Global Traveler

China

We didn't quite make the ferry I had in mind. We were about 10 minutes late for the only ferry that day. Howver, we managed to get a ferry from Kowloon, the island next to Hong Kong Island.

We made our trek to the airport in Shenzhen and since our flight was delayed (likely due to the monsoonal rains) and I had a delicious meal of fried tofu, coke and a waffle with ice cream and fruit. Mmmmmm.

Air China....the last time I flew them was a similar situation. I had taken the hydroferry to Shenzhen from Hong Kong and was flying to Beijing. While the rest of our friends flights' waited patiently for things to clear, our flight drove head on into a sandstorm. I honestly thought I would die. I remember that the stewardesses only got halfway through dinner before having to stop serving and remain in their seats for the rest of the flight. I also remember the woman sitting next to my friend Susan, barfing into her food tray. Needless to say. I was nervous about Air China. I figured the likelihood that another sandstorm would be headed our way was slim, but I blame them for being one of the only flights to decide they could plow through. This flight was turbulent though not nearly to the same degree. However, I was in a particularly rotten mood by the time we landed in Beijing.

Our hotel was a huge tourist hotel but it was nice and it was conveniently located. However, our luck (or lack thereof) continued. We took about 9 years to decide which restaurant we wanted to eat at and when we finally chose a place we rode the elevator only to find out that the restaurant was closed for repairs. We ended up going to the buffet, which looked delicious minus the flies on the food and the carcasses hanging next to our table. We seemed to be a bit early and the staff stood around like vultures waiting to artfully rearrange any food we removed from the buffet.

Being Jed's birthday eve and knowing that we would likely be out all day on his actual bday, I decided to take advantage of the fact that our hotel had a 'spa'. I scheduled him a massage but skeptically as the English capabilities of the staff were severely limited. The teriffic sport that Jed is, he gladly went to his massage which turned out to take place in a room resembling a dungeon. No music, no mood lighting and a woman who wouldn't stop asking him questions, therefore ruining any chance of actual relaxation. Disgusted and slightly shaken he returned to tell me all about it but did his best to insist it 'wasn't that bad'.

Jed's bday. Our morning started with the hotel's free breakfast. The atmosphere reminded me of our high school band trips, sucky. It was a huge grease fest and we felt sicker with each bite. We chartered a car and driver to take us to the Great Wall. Having climbed a very remote part of the wall a few years ago, I thought (selfishly) that it might be fun to go to a more touristy part. I remember my roommate at the time had loved the slides that they provided to get down the wall. This was a huge mistake as I am almost certain anyone in their right mind would have enjoyed the remote sections better. Fortunately, this was the first day that the rain subsided just enough for us to really enjoy some outside time. However, the humidity was brutal and the climb was difficult so we were both a sweaty mess.

We took these fun little gondola things up to the top and then climbed a portion of the wall that was screaming with tourists and hawkers. There was a man climbing the wall in crutches (embarrassingly he was moving a lot faster than us) and there were loads of women who took the challenge in heals. I do not look at them with the same kind of amazement as I do with the man on crutches.

The big draw is the roller coaster like ride down the wall you can take for a small fee. It was so lame but fun because we really like lame. We even rode it back up. We spent most of the day around the Wall so we were pretty exhausted. But after we returned to the hotel, we headed out to Tianenmen Square, which really is more of a rectangle.

We turned in early because we needed to be up bright and early for our trip to Singapore.

Would Singapore prove to be as great as I remember? Will the post be more interesting than this one?

Stay tuned......