Chinese dressing was absolutely upto trend. With skyhigh heels and lacy stockings and hot pants and short skirts and purple colors, everything was in accordance to international hot trends. It was perfect. My 2.5” heels almost became insignificant against their 5” heels. A few fashion disasters also were witnessed. A lady with short skirt with long trench coat made me wonder if she forgot her bottoms until she removed her coat!!!

My lunch consisted of a cheese sandwich and a cuppa cappuccino. My hopes of becoming a vegan from a vegetarian completely vanished after seeing the variety I had there. Cheese sandwich was the only option. It costed ¥12 and cappuccino costed ¥30. Wow, my drink was costlier than my food!

After returning to the hotel I again went to the shop to get water. 2 lts of water was ¥5. I just scanned the varieties available in the shop. It was pretty good. From fruits to dry fruits to icecreams to chips to other things… Errr… Did I just say other things..??? What are those.??? There was a pack of what I though was ‘Mor Milagai’ – Slit chilies immersed in buttermilk and dried, essentially a South Indian delicacy. I tried to analyze the pack when I saw the pack beneath it. It had 3 duck legs soaked in God knows what. I moved away and returned back to room. Dinner was my own MTR Veg Pulav.

Day 3:

Again after dressing up in business suit, I checked out, what in for me in the restaurant. Today my breakfast was a few boiled lettuce leaves again, a boiled pumpkin pieces and a cup of rasna and a cream filled bun. Today I though I’ll try my hand in the chop sticks. I tried to pick a lettuce leaf with my chop sticks and it flew and landed beside my neighbor’s plate. Disaster thy name was that. I looked at him and he didn’t seem to bother. I looked up to see if any one else noticed. But all were busy with their own platter. I kept the chopsticks aside and put my fingers to work.

I left to work again. And my lunch was the same as Day 1. I met few interesting persons today.

One was a native of Kyrgyzstan. But was a Chinese citizen. He was interested to know more about India. He asked “How come Indians speak good English. Do you have it in school curriculum?” I said “Yes, of course”. He was then talking about the best thing Indians and Chinese shared – Population. He informed me that Chinese can have only one kid per home. Indeed a fantastic idea to incorporate in India as well. Another one was from Egypt and was really very friendly. I had a nice chat with him and he was explaining his company logo. It had a Pyramid and river Nile and a World Map. It signified it was from Egypt to the world. As interesting as he was indeed.

By the time the day got over, tiredness and legpain with the all work no play day made me decide, the next day had to start with a can of Red Bull. This day I bought a few bananas, a few cherry tomatoes, a few little mangoes, and water, all for ¥13. My dinner was MTR Tomato Rice.

Day 4:

As I contemplated the horrifying experience the previous day with chop sticks, I decided to settle with those bananas for breakfast. Healthy, indeed. And ofcourse, as I had decided the previous day, Red Bull too. It was 12¥ for a small can. That made it 12 x 7 = 84 bucks. It is Rs.45 in India. Please, let me forget conversions.

Today, at work, I met few more interesting people. A lady asked me if I was an Indian. I said “Yes, Why.?”. She said “Indians’ eyes are beautiful, so are yours”. Oh my..!!! My undereye dark circles appeared ‘beautiful’ for her…?????

Another lady asked me “Isn’t Indian film industry huge?” I guffawed and said “Yes. Very huge”.  She – “Oh! Recently one film is very famous. One Millionaire film”. I said “Slumdog Millionaire”. She asked “What’s the meaning of Slumdog? Does it mean ‘From very poor place’?” Rather a tricky question for me as the glory of India in her vision was in my hands and also an eye opener for the way India was depicted in the movie. I said “Yes. It’s a place near Mumbai, which is poor. Other places in India are very rich”. She said “Ok. I thought so. I got a forward mail from my friend saying India is a rich country with lots of multi millionaire businessmen. Its not like what its depicted in the movie”. I said “Yes. Lots of Indians are rich. Some people in some parts of India are poor”. She said “Ok. I actually love India. It’s a very interesting place. I would come one day”. I said “Sure”, with my mind thinking the impact of the Oscar winning movie in the minds of the people across the world.

Then, my lunch was the same, as if I had options. By this time, I had become an expert in eating cherry tomatoes. I checked the price of Red Bull can in this store, and reality struck me, it was ¥6. It was double rate in corporate complexes. Well, I got my can for the next day from here and retired for the day.

Day 5:

My breakfast was again bananas and Red Bull. I got the traditional dress of China called Cheongsam, a memorablia. At workplace, I felt thirsty and thought of getting a bottle of water. A bottle was rated ¥5. There was smaller bottle and I thought that would be enough. I asked its price and was told ¥15! I exclaimed “What…!!!!!!!! Why…???????” She said “It’s a different brand mam”. I opted for the previous one and left the place. I saw a pack of potato chips, I looked at the price, it said ¥5. I again contemplated, that was around Rs.35. I asked her, she said “No mam, its ¥15.” Again astonishment, Rs.105 for a pack of chips was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Well, I decided not to burn my money on that. My lunch was again Cheese Sandwich. I returned.

This day I opted for some sight seeing, it was Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s Memorial hall, it was the view through the window I loved watching. Dr. Sun Yat Sen is the reformer of Modern China. It was a lovely garden with a museum. I couldn’t see the museum coz it was till 5 pm and I landed there at 6.

It was so lovely to see the kids playing here with their parents or grandparents. It was a fantastic place for those seeking solitude.

Awesome place with so many trees and the traditionally built building among the sky scrapers beside. An evening there would be the best way to spend in peace.

Day 6:

Wow, after a fine trip it was now to return to mother land. I asked the receptionist to get me a taxi to go to the airport. He said that I just need to wave my hand to the passing by taxi. I said that I knew that but wanted him to say that I needed to go to the Guangzhou Airport. He aptly took a piece of paper and wrote the sentence in Chinese and gave it to me. I gave it to the taxi driver and he left me at the airport for ¥100 including a toll gate fee. Now, what was the ¥300 I gave when I came. Well, God only knows that.

I checked in and reached my boarding gate. My mild headache made me opt for the coffee at the coffee shop there. The menu card also said Hot Chocolate. Wow, a great luxury medicine to take for the head ache. It was ¥55, that’s Rs.500 including the card charges!!! But my headache demanded it. I ordered for a Hot Chocolate, but as fate took a twist and I got a damn MILO. I could never forget that MILO that costed me Rs.500!!!

Then I reached the magnificent Kuala Lumpur Airport. It’s so huge that I had to take a metro train to reach the boarding gate from my arrival gate!!! It was a fantastic in-flight food served by Malaysian Airlines. I would swear by their advertisement ‘MH is not just a flight code. Its Malaysian Hospitality.’ Only on dis-embarkment did I find that Silver Screen Actor Shaam was my Co-passenger! A wide smile and a warm ‘Hi’, made him really star worthy!