雪泥鴻爪在天竺 (一)

 

印度，一處遙遠的地方，一個神秘的國度。此趟遊印，在阿姆達巴得（又譯作：阿穆達巴）逗留兩星期，為我的碩士論文搜集資料；再赴孟買，旅遊一週。

 

我乘坐印度航空AI120班機從倫敦直抵阿姆達巴得。機上絕大部分的乘客都是回鄉省親的印度人（或英籍印度人），另有屈指可數的幾個白人。而我也許是機上唯一的華人。

 

好一個國際機場。抵步後，在停機坪上，我只看見一架飛機，就是我們坐的那一架。過關非常慢，比杭州慢多了。等了四十五分鐘才過了入境關卡。行李輸送帶也只有兩條，提取了寄艙行李，原以為可以走了，但過海關又要排隊半小時。原來每人的行李都要照ｘ光，看看有沒有走私。由於乘客都是回印探親，帶了一件又一件的行李，不慢才奇怪。

 

出了機場，有與我合作的慈善機構的兩位同事和酒店的司機在等我。在上車前，我拍了一張照片。

 

 

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Figure 1: Ahmedabad International Airport 阿姆達巴得國際機場

 

My footprints in India (1)

 

India. What a distant destination and a mysterious nation it seems to me! In this trip to India, I spent two weeks staying Ahmedabad, collecting and collating data for my Master thesis, and then moved on to Mumbai (Bombay), on holiday for a week.

 

I was on Air India, AI 120, a direct flight from London to Ahmedabad. On the plane, the vast majority of passengers are Indians or British Indians who went home to visit their family and friends. There are also a few white people. And I am probably the only Chinese on board.

 

What an international airport. When we arrived, on the parking apron, I could only see one aeroplane, i.e. the plane that I was on. It took ages to pass through the immigration checkpoints, much slower than that in Hangzhou. It took me 45 minutes. There were only two conveyor belts for check-in luggage collection. I thought I could leave after picking up my suitcase. But then it took me another half an hour to go through the customs. I found that everybody had to have their luggage checked by the customs using X-ray, to see if anybody is smuggling. Since most passengers were going home to visit relations, they had many suitcases with them. No wonder it took me ages.

 

Outside the airport, there were two colleagues from the charity with whom I worked as well as a driver from the hotel waiting for me. Before getting into the car, I have taken a photo (see above).

 

（待續）(To be continued)

 

此行得我校信託基金支持，支付我的機票、疫苗及防瘧疾藥的費用，謹此致謝。

Acknowledgement: This trip was supported by the Trust Fund of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which paid for my international flights, vaccines and anti-malarial drugs.

 

Written on 26^th June and 25^th July, 2005.

 

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