Day 2
Left the Hilton close to noon, which was pretty nice experience overall. Bathroom was very modern and the room switches were weird but things were mostly uneventful. Took the shuttle bus to the airport and got right off with no problems. Then. Suddenly.Confusion. Not Confucius, but confusion. There were English subtitles below the Chinese words so we looked for symbols and looked around, but it did not help a lot. We were on the ground floor so we figured as we looked up we would see where to go. We finally got on the second floor but that did not seem right either. On to the third floor and then it was like Dorothy looking around in Munchkin Land. No, no, no, that was not a slam on shorter Chinese people. It was because the building was so big. It is this massive terminal that when you look around it is very impressive, {I later found that this is the largest building in the world} I believe this was made just for the Olympics from a few years ago. I thought when I came to China I would see everything like I owned at home that is made in China: cheaply made and those all confusing directions that come in the box. So far I have not seen that here, just the confusing directions. I am very impressed with the operation of things here. The hotel and airport are very well built and modern, more than I would have thought.
Back to the confusion: we had to figure out where to go. We asked a few people and it was almost like the game when someone says: warmer, warmer, colder, warmer, red hot. Figured out that letters throughout the airport were for the departing city names, duh. {Like who does that?} After about 5 attempts we found the Air China agent to check our bags in. We now went towards security. We get stamped on our tickets then on to screening. The only thing we did was go thru metal detectors. When you beep, which Renee and I both did, then you get searched. Now here you go TSA haters. They use a hand metal detector as you stand on a block with your arms out to the side. For a moment I thought they were going to auction me off. Now this is where it gets a little personal. This was a female agent and she moves her detector with her hand all around you. In America this was lawsuit, but it was not over the top. Renee had a similar experience, but of course with different body parts.
Made it through and now we had another 3 hours to kill. Rather than walk around for miles like we did in Detroit we did a brief tour and waited. The announcement of when to get on the plane were, to no surprise, in Chinese {Not like in America where you have to press 1 to speak in English…don’t get me started}. They do repeat some things in English, but they talk fast and it still sounds like Chinese most of the time. We get thru the gate to the plane uneventfully. Get onto the plane and there was really no problem. I thought flying would be a real scare but it seemed pretty straightforward. We were on a 737 so I am thinking, ok, Boeing. American made….NO! The parts are from China!! {Actually, I just now had that thought}. All was good. Get off in Jinan and make it to the baggage claim. The airports smell like smoke. Everyone seems to smoke here. You can smoke indoors no problem. Don’t worry though, because when the plane took off about 50 feet in the air and above there is just one big cloud of smog. Renee had to use the bathroom and there is something I have not seen yet called a “squatty potty” Yep, the name implies what you have to do. She came back a few minutes later. Funny thing is she did not have to use the bathroom after all.
When we got our luggage I was looking to meet our guide for this leg of the trip. When I went to Africa a few years ago and I had to look for my guide there, I learned from experience that I do not look for them, they would fine me. But how? When you are the only white person in a country where everyone else is not, you stand out fairly easy… The guide found us within seconds. She greeted us and started walking fast towards the car. My kind of guide. Lets not waste time and lets get going. Renee on the other hand would like to take the more laid back approach. I warned her that if we have to do this trip together that we have to move quick. We get to the car and it is a minivan so we had plenty of room. We get down the road for the 15 minute drive to the hotel. After a long time, and me resisting the urge to say “are we there yet?” one hundred times, Renee finally told me she said 50 minutes. OK, that happens to anyone who speaks English. 50 minutes later we are close to the hotel but stuck in traffic. Instead of the gas pedal people use their horns. I am not sure why since we don’t seem to move any faster. Maybe they thing they are playing video games and it is more fun that way. I told them in America that if someone did that all of the time they would pull out a tire iron or a gun instead of honking back.
Get to the hotel in Jinan, a Crowne Plaza, and walk into the yellow glow of the lobby. Nice nonetheless. We get to our room and you guessed it, smoke smell. They move us next door and there is no smoke smell, just older room smell. Not very clean but nice for the area. As we arrived we were told that they would meet us in the lobby with Samuel. It was fast but we were told to expect something like that could happen. Now to the meeting of the child. Since that is another part of the story I have to save it for the next time……sorry
No comments:
Post a Comment