A plinging noice emerges and the fasten your seatbelt sign lightens up. An announcement is ongoing.
The captain is speaking. "Please put on your seatbelts and remain seated."
Breakfast is served. Rice with fried vegetables accompanied by fruits & coffee.
Moments later the airplane starts shaking. I put my plate with quite tasty food over my coffee cup. It spilled nevertheless.
Spilling... I looked down at my pants. Once white and now with a brownish touch. The spilled coke on the way from Munich to Cairo left its mark.
Suddenly, it felt like reaching the top & turning point of a rollercoaster. Free fall combined with a lack of gravity.
While I was strongly believing everything to turn out alright I simultaneously prepared myself for my last moments.
I almost shit my pants if I hadn't forced myself to keep as calm as possible while mentally stabilising the airplane with my thoughts.
I don't know if that helped in any way but it certainly helped myself to not freak out totally.
A woman's scream fills the airplane which's interior darkens thanks to the stormy sky. "Am I going to die?"
While we were doing some extra circles above Wuzhou shaking and rumbling I just hoped the fuel to last until Guangzhou.
Having basically accepted to not make it to China in one piece I noticed that I can be thankful to have lived such a experience rich -yet too young to die- life I'd never want to switch with anybody.
A big thank you goes to everybody who I've ever met and also to you my dear Steemian.
Later that day:
Being now in Guangzhou I got the chance running a marathon through the whole airport after passing the immigration office to get to my gate to Changde as time was running late.
... and it turned out that not I was running late but rather did the designated plane.
The plane I was aiming to board got delayed thanks to the cloudy weather responsible for the turbulences on my prior flight.
Having no access to WIFI and just the staff being able speaking English I started watching people.
While people back out of China spend most of their time on their mobiles using Facebook and Instagram Chinese people use apps still unknown to us Westerners.
I recognized WeChat and QQ but also many undefined. I like them. Need to find some friends to intoduce me into the Chinese way of Internetz.
In addition to different mobile apps, some kids also get an extra application here. Do you remember the rope you use to go for a walk with your dog?
Well, here at the airport I just saw a kid attached to its mother through a spiral rubber band.
Let's see when the flight finally takes off. Although I'd appreciate it not taking off at all after surviving latest turbulences.
After running through the airport again
My flight to Changde is delayed. Now for 3 more hours. After 2 hours of waiting a vivid discussion in Mandarin arises at the boarding counter. As you could guess I don't understand anything but seems like people are upset.
I finally managed to acquire some WLAN. The first plan of getting a Chinese Sim Card didn't work out because of the Simcard Shop being located outside the boarding area.
So I am just passing my time here at the boarding gate B 904 and reading a book I've caried in my backpack for quite some time. "The longest way"
It's a book about a guy who went through China by foot from Beijing to Northern Germany and his sometimes funny sometimes strange encounters with the Chinese Mainland. I think it's quite fitting for my current situation.
Few moments later
Reading did not last long as a white guy at a Chinese airport sitting on the floor scrolling through book apparently doesn't get away unnoticed.
Soon I was the middle of attention and became friends with Mr. Wong who likes Basketball and lives just 10 minutes away from the German Town as well as with Helen who kindly translated from Mandarin to English and back.
They were interested in where I am from and what I am going to do in Changde so I did some Coffee propaganda. Helen wants to visit later this week.
Boarding time
Together with my new friends I hoped onto my thankfully last flight, have been part of some more selfies and arrived safely in Changde.
Just to discover that my luggage didn't move as much as I did and was left behind in Guangzhou. Who would have guessed that that would happen?
Had to fill out some papers
Seems like I won the flight catastrophy bingo.
- Spill something on your pants - Check
- Almost die - Check
- Get your flight delayed - Check
- Baggage gets missing - Check
Good thing is I enjoy experience happenings like that as long as I don't get hurt.
I am glad that I don't need to board a plane anytime soon!
While reading the newspaper on my last flight to Changde I got to know that during June until August a lot of flight delays and cancellations occur because of extreme weather conditions.
If you want to avoid this, fly to China during other months.
In the end I managed to get a taxi, enjoyed a ride through Changde at night and was warmly welcomed by coffee master Isabel.
26-32 hours later, depending on how you want to include timezones, I am now finally residing in my momentary new home slightly impressed by its comfortability.
CHINESE HANNOVER - HERE I AM!
(That's not Chinese Hannover btw but the view from my floor :D)