A day in the life of ...: August 2019

The China Diaries: Day Thirteen

I woke up around 5:00AM and got up to have a coffee. Going out was the last thing I wanted to do but staying in that gross room was also not something I wanted to do. I decided to use my ticket to the Forbidden City as it would be my last opportunity to go inside.

I still wasn’t feeling well but I thought moving would take my mind off of the fact that I wasn’t well. I felt feverish and was a bit worried about my flight later that day. I hoped I would pass the screening.

At the Palace Museum

I took a taxi at 6:50AM to the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong and the place was swarming with people. There were lots of guides holding flags and large groups of people everywhere. It was overwhelming. It read online that it was free to get in and it opened at 7:00AM. I thought going early would beat the crowds but there were already long line ups waiting to go inside. I decided to take a miss. I almost turned around and went back to the hotel.

I carried on through Tiananmen Square and went near the Palace Museum where hundreds of people were lined up. I had read online not to let this deter you from going in. Although it said they opened the gates at 8:30AM, it seemed they were letting people through. I got in the line and was amazed at how quickly I got it.

I went through the first two or three sections fairly quickly and then all of sudden things around me became very quiet. Most of the people in there were on tours so they weren't free to wander about. I slowed my pace and really took in my surroundings. It was wonderful and in that moment, I forgot about feeling sick.

At the Clock and Watch Gallery

I spent a couple of hours wandering around. The ticket I had included entry into the Treasure Gallery and the Clock and Watch Gallery. All of it was fabulous! Once I exited, there was no place to flag down a taxi so I started back in the direction of my hotel. I eventually came upon a side street with no barriers and was able to get a taxi.

Before going up to my room, I stopped at the restaurant on the main floor of my hotel to have some breakfast. I met a German guy there and we ate together and talked about life.

Finally, it was time for me to go. I had a 3:30PM flight to Mongolia! I hadn't even bothered unpacking my bag so I went up to my room, grabbed a shower and put on some fresh clothes. I went down to the front desk and asked them to call me a taxi to the airport.

It was a quick ride and cost 120RMB. I checked in, found a Starbucks and got myself a cold Mocha and a blueberry muffin. I went down to my gate only to find out that my gate had changed to the opposite end of the airport. I booked it to the new gate to then find out that the flight had been delayed. It was pouring rain in Beijing and apparently planes don't go out in the rain.

We were delayed for over three hours. I was scheduled to land in Mongolia at 5:30PM and I was still sitting in the Beijing Airport at that time. I had no service on my phone as I had used up my data and the airport Wi-Fi said I was online but I had no access to anything. Internet in China sucks.

We finally left after 6:00PM and I landed in the capital city of Mongolia at 8:30PM. My driver had been there since 5:00PM. Poor guy.

It was dark upon arrival and no one was selling phone cards. My driver told me it would be easy to get a phone card near the guesthouse the following day and recommended I use the ATM before leaving the airport.

On the drive to the guesthouse, I asked him a lot of questions about Mongolia. I don't really know much about the culture and didn't do much reading before my arrival. Listening to him talk was interesting and I learned quite a bit in the short time I was with him.

We got to the guesthouse, I checked into my en-suite room, unpacked and pretty much hit the hay. I wasn't well and needed the rest. I was very excited to be in Mongolia but I was a bit bummed at how I was feeling. I hoped to be feeling better by morning.

The China Diaries: Day Twelve (images)

The Datong City Wall

Wandering around Datong City

The Nine Dragon Screen in Datong

The Fahua Temple in Datong

The China Diaries: Day Twelve

I woke up at 5:00AM but didn’t feel like going out for sunrise. I had a hot coffee in bed and decided to wait for the free breakfast at 7:30AM. It wasn’t bad yesterday and I had a long train ride in the afternoon. I started packing some of my things to prepare for my departure.

The breakfast buffet was almost the same as yesterday's and I found myself eating the same things. I headed out right after breakfast to have a look around the old city of Datong. There is a 14-meter high wall that surrounds the ancient city of Datong and one can walk on it for about 7KM. I wanted to walk around part of it and see the city from up there.

A map of the Datong City Wall

The contrast between new and old was quite amazing. The buildings in the ancient city have been restored and they look like old China. Beyond the wall are tall, modern residential buildings, shops, stores and malls. I wandered around one quarter of the wall, which took no time at all. After I came down, I walked around the old city which was full of temples and towers. It's a very unique place!

Around 11:00AM, I headed back to the hotel for a quick rest. I had a 1:25PM train back to Beijing. I took a shower and finished packing up my stuff. I was taking inventory of the food I had for the train ride back. In all my walking that morning, I did not find one supermarket or convenience store.

