Getting back

So long as your flight isn’t too early, the tourist thing to do is to take the maglev to the airport. Unfortunately its terminal is out of downtown at Long Yang Lu (though rumors persist about bringing another terminal closer in). So get a taxi or take the metro if you’re feeling brave.

Then, you can take a photo like this.

Not that it stays at 431km/h (269 mph) for very long – the entire journey lasting about 7 minutes. It’s also a bargain at 50RMB – some people take a round trip to the airport even if they aren’t flying.

At the airport, Pudong now has two terminals. The new one is a lot more streamlined, though no doubt as more airlines come online it will get busier and the more distant gates will come into play.

As always it provided a few laughs too (yes airports can be funny)…

I never worked out quite how the lounge was ‘dedicated’ and it also reminded me of the line in ‘Lost in Translation’ where Bob is surprised at how short his interpreter’s translation is compared to the Japanese spoken by the director. Ok, he said it better than me. And no the ‘L’ hadn’t fallen off, it’s a brand new sign – I felt it too, it was never there.

Just in case anyone is thinking I’m being a little cruel, just take it from me that Chinese (even my colleagues who have the utmost respect for me) have no qualms about laughing at foreigners and how funny they seem trying to make their way with Mandarin.

At a new year’s party I was once taken on stage and made to sing Chinese pop songs that were playing through some headphones. And yes, the audience had to guess what I was singing. I have to say I did remarkably well.

… but I digress. I also had a good laugh at these floor arrows:

At first I thought they were an attempt to keep people walking in the same direction and avoid collisions. Except their placement seemed inconsistent and indeed conflicting (e.g. opposite direction to the moving walkway). And why illuminated rather than permanent?

Eventually I realized they were directing people to ‘something’. The something being the exit or stairs or a restroom or an elevator… And here lies the flaw in the plan – you don’t know in advance what the something is.

If you ever make it to Pudong airport, have a look and tell me if you have a better explanation :)