The first sight of Hong Kong

I am currently sitting at the Hong Kong airport and it is just the most bloody brilliant airport that I have ever seen in my life. The airport is actually on an island. Our plane landed on a runway that ran parallel to the sea and when I say sea, I don’t mean that distant expanse of blue that I could see when we were landing, I mean the water that I could have waded into if I had gotten out of the plane and walked 200 mts to my left. I could see the boats and the jetties and the people on the distant island. It was just a beautiful sight and one that I won’t forget in a hurry. Here’s how I remember it.

Time: 7:30 in the morning.

The sky looked slightly overcast or maybe it was just the grey of a mild winter morning. Coming from the Indian heat, everything grey was a welcome change. I got out of the slumber I had fallen into after the horrible dinner served in the plane last night and was trying to peer outside through a light mist to see what Hong Kong looked like. I saw a huge expanse of aquamarine in the distance, extremely clear and calm, stretching out as far as my eyes could see. The plane was already in landing mode with the lovely green drawing ever so close which is when my hazy mind registered that we must be landing in Hong Kong and that this must be the sea. It was quite a breathtaking sight. Not any more than what I saw when I landed though. I walked down the steps and turned to realise that the beautiful water just a little way off. The slight breeze, though cold felt very liberating especially after the way I had been cooped up in the plane. The next connecting flight to Shanghai was 2 hours later and I had already fallen in love with the place enough to not want to go further, enough to feel sad at saying goodbye. I do intend to return back soon, someday in the future, maybe to share the sight with the people I love.

China, here I come!!

Last minute changes and rush jobs, that’s what can best describe the series of events that finally took me to the first week of my internship. The last minute change of location to Shanghai was unnerving in the beginning, only exciting by the end of the week. And thus began my first week with one training session after the other for a week, which in spite of the hectic schedule I ended up enjoying immensely. Some great free food will definitely give me “fat” nightmares in the days to come! But I guess with the prospect of decent Indian food in the next 2 months being almost minimal, I did not feel too guilty indulging in some good old gluttony. And thus arrived the final day, that most awaited Friday when all of us were supposed to fly to our respective locations. With a full day off to laze around in the hotel and pack, I spent time with mom packing and chatting about the time to come and times past. A hurried departure from the hotel in the evening, only to make it well in time to the airport.

Now, there were several things that I expected to see at the airport. Lots of Chinese people, lots of travellers from Europe etc. travelling to Hong Kong or further but what I saw was something so unexpected that it simple blew me off my feet initially. So, amid a mad rush of taxies, with blaring horns, guards shouting in the background and people bumping luggage trollies left right and centre, I saw a glimpse of the Indira Gandhi International Airport. And there is only one way to describe what I saw: there was Punjab EVERYWHERE. I heard people shouting in Punjabi, hundreds of red, yellow, blue, green turbans, huge suitcases and hand bags and every passenger usually accompanied by 10 other family members who drove all the way from their homes to say goodbye. My first thought was that there must be multiple flights flying out tonight to either “Amreeka” or “Caneda”. But it seems the Punjabis are out for world domination now. The check-in line for the Honk Kong was equally ethnically inclined. It seemed to me like the whole state was travelling to HK tonight. The biggest surprise came when I find the same distribution of people in line to board a flight to Gangzhou (heck I hadn’t even heard of the place ever!). Anyway, that’s my dear old state for you – completely ‘out there’. Made me wonder if there is any major city of the world that does not have a considerable number of Punjabis.

Anyway, it was quite an interesting start to my “Adventures in Shanghai” as I liked to call them. Waiting to see an exciting new culture, meet different kinds of people and experience the traditions, customs and rituals of one of the oldest civilisations of the world.

Here’s to a “happening” two months ahead. May they be filled with interesting times!!