...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.

Destination Next!

15 days into the new year and I am leaving for....

Image: amazingaustralia.com.au

Yep, that's right!

I'm heading down under.

A train. A bus. Two Flights.

And I'll be in Melbourne. Exciting Innit? Of course it is! So I Google-d Melbourne, Australia to see the kinda images Google churns out.

Common ones included...

Melbourne Docklands

and...

and a little sea breeze along....

Great Ocean Road

It gets better! 

Now that's something!

Add a little music to it.

I can't wait to explore. (:

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

Hang(zhou)in' Around

Hangzhou was a blast.

The hostel was a double blast and its occupants were amazingly friendly.

Not that I have spent days in millions of other hostels but definitely a million other hostels didn't quite provide me with the opportunity for an entire room of people to be interacting as though we had known the other for ages.

The repertoire was so good, I actually think I might visit the countries of my newly found friends just to meet them and learn more about their country and culture.

There was a dude from Syria, one from Holland, another from Korea and a couple from China. Girls were from China's various provinces, and there was Jan from Malaysia and me from Singapore.

I was there only for two nights and both nights were interesting.

The first night was spent learning pool which ended with the conclusion along the lines of usha-sucks-at-pool-more-than-anyone-on-Earth.

I told ya!


2nd night was when we really got to know the rest of the hostel mates (in our room) better and got to know what exactly these guys were doing and what else is awaiting them in the future.

Pictures I haven't got many. However, it is suffice to say my fellow travelers were an amazing lot.

And whoever said Wu Xi (West Lake) could be circumnavigated in 5 hours by foot was not in their right mind.


We took a freakin' 8 HOURS!


Bleah!

Date with Gulangyu continues...

Cafes, Cafes and more Cafes.

And yes of course if you're into seafood (that which I ain't), there's a whole rand of sea creatures from massive lobsters to pearl giving clams.

The pearls were replaced with something say..more edible?

They were on the grill so yeah, no one picked them up to hear for waves

Onto what we really accomplished today. Well...

We traversed some steep slopes, me in my flip flops and on lotsa Chinese women  in their platforms and on rarer occasions, stilettos!

We went all the way up just to climb down again for no apparent reason. The number of times I actually lost myself in this tiny island is beyond me.

On the way down, we visited 'ZhengCheng Gong', some awesome (according to Jan) official's memorial who played a significant role in China-Taiwan politics.

Zhieng xiansheng himself!

His memorial involved intricately designed murals, that I can only describe to the best of my ability for even a quick, discreet shot was conspicuous to the guards eyes. We were told off not once but twice "NO PHOTOS PLEASE".

Sigh!

We exited or you could say we sensed his potential move to chase us out.

While soaking in the sights and learning about new stuff is great and exciting, the stomach should never be neglected. Hunger should be taken care off immediately. Especially for a vegetarian. 

For the most part we tend to skip meals or eat random junk food to satiate our hunger since meat-less dishes can no where be found. And explaining to someone that sea creatures were once alive and so I don't eat them; can be a tedious task, I'd rather chew on my apple.

Fried Tofu with Chilli powder and pepper

Nevertheless there were a few dishes in Gulangyu that were vegan friendly. Breakfast thankfully have always been vegan friendly. Despite the overwhelming availability of seafood, they have yet to be accustomed with tuna bread pao or any other fish for that matter as breakfast. Which of course, worked well for me. 

Dough/Bao fusion with mushrooms and soy meat

I have been filling my tummy with lotsa noodles, bubble tea, vegan snacks and Mochi. Talking about mochi, there was this particular stall run by an old couple and man they make amazing mochi. It WAS THE BEST I have come across. I actually went "hmmm.." which made quite a few uneasy but that's not the point. It was so good I went back to get more. The sugar and the peanut butter combination was done perfectly to complement each other with having to taste uber sweet.

It has been in existence since 1987, as the small cut outs, and news paper articles on the mini mobile stall testified.

We boarded a what-should-have-been a short cable car ride but was instead very long, for it was moving slower than my granny's jog. And when the number of cars increased on a single cable, and the ones before us were yet to reach the end, our car stops mid air.

Yes, for about 10 seconds, we were suspended in mid air.

Jan who is afraid of heights started singing Church songs.

