We have to go back to Beijing.

Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently, an idiot named Richard forgot to mention that we needed a new health inspection. The original one that we got in Hangzhou doesn’t seem to have done the job. So, in three hours we have to get on the 8 hour train and go back just to have someone draw our blood, take our pulse, and make sure we aren’t dying or have any infectious diseases.

I’m am so pissed off.

Richard had a month to remember that we needed to get this done. I can’t believe that he waited until we got here to realize that this needed to be done.

Well, in the middle of writing this we have gotten word that there are no train tickets available to Beijing tonight, and there won’t be until Sunday. On top of all this, we are technically illegal. We entered the country on the 13th of February and we had 30 days to get all of our paper work in order. Today is the 15th. You do the math.

Anyone have a safe house we could stay in if things turn real ugly?

And the craziest thing is that we don’t have our passports in our possessions because they needed them to get our resident permits. Because we don’t have our passports, we are forced to take the train when the plane is the most obvious choice to get back to Beijing. I just can’t believe this. I really can’t.

As you can see, we’ve found a way to upload pictures again. At least for the time being. For those of you keeping track, Phil and I are still in Beijing. Our next attempt to get the heck out of this city will be on Saturday the 10th at 11:00 pm by overnight train. So far the weather looks clear so we shouldn’t have a problem in that regard, but at this point I won’t be holding my breath or getting my hopes up. After everything that has happened, nothing can shock me anymore. As long as I get there in one piece, I don’t care how or when I get there.

Because the Internet cafe we use on a daily basis doesn’t have any working ports, we’ve had to upload them via WECL’s computers to our emails and then run across the street and download them to the Internet cafe’s computer desktop where we can then upload them to Blogger. It’s all a crazy mess really, but hey, I get to post pretty pictures again. That makes me happy! : )

So without much further ado, let me introduce you to the lucky five contestants that were chosen for today’s post.

Some elderly people playing Majong at Longmen Village.

I’m not sure who’s driving: the boy or the crazy cat. Located on a wall at Longmen Village.

“Here Piggy, Piggy, Piggy, I’ve got a jiao for you.” One man is about to make all is dreams come true by chucking the equivalent of a penny in this pig’s mouth. It’s the year of the pig, by the way.

I wish this was my front door back home. Everyone would envy me. My memory fails me, but I think this picture was taken at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

One of the 7 dragons on a wall in Hong Kong.

Apparently, the third time isn’t the charm. I wish that I could say that we were in Shenyang, but I’m sorry to say that somehow we are still here in Beijing.

Snow falling Sunday morning in Beijing.

For the second day in the row, the third actual attempt to leave Beijing, we got up at 9:45 and met in the lobby to wait on the ever trusty WECL bus to take us to the airport. It rolled up right on schedule, this time clear of any snow. The majority of it has melted since Sunday. Only a few large clumps here and there remain. It’s still cold, but it is slowly getting warmer or either I’m getting used to it. We threw our bags in the back again, and at 11:00 am we took off for the airport. Our plane was scheduled to leave at 1:30 pm, so we were leaving in plenty of time. Why we didn’t leave this early when we had the snow storm is beyond me – not that it would have mattered; our flight was canceled. We even took the interstate this time too. I guess they just wanted to make sure we got there in plenty of time. And oh, we did. We had more time to play with than we ever wanted or needed.

A car covered in the snow.

We arrived at the airport at approximately 11:30, and decided to have lunch since we had all the time in the world before our plane would take off. Richard paid for it so that was nice. I’ve said it before, but we are running low on cash, and a meal at the airport would have put another dent in our already empty wallet. We went through security and got down at the terminal at around 12:30 where we soon found out that the Shenyang airport would be closed until 2:00. 2:00 came and went, and so did 3:00. We sat and waited until 4:00 when we got the green light for boarding. I was so happy that I started singing the “I’m so excited” song and got funny stares from my fellow travelers. We got on the plane thinking that we would be taking off soon, but found out there would be another delay because there was too much traffic at the Shenyang airport. That was to be expected because the airport had been closed for 2 days and they had to reschedule all the flights that were supposed to have already come and gone.

