My China Odyssey

As the boarding of China Eastern 522 to Shanghai was announced a smile crossed my face. I knew I was only a couple of hours from Shanghai and that much closer to a soft pillow. The boarding took place in a very orderly fashion and much quicker than I had expected. No sooner had I fastened my seat belt than we began to pull away from the terminal. As I had suspected, the airliner was near capacity. But luckily I had an isle seat and noone seated beside of me, giving me much more room than on the previous flight.

Shortly into the flight a chime went out through the cabin speakers, this indicated that the pilot or one of the stewardesses were about to speak. This time a female voice spoke, first in Mandarin, then in English. She told us that a meal would be served very soon. Never being a fan of airline food in America, I was very curious if not wary of the food to be served. Shortly, the attendants went through the cabin giving each passenger a covered dish and a pair of chopsticks. Upon opening the dish, there was what looked like sliced beef with noodles, white rice, a green cooked vegetable and an almond cookie.

I noticed my fellow passengers wasted no time in digging in, so I thought it must be very tasty. After all I thought, this would be the first sample of what I would be eating for the next six months. Placing chopsticks in hand I picked up a sizable portion of the beef and noodles. As soon as I put it in my mouth I wanted to spit it out, but I refrained and choked it down. I’m not sure if it was the preservatives or the way it was prepared but it ranked right up there with some of the worst airline food I’ve ever had. The rice and vegetables on the other had weren’t too bad so I ate them while pushing the beef mixture away as not to taint the rest of the meal. The almond cookie was very good and helped to cleanse the initial taste from my palate.

I noticed my fellow passengers didn’t feel the same as me about the beef concoction as they had quickly finished everything on their tray. The thought now racing through my head was “Is this what my food is going to taste like for the next six months ?”. My thoughts were interupted by another chime from the loudspeaker, this time it was the pilot. Again in Madarin first, then English, he stated that we would be arriving in Shanghai in about forty-five minutes. My journey was nearing completion. Shortly after the announcement the stewardesses came through the cabin removing the remnants of our meal. I had replaced the cover on mine, not wanting to show how little I had eaten. As they made their final pass through the cabin collecting any remaining trash I heard the now familiar chime.

This time it was one of the stewardess addressing the passengers. We were instructed to return our trays to their original position and bring our seats to the upright position. Since we weren’t experiencing any turbulance, I knew this could mean only one thing. We would soon begin our decent to Shanghai. Once again a smile crept across my face, I was very excited, for very soon a dream of many years would be realized. I would be stepping foot in a country whose culture and history I had long admired. I would be in the People’s Republic of China.

Tags: Travel

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