| Peak Season 2 - Entry 2 : "五十年來最大冰凍"Peak Season 第二砲 - CMS (湖南 subsidiary)
一隻完完全全係wok爆location既 job...
20/1/2008 (香港 > 長沙市 > 澧縣)
It was all over the newspaper that 湖南 was having a snow
storm. But MIC still insisted that we need to go to 長沙. Upon arrival, we still had an 8 hour car ride to 澧縣 - the borderline city of 湖南 & 湖北. The driver picked up his own friends on the way. A car that only
fits 4 people, fitted with 5 full grown men. Jesus Christ...it was so cramped.
We had dinner on the way, with the client insisting on trying this "骨水". OMG...it smelt really really 腥... I lost
my appetite immediately (not that i was too interested in that mean anyway).
21-24/1/2008 (澧縣 > 長沙市)
A humid winter, is far far colder than a dry winter. It felt as if a -1 in
humid weather is equivalent to -10 of dry weather. Every day, we had to work in
an environment of around -5 degrees of humid winter. There was no heater in
office. We dressed up like a bunch of hikers in "The Day After
Tomorrow" the part where the Dad is walking through the snow to find his
son in New York City.
Never had a decent meal during these 4 days. Is this place too poor for better
quality food? Or do they think this is good food already? Dishes and dishes of
oily vegetables, spicy food, and shit meat that has 90% fat and 10% stinking
meat. As for lunch, at the client's canteen, it was all leftovers. Twice we ate
there, twice it was the same food, with smaller portions (probably we ate that
the other day).
We quickly wrapped up the whole file by Thursday afternoon, then traveled back
to 長沙. The weather there is still terrible. Every road was iced. However,
I was glad to have finally something decent for dinner, that is KFC!!!
However, this is only the beginning of my nightmare...
25/1/2008 (長沙市 > 機場 > 長沙市)
Went to get the final Bank Confirmation stamped and headed straight to the 長沙 airport. The airport reopened at 11:45AM; we hoped to catch the
1.20PM plane back to 深圳, but there was something wrong with the
ticket of my FIC, so in the end, we parted ways temporarily and I checked in
first. Had no lunch, and waited for my plane to arrive and hoped it'd fly as
scheduled. Looking at the monitors, more and more flights are delayed and
canceled. Things didn't look promising. Eventually, there was word that my
plane had arrived, but it couldn't get near the boarding gates because the
planes that are already there are frozen. 長沙 airport itself has
no de-icing equipment. At 8PM, the airport was declared closed. What could I
do? I checked out, went into the crowd to get my ticket rescheduled for a
flight on 26/1, and collected my luggage. That took 3 hours in total. By then I
called up my FIC to see where he was. We joined up again and after he had done
his rescheduling, and retrieving his luggage, we got onto a rip-off taxi to
find a hotel for the night. The taxi cost us RMB 100 per head. By the time we
got to a hotel and checked in, it was 1AM of 26/1 already. Without any food
since noon, we were both starving. After getting showered and getting some cup
noodles, it was 2AM before either of us can get some rest.
26/1/2008 (長沙市 > 機場 > 長沙市 > 長沙火車站)
After 2 hours of sleep, we had another cup noodle before setting off for the
airport at 5AM. The roads were iced again, it was another RMB 100 per head taxi
ride. When we arrived at the ticketing booth for the highway, the taxi driver
decided to go to the side, avoiding payment. Good idea to avoid payment, but
not to get the car trapped by a metal pole. The front wheels were lifted off
the ground, the car was stuck. So the three of us (driver, FIC and me) got off
the car, and see what can be done to resolve the situation. It was blazing cold
outside and we were nowhere near ready for such an morning exercise. Yanking
the pole, shaking the pole, lifting the car, every method had been tried on
this slippery road. It was impossible to find a place where you can grip onto
the floor. Luckily, after about 20 minutes, I managed to take the pole away and
we continued to airport.
7:00AM - With time to spare when we arrived, we paid ridiculous prices for a
proper breakfast. RMB 50 for a burger and RMB 50 for a disgusting bowl of
noodles & coffee.
