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April 20, 2007
Met
DJ at the airport. He’s a happy young man and
just as excited to be going as I am. Though of
Indian descent, he’s only been here once before
but speaks Hindi, a skill I’m certain will prove
useful in the coming days.
The
first leg of our journey was to Hong Kong -
twelve hours with a seven hour lay over, then
Bangkok – two and a half hours with an hour
sitting on the tarmac and finally to Mumbai,
another four hours of flying.
The
flight to Hong Kong was a bit rough. Never in
my flying life have I seen so many babies on one
flight. Most of the babies were good fliers but
there was always one crying somewhere.
In
the row in front of us a young woman was flying
with a precocious two year old. He required all
of her attention. After about six hours of
flying the youth finally succumbed to exhaustion
from climbing over seats and pulling his
mother’s hair. He fell fast asleep and after
awhile she took the opportunity to use the
washroom. As luck would have it, the kid woke
while she was away and he instantly went into
full panic mode. I’ve never heard a kid scream
so loud in my life. I felt bad for the little
guy, no doubt, but I felt worse for the middle
aged Chinese gentleman sitting in the seat next
to him. He did his best to reassure the child
but his efforts were not received. A
stewardess’s attempts to calm him were also
repelled. After about three of the longest
minutes I’d ever sat through I saw the heart
breaking sight of a mother sprinting up the
aisle to rescue her son. We were all happy to
witness the reunion but none as happy as that
little boy. I’m sure it’ll be good long time
before he allows himself to fall asleep again.
In
the Hong Kong airport we were happy to pay $50
for all day access to a full service lounge. We
even got a twenty minute massage out of the
deal! I would have preferred to see Hong Kong,
if even for a few hours but with customs it just
wasn’t possible. Instead, both DJ and I used
the time to get work done.
The
rest of the journey to Mumbai was long but
uneventful. You step off the plane and are
instantly assaulted by heat, humidity and the
smells that always accompany them.
We
made it to India. I calculated it had been more
than thirty five hours since I’d left my home in
Victoria and just as many hours since I’d taken
off my shoes. That was something everyone could
look forward to, I’m sure. |