I had three bananas, an apple and the small snacks from the hotel. I hoped that would be enough to last me until I got to Beijing. The first three hours of my train ride went OK. I had two seats to myself and the lady across from me also had both seats. It made for much more room. For some reason, the lady across from me was unimpressed. When she sat down, I smiled and nodded to her out of courtesy and she said a few things in a snappy manner and the last thing she said was that I pushed her. That part I understood.

Getting on the trains here, along with most other things, is always about pushing. She was an older lady and looked like a peasant so she should know this about her country already, yes? I mean, it’s not like I intentionally pushed her, if I even pushed her at all. I was being pushed and needed to push in order to get on the train. I was going to start up with her in Chinese to tell her this but I decided playing ignorant would be the best way to go. Not worth it.

She glared at me for the first part of the trip and watched everything I did which was quite annoying. I ate my apple and when I went to put it in the garbage can, I came back and knocked her knee by accident. Well! It was like the world was ending. She started muttered in an unfriendly manner so I just clapped my hands together, half bowed and said sorry in English. I can’t imagine anything I would’ve said at the point would’ve changed her opinion about my white face.

She got off at the halfway point between Datong and Beijing. It was obviously a bigger city as a ton of people boarded the train. So much for all that space. At least the mean lady who kept glaring at me was gone. The train got very loud, hot and uncomfortable. Three more hours turned into four as the train was delayed. I reached Beijing at 8:00PM. I was exhausted and starving. I got my things and headed out to get in a taxi.

I showed the taxi driver where I wanted to go and all he said was he didn’t know. So, I asked him in Chinese if he knew where the hotel and again all he said was that he didn’t know. So I asked him if he could read Chinese, as it seems that a number of taxi drivers in China don’t and I think I offended him. He starting yelling at me that he didn’t know where the hotel was yet here he was driving away. I asked him where he was going if he didn’t know where the hotel was and again he was yelling something I didn’t understand and still driving. I again said to him if he doesn’t know where the hotel is why is he driving and where is he going and that perhaps he should stop driving. He then told me that I would have to tell him where to go and that’s when I told him I don’t live there and I wasn’t sure where to go. That was his job.

I should’ve just asked him to stop and get out of the taxi but I found the address on Google Maps and told him he could use the GPS but it was in English. He asked me why it wasn’t in Chinese and I answered the obvious that I am not Chinese. Duh. I started guiding him according to the English instructions. I then told him I had Baidu Maps, which is the Google Maps equivalent in China, but he said he didn’t know how to use it. How is it that he is a taxi driver?

I got him to get me very near the hotel but when we got to the actual hutong, which is a very narrow lane, there was a police station set up so I didn’t tell him to turn. I then told him we passed the street so I asked him to stop the taxi and I got out and walked the ten minutes to the hotel. He was an ass.

I got to the hotel and gave the guy behind the counter my passport. By this time it was close to 8:40PM and I could see that their restaurant closed at 9:00PM. Eating was becoming less and less of an option as the time ticked away. The guy asked me for my reservation number and then proceeded to tell me that the hotel had changed management and my reservation had been canceled. I showed him the email I had gotten four days prior that told me to get ready for my stay there. He was confused but said they didn’t have a room for me.

He said they had a sister hotel but they also had no rooms. He called another hotel which did have a room but it was 600RMB for a triple. I asked him to help me check for other hotels in the area and he did but it was time consuming so I told him I’d take the place for 600RMB. I asked him to call me a taxi and let them know where I needed to go as I’d just had an argument with my last taxi driver trying to find the hotel and I didn’t want a repeat of that.

I waited and waited and he finally told me there were no taxis. It was well after 9:00PM at this point. I asked him to write down the name of the address in Chinese so that I could go out to the main road and flag a taxi down. The first driver had no idea where the new hotel was nor did he know the address so I had let him go.

Quite some time later, a white unmarked car pulled up beside me and asked me if I needed a taxi. It was a new car with a nice looking young guy in it. I backed up a bit and relooked at his car and asked him if he was a taxi. He said he was and showed me the ‘empty car’ sign that all the taxis in China use. I was still a bit hesitant but also feeling desperate at the same time. I had been standing outside for almost fifteen minutes. I showed him the address and he put it into his phone. We compared maps on our phones so I knew he knew where I needed to go. I asked him about a meter and he showed me another phone, which indeed had a meter app. I got in his car and hoped for the best. I tracked his route to make sure he was going the right way. My thought was that if he got off track, there are so many lights in Beijing, that I’d grab my bag and hop out of his car. People are everywhere in Beijing, so it wouldn’t take much to make a stink and have someone hear me.

He took me where I needed to go and my phone was dying so I turned it off. We had a nice conversation about Beijing and Taiwan and I could tell he would do no harm. He dropped me off at what he thought was the hotel. It wasn’t. It was like this day was never going to end.