Sunday afternoon, the snow begins to melt.

After sitting on the plane for about 30 to 45 minutes, they passed out that weird Chinese biscuit thing again. It sorta reminded me of a Arby’s roast beef sandwich if I closed my eyes, but of course, I have an over active imagination – so don’t believe a word I say. Then the real waiting game began. We sat twiddling our thumbs until about 8:30 pm – yes, you read that right – 8:30 pm when they said we would have to get off the plane. Everyone grumbled, I cried, but off we went. We got on the little shuttle bus that they had waiting for us and stood there for awhile. One of the workers came in holding two back packs trying to figure out who they belonged to, but know one knew. How in the world can you get off the airplane and forget your belongings?! The other thing is that they didn’t confiscate it like they would have in the States or call the bomb squad. They just chucked it in with us and closed the doors, but we didn’t leave. This part of the story is rather confusing. I don’t why they made us get on the shuttle bus just to open their doors 20 minutes later to have us get back on the airplane. We took it as good news, so we did without too much of a complaint.

The remains of a thousand fireworks and a single leaf in Hangzhou.

After we got back on the plane and got situated again, they came over the loud speaker and informed us that we would still be delayed. Everyone grumbled. The one thing that I found surprising is that everyone took this pretty well. People were laughing and trying to enjoy themselves. I mean, people were asking questions, but for as long as we were on that plane – the people were very well behaved. They rolled the cart back down the isle and gave us dinner and another drink after and then we waited some more. We waited until 10:30 when they finally said that air traffic control had given them the green light. Everyone clapped, but a guy from England sitting behind us sarcastically said, “We haven’t taken off yet.” We taxied to the runway and waited for a few planes to land. And then it was our turn. As we took for Shenyang, I waved goodbye to Beijing hoping not to see it for another four months. If only I had known what was to happen – I probably would have just shot myself and put myself out of my misery. I’m sure a good many others would have followed suit.

Pretty lit up trees in Hangzhou.

Somehow or another, I always end up with the window seat whether it is a plane, a bus or a car. It just happens that way, but it makes Phil angry. After we had gotten in the air and were given permission to move about the cabin, Phil made the comment that once again I had the window seat. I replied, “You had 6.5 hours to change seats with me and now you bring this up?” I stood up and let him squeeze in behind me. Like a little kid he stared out at the darkness below him wondering who the one little light belonged to and why in the world they lived out in the middle of absolute no where. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, so it was actually possible to see the snow covered ground below us. The full moon helped illuminate it too. Sometime during the flight Phil said he thought something was amiss because he had seen the moon, then not seen it, and then saw it again. Also, he had seen the same little city below him a few times. This would have been impossible if we were going straight as we all know. Maybe I was in denial. I wanted to get to Shenyang so bad that I didn’t want to even have the idea that we were turning back in my head. For the first time in a long time, I was the one being optimistic.

The lights in the cabin came on. I thought maybe we were about to begin our descent, but there was no big cities lights down below us. I began to panic. Phil still insisted that we were turning around, but I still refused to believe him. A few minutes after the lights of the cabin had come back on, “they”(the infamous they) came on over the speaker to tell us that there was no room at the Shenyang airport for us and that they had to go back to Beijing. You should have heard the moans and the slight screams that emitted from the rest of the passengers. We were all in shock. This was unbelievable. How could we get this close to Shenyang just to be denied. As Richard later said, “Why does God make us suffer so much?”

A cool picture of a random important statue in Hangzhou.

