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For those of you about to come to China...

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Jones, Jun 29, 2008.

  1. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    On a related note, has Jones posted again since starting this thread?
     
  2. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Thanks to No. 10, he got a chance to talk about his colon.
     
  3. joe

    joe Active Member

    But, but, but ... do they have a Dairy Queen, Mr. Wheezy?
     
  4. pseudo

    pseudo Well-Known Member

    Not yet.

    But if he makes it out alive, he should have some epic stories to tell.
     
  5. Stone Cane

    Stone Cane Member

    this is a post i stumbled on today on another message board from a guy who is a doctor and part of the U.S. olympic delegation (formerly?):

    Wednesday at about noon - start flying from Boston to Beijing. Plan is to fly to Chongqing for a medical meeting at which I am supposed to speak Saturday AM. All well until I get to Beijing. I have a connecting flight to Chongqing supposedly leaving at 2150 Thursday night - I am there at about 1900. It is a domestic flight and I discover, to my dismay, that almost nobody speaks English to any degree in the domestic terminal in Beijing.

    No gate listed for the Chongqing flight. Nobody can tell me if the flight is delayed or canceled or simply does not understand. I go thru security, where my shaving kit is flagged because of fluids in it - nothing over the US 3-oz limit and all in the appropriate bags, but not allowed on domestic China flights apparently. They send me back to the ticket counter to check my bag. At the ticket counter I am told I cannot take my bag on the plan - even checking it as baggage. No reason given - "We cannot do that." Apparently the bag has been flagged in some way. So now I cannot take it on the plane or check it under the plane.

    Somehow, without the liquids (which included toothpaste), I get the bag thru security as a carry-on. Still no gate listed for the flight. Air China sends me back to information for assistance. Information sends me back to Air China for assistance. Now after 2200 - no gate listed, apparently no plane, nobody can tell me if the flight is only delayed or cancelled.

    I notice another flight to Chongqing on another airline at another gate. I run down there as they are boarding, ask if there are any open seats and could I get on the flight. "We cannot do that." No reason given for that. I do not get on that flight.

    Finally, at around 0100 Friday a lady at the main ticket counter tells me the flight has been cancelled. I will have to come back the next morning to try to get on a flight to Chongqing as they cannot do that at that hour.

    I do not have a hotel in Beijing because I was not supposed to be staying. Taxi hailed and asked to take me to nearest hotel. Taxi driver does not speak English but I manage to get him to understand hotel. It is very dark, and the air is so thick out, that a London pea-souper would seem like minestrone. I also learn that Beijing citizens all ride their bikes in the streets - at night, with no visible signs to highlight them,

    We start driving to a hotel when the taxi gets a flat tire. He gets out and fixes it with a mini-tire and we continue on. Bikes in the street all over the place. Suddenly as he weaves in and out of them, one goes down with a thump. I try to tell him he hit the guy but he does not understand. I cannot get him to stop to see if the guy is hurt. He drives on. We get to a hotel. It is closed - nobody at the check-in. Next hotel - some guy comes out to tell us it is full, apparently. I still don't know what happened to the guy on the bike, and I am tired of all this. I get him to understand the words aeroport, and he takes me back to Beijing airport.

    Now back at the airport at about 0300 and I sleep on a bench there. At about 0600 I am awakened by the hustle of passengers and I go to the ticket counter to get a seat for Chongqing. "We cannot do that." I did not have a ticket for another flight, and I think they were telling me the flights were full for the day. Apparently I cannot get to Chongqing. Also, thru all of this I discovered that my Verizon cellphone does not work in China. Also, my Verizon internet hook-up does not work in China.

    I give up. I go to the International ticket counters, where they speak English a bit better, and get a ticket back to JFK. Flight boards at 1300 in Beijing on Friday and I arrive at JFK on Friday at 1400. I then wrangle a ticket on an American Eagle flight to Logan. To top things off, that flight is delayed about an hour - not too bad considering. I get to Logan and then have a 2-hour drive to our house in New Hampshire. I get here about 2200.

    So from 0830 Wednesday 25 June, to 2200 Friday 27 June, I basically flew to Beijing and back, slept in the airport, my taxi driver hit some guy on a bicycle, and I did not smell too good by the time I got home last night.

    Have fun in Beijing this summer, guys. I will not be there.
     
  6. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    So is that post No. 3 or No. 7?
     
  7. pallister

    pallister Guest

    You get use to it.
     
  8. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    I figured he was going back for another No. 7.
     
  9. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    I figured they confiscated his laptop for typing TIBET!
     
  10. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Or if he was reading a post on TIBET
     
  11. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    What's a step down converter?
     
  12. spnited

    spnited Active Member


    Something you need for your laptop in China.
     
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