Beijing!

Customs

 

All questions asked were in Chinese and I was baffled between whether the young man was flirting with me or harrassing me! Even though I was on the "foreigners" line, he still insisted on speaking to me in chinese. He started with a general "ni hao" and I figured he said that so I could raise my head so he could match the picture. Then he proceeded to ask me questions. I answered and he repeated my answers until I left in amazement, seemed satisfied and let me go! I've always vowed not to speak chinese when in legal/governmental situations. Regardless of how much chinese I know, I always vote for English because they can easily switch to more technical terms and next thing you know you are signing away your life!

 

Hotel

 

I went to the info booth to ask for my hotel to pick me up from the airport. The man kept holding up 4 fingers telling me to go to the 1st floor! I know there is a language issue with "l" and "r" but this is critical info, you cant tell me to go to the first floor, while holding up 4 fingers! He was like go outside to F1 because the vehicle will not come inside, duh!!! I know I'm high class but having the vehicle drive into the airport is a bit "Ludacris" or Peety Pablo! Didnt trust him, so I went to another booth, the lady called, asked me to wait for a few mins and within 2 mins a lady from the hotel greeted me and took all my luggage, so apparantly I did not have to go to the 1st, 4th or any other floor because they had arranged to meet me in the airport.

 

Things I realized:

 

a. Immediately started to feel more relaxed (which is easy after a self inflicted crazy vacation!)

b. New York is the only airport I have been to where you have to pay for the smart carts for your luggage- other cities at least refund you when you give it back!

c. Apart from JFK's Jetblue terminal, you always have to pay for wifi-- many other cities give you free wifi in the airport!