Was an interesting time getting here. With all of my luggage broken, I have been hauling around 52 kg in my hands and shoulders--mostly hands. I sucked it up and took a cab out of the apartment I borrowed to Dongzhimen Zhan, the most inner-city stop of the new Airport Express subway. I told the taxi driver to go to Dongzhimen, but he said "with all that luggage, youre going to the airport. I'll take you right there! Very convenient."
I said "no, I don't have that much money."
"What? You're a foreigner! Of course you have the money! Only 70, 80 kuai!"
"I'm about to go back to the US! I'm carrying very little RMB!" (This was a lie).
"Alright, how much is in your wallet? Maybe I'll make you a deal."
"No, no, it's fine. Dongzhimen."
"Come on, you want to go to the airport."
"No, I told you where I want to go. Dongzhimen."
"Airport."
"I mean it, Dongzhimen. I'll break (I didn't know the word for "rip") my money before I give it to you if you take me to the airport."
"You're joking!"
"Not at all."
"Alright, fine. You're crazy, foreigner. Now hurry up and get out of my cab."
Luckily, we were laughing the whole time. He was awesome.
Anyway, I then haul all my junk downstairs to the airport line, where I get a ticket for a cool 25 kuai, and get on, already drenched in sweat. Luckily, the airport line is excellently modern, and air-conditioned.
After a short trip underground, it shoots up into the sky, and one gets a sense for just how fast he is going (the answer, or course: pretty fast).
When we arrived, I stepped out onto the terminal, and got to see the twinkly lights of Beijing disappear for the last time in a long time.
I got into the terminal, and they checked my bags for bomb residue looooong before I got to ticketing, which was interesting. They are really worried.
And now, I am sitting here, not yet checked in, waiting for my flight. All ticketing is closed, and was closed at 11, when I arrived, which I found... odd. It doesn't even open 'till 5:30 (a few people have already offered me hotels for the night, but little do they know: I'm not on Communist Time anymore, I'm on Freedom Time, so I will be staying up all night long!).
I thought it was quite odd for an airport as massive as Beijing's to only be ticketing 2/3 of the day, then realised: I'm in Terminal 3, which is new. And if the Beijing Government is smart, they are planning for growth, and Terminal 3 might actually be larger than it needs to be. Which would be brilliant, but it means that no coffee shop is open 'till 6 and I have to sit out in the loser section for the next 5 hours or so.
Lame.
I was hoping to have pictures for you guys, but my pirated bandwidth just can't handle it, so they'll come later.
See you in Shanghai!
--Comrade Erik
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Fireworks in Beijing
No, no pictures.
We heard some impromptu repetitive bangs outside, and figured nobody was getting shot, but we were still curious. What we saw were very low fireworks, of the smaller variety that one might see at a 4th of July festival.
It was pretty awesome, but we wondered two things: 1) Where are the police? There were dozens of apartment blocks within a few hundred feet, and this was actually pretty darn dangerous. 2) Isn't one of those things going to blow up on the ground?
Then it did.
But the impromptu show continued, either because the fuses had already been lit, or because everyone was okay. But it still looked a bit scary.
We heard some impromptu repetitive bangs outside, and figured nobody was getting shot, but we were still curious. What we saw were very low fireworks, of the smaller variety that one might see at a 4th of July festival.
It was pretty awesome, but we wondered two things: 1) Where are the police? There were dozens of apartment blocks within a few hundred feet, and this was actually pretty darn dangerous. 2) Isn't one of those things going to blow up on the ground?
Then it did.
But the impromptu show continued, either because the fuses had already been lit, or because everyone was okay. But it still looked a bit scary.
Friday, August 1, 2008
One Last "Screw You" To My Travels.
Well, no matter how many things go bad between here and sitting over the Pacific Ocean, my own country is going to be the last place to screw me before I am home. Turns out, they can take my laptop for no reason at all, on a whim! Even if they don't, I will still be irked at the drool on their pants from seeing a pretty Mac Book float by that they know they could just pluck up if they wanted.
Thanks, America, for making travel awesome.
Thanks, America, for making travel awesome.
Bomb Scare on Beijing Subway
No, it didn't happen to me, but it's still interesting.
A fellow traveler in China was on the #1 line today, and at a station, while the doors stood open, everyone started screaming and ran. Nobody knew why, or who started it, but it was panic and mayhem. The police apparently responded moderately well, yelling at people to all get upstairs and out of the station right away. Regardless of what's going on, if there is panic, you want to get people to fresh air and open spaces so they can feel distant from the source of the unknown panic, and so they can have time to relax.
Turns out there was an apparent bomb scare. The police did not explain it, but it might be a Xinjiang separatist, or something. We talked about how often this stuff happens--and it turns out, we have no idea. The Beijing government does _not_ publicize this stuff in the papers, so it could happen every few months, or have been happening daily (though we would likely be hearing more rumors to the effect if the latter were true). We also don't know how serious the threat was--people hung outside for about 20 minutes, but that could have just meant a very thorough check of the trains, which is the right response.
So all in all, I'm pretty glad I'm leaving Beijing soon. Bomb scares are just the last thing I want.
A fellow traveler in China was on the #1 line today, and at a station, while the doors stood open, everyone started screaming and ran. Nobody knew why, or who started it, but it was panic and mayhem. The police apparently responded moderately well, yelling at people to all get upstairs and out of the station right away. Regardless of what's going on, if there is panic, you want to get people to fresh air and open spaces so they can feel distant from the source of the unknown panic, and so they can have time to relax.
Turns out there was an apparent bomb scare. The police did not explain it, but it might be a Xinjiang separatist, or something. We talked about how often this stuff happens--and it turns out, we have no idea. The Beijing government does _not_ publicize this stuff in the papers, so it could happen every few months, or have been happening daily (though we would likely be hearing more rumors to the effect if the latter were true). We also don't know how serious the threat was--people hung outside for about 20 minutes, but that could have just meant a very thorough check of the trains, which is the right response.
So all in all, I'm pretty glad I'm leaving Beijing soon. Bomb scares are just the last thing I want.
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