Part 1 is to share my whole day journey alone. Later that night I met up with husband and that’s part 2.
Hubs asked if I wanted to go 3 weeks before. Sure, October is a busy month with work. And sure its the kids exam week. I didn’t factor in the bad haze that caused school to open one day and close one day. Is there a better time? Sure there could be. Would there be another opportunity like this? There might not be.
When I said I wanted to be fit. This is the reason. To climb mountains in another country on a whim.
I couldn’t sleep thinking about the plan. Hubs is already in China. I had to fly there and travel 500km+ inland to get to him.
The part where I couldn’t sleep is actually from home to airport at 3am. What if I get kidnapped during that journey. No I wasn’t thinking about the solo journey in China. That I could handle. Traveling in daylight anywhere is okay for me. So I was really grateful to my dad (!) for accompanying me to the airport that night.
In the dead quiet of the night in the Alphard, soft music in the background reminded me of a time in the past when I traveled with my dad. It felt bittersweet.
At the airport, dad laughed and said wow I haven’t been in the airport for a long time. Me neither actually. Not this airport. We had coffee until 5am. Then dad went to catch the ERL and I went through security.
Went through immigration, then boarded the bus to my gate. I kept some food in my bag. My thermos that I can’t live without. In the plane, I missed my kids. Wishing they were there with me. And doggone I forgot to request for window seat. I sat between two guys. Its uncomfortable but manageable. I took out my sleeping mask and slept the whole flight.
I touchdown in Pudong Airport around noon. I got out and properly looked at the sky. It was blue. Back home, the sky has been grey for 3 months because of Indonesian fires. The sky in Shanghai was beautiful.
From Pudong, I had to get the train to Shanghai Hongqiao Station. Mind you, I was given instructions by hubs and I didn’t study the route beforehand. It was disorienting to arrive in a country that doesn’t speak nor write your language. I LOVE IT. Here I was, the lone hijabi traveller who doesn’t speak chinese navigating the big airport and trying to use their train.
The ticketing guy pointed me toward the train. I managed to pay using Alipay. Off I went. The sign seems to be pointing the right way. I ran into the train with the crowd. I must be in the right train.
The train moved. I checked the journey. It is 58km away. SO FAR?
I was about to have many rude realisations like this throughout the journey. China is HUGE. I was starting to appreciate the vastness of this country. After 58km, it is still Shanghai area. Imagine that!
I think I revel in the unknown. I was being hyper aware during the journey that I was the only hijabi. Before reaching Shanghai, I knew I’ll probably be safe in the big city. But I was on hyper alert anyway. Shanghai gave a good first impression. I felt safe and even though everyone didn’t speak english, I had chatgpt my trusty travel buddy. People were polite and they helped when I asked.
I didn’t encounter anyone rude. Thank goodness what a relief!
I arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao station. It was abit confusing because there’s the Shanghai Hongqiao Terminal and station is on the opposite side. The signages were all in mandarin. So I asked for directions. I didn’t want to be misunderstood, so I made sure I typed in what I was looking for in mandarin. The walk to the station took about 10 minutes.
I came to a big entrance with baggage security. Shanghai Hongqiao train station. It was disorienting because what do you mean this is a train station? It was bigger than the airport.
My bullet train to Huangshan was at 4pm. I had 2 hours to spare. I was hungry because the plane food wasn’t halal. I looked around and everything was in chinese I felt a bit lost. I saw mcdonalds and familymart. Got into Familymart. Everything was either beef or chicken. I almost forgot about halal food and I felt a pang of homesickness for Malaysian food, just because I can eat without thinking.
Nevermind. Into Mcdonalds. Ordered fillet o fish and taro pie. Omg delicious.
At the station, there must’ve been at least 4000 people. I couldn’t see any muslims anywhere. It felt a bit jarring. I haven’t felt like a minority in a long time. So many feelings. But my giddiness of being in travel mode overcame anything else I was feeling.
You know how during travel, time goes by swiftly. I remember checking the boarding messages (using chatgpt!!! YES YOU’RE AT THE RIGHT GATE! GET IN LINE NOW) and it was suddenly time to board the train.
There were about 40 gates, all going to different destinations around China.
I secretly hoped my destination is going to be the best one in the whole of China. I mean, it has to be. Otherwise, why am I choosing this one instead of gate 25, right?
…to be continued in part 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment