The Sky of Shanghai

Back to this city again after 7 years. One of the two things that left impression on me then was its size. And the first indicator, in my opinion, that gave me a vague idea of the size of this city was the width of the viaducts that were found spanning all over the city centre. This depicts the amount of traffic that is being channeled across this city day in and day out.

The second thing that left deep impression on me was the sky of Shanghai that never seemed to be able to grow dark even well after midnight. The sky overhead was always glowing in a dark, rose colour. The millions and millions of lights in this city kept this place awake all night long. Now with the development of the Pudong area that has sprawled across the Huangpu river, the sky of Shanghai must be even brighter than it used to be 7 years ago.











Size of a viaduct in Shanghai.

A pedestrian overhead bridge that spans across 3 directions.

等待时间的流逝

城市里的时间从来不会流逝，只能消失。人们无法看到时间流逝的过程，只是看到了时间消失后的旁证，如高度、皱纹、变形、生与死、纪念日。

睁开眼睛醒来，时间就开始忙碌了。从上班到下班之间，时间单位的意义兑换成堆积如山的工作、同事之间的竞争与配合、公司营业的压力、汽车分期付款的经济来源。抹黑下班后，时间便是赶着回家办理家事。睡眠的催促便是一天结束的开始。这样，周而复始。公务员拿半年花红时，才晓得半年的时间已经过去了。领着第13个月的花红去购物时，一年的时间已经经过了。感觉不到时间，时间却过得真真实实。

孩子忽然大学毕业了，似乎没有看着他慢慢成长，他便一瞬间长成了。惊觉光阴似箭，其实飞快的是城市的脚步，与时间的步履无关。

如果摔坏手机、丢掉手提电脑、不带电动、拔掉MP3、踢走电视，再给城市人一个小时的时间，放他在公园里。他会叫苦连天。那是无聊。其实，那才是面对时间。

----2004年

Woes about Airports

An airport. Grateful for this little nice oasis where the sunlight pouring through the glass panes and the flowing of water both have a calming effect for passengers who are waiting for their flights.

The two airports that left an ever lasting impression on me has to be Heathrow and Manchester airports while other international airports simply pale in comparison. Until now, no other international airports could surpass them in terms of efficiency and services and I doubt there will ever be. This is the year 2009.

Think of them along this line: for the amount of airport tax that you are forced to pay at these airports and the standards of services in exchange.

I know I have been too pampered. So I know it might be a little too extravagant to demand petty things like providing free internet and wireless services or even portable water from these two airports even though they are, up till now, the most expensive airports that I have ever used across Europe and Asia.












Paying a pound to surf internet at Heathrow. What a surprise.


Then think about the punctuality of departures and arrivals. I do not think I am being over unreasonable to consider that as a basic expectation. But I simply cannot tell you how many times I have encountered late departures and late arrivals at these airports and the amount of time I have to spend waiting for the aircrafts to taxi upon landing or to pick up my baggage from the belt. I do not think I am being particular picky to expect services of a standard that is value for the amount of money that I pay. I have had better services at the airport at Kathmandu and that was the year 2000.


A Butterfly Garden at Terminal 3 of a particular airport that provides a green oasis for departing passengers to relax in.








Further to that, as a tourist with a reasonable grasp of the English language, I find it inexplicably difficult to navigate within the airport building of Manchester as to where to find the VAT refund counter and how does a tourist go about getting a VAT reclaim? I have done my homework prior to my arrival at the airport but I just couldn’t find the relevant information that a tourist would need in their website. The most bizarre thing was to expect tourists to grab hold of any ground staff to fish for any information.

As a tourist, I would appreciate if there are clear signs to direct passengers to the train station that is located in one of the terminals at Manchester Airport and probably better still if there is an indication on the floor plan of the airport that could show the location of the train station.

It was futile looking for any information counter which one will expect from an international airport but it seems like tourists are expected to be made to look even more stupid than they already are in a foreign environment.

For your information, in the year 2008, Munich airport has already started testing out the concept of channeling baggage directly from aircrafts to the Munich Main train station in order to save time and trouble for passengers of transferring baggage between the airport and train station.

What an amazing difference.

By the way, I still have not received my VAT refund after submitted my form two months ago at Manchester Airport. I had little hope of receiving any when I posted my form anyway.

An Exchange

I will never find our money changers to be of anything interesting if I have never got the chance to experience changing money in a different way/system in other countries.

Made me think back of those anthropology seminars that we used to have. We spent time debating about the issue of subjectivity as it was thought that subjectivity was a hindrance to the understanding of another culture. It was believed that only objectivity can present a culture in its own light. But we realized that it was just on the contrary, to a certain extent, one needs a certain amount of subjectivity to understand others. We can only understand others from our own cultural lens.

