Where I belong?

Every time I get to a new place I'm all excited and full of enthusiasm (and a tiny bit of fear, no doubt) to explore, find my bearings, become a local; even if it only means I'd be hanging around in that area for a few hours or half a day.

After acclimatizing, which I do fairly quickly, I start feeling or specifically this verse starts ringing in my head throughout: "this is where I belong. This is so me".

Not once, but on multiple occasions this has occurred.

And then there are other times when I would go back home, Singapore in this case, and my neurons go:

"This is where I so do not belong".

...it was all over in 20 hours.

Life’s journey is not to arrive safely at the Grave, in a well-preserved body; but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting, “Holy Shit! What a ride!”

It all started with deciding to sleep at the airport till my flight to Singapore. Only to realize this particular Haikou airport, claimed to be the best of recent chinese revamps was not a disappointment. Neither did it flatter me entirely.

They simply do not function 24 hours.

After the last plane takes off, life at the airport turns off too. Now did I mention the itinerary, albeit boasting to be a transit protocol doesn’t quite cover the “keep my baggage for me while I roam bit”. Hence a significant amount of cash was spent in getting a member of the airport security and information counter to take responsibility of my baggage. One that held medical equipment and a pair of fairly adequate speakers.

That was 40RNB for two days. And for my question on what to do in Haikou, our friend had only one answer “take the shuttle bus to downtown”. Now downtown had to be the choice, given how everything about this place reads abandonment and far from what Shanghai is to me. Home.

Nevertheless one needs to explore. There is no other way of replacing the void that screamed “why can you not make plans”.

Off I picked a shuttle service that was heading towards a place where lots of food was available. Ten minutes into the journey, all I witnessed were dark windy roads. Lots more dark windy roads. 

Downtown varies from places to places? Or some dark Fae party was taking place. I mean what is the idea of downtown for the people in this part of the world?

Decided to ask the girl sitting a seat away.

“Where exactly does this bus go?”

“Where do you need to go?”

“Somewhere”…

“Do you have an address?”

“Ermm…Any address will work I guess”

The classic look of bewilderment with a tinge of doubt regarding my sanity was all over her face.

Confession time.

“I don’t have a place to go. I was thinking maybe you can tell me what people do at night, I might just alight at one of these stops and join in the fun…”

“Okaayyy…” This time she was convinced I was insane.

“Well it’s my first time here, and I was planning to stay at the airport for the transit till they told me it had to close. So I thought I’d check out the city after dark instead”.

“So you have nowhere to go?”

“I will if you provide me with one” followed by my million dollar smile.

“I see”.

Pause.

I initiated the conversation. Again. 

“Where are you from? Are you a student? Working? What do people do here when they are not working?”

Pause. Either she was hesitant or was trying to phrase her statement. 

“I am a student at Hainan University studying (something along the lines of aviation I think)”.

“You’re a student? Nice. Where you headed may I ask?”

“Meeting a friend for supper. You can join us if you want”.

Vegas neon lights took form of capitalized Y.E.S. in my head. 

“Really? That is very nice of you. Can I really? I mean I don’t mind, but wont it be a little troublesome for you?”

“Nah, its fine. We’re gonna have supper at this (insert Chinese characters) Street.”

“Awesome”.

The rest of the journey was filled with just me asking questions and her answering them enthusiastically often complimenting on my rusty Mandarin and the intense effort I took to understand them. DID I MENTION SHE SPOKE NOT A SINGLE WORD OF ENGLISH?

My patience and level of concentration was never tested this much in my life. The last time I maximized my Chinese language ability was when we had to fight for our rights against an evil, money bugger of a landlady. I digress.

Finally the stop came and we got off at a place that was not any less darker than the previous streets we had passed. Seriously what kinda downtown was I being introduced too.

Nevertheless I followed her lead. It didn’t end, we had to take another bus, this time a less comfy, much cheaper public bus that took about 20 minutes to get to the Food street. She paid for me. Shameless, I have become. 

Food Street was freakin' crowded! People eat here after dark. It's almost like a hobby. 

As I took in the happenings, her other friend came by. This time a Chinese Muslim girl from Henan province. She was amazingly nice and hospitable. They enquired about my background, about Singapore, my Shanghai life. They shared their life in Haikou and how one of them actually dislikes Shanghai for larger cities have a faster pace of life, compared to the laid back one that Hainan poses of.

I was convinced this was no downtown. I never saw foreigners in my 20 hours here. The only whites I saw were coming in from other flights landing at the airport and me the lone brown woman, loitering the streets with two other amicable young ladies I met ten minutes ago, in a bus that I decided to board; giving myself the benefit of doubt of heading somewhere nice and perhaps different.