Having been suspended in air, made her feel closer to God I think. 


Hallelujiah!

Gulangyu: Its smaller than Singapore. Ha!

Fly China Fly!

Gulangyu, the island that houses about 200, 000 or less people and perhaps lots more seafood. The island is situated a short distance away from Xiamen mainland. This same distance can be covered with the aide of a 5 minute ferry ride from Xiamen. Interesting thing is, to head over to Gulangyu, the ferry carries no charge. However, on your return journey there is a charge of 8yuan. 

Xiamen Island from Gulangyu

Well...They expect you to return from the tiny island at some point. However, its free of charge, if you take the ferry ride between 10pm till 12mn. 

And thats probably because, they are not responsible for your safety in the dark. 

It was abandoned and I almost entered for a "Haunted Adventure" :D

The place reminded me so much of my previous trip to Yangshuo, Guilin. All for the following reasons of course;

• Tourists (mostly locals from other regions and Chinese from South East Asian Nations
• Narrow streets cluttered with cute little shops and cafes with stuff carrying exorbitant price tags
• Shops open late and close late: Supper is a huge deal!!

Quaint alleyway leading to a vintage stall

Shops lit up the street after 6pm, and street food stalls ranging from mini tables arranged onto the already narrow streets to middle age men or women pushing a mobile stall filled with desserts, fruit juices, fried tofu, ah yes and the famous dead creatures of the sea.

Loads of vintage shops and an odd looking Indian dress stall. Even the name of the stall was written in Chinese with Hindi fonts. How they managed that, I never found out. Unlike famous Bollywood stars covering the walls of the shops, it had a massive poster of a young Chinese lady dressed in anything and everything that screamed Indian giving a simple yet stern smile. She looked good actually.

The stall sold a range of summer dresses and skirts with symbolic patterns of elephants, mangoes all in the colors of orange, yellow, red, etc. Stereotypical or what?!

Lotsa newly weds were on the island having their pictures taken for the backdrop in this place was definitely very different from the rest of China. Most of the buildings here were once owned by the British during their rule on this island. The architecture still remains for it just moderately revamped into cafes, inns and hotels for tourism. Otherwise, many of these buildings, including a massive Trinity Church built by a Phillipino have traits of European architecture in them.

I call this 'Gulangyu Square'. Don't ask for the original name.

Jan and myself checked into a budget stay hotel which was kinda off the main street, away from the sea-views but closer and perhaps amongst the daily lifestyle of the Gulangyu commoner. Yes, our hotel was situated near the wet markets, the mahjong get together venue for over 60 year old men, shops with old style television mend by old couples selling basic necessities, you name it we were right beside it. There weren't exactly touristy spots but neither were entirely uninteresting. 

It provided us a glimpse of the way of life on this side of town, which albeit the language (they speak Hokkien, a Chinese dialect) were very similar to the average Chinese lifestyle.

From walking and more walking, what did I discover? No cars or bicycles are allowed on this island. Yes, they believe in being highly eco-friendly. Even the postcards were made of recycled material.

Their roads have a interesting feel to them.

However, they have recently introduced the tourist buggies which is kinda useful for tourists who have difficulty walking long hours. Otherwise, the cheap, best and possibly the only option to navigate your way around this 2km square island is by Number 11 aka as feet.

Every corner, every little cafe, has a thread with polaroids.

Advantages include loads of good photography moments, on the lookout for unique gifts as souvenirs, or even long summer dresses. Its like a trend here. Every single girl has a long colorful dress and a over the top sometimes simple summer hat even. After a while, one girl turns out to look like the other. After all these things are mass produced and this is a tiny island.

Massive Octopus at the entrance of "Underwater World"

When they run outta seafood for tourists to devour, and a storm is brewing around the island....

I think the "Underwater World" is a perfect back-up plan. :)

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Introduction

16 others I have never met before. All with the same purpose: Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge 2011. Witnessing events, people and passing through 180 cities. Literally crashing into millions of Indians, of varying shades of brown (not racist being here, I blend in pretty well actually), language and traditions. No doubt diversity equates to India.

The Indian Chauffeur

Mumbai Taxiwallah: Mr. Sushant Singh

Could it be a marketing gimmick?

Mr. Singh actually said, my stuttering, grammatically incorrect hindi, randomly strung words from Bollywood hindi was impressive. 