We landed back in Beijing at about 12:20 am, and then were given the option to get off the plane if we wanted. After discussing it for a minute, we decided that it was probably the best thing to do. So we did. Surprisingly, most people stayed on. They sure were a determined bunch of people. I hope that eventually got there or that they didn’t have to sit there for another 8 hours before they were finally be able to leave – again. They shuttled us back to the airport terminal, we got out, and then started a new waiting game called – where is our luggage. When we left the airplane, they checked our tickets so that the could get our luggage off, but as we waited for the shuttle to take us back, we never saw them pull up a truck or one of those escalator like things. We sat on the carousel that they said our luggage would be, but for the longest time the carousel just circled. At least we were given the opportunity to read all of the advertisements printed on it. In time, our luggage did come. Well, that is not entirely true. Everyone’s but Richard’s got there. He had to go to the lost and found counter and have then look for it, but they couldn’t find it. They said that it wasn’t on the airplane. Richard didn’t look happy, but there was nothing he could do. He gave the people his information, and at 2:00 we finally left the airport.

One of the many fireworks for the New Year celebrations in Hangzhou.

For the second time in three days, we headed back to Richard’s car. Once again we somehow fit all of our luggage and our four bodies in it. The Beijing Airport is rather dead at 2:00 am in the morning. There’s no traffic on the interstate either, so that made getting back to school rather easy. We got back at around 2:30 and fell fast asleep. We were all so very exhausted. We don’t know when we are leaving or how we are leaving, but we think it may be by train and sometime during the coming weekend. The thing is – another snow storm may or may not be coming for Shenyang on Friday and Saturday. I don’t know if it will be as bad or if it will happen. If it does, I don’t think we will be leaving Beijing by plane, train or automobile for sometime. For now, we are stuck. This sucks. I think that this is the most insane trip I’ve ever had. I almost feel like I’ve entered the Twilight Zone or something just as strange. Like I said Shenyang doesn’t want us; Beijing doesn’t want us to leave.

Fireworks in the middle of the street and cars driving through them in Hangzhou.

Remember that snow storm?

We woke up bright and early(5:00am)to a blanket of beautiful snow on the ground. It was a complete surprise for me as I had only expected it to snow in Shenyang. It was a bit of crazy situation trying to roll our suitcases that we are having shipped through the sludge all over the streets and sidewalks. China, for some reason, doesn’t believe in the art of throwing salt where snow has fallen. They prefer to wait and let it melt and have the sweepers get what they can. It’s amazing that I didn’t bust my butt trying to carry 30 KG down the snow covered stairs. That would have just been hysterical.

I took some pictures of it, but as you know, I have no ability to post them. The snow was pretty though. It was the first I’ve seen in a good long while and the first since I came to China. At 6:00am the WECL van pulled up out front, completely covered in snow. The driver was driving even though he couldn’t see out the windshield. He hadn’t bothered to clear off the snow yet. We piled all our stuff in and off we went. All in all in what a pretty scary ride. The driver drove faster than I would have in those conditions. For some reason he liked to drive in the drifts instead of the tracks already made. And he took the back roads that didn’t have a lot of traffic, so it took twice as long to get to the airport. At one point, I was pretty sure we weren’t going to make it, but Richard(the guy in charge of us) called and told the driver to get on the interstate – where we probably should have been the entire time.

We made it to the airport with enough time to spare, got our boarding passes, went through the ever simple Chinese security, and got our comfy seats on the plane. As we were sitting there, I was happy to know that we were only one hour and ten minutes away from final destination after all this time. I was happily eating my strange Chinese biscuit and sipping on my orange juice when an announcement came on over the speakers. First in Chinese and then English. It went something like this . . .

“I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen, but the snow storm has made it unfavorable for landing at the Shenyang Airport. We don’t know how long the delay may be, so we are going to ask that all passengers exit the plane at this time. Please take all of your bags with you. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

I said a lot of cuss words, but did as I was told. I don’t think I’ve ever stood on the tarmac and had snow flying in my face. It was all rather interesting.

We sat at our terminal awhile to find out that the airport was going to be closed until at least 6 :00 pm. We decided that there was no reason to sit at the airport for 8 hours and left the airport. The bad part was that the van that had taken us there was gone. We had to somehow fit all of our luggage in Richard’s car – who had met us there. I don’t know how we did it, but we fit 3 large bags, 5 carry-ons and 4 bodies. Richard rescheduled the flight, and back to WECL we went.

