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!