Different it was.

People crowded the streets on their uber low tables and even lower wooden stools for a dessert bash. This particular dessert was made from tropical fruits, especially young coconuts with raisins, white fungus and a whole bunch of Chinese herbs whose names fail me. I was even greeted to one of the best Red Bean Bubble Tea I have ever had in my life. Yum!

Now you probably have labeled me a frugal, stingy, good for nothing traveller who leeches of others. Allow me to explain. What happened was the way these girls refuse to accept my cash. They actually had a look of “are you insulting me?” You do not want to mess with girls who may misinterpret your actions and abandon you in the middle of nowhere. 

When desserts were over, they were asking for my plans.

“ahh the 'P' word. I might just walk around till dawn and take the shuttle back to the airport”.

“No no no. You will be tired. You need to rest.”

“Well I didn’t book a room. And I don’t want to check into a hotel for a night when I don’t even have a change of clothes. What is the point anyways?”

“This is not a safe town for you to roam alone. This is not Shanghai.”

“Oh okay. What do you suggest then?”

“We’ll find a cheap hotel”.

They started scouring phone numbers for motels on the food street and prices below hundred.

Hotel 59.

“69 bucks for a night and separate electricity and water fees”.

“What the….”

“Deposit 150RNB”.

“I only have a hundred. How about I swipe”.

“No cards. Only cash. There’s an ATM outside.”

ATM only accepted Chinese cards. I had successfully cleared my Chinese account. Semester ended for Christ sake!

“How about 130RNB?”

“Only 150RNB. I’m just doing my job”.

Can’t stay there any longer. Not when a clearly annoying old woman was out to make your life miserable.

We resorted to a rather dilapidated, peeling walls, scribbled graffiti, forth floor motel, whose “windows” by the way were made of barbwire. >.<

I wanted a cheap room not a junkie’s ghetto!

Although I had barely slept in the last 61 hours, I was still able to differentiate between a cheap hotel and an emancipated building.

However, the kid who was in charge of this serenely intimidating motel was kind, nice, and polite and the rooms were freaking big for the meager amount he didn’t even demand but requested. There was even hot water. There were clean sheets and there I was looking forward to cockroaches. 

Under a tattooed mafia exterior laid a sterile Operating theatre.

At this point, the two girls were extremely tired and possibly unsure what exactly I was up to or wanted to.

“You don’t want to rest?”

“I can appreciate a rest, just not here.”

I actually would have relented to that room, if they were keen to stay there with me. But that was just too much to ask. And I was not comfortable with the ambience. Neither were they. But they were a lot more concerned about my lack of sleep in the previous days then my potential lack of sleep if I had agreed to actually take that room.

“KFC”.

“Its 24 hours, they have internet, I can stay there till dawn and cab to the airport. How much does it cost to get to the Airport”.

“Hmm..20 minutes and 50 RNB. Tell him not to run the meter and fix a price of 50 and no less”.

Downtown was not downtown and meters are for cheating.

We politely declined rundown motel to KFC where it was 24 hours and always crowded. The girls were happy that I was in a sound place. They accompanied me to KFC, set with me till I was settled into my space. Whatever that meant. 

Told me to sleep well and be rejuvenated. How ideal was KFC for a good sleep? Beats me. Passed me the packet of milk they bought when they saw my cereal packets. With the reference to the clock at the KFC outlet whilst I’m typing this, all this kindness, altruism, caring manner was from two girls I met 4 hours ago.

Moral of the story being if you’re into Aesop’s Fables, sleeping in airports are convenient, fun, and if I had agreed to spend my 20 hours indoors I would not have met two amazing girls who are now my friends I’d be writing too (preferably not in chinese), the fact that creepy motel owner was nicer and a lot more likable compared to that crappy old lady in charge of hotel 59.

Now you know why I travel. The world ain't that bad. So far. 

________________________________________________________________________

Next stop; Home. 

Who would’ve thought the journey towards home would also include a harrowing experience on the road. When I exited KFC to go hail a cab, a cab driver was in the midst of getting my attention. I gave him my divided attention and a wave to signal that yes I would consider his help. Note: I do not have a sensitive nose in addition to the 74.5 hours of non-sleep pretty much every other organ was functioning at half if not a quarter of its original ability. Negotiating the price and finally fixing on a 50 bucks ride I settled in the front seat behind him. And my nose picked up the alcohol. Surprise! I’ve entrusted my life to a drunk driver.

