Funny Memories

Its 16th March 2005 I made it back to my den ie Dubai.. details as following:

On 15th March 2005 my Guide i,e My "Shi Fu" note(shi fu in chinese means teacher who helps you to learn some skills" brought a train ticket and my train had to leave on sharp 1337hours from Yi wu railway station to shanhai railway station.

Being a human its really painful to say "See Ya " note (Good bye) i don't use this word because this word has so much ruthlessness and brutality that I don't use this word at all and all my freinds knows that part.. anyways.. we made it to Yi Wu railway station which is 10 minutes drive from my hotel.I was accompanied by my dear freind Mr.Shuja and My Shi Fu Ms Caroline Lee to the station.Unfortunately there was no vaccant seat so I had to stand there in the train for the rest of my journey which was five to six hours. I met My loves ones and said "C ya and take good care of yourselves hope to see you soon" and i boarded on the train and there was a whistle and the door closed and the train started. There was sadness and pain in the Eyes of my close friends and they were waving at me and I was standing at the gate and Salute them and after that I lost there sight.

All alone with a backpack and no place to sit .. for few minutes i had no idea whats going on coz i was emotionally carried away with the feelings "Being Separated from my group" the journey which we started together ended with my departure and that feeling of being alone all the way back home.

For twenty minutes or so i was standing there then I looked at my backpack and put it on the train floor and sat on it and lighted a cig and smoked there... I could see so many buildings,feilds and farmers on my way back to shanghai...the people who were in that train I had no idea what they were talking about coz I can't understand Chinese at all and I wish I could learn it in those few days to communicate with the locals but it was beyond my scope and my abilities.. all that i learned from my Shi Fu was few basic things like if you need water "Wo Yao Shoay" that is I need water and if you need Tea you can add "Hun Cha" ie is black tea and if you want milk with it you ll have to say "Neo Nai" or if you need sugar "Tong" so one can add few things with this simple sentence like wo yao hun cha. wo yao shoay etc.. and if you have to say thanks you can say "Xie Xie" and be prepared to listen to this word "Bo Ke Che" that is you are welcome :).

Anyways I was sitting all alone thinking about my trip and all of a sudden from the cabin the train cabin crew appeared and he asked me to show him my ticket i think he said something but i got one word and ie "Pyao" its ticket for sure ;) and later on he asked me to follow him to his superior... I accompanied him to that cabin though every single person sitting in that cabin looked at me with smiling faces and few with stares and few with shocking eyes.. coz i know they haven't seen such a weirdo like me for sure ;) btw I ll be posting the pictures soon so you can tell yourself that why those folks were lookin at me like this :P

Anyways they checked my ticket and asked me to pay them more for berth seat ... i paid them 100 yuans and they showed me the way to the next cabin I went to my cabin and the berth no was 28.. there were two ladies with a kid and a male .. when the little kid looked at me all of sudden he freaked out and cried and her mom laughed and said something to that poor kid he was hardly four or at the most five years of age.. I said to myself "Damn I scarred the poor baby" and put my lagguage on the top and unlaced my boots and jumped to the upper berth on the right and settled there.. the ladies been gossiping and the male was busy reading the newpaper and the soft Chinese music was on and all of a sudden all those voices and those gossips lost there voice and i was surrounded by "Sweet memories"

So many stations came and passed by so many people got in and get out of that train and i was there unaware whats going on just thinking about all those times that we been through.I took out my photos and looked at them and starting analysing the situations when those pictures were taken and laughed to myself.... after four hours or so i noticed that the berth in which i was accompanied the ladies were gone and there was place in the lower berth so i shifted my things to that berth and open up my back pack and took out juice and eathing stuff and i offered it to that person who was still busy in reading that newpaper he smiled and said Xie Xie and i smiled and then done with my meal and he looked at me and then at the photos and asked that he wanted to see them i showed them the pictures but there were no words just smiles coz he couldn't speak English and I knew nothing about Chinese. ;)

