Monday, March 06, 2006
Do you have a comfort zone?
Yes is the answer and I'm probably about to get out of it.
After 3 flights and as many plane meals we have arrived in Beijing. Full of confidence we decide we don't need a taxi. We can make it to the hostel on the bus. We are armed with some written instructions and a blurred map with no scale. What more do you need?
The airport express bus was easy and cheap and dropped us at the Main Station. That's where the fun started.
I first became aware of my new best friend when I tried to put my backpack on. Unfortunately my new friend had already attached himself to my back and was in the way. He was keen to offer us a taxi, hotel, food, marriage to his sister and all manner of other treats. We said no politely and then then carried on saying no in an increasingly more forceful manner. We dropped our new best friend (we are so fickle) and quickly picked up another who had a tuk tuk. We managed to wrong foot him as he displayed how quickly his tuk tuk could go, we stopped, let him drive off and hid behind a van! So after 4000 offers of a hotel we made it to the station. Unfortunately we couldn't find the bus station and as it was nearly 10pm we made a quick dash towards the metro. Metro trip was fine. I think we might be celebrities because people like to stare at us!
So we hop out of the metro at the right place and start to make use of the blurred map. We are followed for 200m by a woman who has mis-interpreted "no thanks I don't need a hotel" in to "oooo yes please can you follow us down the road and try and make us walk in the direction of your hotel!"
The blurred map and no skills in the Chinese language are not serving too well in the Hutong (very narrow chinese street.) We walk too far. The we walk back. And finally we walk down a road that we hope is right and after about 30 mins of walking in various directions we get to the hostel.
In hindsight....Yes we did need a taxi.
We check in tired and shocked and wondering what on earth the daylight will bring.
Assuming that the worst is over we get to our room. Lovely. On closer inspection however we start to discover the delights of our Beijing hostel.
Take note all you hostel owners out there...White is not the ideal colour to have your sheets if you aren't intending to wash them between guests! I exagerrate somewhat but they were not gleaming Daz-white shall we say.
OK, let's try the bathroom...That's a rather large bin for a bathroom, I thought. That's because you are not allowed to flush any toilet paper down the loo here. It doesn't even have a lid. Great!!!!!!!!
Maybe tomorrow will bring some more positive thoughts...
After 3 flights and as many plane meals we have arrived in Beijing. Full of confidence we decide we don't need a taxi. We can make it to the hostel on the bus. We are armed with some written instructions and a blurred map with no scale. What more do you need?
The airport express bus was easy and cheap and dropped us at the Main Station. That's where the fun started.
I first became aware of my new best friend when I tried to put my backpack on. Unfortunately my new friend had already attached himself to my back and was in the way. He was keen to offer us a taxi, hotel, food, marriage to his sister and all manner of other treats. We said no politely and then then carried on saying no in an increasingly more forceful manner. We dropped our new best friend (we are so fickle) and quickly picked up another who had a tuk tuk. We managed to wrong foot him as he displayed how quickly his tuk tuk could go, we stopped, let him drive off and hid behind a van! So after 4000 offers of a hotel we made it to the station. Unfortunately we couldn't find the bus station and as it was nearly 10pm we made a quick dash towards the metro. Metro trip was fine. I think we might be celebrities because people like to stare at us!
So we hop out of the metro at the right place and start to make use of the blurred map. We are followed for 200m by a woman who has mis-interpreted "no thanks I don't need a hotel" in to "oooo yes please can you follow us down the road and try and make us walk in the direction of your hotel!"
The blurred map and no skills in the Chinese language are not serving too well in the Hutong (very narrow chinese street.) We walk too far. The we walk back. And finally we walk down a road that we hope is right and after about 30 mins of walking in various directions we get to the hostel.
In hindsight....Yes we did need a taxi.
We check in tired and shocked and wondering what on earth the daylight will bring.
Assuming that the worst is over we get to our room. Lovely. On closer inspection however we start to discover the delights of our Beijing hostel.
Take note all you hostel owners out there...White is not the ideal colour to have your sheets if you aren't intending to wash them between guests! I exagerrate somewhat but they were not gleaming Daz-white shall we say.
OK, let's try the bathroom...That's a rather large bin for a bathroom, I thought. That's because you are not allowed to flush any toilet paper down the loo here. It doesn't even have a lid. Great!!!!!!!!
Maybe tomorrow will bring some more positive thoughts...
# posted by Rhodri @ 1:37 pm 
