how it would be to work with the Chinese...I had heard a lot about that back in India from my manager..."They dont like Indians..!" "They cant take decisions" "They dont understand anything" "They will make your work difficult.." I had the feeling that it was going to be really tough time ahead...And I was preparing myself for that...

There were a few Indians as well waiting for the boarding to begin...Then there was a french couple who were going to Shanghai to meet the girls brother...who had a life travelling and doing work for some kind of a charity organisation or something..as far as I could make out.. the young lady was talking to this guy who probably was from Great Britian... Then again there was this family travelling, young parents from UK, with four kids, who were running all over the place creating a lot of noise...Huh..Kids I thought..Doesnt matter whether they be black or white..Asian or european..all they want to do is play and have fun...
Quite a lot of Chinese had also gathered by this time.. I saw a young couple with a new born...The only child they are ever gonna have..?? I thought...

Anyway...The whole scene reminded me of THE TERMINAL...and I also thought about the world as a whole new place.... I was also playing this game where you look around and try and guess who your co-passenger is going to be..you know..the person seated next to you....There were quite a few people in my list...

Ding Dong...Ladies and Gentleman We are now boarding Business Class only.... Hmm.. I am travelling in Economy...Anyway...Finally Got up and boarded the aircraft...took my Window seat...and waited in anticipation...would I be lucky this time... Nope...A thin guy wearing glasses (most of them do wear glasses) came and sat by me...He was wearing a T Shirt which was pro american...Hmmm...so some of the Chinese are pro America..? But he had a face which was expressionless...A face which told ... Dont Disturb me Buddy...So I just did what I am best at...kept quiet...I plugged in the earphones that the air hostess handed over (at least they were damn pretty) and gazed out of the window... The first few channels had Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc..I dont know which exactly...then came the 8th one which had english..not rock ...the 9th one had Hindi..but then the music suddenly stopped and the voice of the video recording came..there was a tv screen in front(probably 25")..The standard safety procedures were detailed.. then the screen showed the map...we were currently in Bangkok and it showed then where we were supposed to go... I had a good look at it...I had never really paid attention to this part of the world much... and now I was going to fly over it... I really liked the map which they showed...

So I decided to relax and have a nice flight...! About the flight, the gentleman sitting beside me and more...in the next post... This one's getting pretty long..!! Watch out for the next one..!!