Monday, 21 November 2022

Korean Adventure 1




 

Mumbai to Incheon [Seoul]

Via Delhi and Hong Kong

Vistara services were excellent as expected because it is by Tata’s. Food was good and the staff, courteous.

Flight landed on the Delhi airport few minutes earlier than the scheduled. As it was not continuation of the journey I was to collect the bag and drop again at Cathay Pacific bag drop counter. If the airline is same you don’t have to do it. After collecting my bag from the conveyer belt at around 10 PM, I went on searching for International departures. After few jolts, ‘Go this way. Go that Way, Don’t Know’ I finally caught the correct escalator. The queue for bag drop at Cathay Pacific counter was mile long, because only two counters and carrier carries around 300-400 passengers on the board! Travelers from India to Hong Kong are a weird lot. Mostly businessmen having small ventures in Hong Kong but showing it big, labour but better than the Middle East, but nonetheless labour at the core and holiday makers, as Hong Kong is well known as a ‘Shopping Paradise’! [In today’s times it actually hardly matters, because everything is available everywhere through umpteen malls]. So everybody carried oversized bags with more than allowed weight. So the minor tussles at every counter! It took me practically one and half hours or so to drop my single, weighing much less than the stipulated weight, bag!

If Cathay Pacific’s Bag Drop line was one mile long, immigration had double the number. Delhi being capital of India flights taking off from Delhi are much more in number than any other metro city of India including Mumbai. Immigration clearance took yet another hour, but less than the expected because the personnel behind the glass were really efficient.

Boarding gate was at another end of the terminal three and Cathay Pacific counter is at terminal two! Ground hostess had cautioned that it’s too far off so start now only! And she was so true. I reached the gate only 15 minutes prior to boarding! I was apprehensive about ‘Passing the Time’ at Delhi airport but three hours went in a jiffy just standing in different queues, bag drop the first and immigration being the other one!

Here I would like to profoundly declare that I am Indian and proud one at that. But sometimes it makes me wonder, are these fellow Indians really my brothers and sisters as was taught in the school. All the air lines request the passengers to board according to the seat numbers [For Economy Class] so that it becomes easier to take the seats. But in India they always rush, whether they have seats in the front or in the back of the plane. Result, all aisles are blocked, overhead cabins are hanging on your head and God forbid, if you have seat at the farthest corner of the plane, you reach it just before the flight takes off! Always, as a rule it’s chaos and more chaos!

The plane to Hong Kong was wide bodied Boeing 777 with ten seats in a row in economy class. May be to occupy more seats for commercial purposes, the seating space is cramped and for a person like me having more than average height it becomes difficult to stretch even when air line itself advises the exercise to prevent the deep vein thrombosis. I somehow managed to be comfortable in my seat. To eat with such a limited space is another ordeal. To manage those tiny plates in that truncated space is really a circus. If you open the main course dish, the other dishes start falling apart. With meticulousness of a society lady you have to open all the dishes very delicately. I was listed for ‘Hindu Non Veg meal.’ But what they served in the name of Hindu Non Veg food was beyond my comprehension. The fruits were probably hybrid and did not have any taste, bad or good, only insipid. One has to sustain so I made myself eat those dishes almost compulsorily.

Hong Kong air port is/was another damp squib! We had been to Hong Kong almost a decade and half ago. At that time the new air port was under construction. As advised by the hosts we had visited the construction site. It then appeared that something huge, extravagant is in the making, almost in the sea on reclaimed lands of acres and acres, around islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau. The old one, Kai Tak was just an extended land strip as a runway in actual sea. Plus the landing was at an angle, so many experienced pilots too found it difficult to land. So, the new airport.

But to my utter surprise new airport, CLK international Airport has not turned out to be what it promised to be. It looks from outside like built by Indian PWD. Utterly drab! Well interiors too are not exceptionally astounding. Miles and miles of passages/corridors without travelators. Ninety percent of the shops were closed. Hardly any, serving food. Food court was at the other end and as expected, steeply priced. The airport tom-toms that they serve food at the rate prevalent at the restaurants from city center but it’s hardly true.

