SUN AUG 31 (Day 27)
So Sunday morning came by quickly as my wake-up call was at 430. In and out of the shower and picked up some pre-packaged breakfast and got into the shuttle. Back at Air China's desk around 515am and they got me sorted out. Then I had an escort from Air China who took me to Terminal 2 to meet with Northwest. The two officials discussed/confirmed everything and I got handed my boarding pass. So through security I went and checked-in. I got to the gate around 645am and my flight didn't board till after 8. It took off as scheduled at 855am from Beijing and arrived in Tokyo (which is 1hr ahead) at 130pm local time (1230pm Beijing time). My next flight from Tokyo was at 335pm so I had some time to spare. I went to the McD which took US$ and bought myself some lunch. I walked around trying to get wireless internet access but everything was a charge service. The flight had 3-transfers in 1 so it was absolutely full. It took off a few minutes late from Tokyo enroute to Seattle around 4pm. I ended up sitting beside a guy from Port Moody (about 20min from my home) so we talked for quite a bit. The flight was fast as we had a tailwind and the 8 1/2 hours went by rather quickly; 2 meals, 2 movies, 2 naps and we're there! In Seattle it took a while to get my luggage as there were hundreds of pieces but everything did go smoothly. I finally sat down to relax around 945am (Sun Aug 31) local time in Seattle ( = 1245am Mon Sept 1 in Beijing). The Quick Shuttle picked me up at SeaTac at 1030 and dropped me off in South Surrey at around 135pm. My parents met me at 2 and it was nice to see them again. We went out to a restaurant to eat a light healthy meal and got home around 330. I unpacked a little and talked a lot but I couldn't stay for long. I got a ride to the skytrain and went downtown for the NikePlus HumanRace 10km Run. (25 cities across the world, 1 million runners, 8/31/2008; 10million km run for charity - http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/humanrace/map.jsp) Then afterwards I was a free 15-min massage, got to dip my feet/calves in a hot tub, got some free healthy snacks and drinks. Then there was a concert put on including Theory of a Deadman. And I had met up with some badminton friends from Richmond and talked; finally left there around 1115 and came home. By then it was almost 1230 and I sat down and talk to my parents about my trip and slept at around 2am (which was my first time in a bed in over 36 hours!).
** THE END **
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Days 25/26 - Aug 29 + 30
Special Edition #1 VBlog - Fri Night Aug 29
Special Edition #2 VBlog - Sat Night Aug 30
FRI AUG 29 (Day 25)
So this was scheduled to be my final day in Nanning and by the end of the night I would be safe and sound in Beijing Capital International Airport. I woke up around 830 and had some breaky before I went to my final morning training session. I trained hard and lost a close match to one of my training partners; 18-21, 27-25, 19-21. It was fun and I said my goodbye's to the coach and assistant. From there I went back to my hotel and showered and finished packing all my goods. I was supposed to take a nap but ran out of time and only got a 15min rest before they called at 2pm to kick me out hehe. So I took my luggage and left my room after spending 11 nights there. My friends dad picked me up and we went out for some lunch and to his office for a bit. Then we hauled my luggage onto a transit bus which took us to the airport shuttle bus. We arrived at the Nanning airport around 515 and I got checked in and said my goodbye's. I went through security and got to the gates. There was some announcement over the intercom in chinese saying something about Beijing. As I looked at the "departures" screen, all flights to/from Beijing had been delayed. Not that I had to worry though because I was scheduled to sit in Beijing for 10hours until my morning flight across the Pacific. So I sait for about two hours and they posted "estimated delayed departure times" for all flights except for mine which had "No time." Then they gave us our dinner in the restaurant where I asked a fellow caucasian (who speaks Mandarin!) what exactly was going on - apparently there had been weather issues in Beijing and our plane had not left there yet to come to Nanning (a 3-hour flight). Then a few minutes after dinner we were told by the staff of Air China that the Nanning airport closes at 1am and our plane hadn't yet left Beijing so there wouldn't be enough time for it to fly to Nanning and then have its turn-around time before departing again. So they shuffled all of us onto a bus and a 45-min ride back into the side of the city. My flight was "cancelled" - not delayed - now that's a 10+ hour problem. They assigned us rooms and airline policy is two-to-a-room so I was sharing with a Chinese guy who spoke no english! Communication was fun/interesting but we made it work. We also managed to find out that we are both gemini's from Year of the Rabbit - he was born June 10th/1987 and I was one day later!! Anyway got to sleep around 1230 after the airline kept calling us and giving us updates about the next day...I fell asleep with thoughts in my head of what was going to transpire in the next 24 hours...