I turned my GPS back on and followed it five minutes over to the hotel. It was close to 10:30PM. I paid the 600RMB and went up to the room. The hotel was gross. There was thick carpet on the floor that looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed in weeks. The bedding was clean but the room was dodgy, dark and old. I was so exhausted; I couldn’t be bothered to care much.

I took a hot shower and plopped myself on the bed. It seemed to be slanted. What a perfect way to end this day. Also, on the train ride I could feel a head cold coming on. I felt a bit feverish, was sneezing a lot and my nose was sore and runny. I ate a banana, took an allergy pill and decided to go to bed. I had pre-booked a ticket for the Forbidden City the following day but as I was waiting to fall asleep, it felt like the last thing I wanted to do.

The China Diaries: Day Eleven (images)

The view (and part of the long line) from the Hanging Temple

Not for those who have a fear of heights

The Xuankongsi Temple or the Hanging Temple in Datong, Shanxi Province

One of the statues at the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi Province

The China Diaries: Day Eleven

I was up early and had a hot coffee in the room. I went out for breakfast at 7:30AM. It was a simple buffet breakfast. I had some watermelon and two hard-boiled eggs. I made some toast with jam and packed it up for a snack later. My driver showed up at 8:00AM and away we went. He said our first stop would be the Xuankongsi Temple (懸空寺) or the Hanging Temple. Entry fee: 115RMB.

The Xuankong temple is a hanging temple from the 5^thcentury that is built into the side of a cliff 75 meters above the ground. The reason I came to Datong was to see the Yungang Grottoes but I had a look around the immediate area and came across this hanging temple. I knew it was something I wanted to see.

We arrived at the temple around 9:15AM. I bought my ticket and set out to go inside. And guess what?! There was a huge line. Surprise, surprise! I waited in line for about 1.5 hours before finally getting into the temple. As with most things in China, there were way too many people for me to enjoy it properly.

The Xuankong Temple (Hanging Temple)

There were long narrow passageways that brought you from room to room. Those passageways had very low railings. If you looked over the side, the drop went straight down. You wouldn’t want to get accidentally bumped in there. I spent a half hour in the temple before exiting. There was a loud microphone asking you not to take pictures, which everyone seemed to be ignoring, and it was also asking you not to stay inside the temple for more than a half hour so that others could go in. So, a 1.5-hour wait for thirty minutes of enjoyment. Was it worth? Absolutely!

When I got back down to the entrance it was already noon. The sightseeing pamphlet I had suggested that it would take four hours to go through the Yungang Grottoes and Google Maps said it was a 1.5 hour drive to get there. The Yungang Grottoes closed at 5:30PM.

I was at the base of Mount Heng and the original plan was to see all three places. My pamphlet suggested that it would take about three hours to tour Mount Heng. There was a cable car up but I was afraid of another long wait. I told the driver I wanted to skip Mount Heng and go straight to the Grottoes, as that was the whole reason I came to Datong. He told me the price would be the same, which I agreed to and away we went.

It took us almost two hours to get to the Yungang Grottoes. On the way there, I feared tickets being sold out for the day and I found myself making a plan B in my head so as not to be disappointed. I was also using google to see if in fact tickets did sell out. I couldn’t seem to find anything that said yes, so that was a good sign.

We got to the Grottoes around 2:00PM. There were very few people in line and I was able to get a ticket! Stoked! Entry fee: 120RMB. I quickly made my way in and was hardly able to contain my excitement.

One of the big Buddha caves was under construction, which was a bit of a disappointment but the other caves I got to see were fantastic. No pictures were allowed inside and there were strict guards there to make sure people were following the rules.

What I liked about this place compared to the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang was that you didn’t need to have a guide. But it was also what I didn’t like. In Dunhuang, you needed to be with a guide at all times. The caves were locked and the guides decided which ones to take you in and had to unlock the doors. So once you saw them once, you were done. But you did get a great explanation in each cave as to the history, what was original, what wasn’t and what special things you should notice.

One of the statues in the caves

Whereas the caves at the Yungang Grottoes, you could come and go as you please and stay as long as you’d like to admire them. They were very impressive and at one point I thought they may have even been better than the ones in Dunhuang but, they weren't The ones in Dunhuang were very special. I think what I liked was not having to continually listen to someone telling me what to look at.

As I was making my way out of the Grottoes, I decided to revisit each one. It was getting late in the day and there were tons of tour groups at this time, which made it hard to enjoy them the second time around. What I do like about the tour groups is that the guide has a small microphone and each person in the group has a set of headphones that are connected to the guide's device so they can speak quietly without bothering those who aren’t on the tour. However, when you get groups of thirty people at a time in those tiny caves, it can get crowded.

At the end of my time at the Grottoes, it was threatening rain. The wind picked up and dark clouds were quickly moving overhead. I decided to head back to the taxi and make my way back to the hotel. It was about a half an hour to get back and I was quite hungry.