I have never been this awake in my life. Not even in class. He was on the walkie-talkie, he lit up a cigarette and soon he was picking up speed on an extremely narrow road filled with hairpin turns. And there was no other car in sight. I had to let him know that I was not prepared to die that day. Not in a car. Not by a drunk driver. Not in China please!

“you might wanna drive a little slower”.

“slowww…slowww…”

For the rest of what was supposed to be a 20-25 minute journey was the LONGEST 25 minutes in my 25 years of living. Every time a long vehicle was making a turn, I was watching out for it. I was making sure, my driver was not about to fall asleep in his drunken stupor. Ensuring he doesn’t beat red lights or fails to see a pedestrian or turns a little too fast for his own good. He may have been a good driver, but he was drunk at 4am in the morning and that is sooo not cool!

When we finally reached the airport and I was very sure it was the airport, I thanked him profusely.

For sparing his life and mine.

Back on Track

Guess its official.

I will be spending my summer on the roads not literally though. That's a fine change there.

Unlike most of my other expeditions, where I lug my backpack on the streets only to chuck them temporarily into hostels.

And later retrieving them for guess what, I found a cheaper hostel.

Anyways, thanks to an awesome friend and her equally awesome hubby for taking me in, (and possibly cooking for me as well :-p) for a full month.

A bit about my hosts:

We have been friends for donkey years now. She got married early this summer and moved. And yes, a few months into moving in, I decided to invade their privacy.

They recently also adopted a pair of kittens aka my god kits: Pebbles and Buttons. :) Fun!

They have a fully functioning washing machine.

A washroom whereby I am pretty sure there's ample hot water and toilet rolls.

Now that's pretty luxurious already. O.o

Acquaintances on the GO!

Travelling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. - Cesare Pavese

More than the material things I have owned, my ability to make small talk has paved the way for me to meet new people and enable to learn more from them. 

I made friends in the shortest of circumstances.

Acquaintances were created in the most oddest of places. 

As we jog-walked the climb down the Great Wall of China we met this couple whom, we never thought were a couple but just a couple of people who just can't get along. Throughout the walk they seemed to address each other in a manner whereby one would assume, one was not comfortable talking to the other. The lady was always grumbling about something, and the man was shooting pictures while the lady ranted. Soon because we weren't sure why these two were constantly bickering just blurted the question if they actually knew each other at all. Turns out they were a couple. And that was just the way they interacted.

Now Trish here, was a mother, an artiste and an avid traveler. Met her when I unintentionally disrupted her sleep as I was trying to get myself into bed in the dorm room. We were living in the same hostel and actually tackled the Great Wall together. She finished the task. We didn't. She is a painter by profession and takes keen interest in cultures and calligraphy. Compared to world heritage sites, tourist locations, she would attend gatherings, music events while she was in Beijing. Not sure if that is how she usually traveled. She was very informative and had lots to share about her hometown, a small town off Sydney. 

Remember the trip I took back in Feb 2011? Well that probably included my largest first time meeting with strangers. I was willing to travel slightly less than quarter way off the world to circumnavigate India with 17 others I have never met. No Facebook interactions. No emails. All I had were 17 imaginary faces and voila the next thing I knew I was spending 24 hours, for the next 15 days with these guys. The above is just half the gang.

On the first night of our hostel stay in Hangzhou, I learned pool from these sisters from Shanghai. They were spending their weekend there. The younger one of the sisters who was teaching me (and perhaps also shook her head every time I messed it up) couldn't speak a word of English. As much pool skills I "imbibed", it was definitely a great interaction. We even tried jamming on the available guitars with our existing skills, which were definitely better than pool!

The night after pool, further friendships were formed between this eloquent Chinese who had no trouble conveying herself in English, and she has never left China before. She went by the name Summer, and definitely one of the better English speakers I have come across in China. She even shared with us how she took efforts to master the language just so it would allow here to interact with non-Chinese speaking people. I was floored. That never crossed my mind, every time I try to master Chinese. Still trying to be precise. The dude is a Korean who was backpacking around China before he returns home to join the University. He was hilarious. But you gotta be there to get his jokes.

The last of the friendships that were formed while on the go, was just last week when I was stranded   at Hangzhou Airport. 100 over passengers who didn't know each other. All waiting for their flights and just getting ready to fall asleep became one stranded family who just can't wait to land in Singapore all within a span of 24 hours. We eventually started speaking to the one in the seat beside us. As we were told to leave the airbus, we made conversation to the one who was given a room beside us. And as time went, I knew 25% of the passengers on the aircraft. 

