Airports and Countries…

For many years I have tried to co-relate  if  the Airport of a Country truly reflects what lies inside..

Having been a long-term guinea pig, I believe there is a strong co-relation.

Read on and do share your own unique perspectives.

Opinions may be personal and biased. But that’s the whole point…

Dubai –  2010 – ‘Wasted’

After a earlier trip in 2007,  I landed in Dubai in March 2010 – in transit to Mumbai.

What I experienced at the airport appalled me.

The first sign that got my attention was ‘showers’. After a 16 hour flight, that was the only thing on my mind. When i entered the spanking clean ‘free’ shower rooms, I couldn’t  find soap or towels. I inquired outside (assuming that these would be charged for) – only to be told that there was no such provision!!

So, are you are supposed to walk around in airports with towels and shampoo and soap?  Err.. do the folks at Dubai airport know that globally that’s kinda irrational air passenger behavior? The ‘information’ guy consoled me by telling me to go to the ‘hotel’ above  – they charged for the facility and everything was included. I don’t think these ‘free’ showers have ever been used by anyone since they were made.

The other observation was that all the folks at information and shop counters spoke the strangest of English by accent and had no interest in helping passengers! They were the cheapest ‘labor’ hired on the job. I inquired about the ‘L’Occitaine counter (a french cosmetic brand) and was told that it didn’t exist at this Airport. A few seconds later, I walked passed a massive L’Occitaine counter. Later, while browsing through the single malts section, I wanted to find ‘Dalwhinnie’ ( a brand my dad made me sample but never told me where to buy from or even got me a bottle) – the sales woman walking around told me to make do with Black Label and didn’t want to even check her terminal for stocks!

If the ‘Palm Island,’ and hotels and real estate of Dubai has collapsed – I can easily understand why. They just dont give a damn. Like any business or enterprise – the ‘owners’ are not involved in the state of affairs and hence the ‘royal’ mess.

Singapore ‘Changi’ – Circa 2009 – ‘An Oasis that’s not a mirage’

Never has an airport impressed me more. The Koi pond in the center to help meditate (I actually named a company after it), the immaculate showers, the free Internet terminals, the awesome free city tour (even though you don’t have a visa) all point to perfection the city outside has achieved. The internal airport signage is so amazingly consumer centric – you look up and see exactly what you are looking for (washroom, prayer room, etc) – it’s almost like they can read your mind.

This experience exemplifies Singapore – during another trip with my business partner (who had lived there for many years). After leaving the airport, we hailed a cab to the city and did a couple of meetings. That’s when I realized my wallet was not with me.  We called the taxi company  via the printed receipt. No luck. My partner felt I had left it at the airport and simply said, ‘don’t worry’. When we reached the airport back in the evening and went to lost and found – sure they had my wallet 🙂 but the grilling they gave me to make me prove that it was really mine was beyond expectations.

The city gets it.

Czech Republic (Border) Circa 2005 – ‘Old meets Older meets Oldest’

Between 2004-2005 I had developed this inexplicable fetish to discover World War 2 cities and transport routes. Much to my wife’s dismay, we boarded an ancient train that would travel overnight from Warsaw (where we boarded) to Vienna.

I wanted to experience that thrill that soldiers would have felt in a dark train hurtling across warring countries – and sure enough, I wasn’t disappointed.

We had a single entry Czech visa to go to Prague (post the Vienna trip). At about 3 am, as the train crossed into the Czech Republic, our door was hammered upon on for passport check. A 6 feet 6 inches  blond, crew cut guard  type entered and checked our papers. And what he began to do caught me unawares… Rightfully, he was supposed to stamp my Czech visa since I was indeed travelling through the country. That also meant that my later trip to Prague was out of the question – since the Visa was single entry. My trip would be ruined. So, in all earnestness, I began to plead with him not to stamp my Visa and tried the Indianized  style of cajoling and explaining… In about 40 seconds, he looked at me, stood a bit away and then flipped the cover of his belted pistol and then looked at me again.

