After posting two blog entries (I and II), I am still at the Chengdu Airport. My flight CA4519 from Chengdu to Shanghai was expected to depart at 7:20 PM but the latest information I got is, it is delayed to 9:50 PM. At its departurer time, the aircraft was still in Shanghai airport – about 1500 miles away.
Well. I expected the delay. It happens every day. Sometimes I even wonder what went wrong my flight departed on time. I hate to be stack in an airport – I even thought about going back to hotel and coming back tomorrow, but I guess Wendy will definitely feel happy if she see me home, no matter how late it is tonight. Some passengers have fallen asleep on the long benches. It is 18°C here – not suitable for sleep, at least for me.
I just finished the free Sichuan style box meal and half botton of purified water. If I were a beggar, I may be the happiest beggar in the world.
The Chengdu airport has been renovated. The previous old airport was as dirty as typical train station. People enjoyed their hot instant noodle, standing near the boarding gates, and pushing each other for their way to get on board. Now, the new airport is completely a new airport that is as modern as Shanghai Pudong or Beijing Airport.
Jian Shuo, I think “as typical Chinese train station” is exacter.
Chengdu airport is very nice and modern. I like the open and bright feeling it has.
The airline workers are also very nice and helpful, there. I remember that I had forgotten to put my pocket knife (a Leatherman, similar to a Swiss Army Knife) into my checked luggage. It was still in my pocket when I entered the security line! I thought, “I will lose my nice, expensive ($55) knife. I will have to find a replacement.” (I had 10 more weeks of travel ahead, and the Leatherman is a useful tool.)
Rather than try to hide it and sneak it through the security check, I showed it to them and said, “I know I cannot take this on the airplane.” A very nice young woman from the airline took it, found my pack in the luggage processing, and put the knife inside.
I don’t think an airport in another country would do that. In the U.S., at best, there may be a postal service at the airport, and I could mail the knife home. Otherwise, it is confiscated by the security check.