Out of China

At the gracious invitation of Amway Philippines, I spent a couple of days in Guangzhou (capital city of Guangdong, formerly known as Canton) and another couple of days in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. Six media friends (with one from Cebu and another from Davao) were escorted by Amway Philippines Country Manager Ador Bonquin and Corporate Services/Operations Manager Suzanne Comagon for a tour of the laboratories and factories of Amway China. We joined a bigger media delegation with Amway Taiwan, who hosted the China tour. 

My amazing Amway experience will be covered by articles in the Lifestyle section, as I deal here with the travel aspect of the tour. Going to Guangzhou from Hong Kong was a comfortable three-hour coaster ride, with packed lunch and a bagful of eats, thoughtfully distributed by Amway Taiwan executives to each of us. To our amusement, we found most of the snack packs to be made in the Philippines – dried mangoes, banana chips, green peas, peanuts, etc. 

We were billeted at the Ritz Carlton with a welcome dinner at their plush Terra Restaurant, so the quite hectic first day was erased as we settled in our respective grand boudoirs, too elegant for words. It must be noted that The Ritz’s clientele worldwide are exclusively crème de le crème, the likes of prince and princesses…so, we felt like royalty for the night.

Guangzhou, unfortunately, was a blur as our Amway factory tours and interviews took priority. Soon, we were at the domestic airport, bound for Shanghai. One gets a feel of the sheer number of the Chinese populace when waiting at their domestic air terminal, where one can get claustrophobic amidst the crowds occupying what seemed to be every corner of the place.

Shanghai. What more can one say to this “Paris of the Orient?” It has truly risen from the ashes with astonishing beauty. We were billeted this time at the multi-awarded 6-star The Westin Bund Center. The frenetic city, freezing at 6 degrees Celsius, got under our skins. Shanghai is gearing for the 2010 World Expo, even as it flushed with pride as China’s first domestically produced jet ARJ 21 – Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st Century – took off in its air space for its first test flight — a success. The 90-seater aircraft, powered by a turbo fan engine, rolled off the production line in 2007.   It has a maximum flight range of 3,700 km. and a top altitude of 11,900 m. And one of the city’s high-end home developer, Shanghai Zhong-Kai Group, just opened its first Howard Johnson Business Club Hotel Shanghai on Shimen No.1 Road, with 334 rooms. It is the 21st Howard Johnson in China.

Our Shanghai days were more relaxed. We had a lovely lunch at Zen in the former French Quarter (now known as Xintiandi), with its definitely European feel of old buildings and labyrinthine side streets, of quaint stores and art shops, of a conglomeration of blondes and blue-eyed expatriates taking their coffee at sidewalk cafes or drinking beer at the bars. Then we had an afternoon at the water-logged town of ZhouZhuang – the Venice of China – where the best of the world-famous Shanghai hairy crabs are harvested. The boat ride along the canals was an experience, if only our boatman could sing an operatic aria as he rowed along.

On the downside, Shanghai’s two airports – Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao Airport – which forecasted a combined 86.8 million passengers in 2010 will not meet its target vis a vis the significant slowdown in business and leisure travel, as reported by Shanghai Airport Authority Vice President Wang Guangdi in a press conference in Guangzhou. He further reported a decline to 42.9 million in the first 10 months this year. Shanghai, according to the Shanghai Daily, aims to surpass Beijing as China’s number one air travel destination, with the approval of the Civil Aviation Administration of increased landing rights for airlines in 2009.

Hong Kong’s biggest airline, Cathay Pacific, announced that it has cut down its growth plans in 2009 and will offer its cabin crew unpaid leave for as long as one year to survive the economic crunch.  The company predicts less than 1% increase in passenger volume next year, against the previous plan of 7%. 

Then, it was time to go home. I had the feeling that I was forever in transit during this trip, so I made a poem to celebrate the moment:

 In Transit

cold metal waiting chair

whispers wintry random bits

of the frozen unspoken words

in the desolation of a goodbye.

the whisking tempo of the train

from city to the airport terminal

mimics the swirling staccato of

goodbyes not hellos, sans au revoir.

out of the whirl of the plane

in flight, pain is in transit

like the cumulus clouds below

as gossamer, as evanescent.

feelings acquire effulgent wings

as fearless as the soaring eagle

as boundless as the seamless sky

simply suspended in transit.