The Elephant and the Dragon - Part 1
Me in China and not a blog..
So here is the detailed report for the 1st day directly from the business centre of the People's Republic of China...
Nov 18th : 8:45 am :
Time to board the Indian flight..IA384...the air plane and the services were even more pathetic than the ones provided by the Air Deccan and I thought that Air Deccan was a low cost airlines...the flight takes at a halt at Bangkok where we are not allowed to go outside the plane as the airlines did not pay for the parking bay expenses...and I thought that Air Deccan was the only low cost airlines...In between the Indian crew made me watch the latest super block buster hit "Chupke Chupke" (How come they got only this movie from the whole gamut of the Bollywood hits...Do not ask me .) with a earphone that had only 1 operational ear phone..Glory to Indian...Jai Bharat.
In between, they made me watch a block buster TV serial called "Khichdi"...hmm..here is a business proposition for them ..they can instead show TC commercial ads and also earn some much needed money.
Nov 18 : 8:30pm : The Indian flight gets late as usual..nothing to worry..But at last I reached SHANGHAI. As has been the tradition with me coming to a new place, it was raining there..Don't know how the weather Gods have come to know this thing ever since I went to Dwarahat, Pune and now Shanghai.
Nov 18 : 9:00pm : My first tryst with Shanghai...and what a city it is...I could not keep my mouth closed for the next 2 hours (stuck with Awe, that is..). The airport was lined up with air plancs waiting for their departures and all were standing in the queue just like we have at the ISBT....
The airport is atleast 7-8 times the airport in Delhi..and that is the part that I could actually see..could be much bigger than that in the actual statistics...I walk for another .5 - 1 km before I actually come to collect my luggage..and there are 10 big luggage carriers carrying the luggage of the passengers from all the flights..The Customs Deptt has 50-60 people who just want to quickstart your visit to Shanghai...all neatly dressed in the official uniforms.
Please note that the Delhi airport had only 10-12 people clearing the Customs..Is it the difference of scale ?
Nov 18 : 10:00pm : I come out of the airport and find the taxi driver who is waiting for me with a placard. I spot him. Don't know why, he is also happy to receive me..really do not know why ..I do not talk to him and actually can not talk to him as he can not speak English.hmm...so its not US. The cab is a sedan and I really can not believe it !!! Hmmm..For the next 20 min, the sedan travelles at an average speed of 110 km/hr and that too without blowing a single horn..hmmm...this is WOW !!!
Nov 18 : 10:30pm : I get to my hotel. Everything is ready for me. The reception guy gives me the password for the door (What !!!! I can not remember another password)...He gives me the directions and that is it..I somehow figure out where to go...And the password are for the central doors and they are all automatic powered by Radio Frequency / Infra Red (That is the true power of technology..)...And there are no manned doorways for each building...(inspite of that Large Population...hmm.)...
Nov 19 : 12:30 am : It is past midnight..and I want to have a bottle of Coke...the city has slept by 10 pm ..everything is closed except that good old Lawson (where you get each and every common comodity) and I thought that People's Republic of China (henceforth referred to as PRC) is a communist nation...hmm...
Nov 19 : 2:30 am: I go to sleep after such a dramatic day where I crossed a Great, old democracy (now I realize why they call India as the sleeping elephant) and crossed over to the communist PRC (which like its dragon) is powering on to change the world and perhaps capture it....
Thats all for the 1st day...
Keep coming back for the other days !!!
So here is the detailed report for the 1st day directly from the business centre of the People's Republic of China...
Nov 18th : 8:45 am :
Time to board the Indian flight..IA384...the air plane and the services were even more pathetic than the ones provided by the Air Deccan and I thought that Air Deccan was a low cost airlines...the flight takes at a halt at Bangkok where we are not allowed to go outside the plane as the airlines did not pay for the parking bay expenses...and I thought that Air Deccan was the only low cost airlines...In between the Indian crew made me watch the latest super block buster hit "Chupke Chupke" (How come they got only this movie from the whole gamut of the Bollywood hits...Do not ask me .) with a earphone that had only 1 operational ear phone..Glory to Indian...Jai Bharat.
In between, they made me watch a block buster TV serial called "Khichdi"...hmm..here is a business proposition for them ..they can instead show TC commercial ads and also earn some much needed money.
Nov 18 : 8:30pm : The Indian flight gets late as usual..nothing to worry..But at last I reached SHANGHAI. As has been the tradition with me coming to a new place, it was raining there..Don't know how the weather Gods have come to know this thing ever since I went to Dwarahat, Pune and now Shanghai.
Nov 18 : 9:00pm : My first tryst with Shanghai...and what a city it is...I could not keep my mouth closed for the next 2 hours (stuck with Awe, that is..). The airport was lined up with air plancs waiting for their departures and all were standing in the queue just like we have at the ISBT....
The airport is atleast 7-8 times the airport in Delhi..and that is the part that I could actually see..could be much bigger than that in the actual statistics...I walk for another .5 - 1 km before I actually come to collect my luggage..and there are 10 big luggage carriers carrying the luggage of the passengers from all the flights..The Customs Deptt has 50-60 people who just want to quickstart your visit to Shanghai...all neatly dressed in the official uniforms.
Please note that the Delhi airport had only 10-12 people clearing the Customs..Is it the difference of scale ?
Nov 18 : 10:00pm : I come out of the airport and find the taxi driver who is waiting for me with a placard. I spot him. Don't know why, he is also happy to receive me..really do not know why ..I do not talk to him and actually can not talk to him as he can not speak English.hmm...so its not US. The cab is a sedan and I really can not believe it !!! Hmmm..For the next 20 min, the sedan travelles at an average speed of 110 km/hr and that too without blowing a single horn..hmmm...this is WOW !!!
Nov 18 : 10:30pm : I get to my hotel. Everything is ready for me. The reception guy gives me the password for the door (What !!!! I can not remember another password)...He gives me the directions and that is it..I somehow figure out where to go...And the password are for the central doors and they are all automatic powered by Radio Frequency / Infra Red (That is the true power of technology..)...And there are no manned doorways for each building...(inspite of that Large Population...hmm.)...
Nov 19 : 12:30 am : It is past midnight..and I want to have a bottle of Coke...the city has slept by 10 pm ..everything is closed except that good old Lawson (where you get each and every common comodity) and I thought that People's Republic of China (henceforth referred to as PRC) is a communist nation...hmm...
Nov 19 : 2:30 am: I go to sleep after such a dramatic day where I crossed a Great, old democracy (now I realize why they call India as the sleeping elephant) and crossed over to the communist PRC (which like its dragon) is powering on to change the world and perhaps capture it....
Thats all for the 1st day...
Keep coming back for the other days !!!
posted by Rahul at 9:07 PM
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