Left the hotel 7 a.m. for the airport – only to find that our flight had been canceled! The plane hadn’t arrived. Little panic scramble to get everyone on another flight that would still catch our connecting flight back to Seattle. We were afraid we might be Shanghai’d just like the sailors of old, but our tour guides were right on top of it and found another flight. We had to wait an extra three hours, but that gave me time to catch up on computer. I wasn’t able to blog the last two days, so will catch up tonite.
Once aboard, no problem. We had just enough time to make connections in Beijing, along with a basketball team from Seattle that had spent a week in China playing the Chinese Olympic team (lost both games). Eleven hour flight flight back was better than going over, mostly because it eventually got dark and I caught some shut-eye. Hainan Airlines (owned by Chinese gov’t) is not bad. Service was good. Food was . . . airline food.
Back in the good ole USA at 11:59 a.m. Monday morn, after leaving Beijing at 4:20 that afternoon. See, traveling backwards in time IS possible, thanks to the International Date Line. Back to Helena at 5:30 p.m., an hour after we left China. Home, sweet home.
Although we’re glad to be home (and broke), we’re a little sad to be leaving the Middle Kingdom. I never would have gotten the impact without being there. This has just whet my appetite. It’s not even hustle and bustle – it’s an outright frenzy to build, grow, trade, prosper. China is a formidable force. I was amazed at how many Chinese spoke some English. Someone quoted a statistic that there are more Chinese students studying English than there are American students studying English. Almost all the signs were also in English. Even street vendors took Yankee dollars (the exception was the Shanghai airport – what irony!) We need better relations with China. Not only as a market for our goods and services, but to bring them here to see the beauty of OUR country and the friendliness of OUR people.
Stay tuned.
April 1, 2010 at 8:44 pm |
Your pictures of China remind my trip to Thailand which was an awesome experience for me. Sounds like you had an equally enjoyable experience!