Three of us took the aircraft for the first time in our lives. The flight landed in Bangkok for transit and for the first time we stepped on to a foreign land. It was 3 am and we stood in the middle of the huge airport, not knowing which way to go. There were shopping malls all around. We were fully tired and desperately needed sleep, but the excitement of exploration took it all away.
Seeing Asians around all the time, we found ourselves out of place. We needed to enquire about our next flight. So my friend who is 5’6” in height
and weighs 80 kg walked towards a Chinese girl who was en route to the enquiry counter. She just jumped 3 feet away from him and ran towards her family. Totally embarrassed, we finally reached the enquiry counter and got the information. It was 4 am. We decided to sleep as the flight was at 9 am. Chairs were fully occupied, so we searched for a suitable place. Finally we found a child’s play room with multicolored carpet and the next moment I was asleep.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a security officer, dressed in black, in front of me. He was talking to me in Chinese. Perplexed, I looked at my watch, it was 8 am. OH MY GOD!!!! The flight is at 9. I kicked the other two guys and they were right on their feet. With three heavy laptops and a handful of baggage we made rush towards Terminal 32. After 10 meters of walk, we found the LCD saying “Terminal 1”. So “Terminal 32” was 800 meters ahead. Ahhhhh!!! It was a real Marathon. Gasping we finally reached the terminal only to realize that I forgot my laptop in the security check (100 meters away). We got it and somehow found ourselves in the flight.
Onboard Thai Airways, it was lunchtime, the airhostess asked me “Vegetarian? Sir” and I said, “Yes”. But I got Fish, 2 pieces of fresh carrot, raw cabbage and rice. I looked at her and just gave a wide smile. “Good to see that our food made you smile, Sir”. Then I asked her, “Can I get only boiled vegetables and rice??” she says “Sorry Sir, No preference given in your profile”. After a herculean task of separating rice from fish, I ate it with Tomato Sauce. Suddenly, the flight jerked to its left, shoot!! My heart was in my throat. The guy on my left said, “This airport is on an island with sea and wind on all the sides. So the landing will be be a little shaky”. I already started thinking of my return journey.
After a few difficult questions at the “Visa on Arrival” chamber and 45 minutes of travel in the “Airport Express” (an underground train to the Island), which goes under the Sea, we finally get into the fabulous Island city called “Hong Kong” at 11:45pm. Tall buildings, fancy cars, clean roads and chilling weather. After all the formalities at the airport, we were relieved by the thought that the usage of passport was over. But when we checked-in at “Wharney Gangdong Hotel”, the Receptionist asked us “Can I see your passports sir??” Oh no!! Not again!!
My friend needs a smoking room. I came forward with his query but dropped it as my eyes fell on a “No Smoking” board. After a few attempts to sleep we finally hit the roads of Hong Kong at 1 pm. We made a nearby “McDonald’s” as our landmark. After three streets we realized that there is at least one McDonald’s for a street. All the streets looked alike; we just had nothing but a visiting card of the hotel. We finally found a police guy and asked him the address, he looks at the card and says “No English”.
WE ARE LOST!
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all the sky scrapers of Hong Kong from the top. The breeze is cool with great view of tall buildings.
and weighs 80 kg walked towards a Chinese girl who was en route to the enquiry counter. She just jumped 3 feet away from him and ran towards her family. Totally embarrassed, we finally reached the enquiry counter and got the information. It was 4 am. We decided to sleep as the flight was at 9 am. Chairs were fully occupied, so we searched for a suitable place. Finally we found a child’s play room with multicolored carpet and the next moment I was asleep.
