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| Live from Beijing |
| Monday September 28, 2009 , Beijing |
| Just landed at the spanking and mammoth Beijing international airport. Very efficient immigration system. Was out of the immigration in a jiffy. H1N1 checks were quick too. More people were attempting to speak English and the staff at the airport seemed friendlier than they were during my earlier trips. Olympic effect? Perhaps. But got stuck at the customs. The staff there just did not have a clue about what needed to be done. We wanted to declare our equipment and they did not know how to deal with it. That's where one realised that all the training to speak English in the run up to the Olympics last year was rudimentary. When it came to conversing longer, the Chinese staff still fumbles. Fortunately, an official from the Foreign Office -- who knew about our arrival -- came to our rescue. He got delayed. As we came out and took the taxi, we knew why our Chinese friend was delayed. The traffic was heavy and crawling. Indeed, there seemed to be more cars on the road and traffic was slower than I had experienced before. The city is lit up brightly and buntings proclaiming 'China 60," were fluttering all over the road from the airport to the City centre. Beijing is certainly geared up for the grand celebrations. Felt slightly disappointed about not been able to start work tonight but unless we get our press cards, we cannot begin our shoot. The cards will be issued on Tuesday. Till then, intend to spend time in setting up appointments. |
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A student of conflicts, insurgencies and wars, Nitin Gokhale has spent 26 years reporting on military and militants from various hostile fields like India's north-east, Kashmir valley, the Kargil war, China and Sri Lanka, among others. He's currently NDTV's Defence and Strategic Affairs Editor.