I did Namaste and said ‘Sir – please do what you want’.

What I was expecting was not leniency but some sort of adult dialog – advise on how I could reapply, etc. This bloke just thought of me as some enemy soldier to shoot!

(PS – in Austria, amazingly, I got another Visa for entry in the Czech Republic – very lucky since its impossible for Indian citizens to be granted the same outside of India)

When we did visit Prague, the city swooned us… Yet from the subways and thru the castles, I always experienced this undercurrent of a communist regime that had yet to shake off its dust…

Seoul Circa 2001 – ‘Exceptionally detailed, connected and super efficient’!

I landed in Seoul just after 9/11 and thanks to my brown skin landed in the interview room at the airport. The officer wanted to know why I was there and who all I was meeting. I promptly produced my meeting list of game companies and the agreed meeting date and time slots. What the officer did next I have never experienced before – he started calling the companies to actually verify if I indeed had these appointments.

The day I had landed was Sunday, and so no one picked up the phone. It was quite frustrating – It had taken me over 16 hours to reach Seoul, and here was someone calling up corporate offices knowing very well that the operators didn’t work on Sundays and neither are their bosses on their desks.

Was he just testing my patience? After another 30 minutes, I decided he was not. That’s when it struck me that I had a mobile number of one of the business managers of the companies I was supposed to be meeting ( I had my phone but not a connection thanks to CDMA in Korea). The officer promptly called up the lady, and spoke to her for a good 10 minutes.

Immediately after the call, his demeanor became very friendly. He smiled, and waved me off.

Now comes the real story:

When I met later the lady at that Company, she first spent 20 minutes apologizing on behalf of her country, her airport officer and the telephone operator (for not picking up on Sunday – she had already made suggestions for a voice answering machine). She also told me that post our meeting she would call the Airport officer, and de-brief him on our meeting! ( i was just envisioning someone in India calling up those immigration officers at Mumbai Airport and doing this).

When I landed in Korea the second time, I understood the purpose of that call. I think I was ‘slotted’ as ‘no problem’ guy – I passed in less than 30 seconds.

This exemplifies South Korea – so efficient and good at what they do. Isn’t this what diligence, scrutiny, feedback and improvement is really all about?

China – Shanghai Circa – forever – ‘It’s always about cheating and negotiating’

In my probably 50th trip to China, I landed in Shanghai this time at 3 am. Even at that unearthly hour, the business model of deception, lying, and cheating was alive and kicking. The official taxi stand manager of the airport actually told me to take a ‘private’ taxi rather than the public ones that he was supposed to be manning.  (The broker of the public taxis conveniently stood  next to him and openly gave him a commission to do so).

I insisted on taking the public cab and asked the driver to take me to a hotel  in Puxi – just skirting the Bund (Old Shanghai City). As I had anticipated, the taxi meandered all along the way before arriving at my hotel ( a trip that would normally take 70 minutes hours took almost 120 minutes). Never to be defeated, I did what I have become adept at doing in China – and especially with Chinese taxi drivers – I looked at the fare meter – shrugged vigorously and said the word ‘ no – too much – police – too much- police’ repeatedly. The taxi driver  quickly understood my grooming and said ‘no problem, no problem – how much?’ – He took a good 30%  cut on the fare and vamoosed.

This philosophy perfectly reflects China. Having stayed there for months in between 5 years, built and sold a company, it’s all about taking advantage of people, being very short termist, trying to make a quick buck and then quickly retracting if needed. As the ex Indian co-founder of my Chinese Company brilliantly put it once to me ‘ Alok! In China, the folks can’t understand WIN – WIN – it means that you have something you shouldn’t have… for them it’s always WIN-LOSE – and they want to win and make you lose’.

So much for my experiences – now please share your remarkable stories as comments below!

*****