I am in the executive lounge at the airport, waiting for a much delayed flight. It was supposed to leave at 11 in the morning, then yesterday we got that email informing us that it was postponed to 4.40 in the afternoon. Wednesday arrived at the airport a couple of hours early you find a queue for our flight and no other snaking around the terminal. It took nearly the full two hours to reach the front of the queue to discover why they were so chill about checking us all in – there was at least a couple of hours further delay. Thank heaven for the lounge privilege.
A Tibetan monk came and sat down with us and was in a chatty mood, though we didn’t share a language. Through mime and translation apps we communicated enough to learn he was from Lhasa and going to Kunming, the Gentleman Friend was from London and I from Pakistan. This clearly astonished him, and he said I must be from India. No, I signalled, from Pakistan. No, he said, no, no, no, and said, Hindu? No I said, Muslim. No,no, no, he exclaimed, and mimed a hijab. I shook my head and tried to tell him, not all Pakistanis, or Muslims, wear hijab.
He was not convinced at all, so I put my shawl on my head, raised my hands in prayer, and said, is this better? This thoroughly amused him and he burst out laughing and pulled his hood over his head, pulled a solemn face and crossed himself in imitation of a Catholic priest.
And then his flight was announced and he left.
Our flight will leave at 7. Off to Bangkok.