It started raining on the way back but once I reached the hotel the rain had stopped. I grabbed a quick shower and then headed to a restaurant around the corner for some food. I had a beer, some beef noodles and some pickled cucumbers that were in a spicy sauce. They were delicious.

I went back to the same store, grabbed a beer and some chips and went back to my room for the evening. I had very little service in my room, which was quite annoying. At some point, I ended up taking my computer outside to try and connect my phone to my computer. I wasn’t having much luck. I gave up after a short time and went back to my room to watch some TV. I went to bed early with thoughts of getting up early to watch the sunrise.

The China Diaries: Day Ten

I got up early. I had a hot coffee in bed and then decided to treat myself to the buffet breakfast in the hotel again. (68MRB) The train ride to Datong was six hours and I didn’t want to eat on the train or at the train station. I enjoyed the breakfast and again ate as much as I could. I then grabbed a shower and packed up the rest of my stuff.

Around 9:15AM, I made my way downstairs to check out. I asked them to call me a taxi to the train station. I got there with one hour to spare. As I was making my way to the entrance of the train station, two uniformed officers approached me and asked to see my ID. They were cute young boys and I wondered if they just wanted to practice their English. They asked me a few questions in English and were both very polite. They thanked me for cooperating with them.

I spotted a Starbucks in the station and decided to treat myself to a hot mocha. I also bought a blueberry muffin for the train ride over. It was roasting hot in the station and I instantly regretted the hot coffee. I should’ve gotten a cold one. I found my mom on FT and spoke with her until it was time to board the train.

While planning my trip, I had purchased a number of train tickets so I thought with this trip only being six hours, that I would purchase a hard seat. Bad idea. The hard seats are the least expensive and obviously the least comfortable. The seat was hard and small with very little legroom. Ugh. Only six hours to go!

The train was loud, people were standing, and others were trying to sell things. It was anything but a peaceful ride over. Surprisingly the trip went quick. I stared out the window for most of the journey. There was only one small table between four of us and the two ladies across from me had occupied all of it with food. I was planning on catching up on my journal or watching something on my computer but there was very little space.

The last hour was tough to get through. I ended up standing for part of it just to stretch out. Once I got off the train, I grabbed a taxi at the station. I told the driver where I wanted to go, he said OK, and then turned off the meter. I hate that. I asked him in Chinese why he wasn’t using the meter and he seemed surprised and told me it would be 20RMB. I made a loud and very noticeable ‘hmmmmm’ sound as I am sure it would’ve been cheaper had he used the meter. (Note: on the way back it was only 10RMB so he did cheat me) He then tried selling me a tour for the next day after asking me where I wanted to go and why I was there. I took his name card and said I’d let him know. In the end, I am glad I didn't use him as he was a cheat.

The Bell Tower near the Pipa Hotel

Finding the hotel was a bit tricky as it’s in an area where cars can’t go. There was a sign in Chinese, which I noticed later, but nothing in English. I ended up having to ask at a restaurant where the place was. The hotel was awesome and probably has been my favorite so far on this trip. Well, except for the yurt. That one was pretty cool too!

The hotel was called the Pipa Hotel and they give you two key chains as gifts upon arrival. In the room, they give you two complimentary bananas, an apple, two pieces of delicious chocolate and two small packets of dried mango. They did this every day! Pretty cool! Breakfast was also included in the price of the room making it an excellent deal.

I asked at the hotel about arranging a driver for the next day and then went out to explore the immediate area. It was threatening rain so I didn’t wander too far. I found a place near the hotel to have a beer and a bowl of delicious noodles. After that, I went over to a tiny store I had found and bought another beer for my room and a bag of chips. I noticed that the bag of chips was puffed out which meant we were at some kind of elevation. I had a look online and it suggested we were just over 1,000 meters here in Datong.

I went back to my hotel and took a rest. The lady told me that a driver for the next day would be 400RMB. And while it was 50RMB more than the driver had quoted me that morning, the hotel knew the driver, which made me feel safer. Breakfast started at 7:30AM and the lady behind the counter suggested leaving at 8:00AM so I would have time to enjoy breakfast before going out for the day.

I stayed in for the night, watched some TV and went to bed early. The bed was comfortable and I slept very well.

The China Diaries: Day Nine (images)

This shows the construction of the wall .... imagine all those stones being carried up ( near the 10th tower)

Between the 15th and 16th tower of Mutiayu (慕田峪)

Found like this guy hanging out near the 11th tower

The signage in China has been a whole lot of fun

The China Diaries: Day Nine

I awoke early morning to the sound of rain pounding on the window. Great. I wondered if the tour to the Great Wall of China would cancel. I had a coffee and by the time 7:00AM rolled around, the rain had stopped. I started getting ready and decided to treat myself to the buffet breakfast (68RMB) downstairs. There was plenty of food and it was delicious. I ate as much as I could which probably wasn’t 68RMB worth and went back upstairs to get ready. I was asked to meet the group in the lobby by 9:00AM.

