It was a dream come true to me when I arrived in Beijing, capital of China on the 13th August after traveling for three days.
China is a country I always wished to travel to due to my love for Chinese movies, especially my best actors Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
Traveling to China is stressful due to the long distance-from Freetown to Kenya to Dubai and finally to China. It took us three days.
Before this, on one evening, whilst serving as News Editor in July my Managing Editor, Kelvin Lewis asked my age and later informed me that I should see him before going home. I did so and he informed me that I will be traveling to China to attend the 3rd China- Africa Youth Festival in Beijing from the 13th to 21st August 2009.
I was anxious to travel again especially to China with the hope that I will see and meet with Jet Li or Jackie Chan. Unfortunately I was told the two no longer stayed in China.
On the 11th August when I started the journey from my house to the Lungi International Airport it was not easy due to the traffic congestion and the ferry schedule.
Upon reaching the Kissy Terminal I was told that the ferry had left and I should wait for the next one which meant waiting for another one hour or more.
I was very anxious to start on my China trip and I fumed in anger when I learnt that the ferry had mechanical problems and cannot run at it’s usually speed.
I found a comfortable place to seat and watched Street boys parading the terminal hunting for their usual game. I became very worried and asked a Police Officer by my side many questions about the ferry and whether Kenya Airways (The Pride of Africa ) has landed.
Suddenly, a lady came to where I was sitting. She was also chatting with some other people about the ferry schedule.
A gentleman asked her name and she replied; ‘Baindu Massaquoi’. I introduced myself and asked her whether she was also traveling to China she replied yes and I asked her if she knew the other two people that will joining us. She said she knew one of them named Alieu Bakarr Conteh from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
At exactly two o’clock, we boarded the Great Scarcies Ferry. It was so slow and I lost patience wondering if I would not miss my flight by 5:30. The ferry took one and half hours to reach Targrin in Lungi
Thanks to my professional driver who drove as if he was on a Safari Rally .I was at the airport by quarter pass four ready for checking. We met the two others in Lungi; we introduced ourselves and became instant friends.
One of them Isata Kamara who had not traveled in a Plane was very jittery and started asking funny questions.
In boarding flight KQ 511, her body temperature went up and she started praying.
Finally, as the flight was about to take off, I became jittery too and started praying until it was announced that the flight is above sea level.
We were served but she could not eat, she gave me her food and I passed it on to Alieu.
Shortly after it was announced that we will be landing at Kotoka International Airport in Accra in 10 minutes time. After which we headed for Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi which is one of our transit point.
After five hours we were in Nairobi by 5: 30 their own time for next flight with Emirates Airlines for Dubai.
Upon landing at Dubai airport I really got the taste of living in a foreign land. Considering the way the airport is big and well furnished. I spotted the remarkable difference between Africa and Europe. I enjoyed using escalators and elevators to move from one point of the airport to another. Riding on escalators and elevators was fun to me and I used it frequently for no reason. I almost missed my flight to China. But thanks to some Chinese friends who told us that our boarding gate had been changed from 118 to 10. Can you imagine how far it was? I used escalators to escalators but yet still the distance is like from St John to Cotton tree.
Finally I was in The Emirates again this time with a bang. The flight gave me all the comfort I had longed for; I did not even get the feeling of being in the air. There was a television set from where I selected any station I felt like watching. What amused me most was the fact that you can watch from your Television set the movement of the plane. It was really scaring. I managed to sleep after drinking Baileys and eating a lot. I woke up only to find my self in Pek, China airport. ‘China na China ya’.
The airport is extremely beautiful and I was left wondering how much labour and money had been spent on it. We were the centre of attraction as we were the only black people around the airport. They greeted us in Chinese but we could not respond. They laughed at us thinking we cannot talk.
The unfortunate thing of all was the fact that our luggage they did not travel with us .They were tagged for Dubai by Kenya Airways staff at Lungi airport. We went to claim our luggage, signed forms and later left for our hotel Thai Long Plaza. On our way our Chinese friends Helena presented to us our documents for the festival. I was not paying attention to what she was saying. I was busy looking at the tall and beautiful buildings, streets and the way the people behave. Finally we were at the hotel after one hour drive.
ADVERTISEMENT