In the land of pagodas - Part 1

Another experience is pending. But this one was so exciting that I can't contain it anymore and feel like I should share it.

Plainly speaking this is about my visit to China. :) But in not so plain words it is about my first journey out of my country; from Asia to Asia ; to the magnificent land of the scarlet silk. 

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 The journey was for academic purpose, to attend the school on the particle being searched and studied by people all over the world, of which I too am a part of! And then came the conference which was a sweet twist in the tale. :) 

 Keeping the record of my name disappearing from any list in any of the schools or conferences, I was expecting nothing when I suddenly got a letter from the organizers that I am selected to attend the school! Then started all the paper works and stuff which commenced exactly on my birthday and ended (only a part of it) on July 31st with the coming of my visa. To have the visa application with you for 2 weeks and to have the feeling that nothing is happening and not being able to send it because something or the other comes up, is a bit too much! And the visa comes on a day with only four days left till the commencement of the supposed journey!!! 

Thus the person who always do "systematic packing" and panicking even for a domestic travel started packing her stuff on the eve of her first international travel!! I wonder what would have been my state had my friend not helped me with all my packing. :)  How can I ever forget the last minute rushes done on the Saturday called 3rd August, including printing a poster and buying a holder for it which I would never have done otherwise!

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Somebody had told me to bring somethings the moment he heard that I was going to China. He needed things which made weird sounds!! This has to be kept in mind for further reading.

I started from here, my friend made me breakfast and my parents came to see me off at the airport after picking up my comrade for the journey from her flat. At the airport, we took the Chennai Delhi flight, to reach there by 13.30 and sit in the airport for the rest of the time.

The aircraft was luxurious for a domestic flight!!! And what more I got to watch the movie  which I had been longing to watch for a long time! 

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We reached Delhi airport by 13.30.  Now immigration had to be done. My comrade and I went up to the counter and found out that it could be done atmost three hours before the journey. "Now what" was the question. We thought about many options. And decided that we would stay inside the airport (there begins the parallel saga of airports!) So we started the old hobby! Shopping!! But before that we had to eat something.What to eat? We saw a South Indian Restaurant "Vaango"! We thought about eating dosa then decided against it and had some coffee and snacks instead. 

Finally shopping had to be done. We went to the sole book store we found and started searching. Searching, searching, searching...... We bought books too. Who imagined that we would later curse these and the other books we had carried greedily hoping to "finish reading" while travelling! 

Then we went to the visitors launch and sat there. It is exactly like we are refugees. But only high class refugees sitting in less crowded, neat airports. There we found a girl. She was looking at us, we looked at her. On one look itself it became evident that she was a Malayali and the other look told me that she was from Kottayam!!! :) She came to us and talked. Everything was right. She was flying to Canada and she was a nurse (one of the looks had told me that too). 

Then we waited again, for our flight to Hong Kong was only at 11.30 pm. Our other two friends were to come with us, the four of us travelling together. At around 5.30 DJ called and said that she would come by 8pm or so. We waited for her and she arrived with life saving cakes for us. :) We checked in, sent our luggage and entered the real Terminal 3(oh! haan I forgot the poster holder was there always and it was as if it was a fellow passenger in this whole journey)! I was overwhelmed!!! I had already been overwhelmed by the capital airport on arrival there! Various "mudras" are sculptured there. I couldn't figure out the meaning of it and missed taking a photo of it. 

The check in counters themselves were overwhelming with all the beautiful decorations and lighting. All the shops in Terminal 3 are also overwhelming. :) We went to the food court and had dinner and waited for our other friend. He was to come from Mumbai to Delhi. Again waiting. And roaming around in search of a footwear shop to get a shoe. 

The story of the shoe is like this. I had a slipper which I doubted would break down on trekking since it was known that we would be going to the Great Wall. Having no light shoes, I wanted to get one and forgot about it in the last second rush. So I though that I would get one somewhere on the way and all the "somewheres on the way" were airports and hence the search for the shop! Surprisingly I couldn't find a footwear shop in the international terminal!!! (There are quite a few in the domestic, but not even a single one in the IT!) Every other kinds of things are there! Including a mannequin wearing a beautiful gown made of newspapers (not for sale)!!!

We found a beautiful shop. The thing which attracted us to it was a man (boy/Krishna may be) carved beautifully out of wood and dressed up nicely too. The decorations in the shop were all tricoloured for Independence day was approaching. We roamed around from one shop to the other and so on to come back and wait again for our flight.

And thus came the call for our flight. Our friend from Mumbai was nowhere to be seen. Had he come or not? We went to board the flight. Luckily he had reached in time. All the three girls' ticket were upgraded to business class for some reason!!! And the class reminded of the travel in Duranto. ;) Pampering with food!!! (Duranto was a bit too much!!! :D)  

Before we took off I had  recommended everybody I phoned, to come to Palam airport atleast once. :)   

We ate dinner, I pulled the seat flat and lay down and slept. The day was very tiring and without rest. 

Thus began my first journey abroad.

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