I'm baaaack! Wow that was a trip. No really, It started out good, had really productive meetings and all that. The wild things started on Friday. We met with a guy we know, he lives in southern China, but works in Shanghai, so he flies up on Monday, and back on Friday for the weekend, anyways, we met, had dinner, then he got a call to meet a friend at a newly opened disco. Well, the disco itself was OK, it was about 9, so it really wasn't hopping yet, but full. We went off into a separate karaoke room (they always do that) started drinking red wine (a very young, almost too young Australian Shiraz) and playing a dice game that they always play. I meet some kids there ranging from 24 and up. A "Lumber Jack" named Ian, a young kid from Utah doing artistic high diving (!?) and his Canadian colleague (and his Canadian girlfriend) and an English music producer, who all (apart from the producer I guess) worked at a nearby amusement park. They were hip and good going and we had some small talk. It was fun, but they were probably wondering what this old (40) fat (slightly overweight) hardware dude was doing there (basically just talking shit). After about 6-7bottles of this wonderful red grape juice, we left the club at about 1 o'clock. I fell into bed, and don't know anything until my mobile is telling me it is time to rise and shine. I pressed the snooze button for an hour and then crawled out of bed. Our ride and next business meting picked us up at the hotel about 10, and my boss (who thankfully had been just as drunk as I) sat in the car with an over inquisitive Chinese girl, asking us everything, from if we play ping-pong, to what we think about the present Chinese Communist system, yow! We got to this dinky little factory, checked it out, had a small lunch, and then convinced here that we need to be getting back to Hong Kong. We thought the being in Shenzhen, on the HK border, we could catch a ferry, and be over there in about an hour, which she confirmed, but the ferries went at 2, at 4 and at 5:30, and as it was almost 2, she said it was about an hours drive from the factory to the ferry terminal. So we asked about a bus. She said, no problem, and we proceeded on the 1-hour drive to the station. As we arrived, she didn't know her way around, so she asked a security guard for help, he said noooo proooblem! We parted, and the guard took us upstairs, where I believe if we had just walked straight, then we would have reached a free shuttle service to the HK airport, but Mr. NP, led us off to the side, and gave us to a lady, who presented us with the papers needed to leave China, and re-enter HK. Then, collected 380 Yuan (about $40), and brought us to the backside of the station. We waited about 20 minutes, until a private car pulled up; we loaded in, and were taken directly to the border, where the guy gave us bus tickets, and gave us over to someone else. This kid brought us up to the passport control, and they slapped stickers on us, gave us different tickets, and sent us through the pass controls. We had to wait another 30 minutes for the next bus. By that time, we realised we could have taken the 4 o'clock ferry, and would have been arriving in HK, about the time we were getting on the bus. We got on the bus (and I sorta knew this part, as I have taken the bus before, and it is a torture), rode 5 minutes, and then you have to leave the bus, where you go through the HK entering process. 20 minutes of standing in line, we got through and got on the bus again ( you have to get all your luggage off and take it with you every time) then we were of at 5:30, it then took us 45 minutes to get to the airport. I had wanted to go into the city and shop for CDs or shoes, but we were so pissed, and tired that we just went straight into the airport. Waaait it isn't over yetttttt! We walked around, drank a coffee, ate a cheeseburger with fries (yummy) went to the lounge and chilled a couple of hours, got on the plane at 10:30 pm to leave at 11:00 pm, and waited….. Then just as we were pulling away, the announcement came that the plane was having difficulties with the on-board entertainment system, so we re-docked, then about 15 minutes later the captain put through that there is a second plane waiting, and we would disembark and reload, "for safety reasons". We all got off the plane at 12:00 and were told that we needed to re-board at gate 11, we were at gate 69! We got there, and the put us on shuttle busses and drove us out to the tarmac, were we re-boarded, and took off on schedule, 2 hours and 15 minutes after 11 o'clock. The flight went without any special notice, I luckily had two seat to myself, so I could stretch out a bit better and actually slept most of the way home.
I am home, healthy, and glad to see my family.
YO!
p.s. in about 6-8 weeks I fly again ;-)
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