First I’ll tell you little bit about how we got here. Whoa!!! I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anything like it before, but we made it!!! We had canceled flights, almost didn't make it through Chinese security, and we came back to the US early because of category 3 Typhoon Hapupit which went straight through the Guangzhou/ Hong Kong area. Luckily, Mom and Dad weathered the storm nicely. The storm made the Pearl River come up six feet, enough to flood several city streets and the White Swan Hotel's swimming pool (where Dad lives). But still, it was a great trip.
Sunday, Sept. 14:
All went according to our plan. It really was a great day. The only glitch was that we needed to catch a cab to the Savannah airport at 4:30 AM on Monday morning. because the shuttle for the Marriott did not start until 5 AM. It was $10 which was okay.
Monday, Sept 15:
3:45 AM: Wakeup Call comes
4:30 AM: Cab Arrives and we get to airport shortly thereafter
5:00 AM: At United counter, Erin notices that the ticket agent points at our itinerary and says something under his breath to the other agent.
6:00 AM: United flight leaves for Washington D.C. Dulles while we are waiting until our 6:40 flight for Chicago O’hare.
6:30ish AM: United announces that our flight is delayed.
7:00 AM: United announces that our flight to Chicago is cancelled. All persons on the flight must get in line to rebook. Our Chicago flight was due to depart for Beijing at 12;30 PM.
7:30ish AM: When we get to the counter, United tells us that we have to wait until Tuesday morning to leave (putting us in Beijing on Wednesday evening). They said that they had checked all options, and that while there was a flight that we could have caught out of Dulles to Beijing that we could have caught, there are no more flights to Dulles before the Dulles to Beijing flight leaves. The 6 AM Dulles flight was not full and the agent already knew that the our flight was cancelled. Hmmmm….
8 AM: Barry is sitting in the terminal waiting on our bags and stewing a little. I get on the phone with United and the first agent says there is nothing she can do. The second agent says the same thing. The third agent says, “Well, there is a way this could work for today, but you’ll have to drive to Atlanta, catch a non-United-partner from Atlanta at 12:40 to LaGuardia (it arrived at 3 PM), take a cab across town to JFK, and then catch a JFK flight by 4:30 PM.” Because it was our vacation and this was a once in a lifetime trip, we did not want to lose a day. So, we said that we would try it. Off we went.
8:30 AM: We get back to the United ticket counter and stand in line to get our tickets. We have 4 hours 10 minutes to drive to Atlanta and catch the Air Tran flight.
8:40 AM: Service at the United counter is moving very slow. I nicely tell the guy that time is of the essence and after 10 or so minutes, he does. We run to a cab at the Sav Airport, take the cab to our car, throw our luggage in the car, and take off for Atlanta. I’m known as someone who drives a little over the speed limit (never more than 10 over), but this time, I drove well above the entire journey. SIDE NOTE: In order for the close connections to work, we could not check luggage, so I told Erin that we would have to stop at our house and grab our two small suitcases that would qualify as a carryon.
10:50 AM: We stop in Macon at our house (didn’t think we would see it so soon!) and grab the two black carryon suitcases. Erin gets in the back seat and changes the luggage from our big suitcases to the smaller ones….essentials only.
12 PM: We arrive at ATL. We find a spot in the long term parking, run into the terminal, get our tickets from AirTran (which look more like grocery store receipts), and run to security.
12:30 PM: We reach security. We have 10 minutes before the flight leaves and know we can make it if all goes well at security. I step up the metal detector and the lady with gold teeth says in an obnoxious tone, “SIR, STEP BACK. YOU HAVE TO WAIT YOUR TURN.” The irony is that Erin and I had waited our turn as two lines had merged and one person from one line went and then one person from the other line went. I stepped back. The entire other line went through and then I went. She said, “You have to wait your turn, don’t you understand?!” I finally stepped through, trying to be patient, but knowing we now had 2 minutes to get to the terminal. The lady shouted, “FULL BODY SEARCH AND LUGGAGE SEARCH ON THIS ONE!!!” Great. The only redeeming value was that they also did a full body search and luggage search on Erin as well. We were both fit to be tied J
12:43 PM: We run to gate C10 thinking we have missed our flight. Hyperventilating, I reach the counter. Erin is behind me by a few seconds. The flight has been delayed until 1:00 PM. Thank you Jesus!!! Whew. We jumped on board but are in seats at the very back of the plane. Our first thought was that it would certainly make for an interesting transfer in New York.
1:30 PM: We explain our situation to the flight attendants and they give us great sympathy. It was just what we needed at the time. They were so sweet. They asked one gentleman to move (who did and we occupied two seats halfway towards the front so that we could de-board the plane quicker.