Anyways I made it to Shanghai Railway station and got out of the train a very sweet lady who was in the cabin crew came to me and smiled at me and I smiled back and said "xie xie" and she smiled and said "Bo ke shi" you are wlecomed and hit the road while coming out of the station i showed them my ticket so that i can get out of that place.. I walked through that subway station and came out and there were so many people and every one was lookin at me and smiling and whispering.. all of a sudden a person came to me and said "need a cab?" I took out my note pad and showed him the script in chinese which My Shi Fu wrote it for me ... He took out his reading glasses read it and said "Your plane leaves at 0035am midnighte from Pudong airport" and he typed 300yuans on his cell phone.. i said Ta Guile it means too expenssive he laughed and said where you learned it i said forget it where i learned it i took his mobile phone and typed 125Yuans he said "IN meter cab it makes more than 150yuans and you know this" i smiled and said ok you tell how much you want he said .. you tell looks like you know this place i ll leave it to you .. i smiled and i said ok i ll give you 150yuans and he said ok.. i asked him to give me his mobile phone so i can contact my friends he gave me the cell phone i tried there number but none of them was reachable.. so i put my laggage in the cab and we hit the road .... after 40minutes drive from Shanghai Railways station we made it to Pudong airport.. I paid him the money and thanked him and smiled back at me and said "wish you a safe trip and do come back to this place in near future :)" i smiled back at him and said "if I got the chance I ll come back for sure" I entered the airport and went to information desk and the lady told me that flight is on schedual and the boarding will start at 2145pm...

I went to Qater airways office wich is situated on departure lounge its on second floor in the far corner of the airport lobby and i showed them my ticket a sweet gentlman warm welcomed me with a wide smile on his face and offered me a chair and he crossed checked my ticket... and said your flight is on time and every thing is ok.. have a safe trip.. I asked him "where can i find a calling card ?" he came out of his cabin and pointed out to gate 7 and said there is information desk ask them they ll guide you .. and said by the way your boarding going to start on 2145pm i said thanks and went to that gate.. asked them about the card and the lady told me to go to ground floor there is information center and they have the calling cards.. anyways. went there and took a calling card and trying to dial the number but it didn't work .. a very sober gentleman who was i think working in that airport with his badge and id hanging in his neck came to me and said" Sir any problems with dialing?" i said i can't dial this number he said let me help you I said sure its the number .. he dialed the number and said the phone is busy do you have another other numbers? i said let me call my friends abroad I dialed the international numbers and it worked i spoke to my family and freinds and that person was still there and he smiled at me.. and said 'Sir if you need further help we are here to help you feel free and he smiled" i said "thank you very much atleast i spoke to someone :) he smiled back and left that place..

After talking to my freinds I walked back upstairs to second floor and went to a coffee shop there i had Tuna fish and Grey Tea and smoked a cig ;) and then there was announcement for the Qatar airways .. I went to the desk and then there was a tiring waiting stuff.. every single person who was on that plane had excess baggage and i was laughing to myself and the personnels who were there "They did a great job never loss there patience at any time" they have to repeat over and over again to the people that their baggage is excess and you wont' beleive how difficult it is to handle such situations and those people really ie customs department really deserve the credit to be appreciated.. anyways on my turn i showed them my ticket and put my backpack on that wightage machine and i said i want to have this laggage as hand carry "the officer said you have no more laggage i smiled no its enough for me" he said sure sir you can take it as a hand carry .. and he said this way sir .. i went to the passport section where they have to stamp my passport to exit.. they saw my ticket and my passport and then the office asked for the departure card :P "damn i forgot to fill that card i asked for the card and a pen he looked at me and smiled and give me a departure card and pen i refilled it and submitt it" and i entered the boarding lounge.. gate fifteen if i am not wrong.. i went through duty free did shopping well to be more precise i did purchase one thing and that is "Good luck Knot" its a Chinese traditional knot which is made from single thread.. when i entered that shope a sweet lady greeted me and asked me what i want i said i need that hanging red knot she said this one i said yea.. i asked how much it cost she said 150Yuans.. i checked my wallet and to my surprise i ran out of that much yuans she said sir do you have dollars i said no she said sir do you have Euros i said no .. then she looked at me where are you from ? I said I am from Pakistan but going back to UAE and i ve Dhs if you need i can give it to you and she said how many yuans you have in your wallet i counted the money it was 87Yuans left .. she took that money and said here is your knott..i said but its not even 100Yuans she said the rest is the gift from my side i ll compensate it and she said have a safe trip.. :)