Come Monday, we woke up and began to do the whole shebang again. Just as we went to open our apartment door to leave, Christine knocked on it to tell us that we had to stay in Beijing yet another day because of the bad snow storm.

It turns out that the snow storm that hit Shenyang was the worst March snow storm in 56 years and had closed the airport and 5 of the interstates as well as 900,000 schools. Some people lost power and water. In some places in Shenyang, the snow was a 1 meter high.

Hopefully, tomorrow we will be able to board our plane without a hitch. I know that it is way below zero there, so I have no idea how they expect the snow to melt, and that which does will just turn into ice. I guess we will find out when we wake up tomorrow. You know what they say though – third time’s the charm.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I just want to get to my new home, get settled, and start to be a teacher again. Ha, listen to me – I’m actually asking for work. I guess after not working for 53 days some part of your soul start missing it. How strange. How strange indeed.

Ah, Internet.

After much searching and aching to feel these little keys at my finger tips while ones and zeros clammer through the world wide web, I have at last located an Internet cafe. I never knew how reliant I was on the Internet until just now. I’m sitting next to two Chinese men. The one on my left is busy blowing up bad guys in World of War Craft and the other is downloading and searching for things I’m not quiet sure of. I do see some weird scantily clad Chinese cartoon characters on his screen . . .

Well, I guess you may want to know how our train ride went. I won’t keep you waiting any longer.

At about 4 pm on Tuesday, we began taking our luggage down the 40 some odd steps that led to our hostel room. Phil was nice and took down the bulk of it. I played the weak and dainty girl and carried down our back packs. They weren’t light, though. Each had a lap top computer and some other odds and ends that we deemed important enough to bring with us. We stood out like the white Americans that we are as we rolled our bright purple, orange and turquoise bags down the streets of Hangzhou. Thankfully, the train station was just a few streets away, but it felt like miles with all that weight. I’ve made a promise to myself to never bring so much junk with me if I ever go to another country for an extended amount of time again.

Our train was due to leave at 6:03pm, so we made it to the train station in plenty of time. It’s always better to be early than to be late, you know, and it can’t be more true than it is in China. As we rolled our bags into the soft seat waiting room, I crossed my fingers and prayed that the ticket takers wouldn’t forbid us to bring all our crap in. They didn’t say a word and I was very much relieved. We plopped a squat and waited the hour an half for our train. The time passed quickly, and soon we heard the call for our ride – train number Z10. I was very pleased to find out our platform was on level ground and that there were no more stairs to drag our crap up. We hopped on the train and found our seat without too much of a hassle. Again our bags caused chaos. The aisle was small, and everyone else wanted to get to their seat, too. We got a lot of stares as we tried picking up our bags one at a time and placing them on the racks above our heads. I am sure that they were wondering why we had so much stuff and where in the world we taking it. Of course, they had no idea that we weren’t tourist, but instead residents like themselves and that everything we had with us were our worldly possessions.

Tired and hot, we finally got everything settled and took our seats. It wasn’t long before two Chinese people came to their seats(directly across from us – like looking into a mirror). They took one look at us and said, giggling of course – “Foreigners” – in English like we weren’t there to hear them. They then looked at the rack above us and saw there was no room for their two little bags and had to find a place to put them. Come to find out, they were on their way to Beijing to study English(they knew some English already). I think that we couldn’t have sat by better people. Talking to them made the trip go so much smoother. The 14 hours was tough, though. 14 hours on any form on transportation is hard. I managed to get about 2 hours of shut eye towards the very end, but it wasn’t enough, really. I wish that we could have traveled during the day because the only thing that I could see out the window the entire time was the light of the buildings and cities that we past. I can’t imagine the scenery would have been spectacular. I rode on a train to Shanghai once, and the scenery didn’t change at all. It was just farms and run down houses for 2 hours and some change.