SAT AUG 30 (Day 26)
The day I was suppose to depart Beijing, the day I was suppose to arrive home, the day that never happened. Woke up to the phone in the hotel at 630. Everybody slowly, sleepily, shuffled into the restaurant for a mini-buffet breakfast. Before I could finish, it was time to get on the bus and go go go. We left the hotel around 730 and was back at Nanning airport by 8ish (12 hours after the turmoil (I should save that word for later) from the night before). It went smoothly and we boarded our plane to Beijing at 9am (the same time that I was suppose to be leaving Beijing for Seattle). I arrived in Beijing around Noon and then it all started. When I left Nanning I was promised by Air China officials "Beijing will help you out/find you a flight etc, no need to worry." But that's easy for them to say because it's 2400km away. Thankfully that nice couple from the night before (that caucasian guy and his chinese wife) had grown attached to me and we ate breakfast/bus'd/flew together and they had helped me communicate with Air China. So they went with me to the "Int'l Duty Manager of Air China" in Beijing to make sure I was sorted out. Beijing said that the reason the flight was cancelled was due to weather and that was beyond their control and therefore not their responsibility. (Note: Airport officials claimed "weather" issues the previous day; all citizens/friends said Beijing weather had been fine all day however there had been security issues in/around the airport). So Air China then offered to put me on Northwest's flight (which is once a day) on Sunday but I would have to pay the $250US surcharge for changing dates! I wanted them to put me on Air China's 3pm Beijing-Vancouver flight but they refused because it was a "free" seat and they couldn't contact Northwest (because one flight/day they close their office at like 10am) to prove my print-out was authentic. Needless to say, 5 hours (yes...5 hours...1pm-6pm) I had managed to talk my way into the NW flight Sunday morning w/o paying the extra surcharge and including a hotel for the night. (Note: I didn't "talk my way" - that nice couple who I had randomly met for the first time the night before, spent the 5 hours with me at the airport arguing in Chinese with the head managers. - And I thought that this world was running out of nice strangers, those 2 changed my perspective on a lot of things today). So finally everything was confirmed and signed and they went on with their life and I had to wait here till 930 when a NW official was coming in so Air China could purchase the ticket for me. Finally got everything cleared and they shipped me off to a hotel just after 11 (so I spend 11+ hours at the airport around Air China's desk and then they send me to a hotel for 5 hours bcuz I need to be back at that desk by 530am!). It was a beautiful 4-star hotel and the desk people all spoke english! I used the internet for about 5min and went to sleep around 1230.