I find that so true. When travelling between cultures, I have the habit of making comparison (without any malicious intention). I find looking at new cultures or ways of life through my own cultural lens will put some things into perspective and also increases my awareness of my own culture/way of life. More often than not, you get a chance to look at yourself in a new light, for the better or for the worse.

Back to the business of money changing. They are called exchange bureaus elsewhere while we call them money changers over here. “Bureau” sounds more like a mechanism while the term “money changers” give a more human touch to this profession. For us, the business of money changing is mainly small family businesses.

Each time just before I travel overseas, I will visit People’s Park (Chinatown) to change my money as they have better rates than elsewhere. People’s Park complex is a place where one can find a huge concentration of money changers. They are basically in the form of tiny booths with photographs of different currencies splashed across their booths. I will, without fail, check out the rates at different booths first before I stack all my cash on one. One can get a better bargain if you have a bigger amount of money to exchange.

I used to dread going all the way downtown to People’s Park to get the currencies I need. But after my UK experience, I begin to appreciate the “luxury” that I used to enjoy without realizing the convenience. For these family businesses, there is much at stake when it comes to profit and with so many competitors around, they will try their best to clinch a deal. From a customer’s point of view, we get to enjoy more leverage. “Bureaus” on the other hand, play the game high-level handedly and thus, diminishing the value of customers. I often get the impression that I am “begging” them to do me a favour.

For our money changers, they might not have the grandeur and security of big, professional counters like Western Union, but I never have to call in advance to order any currency of any amount. Even those days before the use of Euro, I could find currencies from kroners to złotys without blinking an eye. Well, at least I can be assured to find something among so many money changers. Excuse me, they are money changers and of course, they should have in stock of different currencies!

That’s what they are for!

For these people that deal with so much cash everyday behind that tiny glass window, they have no CCTVs installed and neither security guards by their booths. Still, these did not seem odd to me in the least in the past. But now, they certainly do! Aren’t they afraid of being plundered in broad daylight? However, robbery at money changers’ booths is a rare activity. Accidents on the roads are more common than that for sure.

Polyclinic

The last time I visited my neighbourhood polyclinic was 2003. It has been such a while that the polyclinic has already moved all my records into storage and thus, I was treated like a first time patient.

Had been feeling feverish and suffering from a stuffy nose for the past 2 days. Information about N1H1 symptoms was not very specific on the Ministry of Health website, in my point, as to what is the specific temperature for a fever; whether it is a combination of fever, cough, stuffy nose, sore throat, body ache and tiredness that will consitute N1H1 symptoms or any one of those will. I did further research to learn that temperature reaching 37.5 d.c. will be considered a fever.

It was not until the temperature soared to 38 d.c. that I have decided to check it out with a doctor the next morning. I was comtemplating between private clinics and polyclinic. There are several private ones and only one polyclinic in the area where I live. This is one of the many conveniences that I missed, I need not travel far for medical and dental care. In fact, I just have to walk for less than a 100 metres. And most importantly, I do not have to make prior appointments. And I certainly enjoy the freedom of walking straight into any private clinics or polyclinics in any parts of this island irregardless of the neighbourhood that I live in and without having the need to register with one particular clinic first.

Private clinics charge higher fees while polyclinic are heavily subsidised by the government for citizens. The advantage of private clinics is that they are opened for 7 days a week although it will often be a half day on Sundays and stay open till 9pm. Polyclinics are opened to the public from Mon to Sat but only half day on Saturdays and they are opened till 4:30pm. Theoretically speaking, private clinics should have a shorter queue than polyclinics although from my own experience, this is certainly not the case. It took me 2 hours of wait to see my doctor and to get my medication at one private clinic and for having to pay more.

At the polyclinic, as it is in the height of N1H1 cases, there are several procedures to complete before you get to see the doctor.

1)At the entrance, walk-in patients were screened for fever/flu clinic or normal doctor consultation. Patients seemed to be joining the queue every second, indicating the masses that this polyclinic served.
2)Quick registration. Then I was referred to the fever/flu clinic with a queue number card.
3)At fever/flu clinic, another round of registeration and checking my previous record and I had to provide details of my conditions to the nurse.
4)Wait for doctor.
5) Submit prescription to pharmacy.
6)Get medication from pharmacy and proceed to the next room to pay.

Looking at the numbers on the number board which the doctors were serving, I have about 70 patients before my turn which was of no surprise as polyclinic serves the massive public. There were four doctors dedicated to fever/flu patients. As the waiting area was full, I had to stand by the railings. I came prepared and therefore took out my laptop and did a little bit of writing during the wait.

When I got to see the doctor, I learned that a fever running higher than 38 d.c. together with the rest of the flu symptoms were the likelihood of H1N1. He prescribed cough mixture, nasal spray, throat rinse and flu tablets for me.

The entire procedure took me an hour and 40 minutes and cost me a total SGD$14.80 (consultation plus medication). All this without having to be forced to pay to the monthly compulsory National Insurance contribution and the extra medication fee that one has to pay at NHS.