Shanghai Surprise !

Where to begin ? Going into China is always interesting, such a different culture in every way possible. The 7 hour flight was good, nothing major, the same people asking for their usual water and the same people taking off their shoes to suffocate the rest of the cabin. As we are about to decent, the senior advises us that as soon as the plane comes to a stop at the gate to keep all customers seated ! uhmmm.... my brain was tired at that point that I did not even bother to think why... about 30 minutes after landing, a group of fully protected inspector (masks and all) come in to take everyones temperature, now the aircraft type is a Boeing 777-300, with a 3 class configuration, that is 8 in first class, 42 in business and a whopping 304 in economy ! did I mention we were full ! that inspection took about 45 minutes, but when they reached the last row , they found a customer who happened to have high fever (oh great I was telling myself), but with no coughing or any visible signs of fever symptom, the authorities were not willing to risk it, so the obvious logical thing for them to do is quarantine ! But only the customers who were sitting in the area and all the crew who served him. At this point my brain awakes and I'm thinking, we were all trapped at 40 thousand feet in the air breathing the same air, and now they figure only part of the plane is affected ! Anyway I'm no doctor or scientist, who am I to judge lol . By now it's been 2 hours we landed and still on the plane, a decision needed to be taken between the crew, do we all stay for quarantine, or one of us volunteers ? Guess who out of nowhere decided to take that step ? No other then me ! Once that was settle, the rest of the crew and customers could disembark and only a dozen of customers and myself stayed, and that, for another hour, until a bus came to pick us up and bring us to a quarantine hotel. What involved the choice that I made ? If the test for the customer with high fever revealed positive for H1N1 I would have to stay in the hotel for a minimum of 7 days ! scary ! if negative, I would just go join the rest of the crew at the regular layover hotel. Leaving the airport on to that so called quarantine hotel, felt like being a star, for some strange reason, they were camera man waiting outside the gate, and arriving at the hotel , people were actually waiting for that bus to arrive, really strange ! no discretion , the thing does not make any sense. We get at the hotel, get a room key, and advise to stay in untill further notice. The plane had landed 7 hours ago by now, and I just dropped dead and slept like a baby, but to be bothered 1 hour later by a disturbing knock on the door, it was my dinner, obviously I did not realized how much I was hungry, ate the meal as fast as possible, a record for me, fell back asleep, but, an hour later again, same story, this time they came to pick up the tray !!!! it was 10pm by now !!! next disturbance would be the next morning at 6am to a call telling me that everything is ok and a bus would be picking me up in an hour. Now on to the real layover, got to the Hotel at 8am, saw the rest of the crew outside waiting for the hotel shuttle to take them shopping, checked in, and went back down a.s.a.p. and went out with them ! spent the time on the bus yapping away my night in quarantine. Shanghai is pretty nice, the shopping second to none if you like fakes ! lol.

Roster for July is not out yet, but I already know that I'm going to Paris twice next month...Can't wait !

Click for Pictures from Shanghai and then some : Shanghai