We arrived in Beijing at about 7:30, just like we were supposed to. Our two new friends asked if they could have a picture of us and we obliged. We said our goodbyes and waited for the train to empty before exiting ourselves. Before we could do this, four Chinese men appeared and asked us if they could help us take down our luggage. We said no, that we could do it, but they insisted. They took down the four suitcases and started rolling in down the aisle. I thought they may try to run off with it, so I kept up with them as best as we could. As soon as we got off the train and started walking a little bit, they stopped and asked for 200 RMB. Phil and I both laughed hysterically and demanded our luggage back. They dropped the price to 100 RMB and we still laughed saying we didn’t even want them to take it in the first place. The price got dropped again to 40 and that is when we decided to take our luggage back into our possession and head for the exit. They weren’t happy with us, but I didn’t care.

We got to the exit with no problems, and met the people that were supposed to pick us up. In the world wind of everything, I forgot to take our tickets back from the ticket taker, and as a result, lost our ability to be refunded, but hey, it could have been worse. It was cold outside, but I had expected worse. Our greeters didn’t say much to us. All I heard way Morning, Cook, and Phillip. I thought maybe they didn’t speak English. They took the majority of our luggage, so I was happy. The trip to our next destination was a bit of a weird one. We seemed to be going the backward ass way, and through the worse part of town. Once or twice I was sure that the person driving was lost. The thought crossed my mind that these weren’t the people that were supposed to pick us up and that we had been kidnapped in Beijing, but that was my imagination running away with me as it normally does. Heh.

We arrived at a sketchy looking gated community that reminded me of a military base. It was actually a college campus. Beijing International Studies University. WECL, the company we will be working for in Shenyang has a sister-school here. They dropped us off at the dorm building that would become our home for the next several days and made us happy by helping us take our luggage up another 40 stairs to the third floor. Let me remind you that up to this point no one had said squat to us in English, so we didn’t have a clue what was going on. We were starving and tired, and couldn’t decide what to do first. There was a place at the front desk to buy drinks, so I got some liquids in me to hopefully quench my hunger. When Phil and I stepped out front to see where exactly we were staying a Chinese woman came out with our room number 310A and started speaking Chinese that we couldn’t understand, but we knew that she wanted us back in our room. My first thought was that we were under house arrest or something like that. Yeah, my imagination running off with me again. Heh.

We went back to the room thinking that maybe we had a telephone call, but the phone never rang. I laid down on the bed trying to figure what in the world was going on and why our room was so cold. This is the point in which I started to panic – but just a little. When I am hungry, cold, and tired, I am just not a happy person. I was all three of these, so you can imagine what I was like. Soon there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find two Chinese men holding a sink. Apparently, our sink was faulty, and they were there to fix it. A few minutes later, we had a new sink, and they left. I was too tired to care what was going to happen – whether the room would start warming itself up or how we would get food – so I did the only thing that seemed like a good idea. I slept. We both slept.

We slept for several hours and awoke to our bellies threatening to start eating anything our eyes saw. It was time to get out and find something of substance before we died. I didn’t care if the guards at the gate refused to let us out – I was going anyway. It wasn’t a problem, thankfully, and the guards let us out without even a word. And what did we see right outside the gate? The most beautiful site to a starving person . . . a McDonald’s.

More or less, we ate, we walked around a few blocks and came back home. And that was a first day in Beijing. Today is our third, and nothing that spectacular has happened. We went to the Beijing Zoo. All most all of the animals were put up because it was freezing outside. On the up side, we only spent 30 RMB to get in, so I didn’t feel ripped off or anything. Also, we went to a pedestrian street and had some yummy street food. I had some fried banana that tasted like a funnel cake. And my favorite – fruit on a stick with sugar drizzled over top.

And what is in store for us now? We will be in Beijing until the the 8th or 9th of February. Then we have to go to Hong Kong to get ourselves legal. That’s a long story; not as long as this one . . . but I’ll leave it to another day.