I was in Shanghai last week for work. I traveled to Shanghai before 3 years ago, also for work but it was so short, I could not see much of the city.
Much has changed in Shanghai since 3 years ago. The airport was new. The hotel where I stayed and the area around the office are quite posh – with modern tall buildings and luxury good boutiques in most of the shopping malls. Every 500 metres, there is a Starbucks outlet. When did all these transformations happened? I was in awe. The city is just so modern.
Except for the language (taxi drivers don’t speak English; signs are mostly in Mandarin and the English names are completely different – so getting around was a bit of a problem for yours truly) and the bad traffic, I didn’t feel like I left the Lion City. When I wandered around, it feels like I am in Singapore but when I started talking to the locals, it felt like I was in Hong Kong.
I actually planned to stay the weekend and check out the city – I heard the nightlife is up there with Hong Kong now. However, before leaving the office on Friday evening, I was informed by a colleague that they were expecting a typhoon to hit the city that week and expected to last throughout the weekend.
It was clear on Friday night when I strolled around the city but the next morning, it was gloomy with some rain. Maybe the typhoon was really coming. I made a decision to change my flight and get my butt back home in order to escape the typhoon. No point staying in the hotel in a foreign city when I could be on my way home and spend the weekend in Singapore where no typhoon or other weather calamities can be expected.
However, when I arrived at the airport that Saturday afternoon at 1pm, the typhoon already hit the city – there was no typhoon when I left the hotel. Most flights were delayed or cancelled because there was absolutely no way a plane could take off in such strong winds. I ended up being stuck at the airport for 12 hours – I was beginning to feel like Tom Hanks from that movie ‘The Terminal’. I think I may have used all the public toilets, ate in all the restaurants and went into almost every duty free shops in the airport. I bought a few magazines to keep myself occupied from a limited selection of English publications. I played games on my palm.
I guess the blessing in disguise for being stuck in the airport for 12 hours was when the airline made a decision to put all the passengers up at a hotel for the night. Little did I expect that they were going to put us up at the Westin! Yours truly got herself a junior suite with king size bed. Slept like a baby that night (or morning rather since we didn’t get to the hotel till 1am Sunday morning).
The following morning, we were pampered with a good breakfast before being whisked off to the airport later that morning. However, we didn’t take off till 5pm due to logistics issue. Since the day before, it was a logistical nightmare for the airline but I understand it was not easy making travel and accommodation arrangements for a few hundred people in such short notice. I began to see ugly Singaporeans at the airport, complaining that the airline could not fix a time for departure, etc, etc, blah, blah and a couple commented that the assistant manager of the airline didn’t know how to do his job. I am sure the assistant manager was doing his best. I felt like turning to that Singaporean and tell him, “If you think you can do a better job, why don’t you just take over? It would surely speed things up for all of us”. It just upsets me when I hear people complaining about things when they don’t even know what is happening in the background. Oh well, we’ll see these sort of people everywhere. This world would be a perfect place if no one complains.
So there! Spent pretty much of my weekend in Shanghai airport. Shanghai – an eye opener for a woman from a small city where natural calamities almost never happens and a challenge where language is concerned. I didn’t see much again this time around but I am sure I will make my way back there again to check out the city proper. Perhaps make my way to the capital, Beijing as well - much to see there; The Great Wall, The Forbidden City and Tianamen Square to name a few.
Much has changed in Shanghai since 3 years ago. The airport was new. The hotel where I stayed and the area around the office are quite posh – with modern tall buildings and luxury good boutiques in most of the shopping malls. Every 500 metres, there is a Starbucks outlet. When did all these transformations happened? I was in awe. The city is just so modern.
Except for the language (taxi drivers don’t speak English; signs are mostly in Mandarin and the English names are completely different – so getting around was a bit of a problem for yours truly) and the bad traffic, I didn’t feel like I left the Lion City. When I wandered around, it feels like I am in Singapore but when I started talking to the locals, it felt like I was in Hong Kong.
I actually planned to stay the weekend and check out the city – I heard the nightlife is up there with Hong Kong now. However, before leaving the office on Friday evening, I was informed by a colleague that they were expecting a typhoon to hit the city that week and expected to last throughout the weekend.
It was clear on Friday night when I strolled around the city but the next morning, it was gloomy with some rain. Maybe the typhoon was really coming. I made a decision to change my flight and get my butt back home in order to escape the typhoon. No point staying in the hotel in a foreign city when I could be on my way home and spend the weekend in Singapore where no typhoon or other weather calamities can be expected.
However, when I arrived at the airport that Saturday afternoon at 1pm, the typhoon already hit the city – there was no typhoon when I left the hotel. Most flights were delayed or cancelled because there was absolutely no way a plane could take off in such strong winds. I ended up being stuck at the airport for 12 hours – I was beginning to feel like Tom Hanks from that movie ‘The Terminal’. I think I may have used all the public toilets, ate in all the restaurants and went into almost every duty free shops in the airport. I bought a few magazines to keep myself occupied from a limited selection of English publications. I played games on my palm.
I guess the blessing in disguise for being stuck in the airport for 12 hours was when the airline made a decision to put all the passengers up at a hotel for the night. Little did I expect that they were going to put us up at the Westin! Yours truly got herself a junior suite with king size bed. Slept like a baby that night (or morning rather since we didn’t get to the hotel till 1am Sunday morning).
The following morning, we were pampered with a good breakfast before being whisked off to the airport later that morning. However, we didn’t take off till 5pm due to logistics issue. Since the day before, it was a logistical nightmare for the airline but I understand it was not easy making travel and accommodation arrangements for a few hundred people in such short notice. I began to see ugly Singaporeans at the airport, complaining that the airline could not fix a time for departure, etc, etc, blah, blah and a couple commented that the assistant manager of the airline didn’t know how to do his job. I am sure the assistant manager was doing his best. I felt like turning to that Singaporean and tell him, “If you think you can do a better job, why don’t you just take over? It would surely speed things up for all of us”. It just upsets me when I hear people complaining about things when they don’t even know what is happening in the background. Oh well, we’ll see these sort of people everywhere. This world would be a perfect place if no one complains.
So there! Spent pretty much of my weekend in Shanghai airport. Shanghai – an eye opener for a woman from a small city where natural calamities almost never happens and a challenge where language is concerned. I didn’t see much again this time around but I am sure I will make my way back there again to check out the city proper. Perhaps make my way to the capital, Beijing as well - much to see there; The Great Wall, The Forbidden City and Tianamen Square to name a few.
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