Saturday, December 5, 2009
I am now on the plane.
With not much to do, it seems that I shall just input my entry for today.
Woke up at 4.30, after sleeping at 2 having to wait for my download to (finally) complete, Canaan ep 11,12,13 which is a PAIN with a 6 kb/s connection. Got myself ready and watched blankly as my parents rushed around, realising they left things out. It was precisely 5.36am when the taxi arrived.
Although already slightly late, I was unconcerned with the time because it seemed that we were going to be very early for our 8.10am flight.
But.
DISASTER 1#.
Halfway through our journey, our lovely taxi driver had a flat tyre.
All of us got down, and I was expecting the taxi driver to call up his friend to pass the baton to him; instead, my dad had to help him change tyres. Our journey continued for a few minutes only to have the taxi driver turn into a petrol station. His tyre had too low a pressure for us to continue traveling.
DISASTER 2#.
When we reached the airport, we were told by the lady at the check-in counter that we were in fact the last group to have reached the airport. Everyone else had
already comfortably positioned themselves in the waiting area.
DISASTER 3#.
Another nasty surprised surfaced. The tickets bought by my mother did not include luggage booking, which meant every luggage weighing 15kg needed a payment of RM30. And just our luck, our baggage weighed up to an incredible 48kg, which meant that the additional 3kg already cost us RM30. Lovely.
DISASTER 4#.
And I just found out I'll be eating airplane food. I hope I survive.
***
(Later)
Oh.
My.
Goodness.
DISASTER 5^9999#
Plane food was horrible. AND TOTALLY NOT WORTH IT.
But whatever, I guess. Airplanes aren't known for their cuisine anyway.
(shall insert pic for you to better understand THE PAIN)
***
(Later still)
By the way, noticed that the great firewall of China blocked quite a few websites, some including my favourite hangouts like facebook, blogger and wordpress. Didn't bother to check twitter, it probably completely bans it, considering what happened in Tibet.
The room is pretty cool, with a flat screen tv (suspended), own private bathroom, two single beds, antique-ish table, lights that give the room a warm glow and lots and lots and lots of blankets. (which were completely necessary) And oh, yeah, wifi. (a surprise!)
What I found interesting was the dual purpose of air conditioners here. Instead of merely cooling the room (something that was actually quite pointless in the ~10 degree celsius weather) it also heats the room with hot air. You can actually control the temperature of the room from anywhere between 10 degree celsius to 30. Of course, the temperature controlled isn't precise, at the thermometer probably detects only temperature within 1m radius, causing the rest of the room to be relatively cold still and one tiny area at an extreme temperature.
DISASTER 6#
I also found out that my parents' Mandarin is atrocious. Admittedly, mine is hardly better; but my parents combine cantonese and hokkien to form a new blend of language incomprehensible to all but themselves. When they attempt to speak to Chinese-speaking locals I often have to ask them what they are trying to say before trying to translate gibberish into painfully mangled Mandarin, of which at least is somewhat understandable.
Which is annoying!
Because I expected my parents to be able to communicate with the most basic of Mandarin considering they were so gung ho about us backpacking. If I knew, I would have at least gone through some Mandarin phrase books to brush up my Mandarin.
It especially was a pain when we got into a little trouble at the airport looking for a cab.
***
The place we're staying at is near a lot of bars and clubs. It's almost pitch dark by five, and you see a lot of people hurrying home already by then. The bars and clubs, however are brightly lit up with florescent lamps, a stark contrast with the inky darkness and dimly lit street lights.
The surroundings seem to be covered with a perpetual fog of which I cannot distinguish whether it is a product of pollution or of cold. My dad says its the former.
But walking through the streets was interesting, to say the least. The crisp cold air made it feel that the entire of China was air-condtiioned, and I managed to observe the people around, as they hurry by. There were no students around even at 5 pm, I suppose they're still in school.
Dinner tonight was quite nice. Tender, braised pork with fluffy white rice and fresh, mixed vegetables and warm soya milk with mango ice. And it cost us about RMB 68 for a dinner for four + desert! Not bad indeed. =D
Also, bought a few bracelets. Quite cool. But dad says should abstain from buying anything else before we reach Shanghai (self proclaimed shopping heaven)
MUST BUY.
1) Cap!!!!
2) assorted winter clothing that can be adapted to Singapore weather
3) boots!
4) souvenirs =D
LAST THING.
TAXI FARE IS CHEAP DAMMIT.
(no wonder the PRC scholars never want to take taxi)
12:47 AM
