Greetings from Beijing!
Trip Start
Jul 02, 2008
1
14
18
Trip End
Jul 28, 2008
Beijing,
China
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Most of today was spent in the Yichang airport, a very very rural airport with only three gates. As we approached the building in the middle of farmland and mountains, there was a field of yaks outside the parking lot to the airport. Although our flight was not until 5 this evening, we had gotten there early because we had to check out of our hotel at noon, and well - there just wasn't much else to do but head to the airport. We discovered, however, that this airport does not wake up until about 3 in the afternoon. At one o'clock, the place was completely dark save for one other man sitting in a coffee shop. It was a little creepy.
The flight to Beijing was pleasant for me as the seat beside me was empty. Rachel seems to have had a different experience. Upon arriving in Beijing, getting a taxi was a bit more difficult. We had tried to arrange a taxi through our hostel, but there was a mix up in the date, so we went to plan B - venture to the taxi line. It's amazing how difficult getting a taxi can be when you don't speak the same language. I called the hostel so she could give directions to the taxi driver. We thought that would be ok, but then he started saying something to us in Chinese and of course we had no idea what he was saying. We found out that what he actually had said must have been something similar to "We're lost". He motioned for the phone again and the woman on the phone got us there.
This area of Beijing is a more historical neighborhood, with chinese lanterns, hutongs (narrow alley ways between homes) and old brick homes with that Chinese roof turned up at the corners that is so recognizable to westerners. Out of the taxi, we followed our hostess at the guess house through a big double door and into a courtyard that gave us a sense of having traveled back in time hundreds of years into Chinese history. The place had a red glow from Chinese lanterns and everything was quaint and peaceful. We had originally booked Friday through Sunday nights, but ended up getting to Beijing earlier than we had planned. So we had two bookings, and apparently, hostelworld had lost our second booking. They only had one bed tonight - one twin bed that Rachel and I would have to share. Well if we didn't know each other well after our travels the last three weeks, we will now. There are two other Americans in the room (college students from Oklahoma) and they were a little confused when the two of us walked in. Our host and hostess were amazingly friendly and apologetic. When they realized the mistake, they handed us popsicles and said "Please sit, don't hurry. Have a rest." Even when I had stood up to hand her my passport, she made sure I sat down again. Hospitality is a very big thing here. In anycase, it worked out. We'll be cozy tonight, but tomorrow we move into another room.
