It's just after 3 a.m., local time, in China. At this point, I've given up trying to convert that. I don't know what I should convert to anyway. I know it's afternoon in Canada. Close enough.
I've never been to Asia before, and so far, I've not seen anything anyway. The flight was as pleasant as a 12 hour flight could be. I had my printout of the hotel address with me when I made my way to the taxi rank, and was promptly plopped into a taxi. That part worked. When we got to the "hotel" - which, it turns out, is a series of buildings labelled A to Q - my driver was confused. The instructions said building E. He got directed by a number of security guards, so far so good.
And here is where it started to get stressful for me. At reception at building E. my arrival prompted anxiety. One of the two people at the desk ran away. The other said, wait, and kept working on something. I waited. Finally, another person comes out - and we have English (he also seemed stressed by my presence, and I feel very bad that I don't speak the local language but that's why I'm checking into an "international" hotel. And my booking agent said all I would have to do is give them my passport and they would know what to do.) The passport showing and eliciting knowledgeable response, that didn't happen so much. My printout from the booking agent was met with a shrug. The man in the suit was clearly stressed. He kept asking me if I am going to this meeting that I am actually going to, and I kept trying to explain, yes yes, I am, but I didn't book through the meeting (at the time, the web rates I found with the booking agent were cheaper. Commence hilarious laughter if you are more seasoned traveller than I am).
We weren't making much progress. Finally, I got why he was so stressed - he had no record of my payment through the meeting. I assured him that all I had done was put down $60 with the booking agent as a deposit. That of course does not exist either, and will indubitably lead to further stress when I attempt to recover it. The magic of Visa fixed things, of course, but now we had a new problem: I had specified at the time of booking with the mysterious booking agent that I needed to book a room with in-room internet. I like this part, but Rick *needs* it, and since he said he'd try to come, I have realized that my math works like this:
I like Rick + I like internet + Rick needs internet = I must have internet or I throw hissyfit.
But I don't know how to throw a hissyfit in Mandarin. And it's not really something I'm good at in English, I am more the dogmatic repeat what I want until I get it sort when it comes to hotels. So I tried that. At which point my man in the suit tells me there is no internet in any of the rooms, it cannot happen, but there is coffeeshop! coffeeshop has internet! is very cheap!
What I *should* have done is insist they call the booking agent (though I have very little confidence there). What I did was pay for two nights up front, and wander to my room. Too tired to think. 24 hours without sleep. Stuff like that. I had a shower. I tried to see if I could pick up someone else's wireless. Nope. No luck. So, since I now have to talk to Rick, who is still in Bangkok, I need to go to the coffee shop that has internet.
It is not wireless internet. It is one elderly computer sitting in a corner, with one young person semi-permanently parked in front of it. No good. So back up to room, wondering if it would be totally unforgivable if I just crash and concluding yes. I turn on the computer by a different window, thinking I will get a little bit of work done and return to the coffee shop (what? I think I'm *brilliant* when I'm totally sleep deprived). And there is is. Someone's wireless is bleeding into my window, and my computer makes nice. Connected.
That sort of connected is of course not good enough - unreliable, and someone else's bandwidth. But I can now talk to Rick and explain where we are at. But Rick, who is not the sort of naive little dummy who gets sucked in by booking agents and who has had several months in China now, he was way ahead of me. He'd already discovered (using one of his Chinese speaking staff) that only some buildings in my so-called hotel have internet. And I confirmed that mine was not one of them. Enter Chad.
From here on, my contribution was to see if I could keep the computer located to not lose my fragile wireless signal (I have discovered the spot that seems consistent now). Chad started making phone calls. And now I have a plan for the morning. I must check out of this building, and go to a different building, where there is a reservation in my name for a room with cable internet. My obstacles will be to convince them that I do not want the second night here and want my money back, finding the other building, going through the whole what do you mean you have not heard of me dance again (but it might be even more entertaining, since the new building does not fall under the "international" designation), and hopefully, at the end of all that, end in an apartment much like this but with the magic feature that allows Rick to work and thus come explore the Great Wall with me, which makes me happy. I think this part is manageable, primarily because Chad gave me his cell phone nubmer. Not that *I* have a cell phone here, but it's a start! It will work out. It's just stressing me a bit right now. Must. Have. Internet.
(I'll be really disappointed if Rick's flights don't work out after this! Nothing is for sure around here.)
This whole adventure makes me feel like I'm about five years old, reaching for daddy's hand because I don't get it. Well, if I had the sort of daddy who had ever ventured further than church with me, which he didn't really do, and when we went anywhere with him we were already in Canada where *we* were the ones who understood the language and what to do. But that's what it feels like anyway. I have visions of being a grownup and arranging this trip and doing this by myself, and I am in the country *an hour* before Rick has to fix my mess-up! Sheesh!
When I was in Panama, I contentedly trundled along behind Rick (except when he led us into the jungle, then I apprehensively trundled along behind him). This was his world. I know that all the discoveries would be for me - he had seen everything he showed me a thousand times. And while that's wonderful (really wonderful), I also love when discovery of cool things is shared. I think we're going to have a repeat! Rick has not yet been to Beijing (that I know of), but he's already got some local contacts lined up. All I've got is someone else's wireless.
Yeah. Welcome to China. I saw a bright orange sunset in the cab on the way here from the airport. And I can't sleep.
Posted by Johanna at November 6, 2006 02:36 PM