I was melted away with that jesture and i said to myself.. "during this trip every single person was so kind so sweet so gentle to me .... it seems like a fairy tale i node and sat down on the chair looked at that knott for a while" and said "I ll miss this place for sure" I sat there and then I tried to contact my friends in Yi wu.. and this time the result was same.. i took out the card and went back to my chair .. all of a sudden the phone ranged.. i ran back to that booth and there was My Shi Fu.. I talked to both of them for a while and during that conversation there was a final call to get on board.. I hanged the phone and ran to the plane.. and then there was a long long journey way home.. the plane left Pudong airport on 0035am and landed in doha after ten hours or so .. when we landed in doha the local time was six in the morning.. i changed the time on my wrist watch and waited there for the next flight.. which was after one hour .. i got on to that plane and landed in dubai after 50 minutes.. after clearance and stuff i was out of the airpot.. waiting for my freind to pick me up.. it took him two hours to reach me .. :P

Foreign monkey king or alien?

In your life, someone u met, be your friend forever, some of them I'm not sure you have chance to see him again. But now I have some friends that we'll keep in touch forever. They r gentleman like, polite,impressed me at our first sight, I like these guys at first time. They make me feel easy. It's rushed for me to follow them out of my city, ShangHai, went to Yiwu ZheJiang province, when we only met each other one day first time, at the second day (26The Feb 2005). I accompanied them to help them understand my country -China, & be their interpreter also.

I knew they need someone to guide them. So I appeared, to give them my power. To me, it's really exciting trip. It lasted more than 20 days. We spent these days together. The day we got on the train, it's a preliminary. On that five hours long train, we chated, we played cards, and I taught them some Chinese. We have a lot of fun. My new friends, they are from Pakistan. One guy's name is Shuja (it sounds like chinese word, SHuja means go to sleep),another guy' name is ShaJi (it have meaning in Chinese also, it means Cutel chicken).I couldn't help myself to laugh when I heard their names.

To them, this is first time to come to China. On the train, Chinese passengers expressed their friendliness to them, and smiled to them. They enjoyed this trip happily.

One word I taught to ShaJi was how to call teacher in chinese. We can say Shi Fu. And he repeated my word. He 's tone just liked monkey king (It's a character of Chinese famous fairy tale (THE TRIP OF WESTERN). So he had his nickname -monkey king. In China, we use chopsticks as forks,spoon and knife. It's new to them. Because it's first time to use it. It's my job to let them learn how to use them.But it's so hard for them. But they enjoyed it. To catch food to your mouth, their contentment did prove the fun they got. When we finished the lunch, Shaji wanted to keep the chopsticks he used, they kindly gave them as souvenir. I can tell, Shaji is more naughty then monkey king.

My friends' feature are different then Chinese people Features. When they walked on the streets, or ate in restaurants, always arose some Chinese to get them noticed. At first, they felt uneasy, so many people stared at them. I told them their are curious. Chinese are friendly, they are kind, it's not a good habit to stare at someone. But they didn't want to hurt you. On our trip, every Chinese gave their kindly smile.

(Article Written by: Ms.Caroline Lee)
Dated: 25th March 2005 Shanghai P.R.China