In first week of June 2019 we started for China by Malaysian Airlines, we would be first going to Kuala Lumpur and taking the connecting flight to Shanghai. As is usual in an international travel we chose Asian Vegetarian Meal to be safe.
I notice that each time we fly abroad we usually are very busy arranging our household affairs, packing necessary things and have to reach the airport at least 3 hours before departure which is pretty taxing and leaves us drained even before the holiday starts.
After our flight for Kuala Lumpur started at Rajiv Gandhi International airport , we settled down in our seats and fell asleep in exhaustion . Suddenly we heard tinkling of glasses and soft voices of air hostesses calling out names of passengers who ordered special meal .
Sometimes I really wonder should we just put on a don’t disturb eye pad and sleep our way through the entire flight or yield to temptation and accept the trays and taste some of the dishes served
So after duly yielding to the allurement of Paisa Vasool concept, we tasted some of the dishes and tried to take a nap. In 4 and a half hours we reached Kuala Lumpur popularly called K.L , local time there was 2 and half hours ahead ,so what should have been 4.30 am as per our watches was nearly 7 am .
Indeed these changing time zones are very confusing and exhausting, my husband and I decided early in our overseas journeys that he would keep changing his watch timings as per local time and I would stick to Mera Bharath Mahaan one ,I am sure my watch is having the last laugh ,LOL !
I feel we grow fonder of our mother country when we fly out of it. Sometimes I wonder aloud as to what was happening in our city and how our children were faring ,only to be chided by my practical hubby that heavens were not going to fall on our place in this short duration of our absence
We went to our final terminal after taking the aero train, being restrained by the luggage limitations and the 15 day stay ahead in the two countries I reluctantly put my shopping soul to sleep and was content doing only window shopping .By then my brain was feeling wooly and wanted me to curl up in a seat and sleep but I convinced it that we had many miles to travel before we slept !
Finally we were in our flight heading to Shanghai and the rigmarole of meals continued , we were in a state of slumber due to jet lag and the journey now took us 5 and half hours to reach Shanghai.
As we had booked aisle seats in both the flight we didn’t have the inconvenience of making others get up and I somehow always manage to while away my time by seeing as many movies as possible irrespective of the language.
As is usually seen in any long flight we had some actively crying babies and few elderly men trying to achieve a walkathon medal
On arrival at Shanghai , before going to the immigration counter we were directed to scanning machines where we scanned our Passports first and did finger scan and thumb scan, while scanning, the fingers had to be placed in between the blue square given on the scanner.
After the scanning, the machines gave an ok slip to be shown at immigration counter along with the passport. There were volunteers waiting to help the needy with the procedure
There was a separate counter at Shanghai for group visa and we had to stand in the sequence as per the list and go one by one to the counter holding our individual passports. My husband gave our original copy to the immigration officer and I followed him and collected the original copy
While exiting from China , officers will collect the group visa from us ,till we were in China we were to take great care of this important document precisely as much as our passports
After this procedure as informed by our SOTC agent, our guide Mr. Vincent Britto was waiting for us at the notified spot .
Seeing our Indian guide who was fluently conversant in the local language made us feel that he was our angel on earth and we were literally following him like Mary’s little lambs as long as we were in China
By the time we reached there, a couple from Mumbai had arrived and we waited till the other 4 people arrived from Chennai .
It is the policy of the travel agency to collect and drop all the passengers together , luckily we didn’t have to wait long and we were taken to our hotel Ramada .
We were given time to freshen up and taken to an Indian restaurant which was filled with customers , we had amchi Indian food to our enormous relief and finally rested after a long journey.
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