3:05 PM: We de-board in 5 minutes into LaGuardia airport in New York. We run out the front doors, get in line for the cabs, and tell the cabby that we need to go to JFK to catch a 4:30 international flight. He looks at us like we are crazy. Off we go.
3:45 PM: We arrive at JFK, United terminal 7. We run to the ticket counter and United says, “We’re sorry, you’ll have to go to terminal 1, because your new flight is on Air China. There is nothing we can do for you here.” We begged them to issue us tickets, to do anything. They insisted there was nothing they could do. We jump on the shuttle and off we go.
4 PM: We arrive at terminal one, Air China ticket counter. We beg them to let us on the flight. They asked if we had any luggage to check. We said, “No.” they called the gate. The gate said, “Okay, let them through.” We ran to security and then ran to gate B8. Because there were 600 people on the Boeing 747, there was still a line to board the plane. WE MADE IT!!! We couldn’t believe it!!! Off we go.
About 5:30 PM: Our flight takes off from JFK due to go to Beijing. Note: The new plan is to stay in Beijing until our already scheduled Hainan Air flight takes us to Guangzhou. We knocked off the first leg of the Hainan flight so that now we are arriving in Beijing on Tuesday and then taking a Thursday night flight to Guangzhou. That worked out really well. Also, Erin called United and complained about the whole thing and got us two vouchers for future flights, so there really is a redeeming value to the whole thing.
Tuesday, September 16:
6 PM Tuesday (12 hours added to the time plus the 12 ½ hour flight): We are due to arrive in Beijing; the Flight Attendant comes on the PA and announces that Beijing airport is closed because of thunderstorms. We were being diverted to a town that I can’t spell and I can’t pronounce. I remain calm for Erin, but we both are thinking, “What else?!” We land in the other town on a tarmac that is pitch black. We sit there until 9:30 PM and watch a Moon Celebration Fire Works Show in the distance. It was quite spectacular. The air plane is hot.
9:30 PM Tuesday: Our 747 takes off for Beijing.
10 PM Tuesday: We arrive in Beijing and catch a cab to the Harmony Hotel. It was highly rated by Expedia. The bed is definitely back friendly as it is like a brick. All said, the hotel the hotel is not that bad. The brick probably was just one more thing on an already crazy two days.
Wednesday, September 17:
6:30 AM Wednesday (Beijing time): It is actually 6:30 PM Tuesday EST, and our bodies are awake. We get up and begin our day of site seeing. Now that we are here, it’s all good!!!
Today, we saw the Forbidden City/ Palace Museum and Tieman Square. We saw the Olympic Complexes including (from what we can identify) the Bird’s Nest, the Aquatic Center, and several other architecturally unique facilities which are hosting the Olympics. The Olympic Complexes are due north of Tieman/ Forbidden City with all being in the central portion of the city. The airport is in Northeast Beijing. The Summer Palace in Northwest Beijing (we haven’t seen). The Lama Temple is Central Beijing (haven’t seen) between Tieman (to the South) and the Olympic Complexes (on the North).
All said, it is quite a city! I know we are here during the Olympics (which makes things quite above the usual par standard), but it is beautiful. The subways on the Olympic side of town are immaculate while those on the “non-Olympic” sides are not as well air conditioned and do not have the protective safety glass between those standing on the platform waiting and the approaching train. Also, the non-Olympic sides do not have English like the Olympic parts of the city. I’m quite grateful that we came during the Olympics, because English is usually below most Chinese words in Beijing. The Paralymics opened yesterday and Erin flipped on the local television just in time to see the opening ceremonies at the Bird’s Nest.
Stuff is a lot more affordable over here. McDonalds is the bomb… it’s almost like going to a Long Horn’s in the US. I know, I know, but it’s true. I wouldn’t even be caught at a McDonalds in Macon, but here, we ate there three times on Wednesday.
The plan for Thursday is to go see the Great Wall. Of all things, we have a taxi that will take us there, stay with us, and then bring us back for a very reasonable price. We will leave at 7:30 AM, drive to the section that begins with “M” and than return in time to catch our 7:30 PM flight to Guangzhou. Saturday, we go to Hong Kong with Mom nad Dad on the train.
Again, stuff is soooo much more affordable. AND, if you stand still long enough, someone will walk up to you and try to sell you something. Just act like you’re going to walk away, and they go nuts lowering the price. We almost couldn’t get away from some people. We got six Olympic hats at the Bird’s Nest for 120 CNY (less than $3 a piece US).
