I'm sat in the aforementioned 'pub' in Guilin airport eating a microwaved ham sandwich. Hmmm, very curious concept, make a ham sandwich and nuke in for a few minutes. For desk bound wanna-be-travellers, you can recreate this experience and join in the fun:
Take four slices of white bread and cut off the crusts. Add some cheap ham. I reckon Spam would not be far off the mark. Place in microwave and nuke until it is steaming gently.
Consume. Be amazed at how odd it tastes.
I've also got a café latte, I haven't dared try that yet, hang on…Oh, it's actually OK. Pat has just declared his 'special lucky Irish coffee' tastes like a combination of flowers and soap. Interesting.
So it's good to see that the 'Themed Irish Pub' concept has found its way to China. Hmmm, they're a bit wide of the mark though it has to be said. There's no signs in Gaelic indicating where Galway is for example. Instead we have purple upholstered seats in crushed velvet. I don't think that would work too well in a real Irish pub, they would rapidly become encrusted with fag ash and Guinness stains.
Our journey to this airport was a curious trip in itself, driving down various crumbling tracks, through tiny villages surrounded by paddy fields and orange groves I had my doubts as to whether we would ever get to an airport at all, but sure enough after about two hours of this magical mystery tour we bounced our way down one final unmade road and arrived at a brand-spanking-new airport terminus. You rather get the feeling that the roads department are behind schedule.
It's rather like a Chinese Stanstead here. Stanstead in the middle of the night when all the flights have been cancelled due to bad weather. There's hardly anyone around, apart from a large amount of bored looking staff attempting to sell booze and fags to anyone showing a vague interest. I don't think air travel has quite caught on in China yet. I suppose it's still the preserve of the wealthy.
It looks like our flight is delayed due to bad weather. There was talk of snow in Xi An yesterday, I think our next destination may be a little cold…
'The Chairman'