Unless, like I said my understanding of the language was so poor the comment he gave with a smile sounded along the lines of 'impressive'.

2 days later I learn, I was ripped off. I paid 450 rupees for a 200++ trip from Santa Cruz to Churchgate. There I was all excited to explore one of the most densely populated cities of the Indian subcontinent only to be cheated on my arrival itself. 

On a positive note, he never failed to point out sights that I might have otherwise missed. Yeah, yeah I hear you go an extra 200 bucks for pointing out sights is largely over rated. Lets just say, I would like to think I was not cheated and that probably Sushant is an otherwise honest man. 

I forgive that dude.

Reached Chateau Windsor, where it was fully booked and I ended up hanging at the roof top terrace with my newly made friends and travel companions for the next 17 days.

All 17 squeezed into a single cabin (Image by Troy Floyd)

Pre-trip pose with half the gang (Image by Troy Floyd - the dude in the front)

Drama Begins

We were greeted to a band organizer by our own Ryan, a Mumbai native, and an unofficial guide for us. The band started playing Indian film songs that (I think) was pictured with  trains in the background. 2 songs and the trip's organiser, Mark, started showing his Bollywood moves. What next? A crowd had formed around him and the band.

Mark with the band

Soon, a man wearing khaki uniform joined the crowd. Not to dance, but to stop it.

"Not allowed to play music!" 

He was the Railway Inspector, and apparently dancing at the entrance of the railway station is not allowed. While he was making his point across, some of us had started taking videos and photos of the drama which prompted him to wave his arms at us to stop recording the scene.

Funny how location matters for dance and music, considering this was India. Interesting.

Reluctantly, the crowd and us together with the band were beginning to disperse when Rachael showed up. She was the reporter from Times of India covering the trip. There she was with her professional photographer. 

Now, how do we get the Inspector to believe that this girl was actually writing for Times of India? She was English.

Either way, we managed to get a photo shot for the paper (which never appeared for some reason), together with the crowd, and the now silent Band.

Pretty eventful.

Now the 150 rupees shouldn't go to waste right, the band was herded towards the exterior of the station, far from where the uniformed men were. Settled somewhere along the roads, right infront of a parked bus, the band started playing. Stares we invited many. Crowds we invited many.

Mark was urging us to join in and dance as he was already grooving to the trumpets and drums, while the remaining dudes and dudettes were busy with their cameras. 

Don't you love their uniforms?

It can't get any better!

16 Jan, 7:15am

I reached the Bus station that should take me to Hangzhou City, Xiao Shan Airport from Shanghai. Turns out, they had no services in the morning or in the early afternoon. 

Weird! How can I be holding onto a flight ticket that is to depart in the afternoon and no possible services to transport me from my current location to the airport.

After what was an eternity of discussion with the receptionist in her "amazing" English and my equally "amazing" Chinese, she gave me an alternative solution. Which was not direct, and she had no idea if the other location even had services that would get me to my destination. Either way, I had very little time and decided to take the shot. 

"You take Bus 144 to Shanghai Nan Huozhe Zhan. But not Huozhe Zhan, You take Bus to Hangzhou City. But, that bus will not go to Airport. You take taxi to Airport."

"Okay. So how do I know which is my stop or where the bus station is? How long does this local bus take to get to Shanghai Railway Station? And how long is the duration from Shangahi to Hangzhou?"

"Errr. You alight 40 mins later. Its the last station. And from there you take the 3 hour bus ride to Hangzhou city".

I thanked her and saw the bus 144 just as I left my current location. Boarded 144, had a free 40 minute ride, for I forgot to pay and no one realized. 

Possibly the  only good thing that happened that day.

As I reached my destination and alighted, I literally took a 360 degrees turn to take in my location. No point, I had no idea where I was. She told me not to take the train ride to Hangzhou and I couldn't find the city-city bus station anywhere. 

Heck her!

I gave up and walked towards the Railway station and located the counter that sold tickets for that day. And bought myself a last min "no seater" or better known as a "standing class" for a two hour ride to Hangzhou. 

The ticket was only 29RNB and that is way cheap than I assumed or my initial city bus ride which is 100RNB.

