Beijing Arrival

My arrival in Beijing was bad right from the beginning.

There was an indeterminately long wait for luggage at the airport. Up until that experience, and the one when arriving in Shanghai when they suddenly switched conveyor belts 3/4s of the way through, I have found the airports in China to be incredibly quick at getting luggage off the planes and into the travellers hands. Sometimes by the time we got off the plane and to the baggage area we just had to walk up and pluck off our luggage.

Not so in Beijing. We waited way beyond what was necessary (and even what was a bad wait in other airports), and by the time we got it, I was worried that the ride that had been arranged to pick me up at the airport would have left, thinking I hadn't come. I worried needlessly. It seems the pick up person from the hostel where I was supposed to stay that night hadn't come at all.

When I phoned to the hostel to see what was happening they said they didn't have my arrival time so weren't coming to get me (a tour guide in Xi'an had made all the arrangements for me and passed it on to them). They then told me that the best way to get to the hostel was to grab the airport shuttle and go to the railway station, then catch a cab from there. It would only cost 16 yuan for the shuttle and 20 for the taxi. (Otherwise I would be paying 120 rmb for a taxi all the way from the airport.)

No problem! I asked (three different people) and was directed to the right shuttle bus, paid for my ticket, was reassured by the driver that yes, I was on the right one, and I checked that it said 'railway' on the bus sign in the window....he said my stop was the last one and he'd let me know when it was. (This whole scenario from start to finish took the form of signals, pointing, pantomiming, etc.....now one spoke English, except for the very first person I asked in the airport terminal.)

We were humming along at a good clip, people getting off at various hotels, and about an hour later, all of a sudden, the bus pulled over and stopped behind several others on a rather busy street. Many people got off, but I didn't. I couldn't see a railway station. The driver came back on and motioned for me to get out and pointed at me to get my luggage.

So there I was standing on the sidewalk in the middle of a very long street, kind of like five or six of our city blocks long, with many lanes of traffic and a barrier running down the centre. Obviously, I was at the last stop and the bus wasn't going any further. But there was no railway station that I could see, even remotely close by.

No problem, I thought, I 'll just catch a taxi. At least 20 went by all with passengers, before I was able to start flagging down empty ones. But they wouldn't stop for me. They just kept whizzing by....normally you just flag one down, rather than call one up, because there are so many everywhere in China and I'd never had a problem before. I was beginning to get a little ticked, and finally I became more empathic and a driver stopped for me. I showed him the address and he shook his head and waved me away, hopping back in his car and zooming off.

Okay, so I'd walk to end of the long street and see if I could get one down there. There seemed to be several on the corner. So I and my luggage set off (I usually travel light, but because I was going to be living somewhere for several months, I was packed down more than I like to be.)

Well, I made it to the corner, but still no one would take me. One man flapped his arms around and indicated I needed to get to the other side of the barricaded street. He pointed to an over head bridge, which had many stairs up and down. I pointed at my luggage and shook my head....there was no way I was going to do that with my heavy load. He shook his head and took off.

Then another driver, stopped. He too pointed to the overhead bridge, but I was ready for him. I shook my head sadly, pointed to my luggage, and looked as desperate as I could, shivering and holding my hands in a loose prayer formation. He motioned again that for him to take me, he had to go way out of his way and circle around to come back down the street in the other direction. I lifted my shoulders in a 'so what' gesture...I couldn't understand why he wouldn't drive me, as he'd make more money if he took me a farther distance...he was on a meter. I told him I would pay him. I begged him to take me. He said 50 yuan (rmb) and after a minuscule amount of thought, I agreed. I calculated that I was still going to be way ahead of the cost of a taxi for the whole way....besides, I had no other way of getting there.

Finally, he nodded okay and loaded my stuff into the trunk. By this time the light was fading and so was I. He drove down a couple of blocks and turned back the direction we needed to go...a very short turn around. I looked at him and poked him and laughed at him, indicating he hardly had to go out of his way! He smiled and we nodded and laughed, and he chucked me under the chin, like a favourite uncle pulling a joke on me.

He loosened up somewhat eventually and attempted to speak a little English as went along; mostly he mimicked what I said. We had a great 'conversation' with him pointing out the sights to me like Tienanmen Square, the Temple of Heavenly Peace, and some other large buildings. I'd repeat the name in Chinese and then say it in English. He'd say it in English and I'd say it in Chinese, until we go them down pat. It was dark by then so I only saw the lights, but Tienanmen Square is something to behold at night!

