Tania in China

Thurs, Dec 14: The Beginning of the End

This is it – my last day in Nanjing, and the beginning of my long journey home.

I have Flins call the hotel in Beijing this morning to confirm my reservation, and it is a good think I do because they don’t know a thing about me! He reserves me a room for $32 – which really is starting to make me worried about the quality of the hotel, and writes out the hotel name in Chinese characters for me. The hotel is supposed to have a free shuttle, so I just need to find the hotel desk when I arrive in Beijing.

My workday is spent trying to make sure I have given everything I need to give to Flins, explained everything I need to explain, copy all the stuff from the local desktop computer in the office onto my laptop, and generally cleaning up. Flins takes me out for one last steak for lunch, and at 3:30 it is time for me to go. Flins comes to my room to help me with my luggage and that is a good thing – I have 2 rolling suitcases, 1 large duffle bag with wheels, and my laptop. This time I remember to check out, and the poor bellhop almost falls over trying to get my big suitcase into the trunk of the taxi.

The taxi ride is uneventful, and luckily there are luggage carts right at the curb when we get to the airport so the cabbie and I are able to load my bags right onto a cart. Since my first flight segment is a domestic flight I don’t have to fill out any forms or go through any screening, so I am able to walk right up to the check-in desk. As I feared I cannot check my luggage straight through to Detroit, so I am going to have to pick it up in Beijing tonight, then take it back to the airport tomorrow. Darn. I am about 3 or 4 kilos over my 40 kilo limit for luggage, but the girl doesn’t say anything so I don’t have to pay any excess luggage fee. Yea! I am only allowed 2 bags here, so I have to take my smaller rolling bag as carryon. I get stopped at x-ray screening where they look at the two cans of Coke I am bringing back for somebody, but then let me proceed. I have a pass for the lounge since I am flying first class tonight, and settle down to read since there is not wireless in this tiny little lounge.

We board the flight on time, but then after the door closes it is another 40 minutes until we pull back – I don’t know what the issue was. We are almost an hour late taking off, but only 20 minutes late landing, so I think some of that waiting time is normal. I sit next to a guy from Pennsylvania who is in China on a two year assignment for Chase credit cards, and we have a nice conversation during the flight. We are served a huge dinner although I have to settle for the fish dish since the chicken is all gone. It comes with rice and the sauce on the meat does not taste fishy at all, so I just eat that. The flight is only an hour 40 minutes, so I don’t even pull out my laptop to watch anything – I just read and talk instead.

After landing my luggage arrives on the carrousel a bit slower than my last trip, but still quicker than I have ever seen in the States. My bags both arrive together, so I am quickly out and looking for my hotel. After asking somebody I find the desk quickly, and one of the employees actually takes me down to the shuttle. The first shuttle won’t hold my luggage and the other people on it, too, so I have to wait for the next one. While we are waiting the girl practices her English on me. It takes quite a bit of effort to talk to somebody who doesn’t speak English well, trying to figure out their pronunciation, editing everything you say so that you are not using large words or American idioms, and trying to speak clearly and slowly. It will be nice to be back where I won’t have to think so much about everything I say! It takes about 15 minutes, but the shuttle finally arrives, my luggage is loaded as well as some other passengers, and off we go.

The hotel really is just on the edge of the airport, and out front it has a Western look, but I know things are different when I arrive at the front desk. The clerks are much less friendly than any other hotel I have stayed at in China, they actually run my credit card and give me my receipt even before I get to my room, and I have to pay a 100 RMB deposit on my key. My plastic keycard. My old, fading plastic keycard. I really, really don’t think it is worth $12.26. I am glad that I still have cash with me!

A bellhop has loaded my bags onto a cart, and he takes me to my room. When I enter the room, I know I am not at a 5 star hotel. The whole room has a worn, cheap feel to it, and has a musty smell. Somebody has also turned the thermostat up to 30C (86F), so it is boiling. I am left to explore, and the first thing I do is open the wind to let in some of the sub-freezing air. The carpet is stained and not well vacuumed, the wallpaper is old and peeling, and the bathroom tub has black mold growing in the grout. I finally decide that this hotel reminds me of what I would have expected for a hotel room when visiting a Communist country. Think about what you might have expected to see in a hotel room in Moscow in the 1980s – this is close. They do have a TV that takes a while to figure out since there are different remotes for the TV and the cable and everything is in Chinese. There are 77 channels but only 3 in English, so I finally settle on National Geographic.

Flins has asked me to call him to make sure I got in ok, but I can’t find any information in the room about how much a call to Nanjing will cost. Having heard horror stories about the price of phone calls, I head to the front desk to ask. They tell me it is .8 RMB a minute, which is really cheap, but I have to put down another 100 RMB deposit! Wow! I have the phone turned on, but am never able to get a hold of Flins – I try dialing his number but every time I get about half way through a recording comes on the line telling me something in Chinese. After trying every combination of numbers I can think of without success, I give up and work on repacking my carryon luggage so that I can check 3 suitcases tomorrow morning and just carryon my backpack and laptop.

It is 11 when I finally have everything redistributed, laid out for tomorrow, and I turn out the light. My very last sleep in China!

posted by Tania @ 1:17 PM