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Our last day
in Auckland was ill-planned and rushed. Despite my total confidence that
I'd made enough progress with packing during the week to make for a comfortable
schedule on Sunday, an unwise leisurely buffet lunch at the Hongkongese
restaurant across the road destroyed all hope of finishing on time. We
left a fair cleaning job for our flatmates to absorb after our departure:
however, they appeared to be forgiving enough and cheerfully assisted us
with filling the cars with luggage for the airport. For me, the entire
two weeks prior to departure was like this - too much to think about and
do, so many people I wished to see. Unexpected difficulties with work squeezed
all of this into the last seven days - so a general apology goes out to
all frustrated by my vague planning during this time...
We were farewelled
by good friends and family, again pushed for time although the check-in
procedure was without worry.
Our first destination was supposed to be Seoul, Korea, and it is for this reason that I have determined to avoid Korean Airlines in future. We were informed that we were about to land in Fiji several minutes before touchdown, a total surprise to all passengers I spoke with. Given Fiji's recent political problems, a stop there was far from the minds of all concerned, and so it was not without frustration that we found ourselves spending a couple of hours in the Transit Lounge at Nadi International Airport. Fiji smells
of motor oil and leaf litter, and from the air seems only sporadically
dotted with lights. It was in stark contrast to the view of Downtown Auckland
we were treated to as we flew out over the Skytower and Devonport, which
was braceleted with streetlamps so that it stood out from the sea like
a jigsaw puzzle piece. The Fijian airport is uncompromisingly casual. An
information desk seems to have been unattended in years; the carpet stained
with tobacco and soil. We bought a coke with New Zealand money; the storeperson
calculated the exchange rate on a pocket calculator and gave us the change
in Fijian coins - I managed to convince an Indian saleswoman at the duty
free shop to duck outside and buy a newspaper for me with the balance.
It discussed the Interim Government, and the sentencing of a man with six
month's imprisonment for the theft of his neighbour's bullocks.
Into Korea After a long and unwelcome two hours spent in the Fijian transit lounge, we set off for Seoul. Xiao and I had found an almost-comfortable top & tail sleeping position across the three seats we had available to us - we'd been close to sleep when we were interrupted by Fiji, and the chance to rest peacefully never seemed to come again. The Korean air hostesses (spectacular but cool) saw that the cabin lights remained on until around 3.00 am NZ time, and we slept in fits and starts until they were again illuminated before our arrival in Seoul. This didn't turn out to be a bad thing, as we caught the sunrise whilst flying over Japan, and managed to spot Mt Fuji from the air as we passed Tokyo.
Finally we arrived at Seoul. Seoul is the most sprawling city I've seen from air, littered with rows of identical high-rise apartment blocks for miles. It rests uneasily on a thick muddied river, which is crossed by so many bridges that it is clear that central transit areas span a great deal of its length. We were too defeated by the flight to enjoy the stop in Seoul, which was itself only another two and a half hours. We wandered the spacious yet dated transit lounge searching for a trolley to relieve us of our overweight cabin baggage, and then discovered that there was little point in wandering the delights of the airport anyway. I looked out over a rainy Seoul morning into busy traffic and countless skyscrapers nestled between moss-green peaks on each side. Korean people do not understand that duty-free items are supposed to be cheaper than usual. I wandered past aisles of $78US neckties and $2400US bottles of wine. Finally, we
were invited to board the plane set for Manchuria. This was to be my last
view of European people for a good long time - the plane was packed with
Koreans (presumably visiting family in the nearby Chinese province) and
returning Chinese - and me.
Thanks to crazy politics, our flight to Shenyang was extended by an unnecessary 40 minutes as we circumvented North Korea, flying out into the Yellow Sea and back into the Chinese mainland at the throat of the Peninsula.
Coming into Shenyang, I was afforded my first views of China. We descended over the smokestacks and quarries of the industrial hub of Liao Ning on a smoggy Monday morning. Shenyang's new International airport seems to be an extension of an older domestic airport, with old hangars adorned with corrugated iron sitting next to an unfinished new wing with modern curvy rooves inspired by traditional Chinese arches. The families of the workers rushed to the wire fence to watch the plane land, and continued to watch the plane sit still for the hour it took for us to process through the airport. We were directed by teacherish young policemen in full military uniform, standing over us as we failed twice to fill out the unusual arrival forms.
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