China - INSARAG - Shijiazhuang City, China.
Left late thursday night and on 'plane to Hong Kong then China with DC. A bit nervous but excited. Never been to China and the work ahead of me looked challenging. INSARAG is the Search and Rescue Advisory Group of the United Nations. During an earthquake disaster, international USAR are coordinated between Local Emergency Management Agencies (LEMA) and the INSARAG/UNOSOCC.
The idea is that all teams from all countries at all levels can operate effeciently.
We left the UK on time. Late take off but it was a full flight and I slept most of the way there. Cant remember the film that was showing but it probably was crap. Landing at Hong Kong International Airport - never failed to impress me that airport.
Also, noticed how busy it was - it turned out that the ongoing typhoon had grounded and delayed practically all the flights for the last 24 hours. The place was heaving with families and there was a definite tension in the air.
Lots of arguments too.
Our flight was with China Eastern and due to leave at 21:35 - by 21:20 there was no sign of the boarding gate. By 21:55 we were told to wait. The check-in staff thought our China Eastern airline had already left (!) that got my heart thumping a bit too. We located our gate and then waited for another three hours before the flight was ready to board. We didn't arrive at Shijiazhuang International Airport until 02:00 however we did meet up with some of our other INSARAG colleagues. Ronaldo (Philipines) and two Nepales colleages. Arriving at the hotel (five star by the way) an hour later - the adventure continued with the check-in staff not knowing how to properly check-in guests. One should always do one guest at a time and not all five at the same time with tickets and credit cards being passed around the group!
The hotel was superb however and I finally fell into my bed at a little just before 03:30 and we had an early day tomorrow too.
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