I get back to the hostel two nights ago at about 2:30. I look up when the trains leave for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Oh, the only one of the week leaves in 5 hours. I pack my bag frantically and cab it down to the train station. After navigating the ticket windows, the train station employee says I need to go to a hotel to buy tickets...a hotel? Apparently, the International Hotel is the only place in the city that sells international train tickets. It took me about 45 minutes just to find where it was (a quarter-mile away). Once I get there about 6 a.m., I learn that their ticket office doesn't open until 9:00 a.m., 1:20 after the train to UB leaves...the only train of the week. How about that? Please keep in mind this is all going down in Chinese, hand signals, and semaphore. Very little English spoken here, especially now that the Olympic vounteers are gone. And my bag weighs more than I'd like it to.
Went to sleep, woke up, made a day of it. Went to the Forbidden City (finally), then Jinshan Park to look down on Beijing from above. It was beautiful.
Ate scorpions on Wangfujing Market Street. Yea, I did it. No silkworm or cockroach for me. They kept trying to offer me starfish, but I just didn't feel like it.
Went back to the Int'l Hotel to buy the tickets around 3. I thought I was going to have to wait until next Wednesday, but I found out that there is a Mongolia-based train that leaves on Saturday. I'm on it. Spoke to my brother on the phone for the first time. Awesome. He's been really helpful to me, helping me take care of some things I forgot to back home (mailing, emailing, researching). Thanks, Morgan. He's a lucky boy himself...he's getting ready to go abroad to France for a full year. He leaves on Sunday (the day after his 20th birthday) to spend his first semester in Paris, his second in Nice. Am I allowed to be jealous?
After getting the ticket, at least I knew that I would be leaving sometime. Now I just have to find some way to get out of Beijing until then. I tried going back to the train station to take the night train down to Xingdao (Tsingtao for you beer lovers). After wading my way through the mass of over 3,000 people, tickets were sold out...unless I wanted to stand the entire time. O for 2 yesterday.
Well, 0 for 3 if you count me trying to sleep last night. I went to dinner with my friend Jennie to celebrate her last night here after an intense gig working for the Today show out here. We went out afterwards, met new people, etc. That was all part of the plan and fantastic. The problem was when I left them, I came back to the hostel so I could sleep and LEAVE. Apparently Scotsmen are very persuasive, especially once they grab your arms and push you along with them (all in good fun, of course). Stuart, Jeremy, Connor, et al. said there was no way I was making it past them to my bed. Vic's (some ridiculous bar) was less than five minutes away. Now it's past noon and I need to eat.
I'm supposed to be here all of what, 22 weeks? Spending almost two of them in Beijing is a little much for me. I want to see India, Nepal, Japan, Thailand. Maybe even Bhutan? I know I probably won' be able to do it all, but the point is I feel there is a lot more waiting for me beyond the ring roads of Beijing.
I know that the difficulties of a trip like this help shape the experience of my time, but it can be very frustrating. I've had a lot of things going my way, falling into place. It was all starting to seem too easy. I'm sure I will be thankful in the long run.
Time to make some moves. I will make some retroactive posts soon. Just so I can remind myself...here's a list:
- Track finals and USD
- Ping Pong and Swedes
- Yugong Yishan, Carsick Cars
- Bud House/China Doll/Australia
- Adventures with Marc (Hohai)
- Closing Ceremonies
- Forgetfulness and my journal
- The weight of my backpack
- Lama Temple, Plastered T's, Indian Food
- DaDong and Andrew
- Israelis, walking forever, and my notebook
- Great Wall/zipline/waking up
- Expensive Hot Pot
Sorry if it's a bit cryptic. I need notes.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment