Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 10:55 AM
Subject: Asia 2007 - Day 10
I am not feeling well. I am a bit better than yesterday but I am still feeling occasional chills, not normal in this climate. I don’t know what it is with Shekou hotels, but this one has no alarm clock either. Haven’t needed one anyhow. I have to go through Chinese customs to leave Shekou and Hong Kong customs to enter the airport. If they are scanning for fever I could get placed in quarantine, or they could let me pass since I am not staying, but flying to Shanghai. I face the same situation when I arrive in Shanghai. I am taking the maximum dosage of ibuprofen as a precaution. Maybe I am allergic to chicken knees. I tried taking a picture of the hotel, but the second I removed my camera from my bag, everything fogged up. I know I am repeating myself, but it is really friggin humid!
The ferry terminal is crowded, the boats leave every 20 minutes or so to one of four destinations, mine is the airport. I bought my ticket the night before so I went straight to the baggage counter. I gave them my passport and airline ticket and they checked my bag onto the plane and gave me a seat assignment. It sounds like another recipe for a lost bag but hell, my luck has to improve eventually. There was an unusually well formed line for customs before boarding the ferry. That is, it was well formed up until the time a Chinese customs official announced, first in Chinese and then in English that we should form 2 lines (I guess because 2 customs windows were open). So much for the orderly line, everyone from the back crowded towards the front and it became chaos. I commented to a western looking man in front of me how this official just took something organized and disorganized it. His comment back; “another example of when management should just stay out of it.” The ferry ride took about 30 minutes, the water was fairly smooth but visibility poor. I got a decent view of the new bridge being built to connect Shenzhen to Hong Kong; the first one to be built. This will create a bit of a problem I suspect; in Hong Kong cars drive on the left, in China they drive on the right. I think both ends of this bridge are best avoided.
No thermal scan at HKIA from the ferry, whew! I was able to call home on my cell phone for the first time in days while at the airport. The flight to Shanghai took about 2 ½ hours and was smooth. I like this carrier, Dragonair, much better than China Eastern which I flew last year – no duct tape on the engine this time, a clean new plane. I am flying economy but a meal is still included. Again, service in China has been refreshing. Onboard the plane I had to fill out the usual forms; entry card, customs declaration, uh oh – a medical card. Many questions about contact with birds (bird flu region), but also asking about fever and headache. At the moment I filled out the card I felt OK – that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I was sweating again however when going through customs and immigration. To my relief, no thermal scan here either. I don’t know what a quarantine area in China is like, but I am sure it ain’t the Shanghai Hilton.
Larry is picking me up in his car to take me to my hotel. I am taking the Maglev train from Pu Dong airport to the end of the line, about 25 km away. For anyone unfamiliar with a maglev, it is short for magnetic levitation. Maglevs work on the principle that similar poles of two magnets repel one another. Very strong magnets are used to float the train above the rail, and then the poles are alternated to pull and push the train along. It took a while to find the maglev station, the entrance was very poorly marked. The trip to the end of the line takes all of 7 minutes, during which the train reaches a top speed of 431km/hr, that’s 269 MPH. This was a thrill – the ride was extremely smooth as you would expect with no contact to the rails. Occasionally the train would rock left or right, but not badly. At one point about half way through the ride, and at top speed we passed another train going the opposite direction. I only saw it because I heard a loud thump which was the concussion of the pressurized air ahead of the oncoming train, and I looked to see the cause. The other train, which is over 200 feet long, was only visible for a split second before it passed completely from view. We only spent about 1 minute at top speed before the train had to begin decelerating before reaching the next station. Worth every penny of the 40 RMB ($5) fare.
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| The Maglev |
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| Top speed |
Larry offered to take me to dinner, but I was far too tired, and he has been traveling and needs to spend time with family. He and his wife and daughter are picking me up in the morning for some sightseeing. I look forward to this. I am just spending an evening with Chinese TV. Top story? You guessed it – Paris Hilton.
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