There were only two of us going from the hotel. The other person was an older guy from Finland who didn’t speak much English. We were taken to a bus that had a number of passengers on it already. We picked up one more girl before making our way to Mutianyu. I read online that this was the place to go, as it’s about two hours outside of Beijing so it’s not too popular with tourists.

The tour guide on our bus talked for almost the entire way there. While some of the things she said were interesting, most were things I knew already from having lived in Asia so long. It was exhausted listening to her blab away into the microphone.

Our first stop, which wasn’t mentioned when I bought the ticket for the tour, was at a Jade Museum. A number of people weren’t happy to be there. Our tour guide said we were there so that she could go and pick up tickets to the Great Wall for us. They gave us a guide who talked about the Jade. I wasn’t listening nor was the majority of the group. After the lady talked about how the Jade was made and why it’s so great, they took us into a big room where they had a ton of different jade items for sale. I went and sat outside to wait for the guide and the rest of the group. A girl from France who was also in my group came out and said she wasn’t happy to be there. We both agreed that it was time we’d rather have spent on the wall.

The Great Wall was another twenty minutes away. We needed to purchase cable car tickets. There were two options and most of opted to go to the highest point on the wall. The cable car would drop you off at tower #14 and the highest point on the wall was tower #18. A ticket up and down on the cable car was 120RMB.

The guide went to buy the cable car tickets for us and then we walked through a tourist area with restaurants, drinks and souvenirs. The guide didn’t allow us to stop for anything so I am not sure why we were carted through that area. Again, time wasted.

We hopped back onto the bus and were taken over to the area where the cable cars were. There was a huge line, of course. The guys at the cable car said it would be about a forty-minute wait. The walk up was also about 30-40 minutes so we decided to stay in the line.

The line moved slowly and about one hour later some of the group decided to walk up. My mom had called on FT and I was chatting with her in line. After I had hung up and turned around, I realized half the group had left. The few that were still there said I could probably catch up with them but the day was hot and I wanted to save my energy to make it to the highest point on the Great Wall.

The guide originally wanted us back at 2:00PM. We talked her into 3:00PM and then finally 3:30PM as this would only give us two hours on the wall. We ended up waiting for the cable car for 1.5 hours. The ride up was quick but our time on the wall was short. A few of us took off in hopes of reaching tower #18.

The Great Wall of China: Mutianyu (慕田峪)

The wall was very busy and this meant waiting in line to get on the wall and waiting in line to get through the towers. Around tower #16, the one guy and his son who I was walking with gave up. They decided to head back and meet his wife and other son. He promised they wouldn’t leave without me so I trekked on still hoping to make it to the top of the wall. I was alone. I reached tower #17 at about 2:40PM. The climb to tower #18 was hundreds of steep steps up. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to complete those steps and then I would have to walk all the way down from the wall as the line-ups for the cable car down were very long and waiting wasn’t an option. I also wasn't sure which route would take me down to where we needed to meet the guide.

I decided to quit at tower #17 and was slightly annoyed that I didn’t hire a driver for the day so I wasn't so pressured for time. The weather turned out to be quite good which I wouldn’t have known. The forecast for the area did call for rain and that’s why I didn’t pay the big bucks for my own car.

I took my time at the 17^thtower and dawdled on the way back. Around the 15^thtower I found the Finnish guy and the French girl and around the 13^thtower we found the family from New Zealand. We all took our time coming down from the wall and got back to where we were to meet the guide about twenty minutes early. I perhaps could’ve trekked it up to the 18^thtower but that could’ve meant keeping the group waiting.

So, it was a two-hour bus ride, a 1.5-hour wait in line for the cable car to have about 1.5 hours on the wall. We were then told we were going to a teahouse on the way back. We were hot and sweaty and again a number of us didn’t want to go. It would be the same as the jade market, which meant someone putting pressure on us to buy something.

Tea tasting at the teahouse

We stopped at the teahouse and had a tasting of six different kinds of tea. The room we were in was icy cold and the tasting was actually very interesting. The lady showed us how to pour tea properly and explained the different kinds of tea we tasted and what their health benefits were.

Had I not been backpacking, I most likely would’ve bought some tea. I took some notes and will visit a teashop when I get back to Taiwan and buy some there. And while I didn’t want to stop there in the beginning, it was a very nice experience and something I would never have done on my own so I was thankful.

The bus ride home was in mad traffic and it took us about 2.5 hours to get back to the hotel. We arrived just after 7:00PM. I was starving. I ran to the little shop down the road to grab a couple of beers and then headed back to the hotel to order room service. While I was waiting for that, I had a nice, hot shower and then pounded back my food when it arrived.

I did nothing for the rest of the night. I was scheduled on a train to Datong the next day at 10:51AM. I packed up most of my stuff and then slept.

