Proof that the sky above Beijing really is blue! If only we could see it more often….!
Archive for August, 2006
It’s really not that difficult: you just need to sit there, smile (though that’s optional), and when asked a question shrug your shoulders or kindly point the person in the direction of someone else. Alternatively just sit motionless like a ming vase and stare back. In fact, it’s so simple even a gwailo can handle it!
That was how I spent most of Thursday afternoon – behind the Air China (中国航空) information desk whilst waiting for my flight which eventually was over six hours delayed at take-off. Unlike the other passengers who surrounded the departure gate and harrassed the poor ground crew staff to death, I instead opted to sit quietly where I could plug in my laptop to could get some work done. The lady at the information desk kindly let me do so.
Don’t get too excited though – i’m not praising the airport for the handling of the delay. In fact, had I known that my wait would amount to some six hours I would have opted to exchange my ticket and return home. It is nothing new that nobody knows anything in China. Indeed, i’ve complained about it before. What is impressive though is that they could be clueless about the whereabouts of an airplane. Is it lost? Did David Copperfield just perform a stunt? Did it fly into the Burmuda Triangle?
No. In fact, it had just never left ShenZhen – until some three hours after we were due to depart Beijing. The problem, apparently, is very simple: there are just too many aircraft for the skies in China, the airlines don’t have enough planes, and the radars are not sophisticated enough to increase flight frequency. (That from my usual source of aviation news). My plane could not leave ShenZhen becuase it presumably had to wait for a precious slot in the skies to Beijing, and it didn’t help that in the south there was a typhoon and that in China the aviation authorities call the shots on opening/closing airports (in many cities including Hong Kong the pilots are left to make their professional judgement). In fact, the weather was not half bad and visibility probably better than any average polluted day in Beijing. I ended up arriving 4am on Friday morning – i’m lucky that Hong Kong and China now have a 24 hour border crossing at Lok Ma Chau, otherwise I would have been stranded in ShenZhen.
My return flight on Monday was not without hitch either: I waited for one hour in the terminal, followed by one hour onboard on the tarmac. Sadly, this is increasingly becoming standard affair for busy air routes within China.
It would help passengers a lot if the airlines could provide more information regarding delays so that as customers we can make informed decisions regarding our flight and when to turn up at the airport. At the moment keeping patrons clueless for hours is just not good enough, and certainly not good for the image of the aviation industry in China.
One thing I do find though : if you do fly domestic, try to take a morning flight. You’ll have less chance of encountering the snowball effect that accumulates by night. You might want also to bring a good book to read…
It’s easy to cultivate mushrooms: you just need a small cupboard by the shower, made of wood, and wet it daily (easy to do with the shower) so that the wood can absorb water. Perfect conditions for your own mini-mushroom farm – and remember to turn the lights off in the bathroom when not in use.
Our flat, actually, is not what I would consider unsanitary – even by western standards. It gets swept frequently, kept tidy, and is generally insect free. But for some stupid reason the developers decided that to cover the drainage pipes in the bathroom it would be a good idea to build a wooden cupboard door. Right by the bathtub. That it hasn’t occured to them this isn’t the most appropriate material considering the location is beyond me – but then again, this is the same city that can’t seem to sort out its plumbing (addendum: our new office has similar problems).
In any case, now that I have my own toadstool garden, I should learn how to cook Gan Guo Cha Shu Gu (干锅茶树菇). Or, as someone else suggested – 干锅厕所菇!