Special Edition #2 VBlog - Sat Night Aug 30
FRI AUG 29 (Day 25)
So this was scheduled to be my final day in Nanning and by the end of the night I would be safe and sound in Beijing Capital International Airport. I woke up around 830 and had some breaky before I went to my final morning training session. I trained hard and lost a close match to one of my training partners; 18-21, 27-25, 19-21. It was fun and I said my goodbye's to the coach and assistant. From there I went back to my hotel and showered and finished packing all my goods. I was supposed to take a nap but ran out of time and only got a 15min rest before they called at 2pm to kick me out hehe. So I took my luggage and left my room after spending 11 nights there. My friends dad picked me up and we went out for some lunch and to his office for a bit. Then we hauled my luggage onto a transit bus which took us to the airport shuttle bus. We arrived at the Nanning airport around 515 and I got checked in and said my goodbye's. I went through security and got to the gates. There was some announcement over the intercom in chinese saying something about Beijing. As I looked at the "departures" screen, all flights to/from Beijing had been delayed. Not that I had to worry though because I was scheduled to sit in Beijing for 10hours until my morning flight across the Pacific. So I sait for about two hours and they posted "estimated delayed departure times" for all flights except for mine which had "No time." Then they gave us our dinner in the restaurant where I asked a fellow caucasian (who speaks Mandarin!) what exactly was going on - apparently there had been weather issues in Beijing and our plane had not left there yet to come to Nanning (a 3-hour flight). Then a few minutes after dinner we were told by the staff of Air China that the Nanning airport closes at 1am and our plane hadn't yet left Beijing so there wouldn't be enough time for it to fly to Nanning and then have its turn-around time before departing again. So they shuffled all of us onto a bus and a 45-min ride back into the side of the city. My flight was "cancelled" - not delayed - now that's a 10+ hour problem. They assigned us rooms and airline policy is two-to-a-room so I was sharing with a Chinese guy who spoke no english! Communication was fun/interesting but we made it work. We also managed to find out that we are both gemini's from Year of the Rabbit - he was born June 10th/1987 and I was one day later!! Anyway got to sleep around 1230 after the airline kept calling us and giving us updates about the next day...I fell asleep with thoughts in my head of what was going to transpire in the next 24 hours...
SAT AUG 30 (Day 26)
The day I was suppose to depart Beijing, the day I was suppose to arrive home, the day that never happened. Woke up to the phone in the hotel at 630. Everybody slowly, sleepily, shuffled into the restaurant for a mini-buffet breakfast. Before I could finish, it was time to get on the bus and go go go. We left the hotel around 730 and was back at Nanning airport by 8ish (12 hours after the turmoil (I should save that word for later) from the night before). It went smoothly and we boarded our plane to Beijing at 9am (the same time that I was suppose to be leaving Beijing for Seattle). I arrived in Beijing around Noon and then it all started. When I left Nanning I was promised by Air China officials "Beijing will help you out/find you a flight etc, no need to worry." But that's easy for them to say because it's 2400km away. Thankfully that nice couple from the night before (that caucasian guy and his chinese wife) had grown attached to me and we ate breakfast/bus'd/flew together and they had helped me communicate with Air China. So they went with me to the "Int'l Duty Manager of Air China" in Beijing to make sure I was sorted out. Beijing said that the reason the flight was cancelled was due to weather and that was beyond their control and therefore not their responsibility. (Note: Airport officials claimed "weather" issues the previous day; all citizens/friends said Beijing weather had been fine all day however there had been security issues in/around the airport). So Air China then offered to put me on Northwest's flight (which is once a day) on Sunday but I would have to pay the $250US surcharge for changing dates! I wanted them to put me on Air China's 3pm Beijing-Vancouver flight but they refused because it was a "free" seat and they couldn't contact Northwest (because one flight/day they close their office at like 10am) to prove my print-out was authentic. Needless to say, 5 hours (yes...5 hours...1pm-6pm) I had managed to talk my way into the NW flight Sunday morning w/o paying the extra surcharge and including a hotel for the night. (Note: I didn't "talk my way" - that nice couple who I had randomly met for the first time the night before, spent the 5 hours with me at the airport arguing in Chinese with the head managers. - And I thought that this world was running out of nice strangers, those 2 changed my perspective on a lot of things today). So finally everything was confirmed and signed and they went on with their life and I had to wait here till 930 when a NW official was coming in so Air China could purchase the ticket for me. Finally got everything cleared and they shipped me off to a hotel just after 11 (so I spend 11+ hours at the airport around Air China's desk and then they send me to a hotel for 5 hours bcuz I need to be back at that desk by 530am!). It was a beautiful 4-star hotel and the desk people all spoke english! I used the internet for about 5min and went to sleep around 1230.
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