China - Saturday 8th May 2010




Well, I'm sat here in the departures suite at London Heathrow. It's the 8th May, a Saturday and I'm about to begin my voyage to China. I'm leaving behind the UK which is firmly in hung parliament mode and it's unclear if the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will be forming some kind of alliance with the Tories. I quite like the idea of flying away from it for a while, when I return it will probably be a whole new Government. I don't think the 1980's style riots would have started by then.

Sitting here makes me think of my friend Sam (Astill) who is also exploring the world, this time in Thailand having a solo trip. He would probably approve of my current practice of people watching I'm currently involved in - not something I usually do but here is where so many cultures meet within this airport and I often wonder where they're going, why and who they visit.
Some people are easy to figure out, they're the usual holiday makers, new sandals, shirts and sunglasses and very British looking. There's 2 muscle men who stand out a mile, they've got 'nutrition power' t-shirts on and shaven heads - I'm thinking they're going on a fact finding mission to Hong Kong or probably just going for the high protein duck dinner.

Most people look bored though, keeping their eyes to the ground or if they have to look up it's usually over the tops of people's heads - no contact. I think many are going to Doha, our first stop at around midnight, it's currently 2:30pm I'll be arriving in Hong Kong at 2:30pm again on Sunday - pretty much missing out an entire day. I can feel my hands shaking - I don't think it's nerves, I enjoy flying, I think perhaps it might be tuna and cheese bagel I've just eaten.

Looking out the departures suite window I can see my Qatar 012 plane sat on the tarmac with pipes and strange devices attached to various areas of the fuselage, cockpit and engines. It reminds me of a person in a hospital bed hooked up to a life support system. It's a good looking, clean, tidy plane though, well manicured.