Thursday, September 18
At 7:30 AM on Thursday, a cab driver (hired for a very reasonable price through the hotel) drove us the 60 km to the Great Wall. We saw huge fields of corn with some of the biggest pieces of corn that I’ve ever seen. Ken took us on the way to a copper market where they make copper vases and ornaments and other soveniors by hand. It was quite something! I told Erin, however, that in the midst of this small market, I noticed something kind of strange. They had a neck tie hung on the coat rack in the midst of this small area. AND, when we got into the gift shop to buy these “hand made soveniors”, one of the boxes actually had “Made in China” stamped on it. Maybe it is hand made, but it seems more likely to be made in a huge factory and then imported for sale to tourists.
The Wall was nothings short of magnificent. Even though we knew where we were standing had been kept up through the years, we could see Mongolia to the north and China to the South. We took a ski lift up and then a toboggan back down. If you’ve never taken a toboggan before, you should try doing so hundreds of feet in the air with a lot of wait in your book bag. WOW! It really was fun and we did go fast J We met Germans and Swedes and Brits and Aussis in the course of our short walk on the wall. We also met persons selling everything from beer to water to snacks. They all would ask us where we were coming from and when we said, “America” the first thing they would offer us was beer. I don’t know, but I guess we have a reputation for something! Erin and I politely declined and opted for the Coca Cola. Everywhere you go is Coca Cola and it tastes quite different from US Coke. We love it!
After our walk on the wall, we took a stroll through the local staged market. Everything was “hand made” even though it looked a whole lot like the stuff we had seen everywhere else. We found a vendor with a “Hard Rock Beijing” shirt and got it for fairly reasonable. Vendors are quite persistent that you buy their products and will continue to harass you because they think it will push you into buying. Erin and I are champions of the philosophy of “just looking,” so we quickly got out of the market and back into Ken’s car for the journey back to Beijing.
While driving back to Beijing, Ken took us through many of the local roads and villages. It is quite humbling. We have things so good in the United States. Many public housing structures that we would not use are common place here. Persons are farmers and delivery boys and taxi cab drivers and so many other things not by choice, but because it is their government assigned job. During the Olympics and Paralymics, certain persons were not permitted to work because they did not look a certain way or dress a certain way, etc. etc. While it all was quite beautiful, the sobering realities of where we are begin to hit home. One positive that we can report within this is that the factories were shut down for most of the past two months to allow for the smog to dissipate. We have had relatively little smog in Beijing, and it made our trip so much more enjoyable.
After returning to the Harmony Hotel Beijing, we took the metro up to the Llama Temple. If you have never been, you should go. I kept telling Erin that while I may not agree with the premise of Buddhism, I should have a respect for them none the less. The Llama Temple dates back many hundreds of years. It is quite the tourist attraction. Incense was everywhere in the markets surrounding the temple so that people would by their incense and then go into the temple to burn it to Buddha. Once the incense is burned in the outer court, they enter an open faced door with three kneeling structures and pay homage to each of the three structures. At the end of the temple is the big Buddha statue. While I am still quite the Christian, it was quite an interesting moment to see the Buddhist faith in practice.
After the Llama Temple, we went on to the airport. When we arrived at the ticket counter, they initially said that they did not have our reservation. After producing some documentation and with a little finesse, they gave us our reservation seats on Hainan Air and we went around the corner to the counter to get our boarding passes.
The folks at the boarding pass counter said that we needed to come back in an hour. So we went and sat down and we waited. When 5:50 PM Beijing time came, we went back. They said to us that because Erin’s name was still her maiden name on her passport, they could not grant us access to the flight. Well, by this point I had enough. I firmly stated that this was their problem and we wanted them to fix it. They did. Normally Erin is the one who knows how to be firm and I’m the one sinking down in my skin because I want to get away, but for some reason the roles were reversed. Erin told me later that being adamant in a Communist Country with persons who could throw me in jail and lose the key was probably not the best policy. I felt quite anxious because I knew that she was right. American diplomacy with airlines folks is quite different than a Chinese state owned airline. But, it all worked out.
At the security check point, they took all of our stuff out of our suitcases and backpacks and took our toothpaste. After almost not getting to security, we were okay with that. We ate stewed beef (beef, potatos, and carrots) for supper and then boarded our plane for Guangzhou.
On the plane, they served us a wonderful meal. American airplanes now make you pay for just about anything. On the Chinese flight (which didn’t depart until 7:30 PM), they gave us chicken with rice, fruit, a roll, a drink, and a moon cake. We ate twice! The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Guangzhou at around 10 PM. Upon our arrival at the airport, we caught a cab to the White Swan. Mom and Dad were waiting at the front door when we arrived. It was good to see them! After a short time of talked, we went to bed in the guest room of dad’s spacious apartment. It overlooks the Pearl River.
The White Swan Hotel has two complexes. The easiest way to describe it is that there are the old and new hotels. The original wing is now the US Consulate Complex in which the US workers live and work. When the White Swan built their new complex years ago, the US government leased the space. They will continue to do so until 2012 when a new US Consulate Complex will be completed which will pull elements of the US presence from all over the city into one building somewhere in Guangzhou.
