My parents had prebooked a taxi to pick me up at 6 AM. We drove along a new highway which was constructed to speed traffic between Guangdong and Hainan island to the south. At this hour in the morning the highway was fairly empty and we made good time (~45 min) heading north into Zhanjiang.
When I was dropped off at Zhanjiang Airport it was just before 7AM and the airport wasn't open yet. When the airport opened up I headed up to the restaurant for some breakfast. I was offered by the taxi driver to have breakfast at a nearby restaurant which was quite tempting but I decided to be safe and eat at the airport instead. Strike one: everything at the airport is more expensive.
Zhanjiang Airport before opening. Cloudy and humid morning.
The waitress welcomed me with a wave of her hand and gestured towards a table. I sat down and spoke to her in Cantonese...and she didn't understand me. And so, my assumption that everyone in Guangdong spoke Cantonese was instantly blown to smithereens. I'm not sure if it was because they exclusively spoke the local dialect (Leizhou) or maybe they were economic immigrants who were raised from other parts of China. With this language block I switched to Mandarin and instantly broadcasted the fact that I was not fluent and thus a foreigner. I asked for the menu and she handed me the English one. Strike two: English menus have inflated prices.
So, I paid a princely sum for some lowly beef and rice noodle soup and some hot soy milk. I winced as I imagined the disapproval of my father -- had he been there he would have a) vigourously bargained them down or b) stormed out in anger at being exploited. I just kept silent and enjoyed my breakfast proving once again that expediency can trump principles!
Thinking the lack of Cantonese was a fluke, I attempted to speak it during the check in process. The lady at the check in desk spoke and understood it and answered my question about my luggage -- yes, it will go all the way to Xining. Feeling encouraged, I spoke to the security guard...and heard Mandarin in return. Unfortunately for me, my comprehension of Mandarin is practically non-existant, so the security guard had to mime his instructions to me.
Once I made it through to the waiting area I could see the B737 sitting on the tarmac. I could also see a flock of birds sitting on top of the plane! I was slightly concerned since I'm a regular viewer of "Mayday" on the Discovery channel which is a show about aircraft accidents and their subsequent investigations. The last episode I saw was about that famous landing in the Hudson River in New York after some Canada Geese took out both engines on an Airbus. Given the secretive nature of China (translation: censorship of embarrassing news), I wasn't entirely sure I could trust the airline industry in China. Fortunately, by the end of the day, my opinion was going to change.
SHENZHEN AIRPORT
The one hour flight to Shenzhen was uneventful except I noticed the increasing cloud cover as we got closer. It was threatening to rain and when we arrived it we got a virtual gate: deja vu all over again but unlike Hong Kong this was in reverse. We stopped in the middle of the tarmac and deplaned onto two waiting buses which drove us to the Terminal. Also, like Hong Kong, there were signs of construction and expansion at the too-busy airport.
I had a 2 hr. layover and I explored the airport before settling down at a Starbucks for some free Wi-Fi. I walked up to the counter and ordered in Cantonese....DOH! Once again, the dominant language in Canton province has failed me. I pointed at what I wanted and tried to say "decaf". After a few blank looks they understood and told me they didn't have any (sigh). Ultimately, I settled on lemon tea and a pastry while I caught up on email and the news back home.
The rain was picking up and when I headed over to the (virtual) gate to wait. Some other flights were being delayed and when boarding time came and went I was starting to get nervous. After the departure time passed, some customer reps showed up. I couldn't understand the Mandarin dialogue between the crowd and the agents but it didn't sound good. They later taped up an English/Chinese notice which I understood -- Delay due to Weather.
By this time it was pouring rain outside and the entire airport had ground to a halt as red "Delayed" signs starting filling up the information screens. Not wanting to miss out on anything important, I stayed by the gate and waited. To Shenzhen Airlines' credit, they fed us lunch. It was a simple meal (rice, chicken, chinese greens, bottled water) in a plastic tray but it was still warm when I ate it and fairly tasty, too.
As the hours dragged on I started to get a little uneasy. Xining is a small airport and this was the only flight from Shenzhen for the day. I would have almost zero options if the flight was canceled. Not the end of the world but it would really complicate my travel plans. In retrospect, I didn't need to worry because the plane was already at the airport waiting to go and we were a nearly full load of passengers.
A cheer went up when it was finally announced that our flight would be boarding soon. Roughly four hours late we boarded when the rain started to ease up. I winced at the thought of running through the rain but the customer service reps handed out ponchos to everyone - nice!
Fortunately, the rest of my flight to Xian and then Xining was uneventful. The level of service on Shenzhen Airlines was quite high and I was fairly impressed. Later I would discover that SkyTrax rated Shenzhen Airlines as a 4-star airline. We had a full meal during each leg of the flight so I was well fed and happy for the day. It reminded me of the way North American airlines were before the rise of the discount carriers. However, what was also noticeable was the reduced seat pitch in economy class. A friend of mine commented that when flying internationally, the increased space in North American planes was noticeable and I completely agree. I'm sure it's for cultural reasons (Asians and Europeans are used to cramped quarters) and physical reasons (Asians and Europeans aren't very big -- yet).
HOW TO TELL YOUR AIRPORT IS TOO SMALL #2
After circling for about 30 min. we landed in Xian for a brief stop before carrying on to Xining to the west. Fortunately, we had a real gate in Xian this time. The airport in Xian looked fairly new and seemed large enough to handle the traffic (although the amount of time we spent in a holding pattern suggested another runway might help). This wasn't surprising given the fact Xian is a major tourist draw for its history (Terracotta Warriors).
After yet another meal (I think I ate too much that day), we flew into the sunset and landed at Xining well after sundown (9 pm). I collected my luggage, bought a ticket for the bus into town, and struggled with my Mandarin when the driver asked where I was going. It was around 10 pm when I was dropped off in the center of town. Oddly enough, it took me a whole 15 min. to flag down a cab despite the fact I was at a busy intersection and roughly 6 cabs per minute was passing by! They all had passengers so I guess they were very busy. Fortunately, I had no trouble telling the cab driver where I wanted to go (I converted the address into pinyin the night before). I was pretty tired when I finally arrived at the Lete Youth Hostel.
