I'm leaving Shanghai today for Taipei, Taiwan. I'm flying China Eastern airlines. Call me a snob, but having either the name "China"or "Eastern" in the name of your airline does not inspire me with confidence. Even stranger, China Easter is part of the SkyTeam alliance with Delta.
Reestablishing this air link between the mainland and Taiwan was a very momentous occasion for the People's Republic, which was celebrated by flowery speeches of harmony and understanding. That's all very good. On the ground level here, though, it meant crazy shopping junkets and copious amounts of duty free goods being shoved into the overhead compartments.
My experience with passport control was not as much fun this time. The guy checking my passport was giving me the evil eye. I tried to smile and look pleasant, but this guy was suspicious. I tried to make nice at the end and push the "very satisfied/happy face" button rating, but the machine was mysteriously deactivated. Humm ... worked for the person before me ...
Why does it seem so strange that a communist, state run airline would have a First Class and Business Class section. I thought classes and business people were the those the sort of things commies don't like? Weird.
In my attempts to minimize the overage charges for all the stuff I am transporting, I bought a second bag, which I had to "sneak" on the plane. I was in the bulkhead seat 7A, so I asked to be reseated to something where I could legitimately try to use the space under the seat in front of me. "Reseating" is not the most commonly used English word, so I tried to explain what I wanted to do by pointing at the seat line on my boarding pass and saying "back". The ticket guy caught on, and moved me back -to the very last seat, in the very last row of the plane. Either they were having a joke with the foreigner or it was just another example of Chinese efficiency. I hope it was the later.
Bye-bye China. It was fun.
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