Day 2: First contact with china

Shanghai airport:

How many of these forms do we have to fill! We must have had to fill about 4 forms with our details before we manage to get out of Shanghai ’s international terminal. I was all set to face chaos at the immigration check (just had a feeling it might be like India ), but it looks pretty neat. I proudly speak my first Chinese words to my very first Chinese person in China : the immigration officer. Ni hao (hello) and Xiexie nin (thank you), he seemed quite pleased!

After checking in for our connecting flight to Beijing , we and Vikas (Girish’s colleague) decide to sit for drinks a one of the airport’s restaurants. The lady patiently tries to suggest us what tea to drink. All the waitresses looked so cheerful and energetic at this time of the morning, it was quite refreshing. Unlike restaurants in London , they all stand in various corners of the restaurant, observing everyone. They were so attentive, there was no need to call them if you needed something, they seem to appear by your side before you know it. How did she know we wanted to ask her how to say “I want water” in Chinese (to refill the tea)! (Wo yao shui)

First gaffe: There is no such thing as tips in China . The waitresses insist on returning our change, thinking we have left it there by mistake. Ok, I knew that, but I completely forgot.



Arrival in Beijing :

It was 38 degrees, apparently much warmer than usual. Our journey in the bus was amazing. I was expecting a chaotic ride (once again thinking it would be like India ) however, it felt much safer than our ride from Bethnal Green to Heathrow! As of now (we have not yet travelled very far) the roads look very safe to drive on and to cross. Everything looks very modern, with highways and complex flyovers everywhere, but probably this is only at the heart of the city. There are huge cycle paths (some of them up to 1.5 times a car carriage way)! There are quite unusual road signs, but I have not managed to take any pictures yet, but I hope I manage to get some today.

It was amazing to see all the construction sites in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. There are building sites everywhere, entire avenues blocked to enable engineering work of tall buildings. Works seem to be carried out day and night. I don’t know how much of an inconvenience this might cause the residents and businesses – most probably much more than the tiny in comparison tramway work in Nice ;-)… they might not be allowed to say much anyhow. I must admit, they seem much more organised than I thought. One of the shopping streets we visited was under major refurbishments, however at first sigh, businesses seemed to be handling it quite well by having temporary gigantic posters/clothes covering the entire scaffoldings displaying the shop name and other colourful drawings/pictures and “Business as usual”.



The people:

Since our arrival in Beijing , we have been approached by several people welcoming us to China , proposing to help us find our way or just for a quick chat and complimenting us on the few Chinese words we spoke. People are so very kind! Yesterday evening (Saturday), a gentleman heard us practice how to say return ticket “wang fan piao” and immediately came up to us asking if we needed directions. During our journey in the underground, he also told us about places we could visit. I was amazed when I got to know he was actually Chairman of a company, and still took the time to help us.

We have had to ask directions several times, and even though some of the people could not speak English and read Pinyin (Chinese transcription in our alphabet) they still tried their best to locate us on our pinyin map. Fortunately, we have found a map with both Chinese and Pinyin.



These first few hours in China have been so overwhelming, already I feel I love this city.