Touristy Kind Of Day - Finally!

We fell asleep quite early last night after such a frustrating day, so were up bright and early this morning to hit the road. We headed to the Canadian Embassy once again to drop off the fruits of our labours from the day before - new passport photos, police report, confirmation of police report and then paid the $350 it cost for the temporary passport, the new passport, and the lost passport fee...I still have to get a new Chinese Visa once my temporary passport is ready, so another $100 I think. Thankfully I do have travel insurance and can claim it all back with only $100 deductable. Tried to call my insurance company but the phone number did not work...it figures...so I will email them tonight. 

From the Embassy we started walking towards the subway station to head to the Ming Dynasty Tombs. We stopped briefly at Starbucks at a nearby overpriced shopping centre and had some breakfast - Starbucks was overpriced as usual...then we bought our IC cards - like a myki card in Australia - bus pass you can load up for multiple use. We had spent enough on taxis getting all the passport stuff done. Public transit is actually pretty good, not nearly as crowded as we thought, thank goodness! From the train stop we then went in search of the right bus to take us where we needed to go. After several inquiries, we located the correct stop and before long the bus turned up aand we were on our way to finally see some sights! It was an hour long bus ride and we weren't sure if we would know when we got there as it was a city bus with several stops, but finally got to the main ticket gate, so jumped off, and went in search of tickets. Ticket buying was rather frustrating as they had some signs in English but no one spoke English or could understand their own menu of ticket choices in English when we called them out...then they were downright rude and laughed at us, the bitches....we managed to buy a ticket for the Underground Palace where an Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and his two Empresses were buried in tombs underground. It was like going into a time warp...we took 7 flights down and only 3 up, coming out at the same place...

The Underground Palace was not particularly spectacular, but intersting. There is money thrown all over each of the tombs, the stele's and the thrones of each of them. We chucked some in at one of them. The view from the Palace wall was stunning - mountains and fields of fruit trees. We bought a couple of HUGE peaches from the vendors and snacked on them in the woods sitting on marble stools shaped like elephants. They were so delicious! The vendors for figs were quite aggressive, thrusting them in our faces, but my girl and I are good at deflecting so it wasn't a big deal. Before we started exploring the grounds though, we went for some lunch at the one restaurant at the site. OMFG. No one spoke English and the menu was not in English so they pointed to pictures of animals to tell us what each dish was. I chose the pork and my daughter chose the chicken. We should have known better...the pork was mostly gristle, bone, and fat. It was kind of tasty so I choked it down. My daughter's was significantly worse...she ordered a chicken dish...what she wasn't prepared for was just what part of the chicken was being presented to her...first off, there was a chicken foot sticking out of the top of the stewed chicken...the pieces were similar to what I had at the airport - chicken pieces hacked up with a cleaver, bones, entrails and all...and had the texture of shoe leather. She tried to eat what she could because she was hungry but gave up in the end and had a little pork. The bigger shock was the bill. They charged us 197RMB which was absolutely ridiculous. The most we have paid for a meal so far was $78 and at least that was a good meal. The staff sat and watched us eat the whole entire time, laughing and making jokes behind our backs, staring at my daughter most of the time. We finally gave up and left without a word. I think they jacked the prices just for us...bastards. 

We still want to see Chang Ling Tombs so will have to cover that another day. It had started to rain again, so we just headed back into the city. Walking from the subway back to the Hutong Inn (which is on a hutong - narrow alleyways dating back several hundred years). We came across a Chinese McDonalds and decided to indulge in something that we were familiar with after the lunch fiasco. From there we bought more water and some beer and headed back to the hotel for the night. I went for a walk later on to buy some snacks and came across a hooka bar...didn't go in as I was alone and don't know the rules. I also came across a chicken tied up to a tree outside one of the tiny restaurants...she might be tomorrow's dinner...

So overall a pretty good day. My head still hurts as does my neck and it didn't help when I smacked it not once but twice on the bus rail bending over to reach for something...time for some Panadol and bed!

Do You Speak English?

So last night we had a bit of drama. I got up at 2am feeling sick to my stomach so headed to the bathroom, but instead sat down on the can (sorry, TMI but it ties into the story). I'm not quite sure what happened next, but apparently my daughter heard a moan from me and then a loud CRASH. She came to the door to see what happened, tapping on the door and calling out my name, and got nothing, then finally just opened the door to find me on the floor, having passed out somehow and smashed my head and teeth on the wall or floor. I had fallen off the toilet with my shorts and undies around my knees and was out for nearly a minute before she came in and I woke to hear her calling out "mom, are you alright???". I wasn't. I don't know what the hell happened, but clearly I passed right out and smashed my head and teeth, chipping my front teeth both top and bottom, and splitting my head out a little and got quite a bonk on this big giant head. I felt like absolute rubbish after that but it finally passed and then I was a little afraid to go to sleep, just in case I had a concussion. My neck was killing me, probably a bit of whiplash from the fall. My daughter was understandably freaked out...thankfully I settled okay and no more upset stomach, but had a pounding headache and a terribly sore neck. Took some Panadol (like Tylenol) and managed to get back to sleep for a few more hours. I haven't passed out in many years, having only passed out 3 times in my life until now. Funnily enough, twice before in the bathroom, but for different reasons - once after I gave birth - first trip to the bathroom, and once as a young teenager after my brother slammed my finger in a door, I happened to knock it in the bathroom somehow and woke up on the floor between the toilet and sink. This one tops the list though - never really hurt myself before. This time I crashed into marble walls and tile floor. 

So this morning when we woke, we got ready to head to the Canadian Embassy to start sorting out my temporary passport. Of course, since nothing is easy...it took awhile. We had to go off in search of a bank machine that would take foreign cards first as we had no cash left for a taxi. We managed to find one not too far away but it didn't open until 9am, so we had a bit of a wait. Got the cash okay, no fuss and headed out to find a taxi to the Embassy. Not an easy task. We had two stop for us and had no idea where we wanted to go. Apparently most taxi drivers only read script and not the English versions of the street addresses. It took about an hour of walking and trying to hail taxis who didn't know where we wanted to go. Finally managed to get a young gal to speak a bit of English and tell him where to go. We landed at the Embassy with claps of joy that we finally found the damn thing! We then had to pass through scrutiny and security before being admitted to the Embassy and headed right up to the Consular Services section. The first person I spoke to was French Canadian - was I ever glad to speak to a Canadian!!! We found out I needed to get a police report and new passport photos as I only had one and they wouldn't accept it as it didn't meet the criteria. I has used the others for my Cambodian visa some years ago. The one VERY LUCKY thing is I needed a guarantor and they accepted Amber who had her passport and visa, so that was good. Then I had to provide two references of people they could call to confirm my identity. With the time difference, it would be tricky as we were nearing 11am and many would be heading to bed in Canada. I could use Australian friends, but they can't call them direct from the Embassy - they have to contact the Canadian Embassy in Australia and have them make the calls. I filled out all the necessary forms and found out I can get my temporary passport in 3-4 days, depending on how hard it was to contact my references.  Then she gave us direction sheets in English and script to find the police station to get a police report, and a photo studio to get photos. Then we headed out to get some lunch as we hadn't eaten since supper the night before. We managed to locate an Italian restaurant across from the Embassy, and the pizza was really good, but drinks and pizza was a bit pricey - we just weren't up for experimenting after my bathroom episode and my daughter burning her mouth on supper's spice. My daughter noted that the cashier spoke good English so I went back in to ask him if he knew where the passport photo place was. He told me there was a much closer one just 3 minutes walk from there and then left with us to show us the way. He then spoke to the photographer (old Chinese lady with an ordinary digital camera) and got me sorted there. It happened to be in the same building as a chemist, so I also got him to tell the chemist I wanted an antidiarrhea medication and my daughter needed cold meds. Mine came in all script, but the cold meds were Tylenol cold and flu, so perfect. What a nice young man to do all of that for us!

After lunch we headed to the Police station (or so we thought) for the police report. Turns out she sent us to the Visa and Passport office for China...and they do not do police reports. Great. Now what? so the gal at the office wrote me a note in script and English telling the police at the train station that I made a report about my passport but they did not give me a report - please give me a police report. Well, little did we know how damn complicated that was. She told us to go to the train station where I lost it as I did report it to the transit police but they did not give me any report. Off we go to the train station...spoke to the first guy we saw who then went off in search of someone else who might know what to do. We traipsed around the train station for hours, following one person after another to little offices here and there, being told to wait, wait, one second and then having no idea what I wanted, despite the note I had in script. I had met a lady at the Embassy who was Chinese and gave me her phone number to call if I needed translation, so we tried her. Nope, train staff could not do what I asked, and then they took us to the small police station at the train station and had an hour of debate with a guy there - no help. Then a transit policeman took us to the subway and went one stop with us and walked to another police station, told them a little of what I needed and left. No one spoke much English of course but we finally worked out they wanted us to wait for someone who spoke English to take my statement as they cannot take one otherwise. Perfect, he finally arrived from another staton and took my statement and typed it up all official like and we were off to the Visa and Passport office again. It took awhile to get a cab but we finally got one and we thought at first we were being taken on another goose chase but then lo and behold, we arrived at the right place. Ran in with just 15 minutes to spare and got my Certificate of lost passport which the hotel will take and the Embassy needs, and got her to make me a copy too. By then it was too late to go back to the Embassy as they had closed, but at least I had the photos, police report and Certificate I needed for the hotel. It started to rain a bit but we got lucky and hailed a cab in rush hour and headed back to the hotel, once the driver phoned them and asked for directions - despite me having the hotel card with the address in script. My daughter was convinced he didn't know where he was going but he had put it in his GPS and we arrived eventually in the rush hour traffic. It began to peck a bit of rain, so we decided to grab some supper and drinks from the shops nearby and head back to the hotel for the night. We managed to get there just in time before the rains began to DOWNPOUR!!! We had our supper and a couple of long neck Chinese beers (actually pretty good beer and cheap as) and have retired to our room to dry out and get comfy. My daughter finally managed to find a VPN to access Facebook and Google, so I can post my own blog posts from now on, yahoo, and update Facebook. I didn't miss it that much but my daughter sure did!

Tomorrow we head back to the Embassy to hand in my papers and photos and then we are finally going to play tourist and see some of the sights. We have been trying to see the silver lining in our ordeal, and it will be one hell of a story to tell about our trip. We did meet many very nice people so far who were willing to help us with the language barrier. At times the barrier feels 100 feet tall but at others, not so much when we find someone who can understand what we are asking. The lady at the Visa office was also quite lovely and friendly. I still have to take my passport back to them and apply for yet another Chinese Visa straight away as it takes 7 days to get. Thankfully they are open on Saturday. If it doesn't come on time, I'm not sure what the hell I will do but as Scarlett O'Hara said - I'll worry about that tomorrow. 





Sent from my iPad

China Woes!

My daughter arrived in Beijing last night about midnight. Of course nothing is easy over here. I had told her to take the little airport train to pick up her baggage and then I would meet her at arrivals at Terminal 3. She somehow missed the Terminal 3 part. I had given her instructions based on my own arrival the night before. I was so wrong. Her flight arrived at Terminal 2 with no option to head to Terminal 3 on the airport train. But the trouble started before that. When I finally found my shuttle on Friday night, I told them about my daughter arriving the following night and I wanted to take the free shuttle to the airport to meet her and then bring her back to the hotel as I had booked two nights at the airport. Sure, no problem. So the following day I spoke to them about it again to ask when to catch the shuttle to the airport - 11:50pm to meet her 12:05 flight. No problem. Then when the time comes, different staff, little English and after waiting for an hour, they told me they cannot take me to the airport because I do not have a new reservation...wtf? So by 1am I was panicked that my daughter had arrived and there I was still at the hotel. Frig...so told hotel staff to hail a taxi for me, which they did and it was cheap enough, only 30 RMB. I went to Terminal 3, waited at arrivals for nearly an hour - no sign of my girl. I scoured the airport with no luck. Then I spoke to a Pakistani guy who had perfect English and lived in Beijing and told me her flight would not bring her to Terminal 3 and I must go there. So I went out where the free shuttles were and asked when the next one was - 30 minutes from now, as I just missed it. Damn, if I wait, she will be panicked about where I might be. I couldn't get the internet to work even though it was free wifi. Little did I know there was self-serve machines for login passwords or I could go to the info counter and they would give me one. So I finally sorted that, and had 2 panicked emails from my girl. By this point it is 1:30am. I decided to take a taxi to Terminal 2 and sent her an email telling her so. I overpaid to get there and found no sign of her and couldn't work out how to get on the internet at that terminal as the info counter was closed. I scoured the terminal, panicked that she had gone off somewhere. Finally got on the internet and emailed her to say I was at Terminal 2 but will come to Terminal 3 and for her to stay put. She emailed back where she was, and so I grabbed another cab and headed over. This guy was nicer, but still overcharging me. I was beyond caring about that by then, and finally located my daughter - reunited like long lost friends! I was so frigging glad to see her after spending 3 hours looking for each other. We were off to the hotel then, thankfully - overheated, starving, exhausted both physically and mentally. We ended up talking for a few hours before finally getting settled enough to sleep about 5am. Check out was at noon, so back up again at 10:30am to shower and get going. We managed to get back to the airport on the shuttle, found the train to the city, and off we went. Then it all turned to shit again...

For some stupid reason, I had my travel wallet out of my bag looking at the map I had stored in there. I also had my passport and some money in there. I put the map back in my bag, and left the wallet on the train - yes, the wallet was left on the train. I didn't notice until I got off the train and upstairs about to buy another train ticket for the exchange...and then omfg I noticed it was not in my purse. WHAT????? Major panic set in...I could deal with losing clothes, luggage, even money, but not the bloody passport. I was literally sick to my stomach and couldn't believe I was so damn stupid. I am such a creature of habit, so I don't know what the hell I did. In any case, we enlisted the help of security at the train station, who called the two other stations on the line to see if anyone turned in my wallet - of course not. We also met the returning trains to search for it, but no luck. Panic level escalates - WTF to do??? We did have a very nice young man who helped us speak to security Mandarin. We then decided just to head to the hotel, check in with the Canadian Embassy about what to do. Well that was easier said than done...

We exit the train station, parched from sweating and stuffing around for so long. We had a power rickshaw stop to offer a ride, but had no idea what the address was we were showing him. Then we tried to get a taxi - no idea what the address was as it wasn't in script. OMG. So then we got stuffed into another power rickshaw as he said he knew where the hotel was - Yes, yes, hotel,,,Yeah, should have known better. He brought us to one with the same name, sort of, but it was closed and not open for business. We went inside to look for an office, but were promptly shown back out again by the owner. FML. Now what? Sweaty, panicked and thirsty, where do we go now? We managed to find the main road again and track down a proper taxi who took us to the right hotel - thank goodness, and they showed me my reservation right away with my name on it...wish that was the end of the story...they refused to let me check in without a passport. We offered my daughter's passport and told them what happened with mine. No can do. We were told I must go to some Chinese office to get a certificate of residence and then they could let me stay. So we grabbed another cab to the office she marked out on a map for us in script. Problem was, it was Sunday and the office was closed. The guard at the gate had no English. Then a lovely young man who spoke good English stopped to help us. Phew! He spoke to the guard, and then called police for us when we couldn't work out how to call the embassy. While waiting for the police, I became in urgent need of the bathroom...very urgent. So the young man took us down the street to some sort of bus terminal and I used the public toilets. He said they were smelly but there weren't too bad - but they were squat toilets...alright, lets hunker down and hope my knees don't give out. Did my business, and then the police came, could not really do anything. So we decided to go to the Canadian Embassy hoping for help there. Off we go in another taxi, and arrive at the Canadian Embassy. My god it was good to see the Canadian flag!!! The dude at the Embassy counter outside the gate had little English but managed to finally call a Canadian military policeman from inside to come and help with language. The officer was from Truro, Nova Scotia of all places!

After much discussion and production of identification - I had my birth certificate and an Australian Driver's licence, and Amber had her passport. They tried to get the hotel to accept my daughter's passport but they refused. Then we tried to get them to agree to have my daughter make a new booking in her own name, which initially they refused but then the Canadian told me if my daughter was to go inside alone and book a room, I could join her later and they could not stop me. I wish it was that easy...we grab yet another taxi to the hotel - thankfully the right one - I had taken a business card from the desk when we were there earlier and it was in script so easy enough for the cabbie. Arrived back at the hotel, my daughter went inside while I went to a tiny pub across the road for a beer while she sorted shit out. Of course, it was not that easy. They refused to give her a room because they said they knew I would be coming into the room to stay and I did not have a passport. Amber threw a hissy fit, and demanded a room, saying we would have to sleep outside if they didn't. I had already paid for 4 nights to it was a bit ridiculous, but again - this is China...Amber came stomping out to where I was, and we attempted to locate another hotel that didn't know us so we could get her to pay for another room and I would just go up later. Thankfully, just as we were talking to the tiny pub owner, the staff from our hotel came out and said to come back in, that it is okay, they will let us stay. THANK FRIGGING GAWD! Finally something going right. We checked in, settled into our room and then decided we needed to go out for food - I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before, and my daughter hadn't eaten since her flight from Shanghai to Beijing. It was raining a torrential downpour so we got soaked, even with an umbrella. We could not find an ATM to get more cash, as we were low after spending a small fortune on taxis!. We managed to find a half decent restaurant though and sat down for our first meal.

Well my daughter loves the hot spices and ambitiously poured a significant amount onto her bowl of rice, veggies and pork. What came next was hilarious - steam rose out of her head and she nearly passed out it was so hot. I got her to stuff some rice into her mouth to cool it down, but it took awhile. I did not have the hot sauce...I opted for simple soya sauce. The food was cheap, just $4 for our meal, including bottled water. Then it was back out into the pissing rain, slogging through the back streets to our hotel again.

So it has been a very taxing day. I have to go to the Embassy again tomorrow to see about a temporary passport now, and hope against hope I can get it either tomorrow or the next day. I cannot take the fast train to Shanghai next week without a passport, let alone get back on a plane to Australia. I can't believe I have lost my passport, I was so dumbstruck this morning, even too shocked to cry, which is impressive. I've since had a look online to see what the Embassy could help me with, so hoping tomorrow will bear fruit. As for now, I am damned exhausted and so is my girl. I'm running on about 7-8 hours sleep in the last 4 days...I think it is time for bed...

So I knew there would be some challenges with internet, but I had no idea it would be this tricky. There is free wifi at the hotel, but so far I have only been able to access email and nothing else. The pages just don't load. I can play my games okay, but I haven't been able to post from my blogger app. There is a way to email my posts in to my personal blogger email address, but I didn't think to look it up before I came to China and I can't get onto Blogger to find out what it is. They have computers to use for free downstairs in the lobby, but they are all in Chinese script and although I asked staff to change the language of the browser to English, they could not work out how to do this. Three different men tried to help me, and they even googled how to do it, but could not figure it out. I can google blogger, and it comes up with the search results but then I can't load any of the webpages in those results. Language will be a barrier for sure! I have emailed my sister to see if she can get into my account and find that address. Just had an email from her and she was able to upload my post about arriving here. I might have to get her to do that until I figure out how else I can do it myself. I think the Internet cafes in the city will be easier to use as most travellers who are not Chinese would want to click a browser button to change it to their language. I've always been able to do this in other countries - usually there is just a flag for countries and you just click the flag for your country and it will change to that language. Often English is associated with either a British Flag, or an American Flag. 

In any case, not the biggest deal. I'm on vacation and should just be enjoying being in China. I am pretty tired so might just lay down for most of the day and read while I'm waiting for Amber. Our current hotel is near the airport so not really into the city. I might go for a walk too, and hope I do not get lost!

Jude's first day in China (posted from an email to/by her sister)

HELLO READERS OF JUDE'S BLOG!!  She is having troubles with the internet and has asked me to make this post for her on her blog.  As usual, she has an adventure to share!.......Kimm




I have arrived...welcome to China!


What a day...always an adventure to travel internationally...so after heading tot eh airport on no sleep, I finally boarded my international flight to Hong Kong. We sat on the tarmack for an hour waiting to leave because it was so foggy...I still don't get that - they can remote control a robot on mars but can't leave an airport in the fog? So I began to panic a little because I only had 2 hours layover in HK. The flight was tiresome - crappy meals, and they ran out of the beef so had to take ither vegetarian or fish...gross. And no snacks to buy! The seats were cramped and of course there was a crying baby the whole way - wanted to stab a fork in my ears most of the time, but managed to plug in my earphones and crank the movies to drown the little bugger out. There should be soundproof chambers to lock the babies in on planes...after 10 hours of listening to it I was more than ready to get off the plane. 

With only 50 minutes to get fro gate 45 to 68 I booted it to gate 68, only to discover I went to Gate 68 Arrrivals, not departures...my first clue should have been seeing all the people movers running in the opposite direction, along with ALL of the people...so then I booted it back to the beginning of arrivals and headed to the TRANSFERS section where my dumb ass should have been heading. Had to go through another round of security and it's 4:30 by that point with my flight leaving at 5pm, so I was freaking out as I still had to go through security and then boot it to gate 68 which was about a km or more it seemed! I managed to make it to my gate as they were boarding the flight, thankfully!! I was ready to expire after dashing my own version of the amazing race through the airport. Had to dig out my puffer and mop off the sweat pouring off my big giant head. Thankfully I was not seated near any babies and actually sat next to a Chinese woman who lives in Sydney (AUS) and we had a very lovely and engaging chat the whole entire way. We exchanged our details and agreed to meet up again if we are in each other's cities. She was also interested in my blog, so will send her the address for that too. the food was much better on that flight, pork and rice. 

Then I landed in Beijing. I didn't get to see much of the city as we landed, as I was over the wing and so view was limited. Managed to get off easy enough, and sailed through customs - was a tense moment as they checked my passport - still worried about that 6 month thing, but he didn't bat an eye and stamped my passport and I was off. I didn't even have to wait at customs, which was a departure from EVERY OTHER TRIP. The dramas began after that...

So I had not really thought about how I was getting to the hotel. I booked a couple of nights right at the airport as I arrived the day before Amber. Was told that free shuttle buses leave from level 1 road. Go there, can't see a thing that resembles my shuttle and it's madness out there. An opportunistic taxi driver offers to take me but wants $480 yuan, whiich is about $80...I don't frigging think so buddy considering my hotel is at the airport and only cost me $48/night...I tell him to piss off and head inside again. I come in and try to work out how to use the phone, and whether I need a phoncard. Got a phonecard, not knowing if it was the right one was most of the info was in Mandarin of course...then found a free phone and called the hotel. Spoke to the hotel clerk who had almost no English...she told me to go to Gate 8 and see the shuttle with the logo on it. First or Fourth floor - couldn't make out what she was saying. I had already deduced it was not likely to be first, so went to the fourth and entered absolute mayhem - honking cars and dozens of shuttle buses and thousands of people...stopped and asked someone where my shuttle might be and was directed to keep looking, no English...so I kept looking and walked up and down the road outside the terminal with no luck. Found a shuttle driver who offered to call them and see what I need to do. He told me to stand right where I was and they would be here in 5 minutes. 90 minutes later, I'm a blubbering mess, tired as hell, not sure what the hell to do, and can't find anyone who speaks English. I don't want to leave my spot in case they show up, but in the end, a staff person saw me blubbering over my backpacks and sent me to the information desk, but couldn't tell me in English where she was sending me, so managed to coax me into the building where she showed me the big ? and said the workd English...okay, perfect, off I go. I speak to the gal there who does speak pretty good English and she calls my hotel to see where the shuttle will come. They told her they would be 20 minutes but would come right to the info desk to pick me up. Phew, crises averted. The guy arrived and said he had been circling the arrivals level for me for 2 hours...he was very happy to have found me he said, and even showed me a piece of paper he was holding with my name on it in black and white. I had been looking for a smaller white shuttle bus but theirs was a huge regular sied blue and beige bus with my hotel name on it in HUGE letters. I felt like a friggin tool of course. But we made our apologies and he welcomed me to China, and then we were off to my hotel. Not far from the hotel, we came across a fender bender that had just happened with a taxi that t-boned another car. It is no wonder - the driving and traffic is crazy! At least they drive on the right side of the road...

Made it to the hotel, checked in, got some snacks, and took a shower. Man I felt like a new person again. Had several emails with Amber as it's our only mode of communication for the moment as Facebook is not easily accessible in China, given it is banned. She is in Vancouver, awaiting her overseas flight later today. I'll head to the airport tomorrow and pick her up with the shuttle guys - hopefully with no dramas! 

Welcome to China...made it!

What Am I Doing Up This Early?

Here I sit at the Melbourne Airport, awaiting my first flight. This one will take me from Melbourne into Hong Kong and takes just about 10 hours. My sister was surprised that it would take that long, but when you think about it, Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere and China is in the northern hemisphere.  Beijing is in northern China, near Mongolia, so quite a ways away. It will be my first time flying south to north for such a distance. I've only ever flown east to west for great distances. 

In order to be here 3 hours prior to my flight as required, I had to be picked up by taxi at 4:00am. I have to say, the cabbie was right on time. I had no sooner arrived at the curb and he was pulling up - perfect timing. He then collected my details to be sure to pick me up when I return. As I was checking out my return details, I discovered a little issue - I knew I was flying back on Sunday 14th, but what I didn't know is I don't actually arrive back in Melbourne until 1:00pm on Monday 15th...oops! I had to send a quick text to my manager then to let him know not to expect me until Tuesday. I just hope I had nothing scheduled in for work...That's two little issues now. I also messed up a little on the departure date for my daughter and I. We are both leaving on the 29th, but she is leaving from Canada and crossing back over the date line, so doesn't actually arrive in Beijing until the 30th. Ooops...so I had to book a second night at the airport hotel so I can meet her at the airport easily. Not a big deal - I can certainly use the down time and possibly get orientated, pick up train passes, etc. I could also just sleep through in my own bed all day...after all, the next 15 days I'll be sharing my room with another person - my daughter. The last time we group slept was in San Francisco with 3 of my friends. We had two double beds and a single fold-away bed, all in the same room. Since my daughter had never met any of my friends, I had her sleep in the fold away and I shared with my soul sister, A. Not that we spent much time sleeping...after all, we were there for a music festival and it's bloody San Francisco!!!

I'm hoping we are both well enough by Saturday that there are no coughing or snorting issues. I became sick about 2 weeks ago after lending my phone to a youth I was working with and just didn't think to clean it off when I got it back...within a couple of days I was sick, as was his entire family. Then my daughter came down with a cold a few days ago, so she's been pounding back the orange juice, water, and just trying to rest as much as one can when preparing for an overseas trip. I struggled with it as I was so damn busy at work, I worked late every night this week and last week, some nights quite late, and I've been in by an hour or more early, just to get as much done as I could before I left. There was of course, a last minute crisis so I didn't get to leave on time today either, but my lovely team manager was happy to organize another worker to finish up the crisis job and I could get the hell out of the office before anything else happened. I still had to get Dundee's things together and take him over to the cat sitter, so finally left work at about 6:30pm. I packed up the kid; he meowed the entire way from Footscray to Fitzroy, but by the time I flung him in the door at the cat sitter's he had calmed some and was very interested in the house - there is a female kitty there. He didn't get to meet her as she was sleeping in a room with one of my friend's housemates, but I think it was more than enough that he could smell her everywhere and get used to her that way. There is potential for Dundee to move in when I head back to Canada next year, provided his vacation goes well and they don't try to kill one another! 

So here I sit at 5:55am in the Melbourne Airport. My flight to China leaves in less than two hours. I must go find a comfy seat and read for awhile. I've had some Hungry Jacks for breakfast, as I just couldn't wait until the flight gets in the air and they begin breakfast service - that's about 3 hours from now. I'll be ready for another breakfast by then!

Preparing for China

In just 6 days I'll be heading to China to meet up with my daughter. I haven't seen her in 2 years and cannot wait! We're both very excited about exploring China together. I've been to Asia before, but not China and my daughter has never been to Asia. We've had a few bumps along the way as we prepared to go, but everything seems to be falling into place and we're set to head out on Friday. She doesn't arrive until Saturday, which was a bit of a slip-up - thought I had us both arriving on the same day but turns out I had us both leaving on the same day, only with the time difference, I leave the day before her.

I have to say, it's a bit scary to be flying internationally when there has been 3 planes either blown up or disappear in the past year, but I try not to dwell on this too much. I reckon when my time comes, it comes and there will be little I can do about it. At least I'm not flying with any of the airlines involved in the 3 planes.

I cannot wait to get away from work for a few weeks with someone who does not work in the field so I don't even have to talk about work if I don't want to! It's been super busy and quite stressful at work lately with a few of my cases, and I just finished up a 4 day trial this past week, and spent about 4 hours on the stand myself. First time since 2005, which is quite a stretch! Turns out it was like riding a bike - no problem. I thought I might get stage fright but I was just fine. Phew.

Spring is just around the corner here and we had a very nice day today, with temps around 20C for the first time in months. Beijing weather is still quite hot yet, but I'm hoping it tapers before we get there as it is the end of summer there. I'd be happy with a nice 24C during the day and 15C at night. We'll see how close it gets to that. At least I'm not travelling with someone who hates A/C like when me and my homegirl F went to Cambodia. She would be rugged up in flannel jammies, hooded sweatshirt, socks, hat, and both my blanket and hers while I sweated it out in shorts and a tank top.

I bring Dundee over to a friend's house on Thursday night. They have another cat there, a female, so hopefully they will get along and he'll enjoy a little vacation of his own. She has a big house for him to explore, and a big yard full of trees with birds to watch. She may even consider taking him when I move back to Canada next year.

So my backpacks are all packed up, and I just have to survive the work week - fly out first thing Friday morning!