The China Diaries: Day Eight (images)

Lining up to get into Tiananmen Square

Overlooking Kunming Lake (昆明湖) from the Summer Palace

At the Summer Palace

The China Diaries: Day Eight

I woke up around 7:00AM, which was much earlier than I wanted to be awake. I looked outside and it was raining lightly. I got myself a hot coffee and jumped back into bed. I realized after doing nothing but sulking for two days, I didn’t really have a game plan for Beijing. I had a list of things I wanted to do but knew I wasn't going to get to see more than half of the things on that list. I would need to choose wisely and carefully!

I decided to get showered and head out for the morning as the rain had stopped. The weather forecast suggested it would rain in the afternoon. I was staying beside the Forbidden City, so I went there first.

The place was absolutely packed with people. It was overwhelming. My first thought was that I did not want to go inside with all those people but then I thought I couldn’t come to Beijing and not go into the Forbidden City.

Lining up and waiting to get into Forbidden City

I picked a line and waited in it and when I got to the lady at the counter and tried to hand her money, she told me that if I didn’t have a ticket for the day, I couldn’t go inside. I had never even considered that. The people behind me were pushing to get in so I stepped out of line and walked back to the end of the lines. There was a security guard there so I asked him where I could get tickets to go inside thinking I must have misunderstood the lady. He confirmed that the tickets were sold out for that day and that they were closed on Mondays. He said I could buy tickets for the following day. I had train tickets out of Beijing on that day, so ... so much for that.

I wandered over to Tiananmen Square and had a look around there. The day was hot, people were everywhere and it seemed to me that there wasn't really anything to look at only long lines to wait in. I was walking around in circles so I went back to the hotel.

I decided to go to the Summer Palace for the afternoon. I took a walk to the train station thinking I’d take the train there. There was a long line up waiting to get into the station. Once I finally got in, I went downstairs and was overwhelmed by the number of people hording around the ticket machines. I had no idea how to use the machines and there wasn’t anyone around to help me. The information booths were empty. I turned around and went back upstairs and out the exit. I couldn't deal with the chaos. I planned to catch a taxi instead.

I was finally able to find a free taxi and when I told the guy where I wanted to go, he told me it was really far, like 20KM. I told him I knew that but I wanted to go anyway. He said it would be 200RMB. I said no. I told him that I saw on the Internet that it should be no more than 100RMB. He told me that wasn’t enough. He then proceeded to tell me that I understand Chinese and he’s not trying to cheat me and that this is the price that everyone pays. It’s not a foreigner price. I told him it was too much money and started to walk away. He drove beside me and asked me what the highest price was that I was willing to pay. I told him 100RMB. He said that was impossible. I told him I’d take the train. I went back to my hotel and asked them to call me a taxi. The fare was 65RMB. That guy was totally trying to scam me and I am glad he didn’t accept my100RMB offer as that was cheating myself. Ha!

I paid 30RMB to get into the Summer Palace. It was lightly raining. That didn’t stop the masses. I was beginning to realize that everything in Beijing required waiting in line. Waiting in line to buy tickets. Waiting in line to get through the entrance. Waiting in line to get through security. Ugh. It was making Beijing very unpleasant. And waiting in line didn’t mean waiting in a nice, straight, civilized line … it meant staying crammed as close as possible to the people around you so others can't cut in. And even then, people would continually push. It’d be my turn to go through a turnstile and an arm would come out of nowhere in front of my face so the person about to take my ticket would take their ticket first. And it was like, there’s one turnstile, so even if the worker took the other person's ticket first, that person was not getting past my body. Seriously, people. Oh. My. God.

The Summer Palace

I tried to enjoy my time at the Summer Palace but it was hard. Most of the time I was lined up, walking slowly behind the person or people in front of me. It’s hard to enjoy places when you are continually herded like cows and if one were to want to stop and take a picture, you’d hold up the entire line behind you. Beijing was quickly becoming my not so favorite place.

The Summer Palace was impressive but I took very few pictures because of all the people and the rain. I spent a couple of hours there before heading back to my hotel. The train station was very near the Summer Palace and there was no line to get into the station, so I decided to brave it. When I got to the ticket machine, there was a lady there to show me how to use it. Perfect! Navigating the train back was easy and it took me about forty minutes to get to the station near my hotel.

When I exited the station, it was pouring buckets. I pulled out my rain poncho and set off into the streets. What I didn’t know is that Beijing floods every time it rains. The drainage sewers around the city either suck or perhaps there aren’t enough of them. There were very few people on the streets and the few that were seemed to be under awnings waiting out the rain. By the time I got back to my hotel my feet were soaked. I wasn’t wearing my waterproof hiking boots, though I was forced to go through so many huge puddles, like ankle deep, that waterproof shoes probably wouldn’t have helped. I did enjoy the emptiness of the streets and put my arms out a few times to enjoy the space.

