When my visa arrived on Thursday before Memorial Day, it showed that I could not enter China until June 1. This was even though the application materials had a “RUSH” notation (that costs extra) and an itinerary that showed entry before June 1. So I got to spend Memorial Day at home preparing for my trip. RBJ wanted me to get over there ASAP, so the plan was to land at Narita (Tokyo) on May 31 and make the hop to Shanghai, arriving on 1 June.
It was up to me to work with the travel department to make arrangements, and we found that Northwest (now Delta) had the best service – it still does in my opinion. Because it was an international flight, I was permitted to fly Business Class. The itinerary was Buffalo to Detroit to Narita to Shanghai to Lianyungang; the return was a mirror. Horrified at the cost – a mere $7,000 at the time – I was not looking forward to the adventure of getting there. First, the flight time alone was 17 hours (not counting connections), covering 12 time zones and possibly two overnights. As mentioned before, I had to overnight in Tokyo due to the visa snafu, as an added bonus; there was the possibility of another overnight in Shanghai.
At any rate, the long jump – Detroit to Narita – scheduled flight time was about 11 hours, and wider seats and better food only serve to make it tolerable. Unfortunately, the food is plentiful and almost continuous so you arrive stuffed and bloated. Booze is also free, but excessive drinking on long-haul flights only serves to dehydrate you further. You get on the plane at about 9 AM (boarding takes about 1 ½ hours), and arrive in Tokyo around 5 PM the next day. There’s nothing like a little International Date Line action to really mess things up.
Upon Arrival at Narita, I clear customs for the in-transit (no visa required) line and make my way to the Holiday Inn. It is late afternoon, and I fight off the fatigue to try to stay awake until a normalish bedtime.
The next morning I get on a shuttle bus to go from the hotel to the airport. The bus stops at an entrance gate to the airport and two security people come on the bus: one to check travel documents and one with a gun to make sure nobody tries anything stupid. Nobody does. It kind of makes our airport security silly by comparison.
Passing through airport security with the metal detector is far different than in the US. Sure laptops out, coats off, no liquids (Japan did this well before the US to keep people from sneaking liquor onto planes), but you keep your shoes and belt on. If you “ring the bell”, you are given a secondary search with a wand. And if you pass that, you are sent on your way.
Time to board for the 3 hour flight to Shanghai – PuDong International airport. During the flight, the pilot points out Mt. Fuji. Announcements about filling out China Entry cards and other border control forms.
Once off the plane, you get herded about a mile to Passport Control (it’s good to have some actual activity for a change), where a nominally-English speaking agent looks at your face and matches it to your passport, checks your visa, takes a picture, collects the entry card, stamps the passport, and sends you on your way. You are given the opportunity to “comment” on the agent’s performance with an array of 5 buttons – ranging from a red “frowny” to a green “smiley”. It is best to punch the “smiley” and move on.
Walk to Baggage Claim, collect your bags, and move through the “Nothing to Declare” line. TC was waiting for me with his driver. He explained that we had a couple of hours to kill, seeing as how our plane to Lianyungang was scheduled for 5 PM. At Shanghai Hongtiao airport (for domestic flights). All the way across town. So we go to the corporate headquarters in Shanghai and say hello to a few folks. A light lunch and off to the airport.
Hongtiao is a an older facility and has seen better days. We go to the ticket counter and get our boarding passes and check our bags. Then we go to security – someone checks your boarding pass and passport – followed by the metal detector. The procedure was quite similar to that in Japan. TC had a pass to the VIP lounge (similar to a Northwest World Club or the Delta Club here in the US) and we waited for our China Eastern flight to be called.
The announcement comes over the loudspeaker. We get to the gate where we “mob up” to the entry door. One clerk takes the boarding pass, another clerk tears off the proper stub, and a third clerk hands the pass back to you. We find our seats and settle in. The Flight Attendants are quite stunning in their uniforms, with hair and makeup just so. The preflight safety briefing is done by a cartoon video on a loop first in Chinese then in English. The animation looks like it was drawn as nude figures with clothing added as an afterthought. Sometimes, the plane leaves once everybody is aboard and seated, regardless on the posted time, so the English version is cut short. Flight time is about an hour, and we arrive at the Lianyungang airport in the early evening.
Still, we have a hour ride to the hotel. Leaving the airport (very small, by the way) there is a very nice entrance road. The locals like it because they like to spread their wheat on the pavement so the cars and busses can drive over it – this is what passes as automated threshing. It is true what they say about the time difference: 12 hours and 5,000 years. The ride to the hotel over a still-under-construction road with toll booths. The hotel is old, but decent by Western standards, and the rooms are HUGE. A large suite was about 550 RMB – or about $70 US. Check in goes as would be expected, with copies of passports and credit cards swiped. We agree to meet for dinner in about an hour.
Next: Dinnertime!
Cow Oil Meal Pack 黄油面包 