Currently playing in the background: BoA- Can’t Let Go
Current thought to blurt: Wow, 2 posts in a night!
Tonight feels right for a little exercise on my finger joints. A few to-do’s have been hovering in my mind. Perhaps an experience still fresh in mental storage would be my little trip to the land of the Dragon, the People’s Republic of China. This trip was initially planned for a month. However, due to the crabbiness of a very strict Chinese government, my 30-day visa was reduced to a 15-day one. Blame them for wanting everything to be in place for the 2008 summer Olympics. Better than nothing, I finally thought after days of complaining. Shenyang, here I come!
Departing from Penang, I geared up for a 4-hour flight to Guangzhou onboard a China Southern Airlines aircraft. I bumped into local MCA politician, Chong Itt Chew during the flight (tough luck during the last elections). I travelled with an uncle for accompany, as he too, was going to Shenyang to check out my dad’s workplace. Security has never been such a hassle, as we endured hours of waiting in line to be checked at Guangzhou (groping and all). The coolest device perhaps, was this heat detector to screen for people with comparatively higher temperatures, and you could see your body on this screen in shades of red, orange, green, and yellow. It was like watching swarms of people with a pair of night- vision goggles. Life did not get anymore exciting, as we had 5 hours ahead of us before our next flight from Guangzhou to Shenyang. My lunch in the airport cafe came in the form of RMB50 (around RM25) ham- and- cheese sandwiches which you and I could make anytime in our own kitchens. Coffee was RMB68. I was marveling at what the airport authorities were thinking: hiking food prices through the roof at the domestic flight departure hall. We spent those hours walking around the place, reading, and finally sitting cross- legged on the carpeted floor outside our boarding gate to watch a few Sylvester Stallone movies (my uncle’s a fan!) on a power notebook.
Touchdown at Shenyang was a great relief- at 1am in the morning. It was a long, taxing day- I could go to France with the amount of time we took to reach Shenyang from Penang. Shenyang is the capital city of Liaoning province, located in Northeast China, above the Korean peninsula. With a population of more than 7 million, Shenyang was a big, bustling city. Even Kuala Lumpur pales in comparison. Being the venue of the Olympic football preliminary, efforts to spruce up the city have produced results: this city turned out to be more intriguing and beautiful than I thought.
Being the helpless Malaysian- ised Chinese I am, making my way around China was just as challenging as I thought. I couldn’t make out the local accent at all on my 1st day. They sound as if they spoke out of their nostrils. Culture shock was natural: the random Chinese who cut into queues as if the had the right to (as forewarned by mum), their unnaturally loud conversations, and many other traits that could set non- mainland Chinese apart from the boisterous locals (and all these are just the ones I’ve noticed in the airport and onboard the planes. God knows what else they do on their own turf.)
It is getting a little late to go on, but I still have tales to tell. I leave you here at this point. Until the next recollection of my journey,
Good night and Good luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment