The Journey and Arrival in China

From previous posts you can read that I was fairly stressed about coming to China, as it was completely unknown territory and quite a scary grown-up thing to do. In hindsight, now 3 months down the line, I barely understand why I was so worried. Yeah, it’s the other side of the world and the language and culture are different, but apparently humans have an amazing capacity for immediate adaptation!
Just before coming to China I went to Turkey where I got food poisoning. Sadly I was only just recovering from this when I had to make the journey. After my goodbyes at home in Birmingham, my dad took me to London on the 21st of August where we stayed in a Travelodge and met up with Liam. I was dragging around the world’s biggest suitcase. I always seem to take more than anybody else. However I had actually managed to pack light (considering I was leaving for an entire year that is) and most of my suitcase was in fact empty. Anyway I’ve since discovered that almost everyone who went to China in my class had suitcases of the same size or bigger. Don’t believe Liam’s claims that his suitcase was far smaller than mine. It’s all lies. Besides, I had managed to pack in well over half a year’s supply of both asthma and allergy medicines and tampons (unavailable in China). On the morning of the 22nd we made our quick stop to Gatwick, checked in and boarded our plane. I was still pretty full of medicine at this point so no food poisoning issues as yet.
The first leg of the journey is London Gatwick to Dubai International. At this point the people on the plane were a varied mix of people as Dubai Airport is the hub of the United Emirates Airline’s routes out to the rest of Asia. I was sandwiched between Liam and a Chinese man who was fairly excited to learn we were going all the way to Beijing, as was he. However I imagine his excitement rapidly abated as I kept on having to pop to the bathroom and he was in my way.
The in-flight entertainment made the journey seem a lot shorter than it actually was, and we arrived in Dubai at roughly midnight local time (I forget particulars). Dubai airport is as luxurious as it is feted to be, with gold everywhere and palm trees inside the main walkways of the departure lounges. I was particularly delighted to see such amazing toilet facilities, being in my current condition. Cleaned every few seconds and flushed with boiling hot water for extra hygiene. It was at this point that I told Liam that I was expecting culture shock in China and could deal with most things, but I didn’t think I could compromise on good toilet facilities. Hmm. How things change.
Our flight was set to leave at about 3am, I think. Suddenly I felt absolutely sick. However whilst waiting to board the flight there are no toilet facilities; I would have had to check back out and then in again to go to the nearest toilet, and with the queue forming I didn’t consider it worth the bother. We boarded the plane from the runway, which meant going outside in Dubai for the first time. It’s the middle of the night; all is pitch black. It is 38 degrees. God only knows what the temperature is at midday. I barely noticed the heat, actually, as I was trying not to vomit on the nice lady in front of me.
Finally the flight begins, the fasten-seatbelts signs are switched off and I run to the toilet where I throw up the entire contents of my digestive system. Nice. But from that point on, I am suddenly cured of the food poisoning, yay!
This flight was a lot less interesting. By this point both Liam and I were dirty, bored and quite frankly, knackered. We even forgot to worry about our imminent arrival. Practically everyone on the flight bar us was a Han Chinese. Before landing we were handed several slips of customs papers to fill in. Then we went through quarantine. The man on the desk checking everyone’s slips looked quite astonished to see that I have ticked the box ‘vomited in the last 24 hours’. He fetches his superior. I am waved on. Phew. Next hurdle: visa checking. Waved on again. I stand in China (wow!) and watch Liam in international territory.
We were now both in China, and we collected our bags, which was incredibly efficient. Then we walked out into the arrivals lounge. What absolute CHAOS! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many insistent harried people in one room before. After fighting our way through, Liam and I left to catch a shuttle bus. The shuttle bus, tickets 16 ¥ each, took us to the XiDan Aviation Building in Beijing. On the journey, I fell asleep. (Only fair considering I didn’t sleep at all on the flight.) Liam, on the other hand, took in some of the sights of Beijing. That is, when we were not stuck in miles of non-moving traffic. This part of the journey took literally hours. I woke up just after we drove past Tiananmen Square. The Chinese government is currently undertaking a huge project to renovate Beijing in time for the Olympics. This includes making sure all their historical buildings are tip-top standard. Work started on Tiananmen Gate (for those who don’t know, that would be the huge building leading into the Forbidden City on which hangs the massive portrait of Chairman Mao) the day after we arrive. The next time I got the chance to see it, it was covered in scaffolding. Liam, however, got to see this historical site in all its glory on the journey. Grr.
At the Aviation Building, we boarded our first public bus. With our suitcases. Most buses in Beijing have two/three doors. Whether it be a single or articulated bus, it has getting-on doors at the front (and the middle), and getting-off doors at the middle (and the back). As you may well be aware, there are a lot of people in Beijing. 10 million use the bus system every day. This means that on your average bus, there is not enough room to even turn around. Therefore every bus has a bus babushka. Invariably women, these lovely ladies calmly and kindly re-organise the positions of everyone on the bus so they are in optimum positions for paying the fare (which, in Beijing at least, you have to pay directly to the babushka unless you have a bus pass), ascending and descending. On our first bus, there were barely any people at all, fortunately. The fare is one kuai (¥) each. Liam hands over a five. The bus babushka repeats: two kuai for both of us. Liam flusters. It is at this point that I realise he is trying to hand over five mao (10 mao/jiao to a kuai/yuan) instead of five kuai. In my exhausted state I watch fairly disinterestedly rather than alert him to the problem. Finally it occurs to me to pay the fare myself instead. The price has suddenly gone up for all our trouble. I pay it, and thus begins our love-hate relationship with public transport in this country. Un-doubtedly more to come on that later.We arrive at our destination (XiSi lukou) and entirely through Liam’s sense of direction – with no help from me whatsoever – we arrive at our hostel, the Templeside.