All Our Bags Are Packed!

Asia: Blog # 5

January 23, 2016

Penang:

Once again, we were up at 5:30 AM. At 6:15 AM, we opened the hotel restaurant while the staff was still setting up.

Quickly, we dished out a bowl of congee (a Chinese style rice cereal or porridge) and grabbed a piece of quiche. Local fruit and a cup of coffee was quickly consumed. By 6:30 AM, we were in the car and driving to the airport. We were leaving a country where people may never have owned gloves and heavy jackets to an area where winter clothes is commonplace.

We said our good-bys to our friend, Zakaria Bin Hajeed.

Zakaria has been our driver for the several times that we have come to Penang for business meetings. Quickly, we headed to the China Southern counter only to find that no passengers were in line. Surprise! we were the last to check-in.

Arlene met another passenger

More rushing to security, getting the pat down and off to the gate we went. Forty minutes later we were climbing to 35,000 feet and heading to Guangzhou (formally Canton) where we would change planes to Fuzhou, China - the factory location that builds some of our power supplies.

Companies pay to advertise on China's headrest protectors

The Guangzhou airport was re-built about ten years ago. It is now a huge hub for China Southern and some of the other Asian airlines. With all of the new construction going on, it appears that the airport will (at least) double in size when finished. The overall size is hard to fathom.

We landed on time. Scarecrows were positioned throughout dead grass areas separating the runways. (It is quite common to see scarecrows around China's airports as part of a process to try and stop birds from getting sucked into the airplane engines.

Luggage arrived on the carousel before our arrival to the baggage area. All we had to do was to find our next gate.

It was then that Chinese government bureaucracy raised it's ugly head. There were several government inspection stations set up for transferring passengers.

X-raying of carry-ons was repeated twice more. There was lots of aggravation. In an attempt to save some time in one of the lines, Arlene got in trouble with one of the airport police. At the last inspection station. Arlene realized that she left her i-pad on the plane.

Crisis!

We had 20 minutes to get to the gate - we were not yet through the last security station and we had to quickly decide what to do. Should we move foreword and get onto the Fuzhou plane and never see her i-pad again or re-trace our steps back to the Penang plane (if we could) and miss our flight?

Miracles of miracles!

A young woman working for China Southern took control of the situation. The short story (lots of drama) was - China Southern found the i-pad, it was rushed to where we were waiting.

Resigned that we would miss our flight, all of a sudden there was good news. We were informed that there was a slight delay due to weather conditions.

It was then we realized that transferring to the Fuzhou gate required that we had to walk a very long distance to another terminal.

More good luck!

A tram magically appeared and we were whisked (at least) 40 MPH to another terminal. The tram ride took almost ten minutes!

We would never would have made the flight if we had to walk this lengthy distance!

Whew!

* * * *

The Quanzhou airport has a unique amenity: Luggage carts with computer screens - great for the kids, great for everyone...

While waiting for the plane, we spent some time in the lounge. There were interesting dishes and condiments.

There was time to get some relaxation in one of those massage chairs.

Feels good!

Maybe, not so good!

There was time to watch "Breaking News" on CCTV (Chinese TV).

And, we could also check out some interesting TV advertisements...

* * * *

Time to get to the gate!

We were in line for a departure 45 minutes later than scheduled. Not to worry!

150 passengers were also queued up. Then, the electric sign indicating "Fuzhou" suddenly changed to JinJiang - another departure city. Some of the 150 passengers (all Chinese) started yelling loudly at the counter staff. The counter staff retaliated and yelled back into the sound system. Then, two manager-type men walked over and started yelling at who ever would listen.

It was chaos!

We had no idea what everyone was yelling. However, we got the idea...

At that point, the Fuzhou passengers left the line as the JinJiang passengers tried to line up for their flight. Fortunately for us, there were a few people who spoke limited English and/or we showed non-English-speaking passengers our tickets and together, we reconfirmed ourselves that our Fuzhou plane was not ready to disembark.

After one of the more chaotic airport situations we have encountered throughout the years (since none of the airline personnel spoke English), we eventually got on our plane, it took off and landed in the evening - four hours later than anticipated.

* * * *

Fuzhou, China: What shock!

We first came to Fuzhou (located between Hong Kong and Shanghai) about 15 years ago. Since then, we have come here about every 3 - 4 years. There has been a huge transformation since our last visit.

To get into town, passengers used to drive on a small country road. Now, there is a major highway. What was an old, dilapidated airport is now one of the more modern-looking facilities. The town, what was old and rundown is now a very large (and in many areas) a modern city. It was startling to see the tall and uniquely designed buildings all lit up like a Christmas tree. It was quite something to see.

An office building seen from our room

We arrived so late to the Fuzhou hotel that the restaurant was about to close. The wait staff did not speak English. We ordered as best as we could by pointing at menu pictures and gesturing with our hands or fingers if we wanted one or two of something.