                                                                                     

Only redeeming feature of CLK Hong Kong airport is Sky Bridge, and it’s really astronomical. It’s the largest air side bridge, [Sky Bridge] in the world allowing the largest passenger aircraft, A380 to pass underneath. The side passages are totally made of glass and when one looks down it’s more than ten storeys deep and weak hearted people may get vertigo.

On the top of boredom I had my next flight to Seoul after six hours. I landed at 10 AM and flight to Seoul was at 4 PM. To cut the time and as one has to eat something, I ordered Duck Sandwich and that turned out to be second redeeming feature at Hong Kong Airport. The flesh was so tender and the bread was so luscious it just melted in the mouth. Contrary to my belief ‘Duck’ turned out to be extremely delicious and not chewy what I was going to eat for next 14 days! 

Flight to Seoul was most memorable next to flight from Santorini to Athens. Out of the three to three and half hours of the flight for the 2/3rds of the time, plane faced air turbulence. It shaked continuously so vigorously that it made pit of the stomach filled with unknown fear. It became so unenduring that at one point I felt, let there be an end to this, either way! 

But it landed at Incheon, Seoul without any hitch. It was around 10 PM and all the time I was dreading about the timing of landing. Because by 11-11.30 PM all the services, Bus, Limousine Bus, Metro and Air port express from the airport to city centre stop plying. And one has to take taxi that costs $ 90 to $100 while one way ticket is only $3.Fortunately for me every mode of transport to Seoul City Centre was still available. But the airport was deserted, all the Money changing kiosks, banks were closed and though I had enough money on person, cash in Dollars and three international credit cards I was the one without a penny on the foreign land!

To travel you have to buy T money card which works on any mode of transport all over Korea. Every time you have to refill it when balance becomes zero. Only hitch is you have to pay it in cash! It does not accept credit cards.

Luckily the station master at the airport metro station came to my help. With his help I could withdraw cash of Kwon 100,000/- [making me instantly millionaire] with HSBC credit card [that only works in Eastern Asian countries for cash withdrawal, CITI and Standard Chartered credit cards are rejected]. After securing the necessary one way ticket [T money card was unavailable at that hour] I boarded Express Line to Seoul City.

After changing the line at Hongik University and taking Line 2, I got down at Gangnam Metro station at around 11.30 PM. And again I was at large. Gangnam is like Dadar. It’s huge with many transfer lines and numerous exits. If you don’t take the correct exit you land up on the road exactly opposite to where you want to go. I was absolutely confused as there was no ‘SOUL’ to guide me on the roads of “SEOUL”! Man on the street does not understand English at all. Six out of ten I asked for the direction, were dead drunk, and the rest smelt of alcohol! Luckily ‘Google Maps’ work in Korea too.[Contrary to what I had learnt on YouTube!] I could get out by the correct exit and luckily a police van was patrolling at the same square. I did not expect Police to know or speak English [they are counter parts of our folk] but I had the address in Korean alphabets. After discussion with his colleague he instructed one taxi man passing by to drop me at the hotel. Taxi-man showed that he understood everything but it was not so. After circling around for two times in the same area, I got down ultimately and enquired on the front desk of another hotel in the vicinity. He was sure to know the ‘Fellow’ hotel! And the puzzle got solved. We were searching for ‘Best Western’ which is known in the area as ‘BWP’ Gangnam hotel! And it was not Gangnam proper but was Sinnonhyeon, part of Gangnam a next metro station!

Taxi-man charged Kwon 10000/- and I felt rich again! ‘It is correct fare’ front desk person ascertained and I happily retired for my first night in Seoul!

 

1 comment:

  1. The story so far is that of a hapless hero!
    Hope the fairy tale has a Happy ending.

    ReplyDelete