A VERY CHINESE FLIGHT

It was a pleasant enough drive with Dodgy 2 who had us to the BNE International Airport in good time; and then we saw the line that snaked around six or seven blocks for Economy Class. Most of China’s population was joining us on this flight to Shanghai with connection to Beijing. It was  easy enough to spot the Australian retirees spending their kid’s inheritance scattered along the lines and obviously on the same journey as we: slightly stooped, the graying or thinning hair, a walking stick or two but happy and perhaps overly optimistic they too would defeat the steps up the Great Wall of China.

And getting through security was relatively painless this time. I always go first and warn security that M will pass through the scanner and her two metal hips will flash a warning that she really has two AK47 machine guns strapped to each leg beneath her slacks. But, upon my advice, he put her through the X-Ray scanner and all was sweet.

Do you know anyone who truly enjoys sitting in a plane for nine or so hours watching the flight crawl along its designated route on the screen? OK, but Business Class doesn’t count for us peasants. But I really can’t complain about the quality of this flight and the service provided. China Eastern appeared to be brand-new and staff were impeccably attendant. We arrived in Shanghai precisely on time and that’s when the trouble began.

We then ran the gauntlet of three separate security checks. Fingerprints and passport scanning at the first check and then, with much gesticulating, a card had to be filled out which we had previously been advised not necessary; at the next, M got through unscathed but I was shepherded off (with other suspicious passengers) for another picture and eye scanning; and finally our on-board luggage was interrogated closely, passed twice through the scanner, and our water  bottle released from custody provided we drank the contents in front of them.

There was to be a two hour wait for a connecting flight to Beijing arriving at midnight. But when the time for boarding came and went a written notice was posted indicating mechanical problems and the flight would be delayed. By the time we got to our hotel room in Beijing it was 4.00am (actually 6.00am BNE time) which meant we had been travelling for 22 hours without any sleep since Dodgy 2 had collected us to begin this journey. The alarm was set for 3.5 hours sleep to allow breakfast and to join the bus for a seven hour tour of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Such are the joys of international travel and this experience is reminiscent of our last trip to Japan where we were told to meet our driver at the red letterbox somewhere in Narita Airport!! That also ended in a very, very late rendezvous with a bed somewhere in Tokyo.