Friday, August 17, 2018
Luoyang-Shanghai
We had a relaxed start to our day as we did not need to leave for the airport for our flight to Shanghai for at least a couple of hours. This left us time to eat breakfast (that was included in our tariff) at the hotel. It turned out to be the most bizarre breakfast I have ever eaten. If I had visions of scrambled eggs, toast and sausages, I had to abandon them at the door to the breakfast hall where a young lady stood by a vast vat of hard-boiled eggs and supervised service. There was a huge buffet but it held the strangest things—for breakfast, I mean: Steamed vegetables (squash, carrots, etc), steamed white buns in two different shapes, and on another table, there were salad vegetables that turned out to be pickled—cabbage, carrots, etc. There was no tea or coffee. Just some weird-looking yellow-ish broth and some milky-looking liquid (Ike rice water) in bowls. As a global traveler, I am all for experimenting with the local food—but this was unappetizing to look at and tasted just blah. The hall was crowded with local Chinese families and tour groups and it was noisy. Then, all at once, they left, in a massive horde, and we had the place to ourselves. We did not hear a word of English spoken in that place nor did we see a single sign with English translation. Among all the hotels at which we stayed, this was certainly the most foreign to us. We left the dining hall, returned to our room, picked up our packed baggage and went down to Reception to checkout—all done pretty wordlessly.
From just outside our hotel, we hailed a cab and showing the female driver a map of the town, we pointed to the airport which is called Beijao—it is the domestic airport. It took about an hour to get to the airport after we had skirted the city and found it to be far larger and more modern than we had imagined. China continued to surprise us at every turn. In terms of its infrastructure (roads, highways, railways, etc.) it could be a Western city. But for the fact that most signage was in Chinese and that no one (and I mean No one) could speak the language to communicate with us, we could have been anywhere in Europe. Everything was beautifully organized—even at the domestic Luoyang Beijao airport. There were queues everywhere. People did not rush or push although sometimes I did see them elbowing their way ahead of others. The one thing I found irritating about the culture was the tendency of the people to speak loudly. If you think Americans are loud, you should hear the Chinese. Not only do they seem to be shouting all the time, but they also seem to be quarreling all the time. It’s just their way of talking to each other that is harsh and very unpleasant on the ear.
Our flight was very pleasant indeed. We had good service and a hot meal served on board—rice with meatballs and vegetable. It was quite palatable and kept us going. Again, having traveled across the globe, we are sure that Asian airlines could put any American airline to shame in terms of service and hospitality.
However, towards the end of the flight, we realized that we were not going to land at Shanghai’s Domestic airport at Hongquiao (as a result of turbulence in the atmosphere) but at Pudong International Airport where we reached at 4.00pm. At Pudong airport, because I knew it would take us at least two hours to reach our hotel, we went straight to McDonald’s for grilled chicken burgers with fries, a Coke and chocolate sundaes. And I have to say, at the risk of sounding ignorant, that they tasted like manna from heaven. Not that we hadn’t eaten excellent food in China for a week—it was simply that the return to familiarity was so comforting that I savored it thoroughly.
When well sated, we took the subway to our hotel—the Marriott by Fairfield on Yancheng Road. As I had expected, it took us two whole hours to get there with one subway interchange. Having visited Shanghai before (and having used the subway system in Beijing), we found it very easy to navigate through the city as all signs were bi-lingual in Chinese and English. We reached our hotel at. 6.00 pm by which time I felt really worn out. This was the first day that had not gone strictly according to plan. We had intended to spend the afternoon at Suzhou (pronounced Soo-jo)) to see it gardens; but on the plane, when I read through my tourist literature, photocopied from Lonely Planet, I also realized that it was located further away than I had thought. So, we decided to relax today and go there tomorrow.
After showers, a short nap and much relaxing at our hotel, we found out about dining possibilities from the Reception staff at our hotel—which was also superb (great neutral decor, every possible amenity offered and a general air of familiarity about everything). We were directed to a large outdoor mall, only a ten minute walk away. There we found a supermarket where we picked up nuts, prawn-flavored crackers, wine and beer. We also stopped at Wagas to pick up a Mango and Avocado Salad which we thought we would eat in the comfort of our hotel room.
Back in our hotel, we continued watching ‘Vera’, had our dinner and then went to bed. It had been the least eventful of our days, it it had offered us the possibility of relaxing after days of being on the go and fighting fatigue.
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