Boarding the flight in Beijing
The trip to India started with a Didi ride, the Uber of China, to Beijing Capital International Airport. The driver had a talisman dangling from the rearview mirror, so we felt safe.
The surprises started when we reached the airport. Our China Eastern flight was not yet displayed on the departures board. See, we were bound for Kolkata, but as there was no direct flight from Beijing, so we had to first fly to Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province in southwest China.
But the flight was canceled. The manager on duty wanted to put us on a later flight (which was also on a two hours delay!) but that would have left us less than one hour in Kunming to deplane, get our luggage, go to international departures, check in, go though immigration and security check, oh, and also catch our flight.
That would have been a bad idea. So I just played the upset foreigner card and the manager on duty put us on an earlier flight. The shock came when we checked our boarding passes and saw that the flight was scheduled to leave in 30 minutes! So, off we went through immigration and security and then on a jog to Gate 35, huffing and puffing while carrying 2 cabin bags and a laptop. My wife Upashna was on my tail, keeping up.
The good news was that we made it. The surprising news was that the flight was also 2 hours late. It would have been so much easier if the airline manager had told us we had all the time in the world to catch our new flight.
Taking off in Beijing
Once on the plane, we started the long taxi to the runway. As we had one window seat, I took some footage of the planes on the move and felt excited, just like a child, when we passed by the small aircraft parking area.
And then, all of a sudden, the plane throttled up and in no time we were airborne. The view from above was awesome. The wing seat window offered opportunities for some great shots.
As the day was clear with no pollution, no smog, and no clouds, I had a good view of the massive apartment projects rising on the outskirts of Beijing. When we passed over the center of the capital, Beijing’s new tallest building, the skyscraper China Zun could be clearly seen soaring up in the sky at a height of 528m. With its 108 floors, it is the 10th tallest building in the world but only ranks as China’s 6th tallest building.
As we flew further south of Beijing, we passed over Beijing Nanyuan Airport, a military and civilian airport that served the capital as a secondary airport. This airport will closed its runways to civilian flights when the new Beijing Daxing International Airport open later in the year.
Gradually, the urban sprawl of inner Beijing gave way to the villages and the mountains paths of the Xishan Mountain Range in the west. It was a rare opportunity to see so clearly the winding roads meandering across the mountains.
After a good 20 minutes, we reached cruising altitude and were basically up in the clouds, waiting for the cabin crew to start serving a plastic wrapped bun which we had with orange juice. No real meal was provided on this “short” four-hour flight from Beijing to Kunming…
Flying over Yunnan
When we slowly started descending over Yunnan Province, the sky was still crystal clear. We could immediately see the differences in the landscape compared to northern China.
Stretching for miles and miles, rice terraces and greenhouses were visible with the naked eye. Several major rivers and the tropical climate make Yunnan Province a great place for rice production, which is actually the main crop. But tea, tobacco and cotton are also grown here among many other crops.
In not time, we landed at Kunming Changshui International Airport. Our journey to India was just beginning.
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