the mad manicurist

the hong kong airport is definitely one of the nicest airports i've flown through. for departing passengers there's a huge selection of shops and restaurants in which to kill some time and i always stock up on books and magazines before flying back to shanghai.

the only negative i've found is they tend to be extremely strict in terms of carry on luggage. the first problem i had was about a year ago- my trusty samsonite roll-along luggage which had followed me all over the world was found to be too big to be allowed onto the plane as hand luggage. i checked it in and a few months later bought a smaller model so i wouldn't have to face the same issue again in hong kong.

a couple of weeks ago i encountered a new problem- i was found to be smuggling contraband.

i put my luggage onto the x-ray machine and walked through the scanner. the security staff flagged my luggage for inspection which i thought might be due to the large metal dog brushes (don't ask) in there. instead, a woman rifled through my toiletry bag until she found the offending item- nail scissors.


the scissors (shown here in actual size) are 'sharp' and therefore not allowed on the plane. i couldn't be trusted with them on the plane as i might have snapped and decided to give everyone a manicure.

now i know the security standards have tightened in american airports to the point where one has to be stripped of all metal (including tooth fillings and pacemakers) before being allowed onto the plane but in general the security in asia has been a lot more pragmatic, so it was a bit of a surprise to me that the scissors would be confiscated, especially since i had taken them with me around asia for quite a while.

i commented to the security agent that i didn't have any problem bringing nail scissors into the country. she asked me from where i flew- when i told her shanghai she replied that different countries have different standards. at that point i noticed a japanese passenger having a similar discussion next to me. narita airport, apparently, also has lax security standards when it comes to nail grooming implements. potential terrorist manicurists take note!

as i didn't have any check-in luggage there were options for me to take the deadly weapon with me. the airport helpfully had a 14-day claim period where presumably i could fly back to hong kong and pick up my nail scissors. i declined to register the scissors and they were put into a bin with a big pile of others where they will be melted down and used to make a new airport terminal.

now that i'm in thailand i've had to buy a new pair of nail scissors. must be a booming time for nail scissor manufacturers- anyone know of any publicly listed manufacturers? might be a good time to buy some stock.