I stood the full 2 hours crammed between Chinese men, women, children, elderly you name it and they were there. Chinese and their big ass baggages. Chinese and their love for instant noodles. Chinese and their amazing way of being able to hold over a hundred people in a cabin that could only hold say 60? 

I have to admit, although a little uncomfortable for later I couldn't feel my legs, I finally got my taste of the real China. 

Did I mention I felt famous? Yes, I was the only foreigner if not brown skin passenger so I got free stares for the entire 2 hours. Cameras were the only things missing.

When I finally got away from the clutches of China's population, I had to battle with the remaining Chinese men who were at the exit of Hangzhou train station, waiting to grab you and show you around Hangzhou. They were not as persuasive as the ones in Shanghai. That was a relief.

I finally got into a taxi that resembled the legal ones in Shanghai. However, I wasn't too sure when I finally settled into. Actually I am still not sure if the cab ride was legal or I was cheated.

As I chucked my bag in the back seat, and popped in beside the driver, he started off saying, "A flat rate of 120RNB for a ride to the airport".

I pointed at the meter, which had a receipt dangling from it. 

"What's wrong with the meter?"

And he started explaining how they don't use the meter, cos people wait hours for cabs and they aren't many cabs. 

I have no idea how the two things are related. 

Along the journey, he stopped when this lady was flagging down the cab and asked where she was headed. And I remembered as I was waiting in line for a cab, two ladies who didn't know each other were sent to take the same cab as their destination was the same. 

So basically, the meter is redundant. Or  I just had a ride in an illegal cab. 

Either way, the driver was a friendly guy who spoke bits of English and told me to improve my Mandarin. He even gave me career advice on how I should switch from Western Medicine to Chinese Medicine as it brings in more cash in China.

Finally the Airport came into sight, I stashed the cash into his hands, grabbed my backpack dashed out.

Only to realize my flight was not on the departure screen.

I approached the information counter to enquire of my missing flight. She punched in a few digits on her telephone and returned to me with this:

"There is only flight for this airline and it flies off at 1135pm".

"That is not possible. I have a flight for 210pm. Are you telling me the flight has been postponed to 1135pm".

"I do not think so. You need to check with your agent with the mix up".

"There is no agent. I booked my flight online". 

I showed her mu itinerary with full confidence that the airlines made a mistake. 

She dialed the same numbers again. She told them of my booking number and they exchanged a few words in Chinese and she later looked at me with a smile. 

Aha. The hope that reiterated my confidence.

"Ma'am, you booked your flights for February 16th". 

"huh".

I grabbed the sheet of paper from her hands (I later apologized) and just stared at it for a good 10 seconds before my palm reached for my forehead. 

Feb 16, 0210pm.WTF.

16 Jan, 1250pm

I was tired from not sleeping the previous night or the night before. I was tired from standing against the wall with my 13kg backpack at my feet and my other leg jammed behind a door to maintain my balance from falling on any Chinese or having any one falling on me.

I dumped my bags onto the baggage trolley thingys and started walking around the world-newest-and probably-boringest-airport aimlessly. I wanted to still use the ticket but the lady at the counter had no idea however she did say "probably can't".

Thing with Chinese, they never say "I do not know" they just give tell you it cannot be done. More often than not, there is an alternative.

But instead, I took her word for it and started considering other routes. A flight to Hong Kong was leaving in 30 minutes, but I was short of 900 bucks. Credit card got declined so lets just leave it at that.

Back to Square one.

The airline I bought the ticket before will only open their counters two hours before departure. I was left with no choice but to camp at the airport for over 10 hours.

There I sat, staring at my ticket, hoping something would take shape and tell me "You can leave now and won't have to stare into space for the next half of the day".

I tend to forget my room mate's advice to only print the itinerary and not the whole thing, cos that would mean the 4 sheets of rules get printed as well and people don't actually read these things. Least, I never did. Till that day.

"Changes to this booking can be made up to 48 hours before departure".

The mantra finally worked.

I was way too tired to get all cranky and worked up, I only had two words running through my mind: Think Usha. Think..

There was no wireless facility at the international departures. And I hadn't brought my laptop with me to actually use the facility at the Domestic departures either. 

No point there.

My local pre paid card ran outta cash and I had start roaming with my Singapore number.

Blackberry saves the day.

