Nearly there

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JUST WHERE ARE THEY BRINGING ME?
By the time I reached Beijing on Friday night I was exhausted. (Go figure, huh?) So I rambled around the airport in a daze, trying to find internet connection to check on the hotel numbers Jesse had given me. I couldn’t figure out how to get online though - all the pages explaning details were in Chinese. So I just kept walking, figuring there had to be a tourism info desk somewhere. I finally found it, and they booked my hotel for me. I even paid for it right there. The girls working the desk were all young - and it seemed as thought they had just started at this job as they had a problem with the paperwork. But it wasn’t too long until I was following a strange Chinese man across the street into the parking garage. I hopped into a questionable “shuttle”. It was a mini van with two men in it - the driver and a man from Bangledesh. I briefly wondered if this was really safe. Too bad Jesse wasn’t around. But I figure I can take most Chinese men being considerably taller than the majority of them. Within five minutes we had pulled off them main street, which was pretty vacant at 10:30 p.m., and into a courtyard. The other man got off, but the driver motioned for me to stay. I took his word for it as I hadn’t really gathered the name of the hotel - and wouldn’t be able to read the Chinese signs to figure out if I was at the right place or not anyway. But I did hold on to my receipt - hey, as tired as I was that was an accomplishment. We hit the road and pulled into the next courtyard. I felt like I was in a Chinese movie - all these hidden places just off the street. A young porter grabbed my bags and we headed in. There were two at the desk, again, both young people, barely 20. Within 10 minutes I was up in my tiny little room, quality a little under a Super 8. But who was I to complain? I paid only about $60 for it - a price I like. And I wasn’t going to be at the Beijing Green Park Hotel longer than 7 hours. Just enough to sleep and shower. The porter turned on all the lights for me and gestured towards the shower in the bathroom. He put the room key card into a little slot near the door - it apparently turned on the power. He waved the air conditioning remote around. Then he opened up a book and pointed to the few English words there. We hope your stay is nice. Wasn’t that sweet?

WHERE ARE ALL THE CLOCKS?
I’ve been in a mild state of confusion since boarding the plane on Thursday. I didn’t bring my watch. I just never need a watch at home. I always have either my cell or my laptop or there’s clocks hanging around everywhere. Who needs a wristwatch? I have a very nice one, but I left it sitting in my jewelry dish. Darn. Cause they don’t have clocks on airplanes. And I can’t use my cell phone as it’s not international. And the computer, well, the battery died. I discovered few clocks in the Tokoyo airport, so I went to my gate and stayed put. The hardest part about not having a clock around is I can’t guage how much sleep I accumulated across two flights. There was no clock in my hotel room either, can you believe it? I wasn’t sure if I could trust a wake-up call at a $60-a-night-hotel, so I sleep pretty fitfully. I learned another important lesson. 0 does not bring you to the front desk. In fact, I still have no idea how to contact the front desk. I finally thought long and hard about what time it typically is when Jesse calls me and what he says it is in Nanjing. When he calls me at 5:30 p.m. he’s just waking up and it’s about 6:30 a.m. there. 11 hours difference. (It’s hard to deduct things when you’re exhausted, ya know.) I turned on my cell briefly and saw it was 2:30 p.m. at home. Ah, another two hours before my wake-up call. I love sleep.

There are no perks at the Beijing Green Park Hotel. There is a TV and air conditioner, but that’s about it. When I woke up in the middle of the night I realized that the bed wasn’t so soft. That’s pretty typical for a hotel bed. But then I realized there was no mattress! I was sleeping on the box frame! Lucky for me the comforter was thick and soft and I was so tired. Somedays I think I can sleep just about anywhere.

CAN ANYONE SPEAK ENGLISH?
It’s really too bad I didn’t pay more attention in high school language class. But then, Spanish really wouldn’t help me over here anyway. It does seem that there are no fluent English speakers. I met one man this morning who works in Taiwan; his English was pretty good, but he still didn’t understand half of what I was saying. The other folks I’ve talked to don’t understand anything. Now I understand why it’s been frustrating for Jesse. I wonder how they get any work done at the plant.

BEIJING AIRPORT IS A MAZE
The 5 a.m. shuttle driver brought me to Terminal 3 this morning. It was 10 minutes farther away than where I’d embarked the night before. And this one is brand new. I wondered at the shabbiness of the terminal I arrived in last night, thinking the entire airport was pretty tiny, not in keeping with being an international destination. Terminal 3 is markedly different. It must be new, gorgeously designed, and huge. It’s hard to figure out as a foriegner. There are increased security checks because of the Olypmics, so as soon as I walked in they checked me and my bags. They used one of those swabs, ran it over one bag and then checked its substances via a computer. I was good to go. But where? The terminal stretched on and there was no clear place for Air China. Instead, rows of 10+ counters bisected the large room as far as I could see. Most of the signs said single destinations on them: Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. After walking halfway through the building I found the general domestic destinations lines. Whew. I was starting to feel pretty lost and small. I think this is why you typically travel with someone; then you can take turns feeling small and knowing what you’re doing.

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Photos

Key holder
Once put in this holder, the key turned on the power in the room at the Green Park Hotel.

Simple room
The room had a tv, air, bed (bedspring, no mattress!), lights, shower and toilet. No clock.

Now that's thinking
The Chinese have learned not to waste as much as we have at hotels. The toothpaste came with just enough to brush with 2x, and the soap was just enough.

Lights on
All the lights in the room were controlled by a console that also acted as a nightstand.

Green Park hotel
From the front courtyard. The hotel was 10 minutes from the airport in Beijing. Women at the airport booked it for me for about $60 a night.

Art work at Beijing airport
Terminal 3

Morning tea
bubble tea on the airplane.

Flight board
Mine is the 7:30am to Nanjing. I got up at 4:30 a.m. to be there early. It took me 1 hour to make it through security checks and walk to my gate.

Terminal 3, Beijing airport
View from the runway

Funny ad
Hormonally charged nightclub. Seriously!

Breakfast
The rice stuff looked promising, but tasted bland.