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Published: July 17th 2010
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Luggage Carousel
built circa 1950 by the looks of it. So barely slept last night in the comfortable hotel I had in Beijing. Now, I get to say in the world's most uninternational "international" hotel. Let's rewind a tick and gather recap the morning. Woke up at 5:00, packed and checked out a little before 6, walked a few blocks, hopped on the the #5 to Lama Temple and then the #2 to Dongzhimen where I took the long march to catch the airport express to catch my 8am flight to Dandong. Got to the airport around 7 only to find, as always, long lines everywhere I looked. I went to a domestic ticket counter where I waited 5th in line of about 23 for 35 minutes because once again, some people do not know how to queue properly and it seemed like 1 in 3 people that walked by had the MOST PRESSING question EVER. I finally got to the front only to find that I was at the wrong counter and had to go to a special counter since I purchased my ticket online.
I got there with at 7:35 and was like I need to HURRY only to find that when the woman got to me, the
baggage ticket machine had run out of tickets. Figures. So she finally gets some after 3 failed attempts by the custodian to hand her the right type and she checks my largest bag. She seems to have realized I was worried because she told me not to and that I'd make my flight. YEAH RIGHT. I ran through the scanner as fast as I could even though there 2 old people and 5 children in front that had never traveled before which made it all the more interesting. Finally with moments to spare I ran across the terminal only to find that my flight had been delayed an hour! THANK GOD. Of course that delay ended up being more like almost 2 hours because let's face it, this is China. Nothing is on time. (recurring theme here) When trying to buy a drink from the vending machine with my super wrinkled money, I met a kid (Sean) who was nice enough to give me change. He's a freshman at a university for international studies in Beijing and is studying German. He is apparently from Dandong as he offered to take a cab with me when we landed.
The flight
The rest of our flight joining us inside
I will be sure to get better pics of how old school this airport is when I fly to Beijing in August. took off EXTRA LATE with me being one of 2 foreigners on the plane, the other being a Brit headed for a tour of North Korea. SUPER LAME I know. I helped a few people around me with their bags and quickly made friends with them. But in particular the lady who sat next to me. She and her husband own a furniture company in Dandong and her English was quite excellent. She offered to give me a ride to my hotel when we landed but I told her thanks but had other plans. We swapped information and told me not to hesitate to call for anything, even a job, while I'm in China as she does sales with Europe and the US, especially NYC.
We landed at probably the most desolate airport I have ever been at. Actually, it was more of an aerodrome than an actually airport but it is supposedly the old military airport while the new airport was built next door (completely covered in a tarp...yeah that small). We disembarked onto the concrete tarmac with grass coming up through the cracks and then into the ancient baggage claim with random potted plants everywhere. I knew
this could only could better. Sean and I grabbed are things and boarded a rickety old bus into town for 10 kuai. At first, it seemed like I had been dropped down in the middle of nowhere but the fields between the city and airport soon developed into a bustling city of a comparable size to Columbus with tall buildings, big public squares with statues and LOTS of traffic. We got off at the last stop and snagged a cab to the Dandong "International" Hotel. Sean covered the fare which was super nice and we swapped digits before parting. I soon began to feel very alone in a city with very few expats.
After checking in behind a Japanese couple at what appeared to be a decent joint. I went to my room which was still being cleaned. I don't think I've ever had a hotel give me the key until the room was done being cleaned. Either way, I dropped my things off only to find there was neither internet nor A/C at this hotel---not even in the lobby or lounge. I asked the concierge where the nearest Wangba (Net Cafe) was and she directed me in the
right direction only to find out I needed a Chinese ID to get online. What was I going to do? The concierge felt for me and let use her computer to (not Google) but Baidu a cell phone shop so I could get connected somehow. I found a Motorola stand nearby and got hooked up with a SIM card and $30 cell phone to hold me over for the next 2 months. The guys at Motorola were beyond nice and helpful especially for the huge communication barrier but what I understood was a cheap plan that costs little to make local calls and receives calls for free. Of course, this is China and you need a Chinese ID for everything including a phone plan even if prepaid, so the guys let me use another alias to make the call and told me to use it to add minutes. Janky China, just plain janky. After being haggled by a friendly shopkeeper next door to go try the roast peacock, which I did not have the appetite for, I called the lady from the plane desperate for internet access, she told me of a coffee shop owned by expats near the river.
Super grateful, but completely unaware of how to get there, I suddenly realized I had google on my Blackberry, HUZZAH! and found the place after much finagling.
Let's just say I have never been so happy to see Canadians in my life, (j/k Jordan) but this coffee shop was a Godsend: free wi-fi, an egg salad sandwich and an A&W. Life was good. I hung out basically all evening and headed back to the hotel not before emerging booking the next night at a Home Inn, which I knew from experience to be infinitely better. I soon hit the sack in the world's most rock hard bed, in 95 degree heat with humidity and passed out.
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