Airport Chaos

VISA run time

Well here we are again, VISA run time. But this time, I have to go to Hong Kong (HK) and stay the night, as there is only one flight per day from Liuzhou (pronounced loojo). All tickets, hotels, taxis and any other expenses are booked and paid by my company, so that makes life a bit easier from the start.

The trip is not straight forward, as there is no direct flight to HK from Liuzhou and I have to fly to Shenzhen, take the bus to the China border, go through immigration, another short bus ride to HK immigration, passport check, then a bus into HK. It is strange, as HK is no longer owned by the British, but was handed back to the Chinese, so technically I am not leaving China, but whose arguing, the alternatives would take a lot longer.

First job was a taxi from the hotel in Liuzhou. Remembering my taxi experience when I arrived in China, I was expecting some trouble, but in general, the taxis have been well behaved and always use the meter. However, airport runs seems to trigger a ‘rip the customer off’ rage. The driver started haggling straight away, demanding a hundred Yen. I laughed and jumped out so fast.

I had plenty of time, so could afford to try several taxis to find a meter, but got lucky second go – we’re off. Taxi came to ¥6o which shows how much they are trying to rip me off. I paid the driver ¥80, to thank him for being honest – he was very happy.

When flying there is ALWAYS waiting time, but you do have a choice of how you manage the time; you can sit in the hotel and go through all the ‘what-ifs’; what if I can’t find a taxi, what if the taxi breaks down in the middle of nowhere, what if the language barrier screws things up and I end up at the train station, what if he tries to drive me to Shenzhen! OR, you can go to the airport early, check-in, get a good seat and relax with no what-ifs.

The flight was on time and all went well.

At Shenzhen airport, the next job was to buy the bus ticket. I went to the information counter to inquire and the ticket sales were at the very next counter – that works well for me.

The ticket is a complicated affair, as outlined above, involving three bus rides. They give you a multi tear-off ticket and a sticker. You put the sticker on your shirt pocket, so everyone can see in an instant which bus you require – the system works well, with bus guides looking out for you.

Immigration went well with no issues, found the right bus every time and was dropped off in the centre of Hong Kong.

Plenty of taxis here, but still a language problem, but nowhere near as bad as mainland China. I gave paper directions to the driver and told him to stop at an ATM machine. He slammed on the brakes and refused to move unless I could show him some HK$$$$, so out I got.

Found an ATM machine and drew HK$1000, which should be enough for future trips too. The problem was it was in two HK$500 notes. These would have to be broken down further before getting in another taxi, so I grabbed a bite to eat.

The next driver switched on the meter and tapped my destination into the GPS. I would have thought that he would know a hotel like Best Western, but there you go. Even with the GPS, which I was following, he STILL couldn’t deliver me without driving round the block half a dozen times, stopping and asking three other taxis and driving round some more. It cost me about HK$15 more than the trip should have, but I get a receipt to submit for expenses.

The hotel was a little complex too, a lift to the 3rd floor where reception was located. The usual wrestling match, as they want you to sign over your life savings as a deposit or take a copy of your credit card (no way!). They settled for ¥500 in the end. Negotiations over, they handed over my electronic key to my 35th floor room and to think the taxi driver could not find the place!

The room was a twin and pitifully small and the bed was like sleeping on the floor. I threw open the curtains and what a spectacular view. HK is a vertical city and it was all laid out before me. Unfortunately, I did not bring the 28-85 and so only had the 105 for portraits and candids. The TV was good, with plenty of English speaking programs and films.

I was very tired, so grabbed a few hours’ sleep before venturing out with the big eye. I wasn’t in the mood for going far. I just wanted to find the typical HK street scene, the result of which you see as my previous blip.

I had negotiated a checkout time of 13:00 from the standard 12:00, but still my flight was not until 20:15. Rather than wander aimlessly around the city, I headed back towards the airport.

The taxi back to the bus terminal went well, but finding the ticket office was problematic. I get the distinct feeling that HK nationals do NOT like British. No one was helping me! I eventually found it, a tiny hut, not obvious at all. I thought about going round and delivering a few FU’s, but I promised my boss that I would be a good boy on this contract. What would pissing people off achieve anyway, other than making me feel better.

It was raining quite heavily by now and the sky was looking rather angry. As the two hour bus trip back through the immigration system and on to the airport went, the sky just got worse. At the airport, there was a full storm in progress. As I suspected, I checked the board and all flights were delayed or cancelled. My flight was not up yet as there was still five hours to go, so I was not unduly concerned, after all, how long can the storm last, according to the board, it has already been stormin’ for five hours!

Obviously, the airport was crowded, but the people seemed fairly calm and well behaved, unlike what you might expect in a British airport. This situation only prevailed for another couple of hours though, then tempers flared and voices started to raise. Personally, I was quite satisfied with the situation. If the pilots decide that it is not safe to fly, that is good enough for me.

All this ranting and raving was great fun to watch and I took my camera out to capture what I could. The information desk was like ‘Wall Street’, with people all screaming at once – such fun. One old guy, not receiving satisfaction, turned and waded through the crowd, dragging his case behind him. It was like the parting of the red sea until he bumped into me – He was 12 inches shorter and 25Kg lighter and I was ready for him.

I checked the board every 20 minutes and my flight eventually went up after the flight time. It was announced as delayed, which was obviously better than cancelled. There was no check-in gate posted, so when the information desk quietened down a bit, I made inquiries, but no departure time or check-in time was available. So, continued 20 minute checks.

Finally at around 23:00, the sky started to calm down. Although there was still plenty of electrical activity, the aircraft started moving and earlier flights were being cleared. Activity amongst the travellers flared up again to a new fever pitch and people were rushing around clutching tickets. Still the board did not alter, but there was lots of activity on row ‘C’ which was my travel company, so I went to check. Sure enough, my flight was boarding, but they did not put it up on the board, so I too ended running around like a headless chicken clutching a ticket!

We took off some five hours late. The flight was problem free, apart from the horrendous landing, which bounced the aircraft. The pilot engaged the thrust reversers too soon, before he had the aircraft under good control, so the ship swayed violently from side to side, eventually settling down – I was not happy.

I had decided not to wrestle with the taxi drivers this time, as I just wanted to get home and sleep. Would there even be any taxis at 03:00am! Of course there were, greedy F$*%#rs. But, there was also a bus waiting. I made inquiries and the driver said yes. I was dropped at the hotel reception and charged ¥20. I gave a ¥20 tip and a thumbs up.

I decided to go back to bed after the 07:00am breakfast, as I was obviously not going to be able to function on three hours sleep on top of a weekend like that. Room service woke me up an hour ago, so here I am typing. A bit of a long read, but hope you enjoyed it :)

Update - here is the HK panorama. I only shot the top half as I didn't think CS6 would be this good - CS6 compared with earlier versions is stunning!

Dave