My flight to Hong Kong, en route to Taiwan, is about 90%
Chinese – at least back here in the cheap seats.
Cathay Pacific has these great, staggered personal spaces in
the upper classes of tickets. As I walked by them on my way to the back, I
realized that I have never grown into the type of person who can afford to buy
the first class, or even the business class plane tickets. I felt like an untouchable by the time I made it to my seat in economy - of course, the sort of untouchable who can afford to fly across the world just for fun.
Class consciousness aside, the seats on this plane are actually comfortable,
have nice back support, and don’t just tip back, but sort of slide more open in
both directions – both the back and the seat move. There are plenty of movies
on offer, and the leg room is better than a United flight from Newark to SFO.
I spent my first three hours of the flight sleeping - trying to mimic Taipei time so that jet lag doesn't completely kick my 46-year old ass. My initial nap was interrupted
twice: the nice male steward asked if I wanted brunch; and then, sometime after breakfast was all cleaned up,
my fellow travelers had a social gathering around my seat. The man behind me
was talking to a woman leaning over the middle seat in front of our row;
there were several people behind and in the aisles just talking away. They
seemed to be having a very nice time, and because I couldn’t understand any
little bit of it, I found that their voices were like an eccentric white noise
machine.I am going to arrive in a city where English is not spoken by many people. I read in another blog that the waitresses at restaurants in Taipei will literally start to giggle and laugh when they realize that a customer cannot speak Chinese – Mandarin to be more specific. All the signs will be in what looks to me like strings of pretty cuneiform-like pictures littering bus station placards and street signs.
India was a bit like that – but English is remarkably alive and kicking, especially in the larger and medium sized cities I visited there. Their written language is also quite different from ours, and I enjoyed its graceful appearance without ever understanding it.
I know that Taiwan and Burma (I am stubbornly refusing to
acquiesce to the military government’s order to call Burma Myanmar) will be a
challenge when it comes to communicating and getting around, finding the right
bus, etc. I think that is, above all else, feeling the most daunting part of
this trip right now.
Then again, I only had to make a few pantomime gestures for
the gentlemen stuck in the middle seat to understand that I was going to pull a
few things from my daypack before getting up again to stash it overheard. He
understood so well, he grunted in irritation – that is a universal look! He
very graciously, or perhaps impatiently took my bag when I was done, and put it
up himself.
Then, before we took off, he and his wife (I’m assuming
based on age and behavior) took out some buns and basket-weave Styrofoam
wrapped pears. He very quickly nibbled off every last bit of skin from one of
the pears until it was as naked as a baby’s butt, and handed it to his wife so
that she could enjoy the juicy pulp sans that nasty skin – so sweet, don’t you
think?
***
That flight was very long; about 16 hours. I had about 45
minutes in Hong Kong between flights, and then was off on my quick 1.5 hour hop to Taiwan. My whole body felt swollen, and my hands were prickly - that in between state right after a limb falls asleep. My feet were like sausages, my
eyes bloodshot from lack of proper sleep, and my skin had that
post-frostbite sheen. All and all, my body was in a pretty horrible and
uncomfortable state of being.
Even so, my mind was remarkably light and open, a happy state of affairs given how worried I was that I might not enjoy my trip at
all.
Once I decided that I would go on another great travel
adventure (my last being two months in India in 2006), it took several months
just to figure out where I would go. After those decisions were made, it was a
frenzy of figuring out the details – cities, sites, hotels, transportation,
visas, etc. I was pretty much done by the end of October, both with the
planning part and the interest part.
Then, I spent about 6 weeks doing next to nothing. I took our
dog Sami to the park; went to my writing group; did some cooking and a little
cleaning. I also read books and watched a lot of television – and played Candy
Crush up to the 91st level.
On the other hand, I must give myself kudos for submitting a
short story to a journal contest, and applying for a writing fellowship. I also
knitted more than a third of an afghan I’m making my girlfriend Laura.
The last week before I left was all about running around celebrating Laura’s
birthday, Chanukah and Thanksgiving. I also started to hear “You must be
getting so excited!” and “You’re going to have such a great time!” Funny thing, though, I wasn’t getting excited. In fact, I felt more and more apathetic, and reluctant to finish up my final countdown checklist: print off itineraries and reservation confirmations; pick up cash from the bank; get an oil change and a carwash so Laura can use my all wheel drive when it snows; and pack. I put it all off until Tuesday, the day before I flew out of JFK.
My apathy then turned to frantic activity and tension. I
realized how nasty my mind was feeling when I snapped at my friend Kelly when
she called to talk about some details about her leg of the trip (Thailand).
Ugh.
When everything was packed and printed, stuffed and zipped
up, I finally started to relax. As the tension started to slip away, so did the
apathy – sort of like my ridiculously expensive yet so very worth it 2-step
face wash regime. Wash first with
the cleansing oil, and then rinse away all the sludged up detritus with the
enzyme cleaner. I wasn’t excited, but as I stayed up all night in order to
sleep during my day (Taiwan night) of travel, my mind started to look forward…
I feel free when I travel; I’d forgotten that one, priceless
fact. I feel free from rigid identity
with my past or present – failures or glories. I get to just be another human
walking around on this big planet of ours – languages like new music; vistas
like new planets on star trek. Traveling is like science fiction – gives me
that same feeling of discovery and adventure and wonder and “I don’t know “ or
beginners mind which can be difficult to
maintain in the humdrum of daily activities at home.
Just a short note about Cathay Pacific food – the vegetarian pasta choice was sort of icky but the roll was delicious. I liked the Tao Ti Supreme
Genmaicha green tea in a box covered with pretty symbols, and they and they had
Haagn Daaz ice cream bars for desert. Breakfast was actually lunch - fried rice with egg and chicken,
and it was okay. I would travel Cathay Pacific again. The accomodations were better than expected (although nothing is Singapore Air), the food decent, entertainment really good, and the service was very excellent.
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