Shanghai Connection

Hi,

This last week has been one of the most hectic days with a trip to Shanghai, Melbourne, Nandhitha's singing concert and a dinner party thrown in within a span of 7 days. It felt nice to get back to a routine Monday. :-)

Shanghai - what can I say, truly an experience. I had been there for 2 days for attending a conference where my organization had a booth. It was a first of a kind on several counts from going to China to hosting a booth in a conference. I survived. :-)

The fun began right from Sydney airport where I was the only non-mongolian or non-caucasian looking guy in the aircraft. Usually there is at least one of our brothers or sisters on their way back home. Probably not many prefer a stop over in Shanghai. ;-) Thanks to China Eastern airline's website I did not have any option to select a meal so braced myself for a culinary adventure in the flight. The moment the food came out the plan smelt exactly like a Chinese restaurant.

Have to write a few words about our Chino bhais. They have a tendency to travel in groups (which was a fact that was actually confirmed by an expert in the conference.) Almost everybody in the flight seemed to know each other. The moment the seat belt lights were turned off they got up and started chatting with their mates. I guess they don't trust their own country's airline for food...many had brought dried noodle packs to snack in between. I must admit that I did not have any major problem with the food (had a good fix for my chinese craving for the next couple of days). I guess one doesn't really give a damn for any announcement or sign board. Even if the toilet sign says occupied they try their luck by knocking at the door and even a light bang to see if someone is really inside. It was also funny to see people getting up from the seats the moment the wheels touched the ground on landing. The flight attendants had to rush behind them to sit down.

It was a 10 hour direct flight from Sydney to Shanghai. China Eastern was like 20 years behind on in flight entertainment (IFE as our industry folks call it). There was no personal entertainment screens (leave alone On Demand entertainment). Managed to watch Chinese, Japanese and Korean movies. Of course there was no use of the headset since all I needed was the sub title. One interesting movie (Korean) was "Architecture 101". It is about some high school / university romance and the concepts / drama seemed quite similar to an Indian movie. I guess sentiments are universal. :)

My culinary adventures were quite interesting not because of the cuisine but more due to the language. What can I say...I was not as prepared as some of my colleagues. They prepared printed cue cards of some of the common words they will be using to communicate. My colleague took me to a hawker where he was selling different types of barbeque sticks. There were different kinds of meats and veggies. I tried something that "looked" like chicken meat and also tasted like one. However not sure of what it was actually. :-)

It was a 2 day conference and I had to rush back immediately after the conference. Did not have much time for sight seeing except for a visit to the Bund. Which had the Shanghai sky line with the Pearl tower etc. The weather in Shanghai was just like in Chennai (or Mumbai as some would want to compare). The chinese males had an interesting way to escape the humidity. They all roll up their shirts up to their chest to get some "air". ;-) Anyways... thus ended my Shanghai connection. Not sure if I would want to go back again on my own except for a guided tour or something. One definitely needs a translator around (in whichever form).

Weekend was quite hectic with Nandhitha's first on stage performance for carnatic singing. It was a grand event - Raaga Sangamam 2012. Lots of efforts put in by the teacher, kids and of course the parents. :) It was worth the effort though...

So long folks....

Have A Great Week!!

C