Once in a while, my driver borrowed the little bookmark thing I had with the name and small map of the place where I was going to stay. He finally stopped at a stark alley way and pointed, indicating my hostel was down it. I took a quick look at the dumpy little, falling down shops down the dark alley and shook my head. He must be mistaken. Surely, this weird little market street for locals couldn't be right?

I gave him the little map again. He pointed to the name on a sign and back to the map, nodding his head. I shook mine, with my eyes wide in disbelief. He started laughing. I asked where was the hostel? He nodded down the street again, but I couldn't see it.

I shook my head, nope it's not there. He nodded yes, and slowly put the car into gear and inched forward down the very narrow street, avoiding the many obviously poor people trying to sell their wares from carts and little doorways, including steaming food. By this time, he and I are both finding my reaction quite amusing.

After quite sometime down this long, narrow foreboding alley way, he stopped in front of a lit glass doorway. I stared at it and said, "Oh, my God!"

He started laughing and repeated, "Oh my God" then laughed again.

I repeated the phrase again, and so did he, laughing uproariously. We both started laughing and I shook my head and said there was no way I was going to stay there. I wouldn't even go inside the dilapidated place. I indicated for him to take me somewhere else.

He proceeded, laughing all the way to the far end, which took quite some time before we could squeeze through the maze of littered squalor and scruffy people. In fact, there were places where the car could barely squeeze through. (I think the entire street was about a mile long, as according to the map the hostel was 500 metres from one end, and I'd have guessed we were about halfway or a little less from the other end), travelling at about 3 miles an hour.

In the meantime, my taxi driver phoned a hotel for me, but the first one didn't take foreigners. the second one did and had a room, so he took me there instead. By this time, it was getting late...obviously the hotel was more for Chinese people, and not a good one either, but I was tired and at least they had security everywhere. It was rated at three star, so I took it for one night. It was right across the street from one of the walls of Tienanmen Square, but there wasn't a decent place to eat there or nearby. (Bear in mind that this was all happening in Chinese and pantomimes)

My taxi driver helped me take my luggage to my room and then drove me to a pizza place, so I could get something to eat. When we parted, he shook my hand and left again, wishing me luck and laughing as he said, "Oh, my God!" and drove off into the night!

***

I skipped the pizza place...it didn't look that promising, but I found a KFC a little farther along the street and grabbed a chicken burger, most welcome at that time. I managed to make my own way back to the hotel, showing the next taxi driver my trusty hotel card with the address on it in Chinese (a must wherever you go in China, or any country for that matter).

I tried not to look at how bad my room was, reassuring myself it was only for the night and I could find something else the next day. I was reasonably sure the corner of the ceiling that was caving in would be still there in the morning, and I couldn't see any bugs. I didn't dare walk on the floor in my bare or sock feet, but at least there was a sitting toilet. And the bed was so bad by Chinese standards that it was great for me...nice and soft.

To take my mind off things, I went downstairs and booked myself some tours for the next two days. There was a tiny little tour office in the small lobby, but the operators only spoke Chinese. Finally one of the men phoned the main office and I spoke to someone in English and then made arrangements.

I'd also brought my information down for the hostel so I could phone and let them know that I wouldn't be arriving or staying with them. I motioned to the Chinese fellow asking if I could use the phone again and if he would phone the number for me. I held out the paper and he dialed. I began talking to the woman who answered, but she didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I ended up by telling her never mind about the accommodations, but did they do tours. She said, "Yes, you already have yours arranged." Now I was confused.

Originally a fellow in Xi'an had made the arrangements at the hostel for me and said they could set up tours for me too, but I'd never told him what I wanted to do, so I couldn't figure out how they could have made plans for me. Finally it dawned on me that the lunatic in the tour office had dialed the tour operator again, not the number I'd asked him to call. I then asked the woman on the phone, if she could please explain to him in Chinese that I wanted him to call the number on the paper I had.

At last he did, and I got everything straightened out. Reluctantly I went to bed, setting my alarm to get up at 7:15 am as I knew the tour people were to pick me up at 8:10.

My alarm duly went off on time and I immediately hopped into the shower. Imagine my surprise when I heard someone knocking on my door. I wrapped the towel around me and answered to find a young girl trying to explain that the tour guide would pick me up at 7:40 instead of the later time. Okay, I could do it. Except that five minutes later, another knock came at the door and the driver was already there to pick me up for the tour. Then I scrambled.

It turned out the guide had been trying to phone me all the previous evening to let me know about the change of time. I was there, but the phone didn't work. Also the first young girl at the door in the morning got the time wrong. I dressed, threw all my things together and took my luggage downstairs, asking them to keep until I would be back at 5 pm, but letting them know I would be checking out. I wasn't worried about finding a place to stay.

I hoped my first day of touring would be much better!