Singapore: Jan 2: Returning to Shanghai

Saturday was uneventful. We awoke before dawn, caught our pre-arranged taxi to the airport, and checked-in. I had a breakfast of kaya toast, remembering the kaya I had the last time I left Singapore. Security in Singapore's airport was in an unusual location -- it guarded the individual gate we were to use. I recall my previous flight out of Singapore had the same setup, though in that case I thought it was because the destination was the United States.

We needed two flights to get home, first a long flight to Beijing then a short one doubling back to Shanghai. This time we flew China Air. We enjoyed the long first leg. The seats were more spacious and comfortable than China Eastern (which brought us to Singapore). Our lunch was also acceptable.

From Beijing airport's windows, the landscape looked cold and frosty. A dusting of snow (or ice?) covered the ground. The mid-afternoon temperature was -5 C (23 F), quite a contrast to the 30 C (86 F) we experienced in Singapore. Happily, the airport was comfortable (actually probably warmer than Shanghai's), and the short train that took us between terminals was quite well heated. By the way, it was a good thing we made it through Beijing this day, as that evening they reported heavy snowfall that delayed and canceled flights.

The short flight to Shanghai wasn't as nice as our earlier flight this day or our flight to Singapore. The seats were still comfortable like our first flight. However, unlike how on those two flights we had a row of two to ourselves, on this flight we were in a full row of three. Furthermore, the dinner they served was so bad as to be inedible. Nevertheless, everything else was fine. Customs was easy. Our planes arrived and departed on time. Our baggage arrived safely (though Di Yin's was slightly damaged, but the airline reimbursed her a value that was actually more than the cost of the bag).

I knew I was back in Shanghai when, while waiting for our baggage, I hear someone loudly hawk a loogie. Because it was in the airport, he was kind enough to do it into the garbage, a courtesy not normally exercised outdoors.