We flied for one and half hours actually before we landed in Lhasa, half an hour more than usual, due to unsteady air flow, I guess, as I saw and felt the craft swirl over and over before a real dive and landing.We quickly finished immigration and re-boarded the plane. It was already 5:45 pm. And I didn't think I could make my 7:25 pm flight any more.
11B, was my new seat no. A first class seat? But did it help?!
Sitting next to me was a Tibetan Buddhist monk in saffron robe. A native of Nepal and residing in Kathmandu near Bodha Stupa, he now was traveling to Chengdu to visit some friends.He learned fluent Chinese and Tibetan language from friends and by himself.'In India and Nepal, most Buddhist books were introduced back from Tibet in Tibetan language.' But he didn't understand my question about the Tibetan unrest in March, 2008 but repeated ' very good, no problems?' He belongs to 'flower hat' sect and explained the most prominent Yellow hat sect of the Dalai, in source from flower sect.'But because of historical reasons,in China, only in Qinghai and Sichuan provinces there are a few Sakya 'flower sect' monasteries, and none exist in Lhasa.' He tries to explain the name of their highest living buddha who was living in India, but I didn't remember.
In the rear of the craft, several young travelers surrounded the flight attendants to inquire the possible ways to solve the delay of the coming flights. The attendant comforted us that the pilot already contacted and upon arrival, we were to be arranged by the ground staff there in Chengdu airport.
One hour and forty minutes later, we landed Chengdu airport and then split into two shuttle buses. One for passenger from Kathmandu would take us to International arrival, while the other for those from Lhasa going to domestic arrival.
The ground staff didn't find my name on his list but unfortunately he mentioned my flight must be missed and couldn't come to Hangzhou that night.But for Beijing passengers,he definitely was a lucky star with the good news that he brought to them: the flight was delayed to 9 pm. Overjoyed, they ran to transit counter to check in even before they collected their luggage. And to Shanghai,I was not sure if anything would be done.
I remembered from somewhere that there seemed one later flight that night. As soon as I collected my bag I ran in my slippers upstairs to Air China counter. At 7:50 pm, a female staff told me another flight there was. 8:30 being the takeoff. 'You have to be quick to the ticketing counter in the middle of lobby.'
I knew I had to be quick. Because, the check-in would stop half and hour earlier before takeoff, 8 pm sharp. I had only ten minutes to go. I stormed away and handed over to the ticketing staff my old ticket number and my preferred flight, the only hope!
Three minutes it took for him to get me a receipt and my new ticket.' Counter 26-35' he stopped me when I was ready to run back to Air China.
But all counters were long line. I, very sincerely talked to three persons in the front of line behind counter 26, one young university student and two young girls. They were very kind to let me to jump the line. But there, another two,from the same flight even jumped my line. Damn.
Mr. Check-in was a nice young man, but too carefully slow. When he took my material, it was 8:02. But thank god, he still checked me in.And after thanking those kind person for waiting in line, I stormed away to security check. There several were blocking the whole line, chatting goodbye blar-blars, even when it was their turn. So I swiftly sided in and gave my boarding pass and passport, out of their surprised gazes.
'Your boarding pass doesn't have any identity number?!' After I explained my situation to her and her supervisor, then I was allowed to go. At gate B6, a long line of people were waiting to depart.But thank god, I was finally on the plane, a first class seat 4B. I only then felt my big hunger. I didn't have any lunch and dinner, except some drinks and two small cake snacks from the former two flights.And even in such a hunger, I felt asleep immediately, before I woke up to find the plane had taken off.
I had a short stopover at Changsha,the hometown of Chairman Mao. No wonder there are many Mao's souvenir at its airport store together with ham and pickles and spices. On its big monitor, there were so many flights delayed and canceled. For it snowed a lot in Changsha that afternoon.
Twenty minutes later, we were herded to board by a girl shouting in a sharp and high pitch over a micro. 'Stand in two lines. Stand in two lines.' A damn good wake up call.
So it was my fourth take off today. The flight, warm and steady, served good coffee and snacks of peanuts. My superb dinner. And a short flight it was. When we walked out of the craft, it was 0:20 am, Jan 7, cold as 0 degrees. And the night sky was raining and snowing big flakes. And thanks to its little traffic, the taxi quickly took me home. When I was finally opening my door to my apartment, it was 1:30.
So I write this down, in memory of my journey home, a very cursive, exhausting, and stressing one, from 7:45 am, Jan 6, out of Kathmandu hotel to 01:30 am, Jan 7,HOME.
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