9:00AM - FIC thought it was impossible for him to get on his flight, so he left
for the train station hoping to find a ticket back to 廣州 or 深圳.
10.00AM - At this time, our contact in 長沙 called me, asking
me to make a decision to fly or take a train back to 廣東省.
11:00AM - Just as I was about to go through the security checks, the client had
called again telling me they have found us train tickets back to 廣州. Taking a look at the weather outside, it was raining a mixture of
ice and rain. By the look of it, it would be impossible to fly again. All
highways are closed, all flights are grounded, only trains left running (or so
it seems). So the process was reperformed after 12 hours. Check-out, collecting
luggage and hop onto a taxi that by now charges RMB 200 per head. On the way
out of the airport, it was declared that the airport will be further closed
until 7AM the next morning. I was lucky to get out before the crowd starts
creating a chaos again. But this taxi decided to 死火 about
three-quarters of the way. We are forced to get out of the taxi, but there was
no other taxi that are willing to take us. I was left standing in the cold,
feeling helpless. OK.. so I had to call up the contact again, demanding she
send a car to pick me up, I shoved my phone to the people inside the公安亭 nearby, so the two PRC people can communicate properly about the
exact location of my whereabouts. After standing in the snow for 30 or so
minutes, the car finally came.
12:30PM - I finally go to the rendezvous point and finally managed to have
myself relaxed a little. Had lunch with client and then a nap in the hotel room
they prepared for us. Though it was not possible to rest because news on the TV
was saying even trains are getting immobile. In the evening, it was dinner time
again and a bit of shopping was done.
10.30PM - The client told us to get prepared to go to the train station as it
was getting more and more crowded outside the station.
Supplies for the train ride - 1包oreo, 1包檸檬夾心餅, 1包蔥油梳打餅, 1支 1.5L水, 1個1L暖水樽
27/1/2008 (長沙火車站 > 火車)
At 1.30AM, the train finally arrived at the
station. Got to the compartment, tried to steady myself on the iced platform
floor before I lifted my luggage onto the train. Just the moment when I lifted the
luggage, my foot slipped on the ice and slipped into the platform gap, took a
couple bangs here and there on the left shin. On the train, lights went out a
while later after it started moving. I was really really tired. Ignoring the
pain on my left leg, I climbed to my assigned 硬臥 bed (on the top of the three layers), and tried to get some sleep. This
train ride is only supposed to take 8 hours. I hoped by the time I wake up, I’d
be there or thereabouts in 廣州.
So, waking up before dawn it was sometime between
5AM and 6AM, checked out my injured leg, only to find it was heavily swollen
and I could feel a dent on my shin. The only place of relief I can find was
that I didn’t break my leg; else I couldn’t even have walked. I went down to
ground level, only to find out that the train had only travelled 20 minutes
away from 長沙 after
one whole night. Shocking news. Despite waking up, I was still very very tired.
I was drowsing every now and then before I suddenly lost consciousness and
fainted for roughly 10 – 20 seconds. My guess is, physical and mental
exhaustion, mentally worried over the leg injury, shocking news of the status
of the train ride… was all too much at that point in time.
The train moved a bit and stopped, this cycle
repeated until there was a clear section that we travelled 2 hours to another
place that looked like a station but only to wait for another 4 hours before we
felt movement again. There was no food on the train. We had to control the
consumption of food at one biscuit every hour to keep something in the stomach.
During the stoppage, there was rice that cost RMB 10 each, for something pretty
awful. But at that moment, anything would do as long as it’s warm and
fulfilling.
The repetitive cycle of start stop
continued as we headed from 長沙 to 株州 to 衡陽 to郴州 (got out of 湖南!). Finally we got to 韶關 at 12AM.
28/1/2007 (火車 > 廣州站 > 香港)
The train finally arrived 廣州 at 3AM. I was really glad to see my 表姐s picking
me up. That was the major sigh of relief. Returned home in the evening!
Had my leg checked, luckily there’re no cracks
shown on the X-Ray. According to the doctor, it is probably 撞爆腳骨膜 and/or撞傷腳骨… |