Friday, September 19
Friday was our “catch up” day. We had been going and going for so long that it was nice to take a break. We slept until almost lunch and then mom took us to the local market. Erin bought a ton of pearls because they are so cheap here. Shopping is her thing and she was in hog heaven! After returning from shopping, we met up with Dad (who got off of work about 4:30 and then went for massages and a short trip on the ferry across the Pearl River. On a personal note: Mom, Dad, and Erin love massages. It is not for me … I felt like someone was trying to rip my head off at one point when they tried to “set” my spine. Next time, I will watch J
Saturday, September 20
We woke up early on Saturday and went to the train station to go to Hong Kong. It is only about an hour and a half by train and we had a wonderful time. As we left China proper and went into Hong Kong, we passed through a huge set of fences. It was very evident where Communist China and the former British protectorate had drawn their boundary lines. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, we received another set of stamps on our passports and then went to drop our bags at the Prudential Hotel. A “deluxe room” at the Prudential had two twin beds and a single half sofa for us to sit. I wondered what a regular would have looked like.
Hong Kong has two main areas: Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. We stayed in Kowloon and visited Hong Kong Island the next day. Hong Kong was a British protectorate until 1997 when control was handed over to the Chinese. Hong Kong and Macai maintain a “one country, two systems” policy, where the Chinese protect the regions but they largely govern themselves.
The main portion of the day was spent going to Macau… a special administrative region of China. Macao was handed over from the Portuguese on December 20, 1999. It maintains its governmental autonomy until 2049. The Chinese protect the former colony, but Macao maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, immigration policy, and delegates to international organizations and events.
Macau is basically the Las Vegas of southeastern Asia. It’s unbelievable. We began by taking an hour air boat ride from Hong Kong to Macau. We visited the Wynn, the MGM Grande, and the Sands. While Macau is geographically smaller than Vegas, it handles more money, making it quite the economic force. We were about to walk down to the central part of Macau, but due to the hotness of the day, we chose to enjoy the Wynne’s water show (just like the Vegas Bellagio’s show) and head back to Hong Kong. We finished the day at KFC (one of our big three eating joints- Mickey D’s, KFC, and Pizza Hut) and then went on to the Prudential for a nice evening’s sleep.
The main thrust of our day was going up to Victoria’s Peak 太平山, or previously- 扯旗山, a mountain on the west side of Hong Kong. With an altitude of 552 m (1,810 ft), it is the highest mountain on the island proper, but not in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, an honor which belongs to Tai Mo Shan. The Peak (as it is known to locals) is a major tourist attraction which offers spectacular views over central Hong Kong, Victoria Harbor, and the surrounding islands.
After visiting Victoria’s Peak, we headed to the train station and back to Guangzhou. It was a good weekend!
Monday, September 22
Today, Erin and mom went with Becky, the US Conulate nurse to the leather market (among others). Apparently, name brand purses are sooo cheap here because they are all made in China. I guess importing them to the US naturally causes the prices the go way up. Erin got several and loves them all. As for me, it was a great day to rest and be a couch potato. Rsst and relaxation are wonderful components are a vacation for me, atleast for a day or two.
Monday, September 22, PM
Dad came in this afternoon and said that Typhoon Hagupit is coming to Guangzhou. I have looked on the internet to see what it was all about. Dad said, "I didn't mean to send you into a panic!" I remarked that my new readiness for storms because of being the Disaster Relief Coodinator for the South Georgia Conference was coming in handy. After discovering that it was a catagory 3 typhoon which would hit either Wednesday late or Thursday (our original return date), I called United and asked if they could move up our flights. They said they would for a fee. WE DECIDED TO WAIT!
Tuesday, September 23 (5 PM EST on Monday)
I called United again. Again they wanted money to change the tickets. I asked Erin to call. She did and they changed the tickets for no fee....story of my life! I usually get things accomplished, I just have to ask stategic others to make the call for me.
We packed our bags, went on a last minute walk of Guangzhou with Mom, and then caught the Whtie Swan shuttle to the airport. So long Guangzhou. It was a little sooner than we would have liked, but it was good to get our of harm's way. Our flights went well (except for the fight between Washington Dulles and Atlanta where the intoxicated Caucasian man hurled racial slurs at a African American gentleman who did not provoke him-- Erin and I ended up trading seats with the intoxicated man and sat in two isle seats on the row where he had been).
Wednesday, September 24 @ 1 AM:
We are home! What a trip. We saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Hong Kong, Macau, and so much more! It was incredible. We wouldn't trade it. We will rest the next couple of days and then be ready for church on Sunday.
