Acquaintances on the GO!

Travelling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. - Cesare Pavese

More than the material things I have owned, my ability to make small talk has paved the way for me to meet new people and enable to learn more from them. 

I made friends in the shortest of circumstances.

Acquaintances were created in the most oddest of places. 

As we jog-walked the climb down the Great Wall of China we met this couple whom, we never thought were a couple but just a couple of people who just can't get along. Throughout the walk they seemed to address each other in a manner whereby one would assume, one was not comfortable talking to the other. The lady was always grumbling about something, and the man was shooting pictures while the lady ranted. Soon because we weren't sure why these two were constantly bickering just blurted the question if they actually knew each other at all. Turns out they were a couple. And that was just the way they interacted.

Now Trish here, was a mother, an artiste and an avid traveler. Met her when I unintentionally disrupted her sleep as I was trying to get myself into bed in the dorm room. We were living in the same hostel and actually tackled the Great Wall together. She finished the task. We didn't. She is a painter by profession and takes keen interest in cultures and calligraphy. Compared to world heritage sites, tourist locations, she would attend gatherings, music events while she was in Beijing. Not sure if that is how she usually traveled. She was very informative and had lots to share about her hometown, a small town off Sydney. 

Remember the trip I took back in Feb 2011? Well that probably included my largest first time meeting with strangers. I was willing to travel slightly less than quarter way off the world to circumnavigate India with 17 others I have never met. No Facebook interactions. No emails. All I had were 17 imaginary faces and voila the next thing I knew I was spending 24 hours, for the next 15 days with these guys. The above is just half the gang.

On the first night of our hostel stay in Hangzhou, I learned pool from these sisters from Shanghai. They were spending their weekend there. The younger one of the sisters who was teaching me (and perhaps also shook her head every time I messed it up) couldn't speak a word of English. As much pool skills I "imbibed", it was definitely a great interaction. We even tried jamming on the available guitars with our existing skills, which were definitely better than pool!

The night after pool, further friendships were formed between this eloquent Chinese who had no trouble conveying herself in English, and she has never left China before. She went by the name Summer, and definitely one of the better English speakers I have come across in China. She even shared with us how she took efforts to master the language just so it would allow here to interact with non-Chinese speaking people. I was floored. That never crossed my mind, every time I try to master Chinese. Still trying to be precise. The dude is a Korean who was backpacking around China before he returns home to join the University. He was hilarious. But you gotta be there to get his jokes.

The last of the friendships that were formed while on the go, was just last week when I was stranded   at Hangzhou Airport. 100 over passengers who didn't know each other. All waiting for their flights and just getting ready to fall asleep became one stranded family who just can't wait to land in Singapore all within a span of 24 hours. We eventually started speaking to the one in the seat beside us. As we were told to leave the airbus, we made conversation to the one who was given a room beside us. And as time went, I knew 25% of the passengers on the aircraft. 

I have a tendency to talk to the passenger beside me. I tend to ask where they are from or heading to. One of the main reason why I hardly pay attention to the safety procedures and prevent the person beside me from learning how to save their lives in crisis. 

Anyways, before the flight took off, we had the shot taken to remind us how much the airline was a pain in the arse and the chances of us taking it again was slim if not non-existent. Bryant, the dude, was from Singapore, working in Hangzhou and Lisa, a German travelling around Asia. We have agreed to meet again in Singapore. See how that goes.On a side note: She had the most divine 120mm film camera that certainly got me thinking of getting my own one too!!!

Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get - Forest Gump 

Of course this does not end here. I have met more people then I have allowed myself to talk about here. I just haven't got pictures of these other people to share with you.  In each of these places, I definitely met a few others besides the ones mentioned, who had lots of stories and interesting tidbits to share, that which will be up once I am able to source out a few faces to go with it.

7 Highly Probable Aftermaths For The Stranded Airline Passenger

This is not for ANY stranded passenger, but particularly one who had no choice because the airline couldn't figure out what to do next to keep the crisis under control.

When discovered with a malfunctioned brake, you will be housed in a five-star hotel. Exactly! If you fly a kick ass airline, you probably paid for your room's worth when you bought the ticket. What I paid for, which by the way adheres to my rule of keeping within the budget, wouldn't even get me a room in a hotel on any normal day. 

You would tell yourself you're gonna maximize the hotel's facilities, only to hit the sack the moment you see the pretty bed and clean sheets. I was suppose to get their breakfast, grab stuff that were actually free, bla bla. Only to doze off and wake up to a call telling me lunch has been arranged. 

You spend more than 12 hours talking to people you just met. You guys will actually be whining on the same frequency. A group of us were a little upset over the delay, for some had conencting flights, others were just heading for a weekend trip and a day was gone already. I have missed flights. I have flights that left late. Never a flight that made me wait for an hour, later board and wait another hour inside the cabin and and a night for free in a hotel. Make it two nights.

One of the flights carried this. Is this common?

You run into the airline crew who are equally if not more clueless towards the predicament then you are. The crew had no idea of the updates we as passengers were receiving from various representatives. For some reason they were even surprised to know that we might be leaving earlier than them. Are we gonna travel without a crew then, you may ask. Thing is, I haven't got the slightest idea. 

The carrier is so diverse you're left wondering...An Australian carrier filled with Singaporean crew, and with one of them actually sounding "Singlish" over the intercom. 

You're bound to run into one of those travelers whom you thought never existed. One was almost left to be stranded on airport grounds for he had no visa. And all he had to say, with a straight face, as a matter-of-fact-look written all over it. "No one told us." Dude did you not do your research before packing your bag??? "I've never travelled before". 

You learn to appreciate your foreign passport. This of course is not the nicest of things but guess what, if your aircraft experiences problems within the Chinese boundaries, and you're to be put up in a fancy hotel room, as an international passport holder you get a room to yourself. Whereas, the Chinese will have to share with the other Chinese travelers. As fun as it may sound, it still is a little biased but what can I say. I'm already being held for 48 hours when my journey itself is only 5 hours!!!

Hang(zhou)in' Around

Hangzhou was a blast.

The hostel was a double blast and its occupants were amazingly friendly.

Not that I have spent days in millions of other hostels but definitely a million other hostels didn't quite provide me with the opportunity for an entire room of people to be interacting as though we had known the other for ages.

The repertoire was so good, I actually think I might visit the countries of my newly found friends just to meet them and learn more about their country and culture.

There was a dude from Syria, one from Holland, another from Korea and a couple from China. Girls were from China's various provinces, and there was Jan from Malaysia and me from Singapore.

I was there only for two nights and both nights were interesting.

The first night was spent learning pool which ended with the conclusion along the lines of usha-sucks-at-pool-more-than-anyone-on-Earth.

I told ya!


2nd night was when we really got to know the rest of the hostel mates (in our room) better and got to know what exactly these guys were doing and what else is awaiting them in the future.

Pictures I haven't got many. However, it is suffice to say my fellow travelers were an amazing lot.

And whoever said Wu Xi (West Lake) could be circumnavigated in 5 hours by foot was not in their right mind.


We took a freakin' 8 HOURS!


Bleah!