Started using GPRS (which will eventually cost me much), to long onto the website. Sadly, I couldn't make changes from the mobile site and the main site wouldn't load. I called a few numbers directly.

China: "No English Please. I do not understand English. Only Chinese or Cantonese". I hung up.

The lady said that in English. My Chinese will only worsen the existing situation and the last thing I wanna do is make flight changes in Chinese.

The next hotline was for  Hong Kong. Same thing. Followed by Singapore. Slightly different but same dead end nonetheless. 

"Our operators are currently busy. Please try again later". Hung up again.

Finally I called the home nation of the airlines and simply stalked them till someone took my call. My temptation to cut to the chase while she was saying stuff I was barely paying attention to was overwhelming. Eventually, I figured it was not that I was not paying attention but the female on the other line had a problem enunciating her words. I just didn't understand her.

"Sorry but I don't quite get you". I repeated this a million times throughout the conversation before I stopped. I sensed the onset of annoyance in her voice. Even her "thank you for waiting ma'am" sounded sinister.

Or maybe it was just me.

Either it didn't jeopardise the situation. She changed my flight for 16 January and told me to pay a couple hundred bucks extra for the changes made.

Phew!

The rest of the day I spent my time reading Shantaram and observing people entering and leavin the airport.

(Story doesn't quite end there actually)

16 Jan, 9:35pm

The ticketing counters finally opened and I paid my cash and saw my new itinerary. 

Oh wow!

I had an hour 15 mins to check out from the first flight, grab my baggage and check into my connecting flight to Singapore. My baggage will not be directly transferred whereas the lady over the phone said, it would. 

I told you I barely understood her.

Least the friendly dude at the counter, checked my backpack into premium so that it will be the first few to appear on the baggage carousel.

17 Jan, 4:25am

My flight should have landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport but instead has been delayed. 

Am I the only one who thinks this is a problem. Everyone else is just sleeping.

My hand reached for my hair when realization hit.

My glasses were missing.

In the dark, I was searching but to no avail. I am almost blind without my glasses during the day. And in the dark, you can might as well assume I am blind.

I turned to the Indonesian girl and said who by the way is uber nice. "I dropped my glasses.".

Why I said that I have no idea. She got the hint and that is what that matters. 

"Lets search together she said. She used the light from her mobile and voila she found my glasses under my seat". :-) 

My saviour. I would have swore I saw her cape flying behind her as she swore into the night skies. 

And we started talking and she was also a student in Shanghai. I was telling her about my connecting flight and that I probably would have to move fast so please give me way.  She laughed.

17 Jan, 5am

Flight landed 35 minutes later. Plane came to a stop and people started standing and removing their bags from the overhead compartments. I took mine, bade farewell to the Indonesian and started using the words "Please" "Thank You" "I'm late" "Please make way, I'm sorry" as I bypassed everyone to the exit and from there on just ran.

I ran to the arrival counter, took a couple of the arrival cards for foreigners and started scribbling while standing in queue. 

Will never condemn a doctor's handwriting ever again.

Again another dash, this time I had a crowd to handle before I saw the florescent orange backpack cover of mine. Grab and run was my motive right now. Grabbed and ran from the arrivals to the departures.

Grateful for the small airport. If this were Changi, I would have collapsed.

Checked my baggage in again, and went to the waiting area where I  was told to head of to Gate 55 or at least that was what I heard. It was a long run on the runway. No I was not running right next to the jets.

Although the thought appears pretty. :-)

I was running beside the loading unloading of baggages along the runway. Till I realized I might be going the wrong way. There was 20 mins before my plane took and this time time I was stressed. Till I saw a dude at the loading dock who I was begging to not show me but bring me to gate 55. Till he asked for my flight number and told me its Gate 85 not 55!

Seriously this can't get any better. Optimism. One reason I am still living.

Another long run to gate 85 and this time I showed the stewardess at the entrance my boarding pass and even asked her if this was the flight to Singapore. Man, she messed with my head.

"Is this the flight to Singapore?"

"No. Bangkok."

"What? Do you know where the flight to Singapore is?"

"I don't know."

"Nice. Thanks".  And I almost walked away when she pulled me by the arm and said "Just kidding. This is the flight to Singapore".

If only she knew how amazing my day had been...