I ordered room service and then went downstairs to see about booking a tour for the next day. The weather forecast wasn’t looking great but the whole reason for coming to Beijing was to set foot on the Great Wall of China. I booked a bus tour for 320RMB. It wasn’t the way I wanted to see the wall but the tour I wanted to go on by myself was quoted at 1300RMB. With the weather forecast showing 90-100% chance of rain for most of the day, I couldn’t justify paying the money.

I went back upstairs and went to bed early hoping that the weather forecast for the next day was wrong.

The China Diaries: Day Seven

I woke up around 6:00AM. I have to say, for that place being such a crappy hotel, I had one of the best sleeps ever on my trip so far. I must have been tired. The room finally didn’t smell like cigarette smoke though it was probably because I’d gotten used to it. There was no shower but there was hot water and cups for coffee. I had a coffee and did nothing, as there wasn’t anything to do. A free breakfast was offered and though I wasn’t hungry, I thought I best get some food in me before my 10:45AM flight.

I got to the airport early and couldn’t check in by the machine. I went to the lady behind the counter and she told me that my flight had been canceled … again. I wanted to cry.

She made me go over to the customer service counter and the girls tried getting me a flight. I was told there was a flight at 19:40 so I said I’d take it. The next thing I knew, the girl told me the next available flight was 22:40. Not sure what happened to the 19:40 but I suppose they would have a whole plane to re-book. I felt sick. It was just coming onto 9:00AM and I had no idea what I was going to do for the day.

The city of Lanzhou isn’t close to the airport and I didn’t think there was much to do there anyway except wander around. I didn’t want to go back to the crappy hotel from the night prior. The day before I did find some accommodations in the airport so I decided to go there to see if I could get a bed and take a shower. Nothing was available until about 1:00PM.

I plopped myself down in a chair and stared into space for at least an hour. I couldn’t believe I had to waste another day of doing nothing but waiting. I was already bored out of my head and I had thirteen hours more to wait. Sigh.

The weather in Beijing didn’t look like it was going to get any better any time soon. I feared waiting in the airport for thirteen hours only to find out the 22:40 flight was also canceled. I looked for trains. No luck. I looked for flights with other airlines. No luck. I looked for buses. No luck. I was stuck in Lanzhou.

I bought a coffee, changed seats and stared at the ceiling for another hour or so. I changed seats again and watched a few things on my computer. I didn’t see any charging stations at all, so I was afraid to use my devices. It felt like I was going to become a resident of the Lanzhou Airport. That was to be my new life.

Around 12:45PM, I decided to go back over to see if I could get a bed in the airport. They had showers there and a place for me to be on my own. I didn’t know what I would do if my flight that evening wasn’t going to go out. My game plan was to rent a room. It was 160RMB for the night. I told them I would stay there until about 8:00PM and then try to check in. If the flight got canceled again, I’d stay the night. If it wasn’t canceled, I’d go back and give them the key card. This seemed like the best option. That would guarantee me a bed for the night, if the flight was to cancel again.

The shower felt wonderful. After my shower, I had some noodles at the airport. I then went and hid away in my capsule sized room. Bored. The hours ticked by and finally it came close to 8:00PM.

I knew my ticket didn’t have my middle name and I assumed this was going to cause some problems so I wanted to check in early and get through security as soon as possible in case someone stopped me and gave me trouble.

I tried using the machine to check in but it only showed my flight from Beijing to Taiwan. I then went to the counter and asked the girls about my flight. They were the same girls from the day before. They looked at my passport and I heard the one girl say quietly to the other girl that she couldn’t find my name on the flight. I started to feel anxious about what was going to happen. This girl called someone else and I was sent to the place where they check you in and take your bag. This was a good sign. The lady I was dealing with seemed to be a manager of some sort yet she didn’t speak a word of English. One thing that whole experience taught me was that it’s exhausting having to deal with problems especially when you are not using your native language.

The lady said my middle name wasn’t on the ticket and that’s why the other girl couldn’t find it. She didn’t offer to add it, she just issued my boarding pass, tagged my bag and told me to wait. She then got another lady who took me to a room because my bag hadn’t passed the scanner part. I was wondering what was in my bag. The guy took a long look through the x-ray machine at my bag before clearing me and telling me I could go. My bag was sitting there as the lady from the airline ushered me out of the room. I worried a bit about my bag, hoping it would make it and hoping no one would put anything in it. One never can be too sure these days. As a Canadian with a permanent residency card in Taiwan, seemed like a double whammy and a good target. Ha!

The next step was getting through security. The lady from the airline told me that there wasn’t much to eat past the security area and recommended I eat before going through. She was quite incorrect to say that. I decided to go through security as soon as I could as I was still afraid that someone was going to say something about my middle name not being on my boarding card. Nothing was said and I was in.

