Where were we? Ah yes! The flight from Bangkok to Shanghai....I spent time listening to the various music channels till very soon lunch was served...It contained chicken cooked in some kind of sauce with rice and a few other dishes including a sweet dish made out of corn..the air hostess was also roaming around calling "Chinese Tea! Do you want Chinese tea sir?" I wondered how different would Chinese tea be from Indian Tea and remembered that they put some herbs etc in their tea. I was tempted to ask for it but decided not take any risks. I read the Thai Newspaper from Bangkok and let me tell you one thing which I felt at that point of time.....India's democratic nature reflects in the nature of its press..the arguments and the articles published along with the news in our leading national dailies are a good food for the intellectual mind... and that was something which I found missing in that Thai Paper...Maybe it was because most of what was written was about something which was unfamiliar for me... !!
I was tired and decided that I should sleep. They were showing a movie, which was set in the early 1900's it seemed and my tiredness got the better of me and I decided to have a short nap..(as most of you would know...taking naps come very naturally to me... :)
When I got up the movie had stopped and the map was on display... We were over China and very close to Shanghai..Another half an hour and we would land.
The air hostesses started distributing the immigration forms. This was the first time in my life I was doing that ( In case you are wondering why I didn't fill it when I landed in Bangkok, that's because I wasn't going into Thai territory...I wasn't crossing the immigrations..... You know....immigrations.... the TERMINAL....Tom Hanks ...) I started to fill in the details carefully...... After all, a small mistake could cause hours of delay...and I wasn't sure that my pick up would wait pretty long....The forms asked the general stuff, but also asked about the medicines that I was carrying... Now I wasn't sure what medicines I was carrying...nothing special I knew but still.... I left that blank....then there were questions about my health and illnesses... Hmmm.... Blank again...I needed advice...There were questions related to poultry...WHAT..?? Oh the bird flu scare... and SARS Questions as well.. wow... so that is really how they do it... to prevent a epidemic...
I realized that the man beside me was also filling the form... Hmmm... So he was Japanese...So why was this guy going to Shanghai... business...?? Must be...And now I could make out that he was Japanese...His facial features a bit different from the Chinese ...or was it my mind playing tricks again...??
I looked out of the window and could see....haze... and below that land... it was pretty hazy ...reminded me of the winter haze in Delhi...but i knew that it wouldn't be that dense... If you fly from Bangalore then you would have noticed the dusty haze that clouds the city.. its just that you get a different view of things from the top... I was anticipating the Shanghai sky line to be visible any moment... but all I could see were factories and industries and ships on the far side...but no sign of a city... Come on... This must be the final descent of the plane... I can see the ground clearly and the vehicles..trucks carrying goods.....but still no sign of the city!! I realized judging by the height that I am not going to see the Shanghai skyline from this flight....for it doesn't go over the city side...
Touchdown... we had landed...and i could see the airport building on from the window on the other side... it reminded me of Geneva Airport Building in Tintin and THE CALCULUS AFFAIR... As the plane Taxied along the runway to wards the terminal...I saw a whole lot of huge boeings and airbuses belonging to Air China, United Airways, Singapore Airlines, Japanese Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, Virgin...WOWWWW!! I also noticed the Red and Yellow colors of the Chinese flag fluttering in the wind..So this is it ...I have arrived in China...I remembered what people back had told me...They are hostile towards Indians... I also remembered that India lost the 1962 Indo China War....and that George Fernandes had once called China as India's biggest threat...
There was no democracy in this country...I could be jailed and the authorities would deny all knowledge of it... I would spend my life in a Chinese Prison...doing what..? Learning Chinese perhaps...? What if the authorities deported me back ..? That would be better than being stuck in a jail... Suddenly I wasn't very sure I wanted to get off the plane..
The plane had stopped and people started to get up, among them many Indians that I had seen at Bangkok airport before boarding. The sight of fellow Indians was a huge relief. I started to arrange my papers and then got up and walked. "Thank you sir, Have a nice day", said the lovely air hostess with her hands joined in a Namaste. I too joined my hands and said Thank you and out I came...Brrrrr.... Iiiiits...ccc..cold... Maybe I should have brought some warm clothes... I got down the stairs to find that the first bus was already full an on its way... I had to wait... Then came the second bus which I boarded and was glad to find that an Indian also boarded and sat down right next to me.. He must have been around 30-32 years old.. slightly bald and dark... I still had to fill the missing columns of the immigration forms... So I started a conversation with this guy.. He was working for HP and hailed from Bangalore.. He had been to Shanghai many times...I told him that I worked for TESCO.. I asked him about the form and the columns regarding medicine...He asked me if I was carrying any special medication.... I said no.. just the normal cough and cold ones....he said then do not fill that you are carrying any of the listed medications...coz that will only delay you check... I thanked him and told him how grateful I was for it was the first time that I was traveling and was all alone. We discussed how badly India had done at the World Cup and what a disgrace they had been.
The bus stopped and we got down. I told him that I needed to complete the forms and get my papers in order. He wished me a good stay and Shanghai and all the best.
I went to a pillar where they had a pen and the forms that were given on the plane.. I took out my copy and filled out and then put everything in order.. The passport...The immigration forms and the Invite letter... "Answer the questions in a calm voice and do not contradict yourself, or you may land up in trouble", the hurried travel briefing at HSC had told me. Well moment of truth.
I walked and took my place at the end of one of the many queues behind the immigration counters. Soon it was my turn to get my passport stamped. I went and greeted the Immigration officer whose face was absolutely expressionless. I handed him the passport and the invite letter and the forms. After checking the papers he stamped my passport. This is it. I have now officially entered China. I moved on to the ATM which was just outside the immigration counter(As my friend Mano had instructed me, I planned to withdraw some local currency and use the World money Citi Bank card which had been provided)The card was not working. I could not withdraw any currency!!
Normally I would have panicked but thanks to Mano I knew that the card may take some time to get activated as he had found out earlier when he came to China. I moved on and collected my luggage. Then I decided to get some of the dollars converted to the YUAN so I had some local currency. Once finished I found my way to towards the exit. CUSTOMS!! No I had nothing to declare in India, so i guess I got nothing to declare here. But still one cant be too carefree! I went and picked up a Customs declaration form and read through the rules. Nope I did not qualify for any declaration. I just walked through the nothing to declare area of the exit confidently. All this currency exchange and customs etc had really taken some time and I was beginning to wonder if my pick up would still be waiting. Just as I was getting out I saw a man with the placard with my name written on it. He was looking at various people and pointing to the placard. I approached him and he heaved a sigh of relief. So did I.
The company had sent a goldish-brown minivan. I boarded and we started away from the airport.... Lot to cover about the trip from the airport to the hotel.... this post is getting pretty long so watch out for the next one..!!
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