I have a tendency to talk to the passenger beside me. I tend to ask where they are from or heading to. One of the main reason why I hardly pay attention to the safety procedures and prevent the person beside me from learning how to save their lives in crisis. 

Anyways, before the flight took off, we had the shot taken to remind us how much the airline was a pain in the arse and the chances of us taking it again was slim if not non-existent. Bryant, the dude, was from Singapore, working in Hangzhou and Lisa, a German travelling around Asia. We have agreed to meet again in Singapore. See how that goes.On a side note: She had the most divine 120mm film camera that certainly got me thinking of getting my own one too!!!

Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get - Forest Gump 

Of course this does not end here. I have met more people then I have allowed myself to talk about here. I just haven't got pictures of these other people to share with you.  In each of these places, I definitely met a few others besides the ones mentioned, who had lots of stories and interesting tidbits to share, that which will be up once I am able to source out a few faces to go with it.

7 Highly Probable Aftermaths For The Stranded Airline Passenger

This is not for ANY stranded passenger, but particularly one who had no choice because the airline couldn't figure out what to do next to keep the crisis under control.

When discovered with a malfunctioned brake, you will be housed in a five-star hotel. Exactly! If you fly a kick ass airline, you probably paid for your room's worth when you bought the ticket. What I paid for, which by the way adheres to my rule of keeping within the budget, wouldn't even get me a room in a hotel on any normal day. 

You would tell yourself you're gonna maximize the hotel's facilities, only to hit the sack the moment you see the pretty bed and clean sheets. I was suppose to get their breakfast, grab stuff that were actually free, bla bla. Only to doze off and wake up to a call telling me lunch has been arranged. 

You spend more than 12 hours talking to people you just met. You guys will actually be whining on the same frequency. A group of us were a little upset over the delay, for some had conencting flights, others were just heading for a weekend trip and a day was gone already. I have missed flights. I have flights that left late. Never a flight that made me wait for an hour, later board and wait another hour inside the cabin and and a night for free in a hotel. Make it two nights.

One of the flights carried this. Is this common?

You run into the airline crew who are equally if not more clueless towards the predicament then you are. The crew had no idea of the updates we as passengers were receiving from various representatives. For some reason they were even surprised to know that we might be leaving earlier than them. Are we gonna travel without a crew then, you may ask. Thing is, I haven't got the slightest idea. 

The carrier is so diverse you're left wondering...An Australian carrier filled with Singaporean crew, and with one of them actually sounding "Singlish" over the intercom. 

You're bound to run into one of those travelers whom you thought never existed. One was almost left to be stranded on airport grounds for he had no visa. And all he had to say, with a straight face, as a matter-of-fact-look written all over it. "No one told us." Dude did you not do your research before packing your bag??? "I've never travelled before". 

You learn to appreciate your foreign passport. This of course is not the nicest of things but guess what, if your aircraft experiences problems within the Chinese boundaries, and you're to be put up in a fancy hotel room, as an international passport holder you get a room to yourself. Whereas, the Chinese will have to share with the other Chinese travelers. As fun as it may sound, it still is a little biased but what can I say. I'm already being held for 48 hours when my journey itself is only 5 hours!!!

Foiled Doesn't Mean The End...

I DO NOT Plan!

Let's get that straight. However, I do have a few hopeful wishes that I would like to accomplish. They do not have a start or end date.

Just a "To Do List" that goes beyond the regular tasks of laundry, washing the dishes, keeping my desk neat, etc.

However, this summer I had one that went along the lines of "Lets go save some people!"

I was enthusiastic about it for not only was it medically related, I get to go to Kenya baby!

Mt. Kilimanjaro was a deciding factor too.

As it happens with pretty much 99% of our lives, somethings encounter unforeseen circumstances and we just gotta work around it.

I have worked overlooking these circumstances many a time, but this time I had reasons that wouldn't allow me to go ahead and stomp over the situation to get my ass on a flight to Kenya.

As it is, working around it has worked fairly well too.

I still get to use a bit of my medical knowledge and lots of PR skills I have to learn in aiding my Dad with his new venture.

The project is half way into its completion. Once it is time to reveal I'd reveal.

As of now, lets keep it under covers. For when the project first started, it appeared easy. Did I just use the word "easy"? Well at least from my point of view, thousands of miles away from home it did indeed appeared like a fairly simple thing to finish.

I should known that "nothing comes easy". And so the same task is now Herculean.

To summarize, Dad needs a little help and I'm heading back home to 'sunny' island Singapore.

But, I manage to talk mom into taking a short trip to Malaysia.

And of course I'm gonna hang around Hangzhou for

To visit any one Chinese city during my holidays is also on the To-Do list!