The first thing I saw was Starbucks. I went to get a blueberry muffin which offered a comfort of home. I waited for my boarding call, got on the plane and I was finally on my way.

I arrived in Beijing around 12:45AM. Since I was already in China, I didn’t have to deal with any security. I just needed to pick up my bag and grab a taxi. It was 120RMB to get into the city. When I arrived at my hotel, the doors were closed and locked. For the second time that day, I almost cried. The taxi driver suggested I call the hotel, so I did. They said I needed to go around the corner and the door on that side was open. Phew. I thought I was going to have to sleep outside in the rain.

I checked in, took a shower and crawled into bed. It took a bit of time for sleep to come but I was happy to finally be in Beijing.

The China Diaries: Day Six

I had a wonderfully long sleep. It was cool and dark in my room and the bed was super comfortable. I finally left the hotel around 9:00AM to find some breakfast. I found a breakfast place not too far from the hotel on Baidu Maps.

I ordered a breakfast burger and sat in the window to eat it. Big mistake! People (mostly kids) were walking by and stopping and staring in the window. It was amazing. Twice, I put a big smile on my face and maniacally waved my hand hello. The two kids who I did this to were so shocked, they ran away. Ha! I still had yet to see another foreigner but that doesn't validate the behavior.

After breakfast, I went to a supermarket to wander around and look at food. I bought a few snacks and made my way back to the hotel. I spent the day going through my photos and uploading them so they were online. I went back to the noodle place for more noodles although I had a different dish from the day before. These noodles were even better! Yum!

I stayed in bed until the last possible minute. I took a nice, long, hot shower and finally repacked my bag before heading to the train station.

I had a soft sleeper for the 15-hour journey back to Lanzhou. There are four beds per room on the trains yet when I arrived there were already five people in the room. A mom was there with her mom and her son. They had purchased two sleeper tickets and one seat. The lady working on the train told them that only two people could sleep in the room but the grandmother and the boy shared a bunk for the night. The guy below had his wife or girlfriend in the room for some time as well. Talk about a full house! Those tiny rooms are small enough without having extra people in them.

I slept well and for most of the ride. The train arrived in Lanzhou at 9:15AM. It was lightly raining so I decided to go directly to the airport. There was a 10:20 shuttle train. There were no seats for the one-hour ride over but I was able to buy a standing ticket.

On the train, I got an SMS and I was able to read enough to know that my flight had been canceled. Crap. There was a website to cancel my ticket or a number to call to re-book a flight. I tried both but they were all in Chinese and I wasn’t sure that I could navigate my way around the simplified Chinese nor was I able to understand the options on the computerized answering service. I decided continuing on to the airport would be my best option.

Well. No one seemed to know what to do with me. It was as if they’ve never had to deal with someone with a canceled flight. What about the rest of the passengers? Granted, I was very early so perhaps everyone else would’ve dealt with the airline via their website or a phone call. That’s exactly what the ladies behind the counter did. They put me on the phone with an English service. It took forever to get someone but finally my flight was changed to the next morning.

I then set off to find a hotel near the airport. I found some sleepers in the hotel but they were like the capsule hotels you find in Japan. It was only 12:30 and I couldn’t see myself in that for the whole day and night. I knew there was a decent hotel across the street from the airport so I headed over there. They had no rooms. There was another hotel beside them which did have rooms.

The hotel was dirty and old and there were no showers. Who makes a hotel and doesn’t offer the guests somewhere to shower? I was so tired and feeling a bit defeated by that point and I knew my only options were to go back to the capsules at the airport or take a bus or train for the long journey back into the city and then what? What if there were no rooms at the hotel I had already stayed in. I would’ve been left wandering the city with my backpack looking for a place to stay. So, I decided to pay for the room. It was 168RMB.

I had to deal with the room I already had booked in Beijing to see if they would not charge me for the night. I used Hotels.com to book the room and they said I needed to call the hotel. I called the hotel and they said that I would need to provide proof of my flight cancellation so they would not charge me for the night.

I sent the hotel the SMS I got and told them that I was not happy to not be on that flight and that it was out of my control. I really hoped they could understand and not charge me for the night. I was booked to stay with them for four nights. They responded and said there would be no charge and that they would see me the next day!

I spent the day catching up on my journal and posting another blog post. It was going to be hard to stay on top of it so I suppose it was nice to have some forced rest. It did mean one less day of touring around Beijing which sucked but if the weather wasn't great, I most likely would’ve been stuck in the hotel anyway. At least it would’ve been a nice hotel … with a shower. Sigh.

The China Diaries: Day Five (images)

The Crescent Moon Lake in the Gobi Desert in Dunhuang

A 34.5 meter Buddha stands behind those walls — at the Mogao Caves

All of these little doors have goodies behind them but most aren't available for viewing

The Gobi Desert looking so peaceful which it was not

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