The editing on this blog is quiet terrible. And that’s unpardonable considering that I’m a journalist and that too a sub-editor!!
Anyway, I’m back in India and happy to be here. I flew Cathay Pacific (CX) and had a great flight. In fact, with every flight, I grow fonder of CX. They don’t necessarily have the ‘best’ service in the air, nor are they necessarily the best economy seats, but on the whole, they’re definitely the best airline I have ever flown. The entire experience of flying is always better on Cathay Pacific than on any other airline. I’ve flown BA, Swiss, American, United, Southwest, Air India, Jet, Thai, Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Spicejet, Delta, Kingfisher among many others, and each of these airlines has something going for it. BA, on the whole, is a good second to CX. Southwest crew (including pilots) know how to turn a great phrase and get you off on the right foot. Jet is getting up there with good service and they’re third on my list of airlines to fly with and climbing steadily.
But Cathay is the very best – right from booking to airport to inflight and then back to the airport. You can count on CX staff to help out, many times without you actually approaching them – they observe and offer service. And, since I fly economy all the time, I can tell you that they treat you very well irrespective of the class you fly in. Some of their cabin crew tend to be very efficient and forget to smile or make you feel welcome, but on the whole most of them are fabulously pleasant and extremely helpful.
As I was saying, CX rocks.
Is a very different calm as the one beofre the storm. Typhoon Hagupit raged and raced past Hong Kong last night with winds that reached 1oo kms/hr. Apparently, this was the fourth Signal 8 Typhoon this year, and the last one, Typhoon Nui, had hit Hong Kong directly forcing the authorities to elevate to Signal 9.
So, my first Typhoon experience was quite exciting, though I didn’t take a boat out and just as well considering that one sunk yesterday night and the fishermen had to be rescued.
It’s a quiet morning today, clouds of various shades of grey painting a dull canvas, with the mountain peaks surrounded by pristine white clouds. The sea is restless and grey-green and there is a stillness in the air.
What amazed me during the whole experience was the city’s warning/communication system and people’s response to warning calls. More than 48 hours ago, everybody knew there was a typhoon coming and that it could be a Signal 8. Hotels, airports, public screens everywhere were keeping people posted. The Signal was raised from 1 to 3 to 8 in a span of 24 hours. The Hong Kong Observatory and local government authorities and corporate houses and common people worked together to keep situation under control. Flights and ferries were cancelled only during the critical period. Yes, somepeople did get caught out in strong winds on their way back home after work. But overall, the typhoon came, and went, and life will return to normal this morning.
I guess what I am trying to say is that: there’s a system in place. And while I am given to unertand that it does have its glitches and challenges from time to time, most of the time it serves its purpose well and when it doesn’t improvements are made as a matter of collective consciousness.
I wonder what’s coming next…
The wind is howling .. in glee. I am sitting at this wall-to-wall picture window, working, and watching the rain lash the street below and the wind is just awesome. Haven’t seen such playfulness in nature and it’s just getting started…
Typhoon rating is going up, expected to go to 8 – the top rating that sends everybody indoors. The wind is getting strong now; visibility is good enough for you to distinguish the choppy waters of the sea from the stormy clouds of the sky, and check this: the hotel where I am staying, Novotel Citygate, they have close and taped the revolving door and other main gates of the hotel – so that gives me an idea about what they’re expecting! Cooooool!
Was thinking of taking a boat or ferry out to sea, but I don’t suppose I’ll have the nerve and if even I do, the ferries won’t be on. I took a walk a while ago, and it was great because I had to keep my balance.
The trees are swaying gently now.
Just after noon and it feels more like late evening on winter day, except that it isn’t cold or chilly but on the warmer side – the content is quite a contradiction to the visual one might say.
10.32 am, Tung Chung, HK: This is an education, really. The Typhoon is currently rated 1 and expected to go up to 3 by 2 pm. Right now, the sun has disappeared; it’s a homogenous grey all around; visibility is good upto around a kilometer; beyond that it is hazy and restricted to large buildings and land masses; beyond 3 kilometers (as the corw flies), visibility is based on your imagination and memory (prior knowledge of landscape). The sky is a dull, light grey blanket that extends and merges with the grey sea.
It’s 8 am on Tuesday.
The sun is out, high and smiling. Visibility is much better and it looks like a glorious day ahead 
Of course, if I look out to the sea, hmm, that’s sending out a very different signal. It’s still a consistently dull grey haze with little to separate the sky from the sea. In fact, I can’t see Tuen Muen right now and normally you would see it clearly – Tuen Muen is right across the bay from Tung Chung (a 15-minute Ferry ride).
SO, here’s the situation: the sun is smiling – grinning actually – over the peaks. The sea is quiet, too quiet if you ask me. The wind is nowhere to be seen.
And it’s still on Tuesday … what will happen next?
Oh yesss, there’s a typhoon coming! Man, how cool is that? There I was cribbing about raindrops that never showed up, and then what do you know? They’re sending me a typhoon.
Now, I know that typhoons can be destructive and understand the trauma linked with that, but if this typhoon really shows up here in Hong Kong, it’ll be my first one ever.
And you know? I can actually see it coming. The winds changed, the emperature is dropping, visibility around the buildings (say about 200 meters) is pretty good, but beyind that, it’s pretty much a dul grey haze. The waterfront and sea is probably 500 meters from where I stand, and I can see shimmering grey of maybe a mile into the sea, and then a vast canvas of steel grey spanning the sea and the sky. Yep, it’s coming. But it could clear up.
As I was saying, this is the way I like it – unpredictable weather, it really gets the writer and designer in me going.
Stay tuned … to something.
