Topic: East Asia
I'm beginning to feel like a bit like George Cloony, well more like one of his characters. You know the movie where he spends all his life in airports. Melbourne, Hobart, Newcastle, Adelaide Darwin,Singapore,Bombay,Katmandu, and that's just the last month. I got into Bombay at 1.AM and had to wait 7 hours to get my flight to Kathmandu. I had hoped the lounge would be open but no luck there. I've been to Mumbai before and its not much fun trying to find a hotel room in the middle of the night. The airport is an hours travel from the centre of town. There is not much there, the Cricket World Cup is on, so I've decided to head straight to Kathmandu.
Life in India is a bit like swimming in a pool full of sharks with a life vest made of anchovies. Everyone's out to make a buck, which is just about the average daily income here. Last time I was here with Sal we left the hotel on the first day, for the 200 meter walk to the India Gate. In the room I had given her 100 Rupees ($20), out of the 1000 I had, "Why don't I get half". "When you spend that I'll give you some more" I said. As soon as we leave the hotel a pack closes in. Within 10 meters Sal has some flowers tied around her wrist by a cute little child, 20 meters on another around her neck. By 50 meters we have our own holy man installing red dots on our foreheads, and offering blessings. By the time we get to the gate we've attracted a woman with a baby and a swarm of children offering every thing from drinks to guided tours.I'm snapping pics of Sal surrounded buy the mob, It's a feeding Frenzy, the sharks swarm for the kill. Sal heads off to a nearby store to buy the kid some tinned baby formula. "Eighty bucks for a tin of formula, I didn't realise it was that expensive. I just gave her what I had left." she say's on return. It's a scam, I say. $15 Bucks in Oz.. We had been out of the hotel 10 Minutes, That,s why I didn't give you half I said as I handed her another 100 rups.
All I have to get from one airline terminal to the other, shoulden't be that hard. Bombay airport ( they've changed the city name but not the airport ) has had a complete rebuild for the Commonwealth games and the World cup. A bright shiny high tek terminal awaits me. Or at least it would in the real world. This is India, It,s 18 months behind schedule, the old terminal has been cut in half, and a huge 60 percent complete but useless building stands in the middle of everything. There's a bus from one terminal to the other.
The bus is broken, a young guy tells me. You need to catch a Taxi as the other terminal as it is on the other side of the airport. Funnily enough there is a taxi sitting right there. It's 2am, I'm tired, but I'm also a life long cynic who's never been able to get a taxi when he wants one. There is a pile of Indians with bags waiting around. "I'll wait" But the bus is broken he says. "I'll wait". The bus turns up and I get on. A 5 KM lap of the airport ensues, weaving through Planes, airport machinry, and building rubble.
I find the lounge and crash on a couch for a couple of hours. Then it's off to the check in. It's a bun fight. There is five counters open with about 15 people standing in line. Sorry I mean 15 families. Each has a trolley stacked high with bags. As they get to the counter they put the bags on the scale. The person travelling pulls out a ticket. There are five large suitcases with about Eighty Kilos of stuff. The woman behind the desk politely explains that the baggage limit is 20 Kg. Surly you can just let my bags through, the man asks. The woman tells him the cost of the excess baggage. Hysterics ensue, Outrage, pleading, begging and finally bribes are offered, all to no avail. One bag is checked, and the family take off with the rest to try and pack it all into his hand luggage. The people behind have all witnessed this, and you would think by now they realise there not going to get there extra bags on. No this is India. It's the same thing every time. This is all done in Hindi, but by the time you've spent an hour in the queue, you know what there saying. I get to the counter and collect my boarding pass, I only have hand Luggage. The airport wasn't built for the post 9 11 world so once you get through customs most of the terminal has been taken up by X ray machines. They are mostly used to stop Indians smuggling stuff that they want tax free back into India. One has been set aside to do outgoing baggage. Queue time again. When I finally get into the waiting lounge It's packed with about three times more people than it can handle, but at least I'm here.
Through the gate, into the bus, out to the plane, up the stairs, take my seat, I look out the window, I'm 20 meters from where I arrived, my planes still there. Well at least I can relax. From here it's a cake walk.
