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...