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We woke up at 6:00 a.m. and needed to leave at 7:40 for the airport. Breakfast only starts at 7 o'clock, so we skipped it to avoid being too rushed. With Craig's MS, he needs a lot of lead time in the mornings. It would be a long, multi-day journey home, and we didn't want to start off on the wrong foot. We showered and met Wang Jun in the lobby at 7:39, one minute early.
We loaded up the car and headed back to Guiyang. We would be catching a flight to Beijing, staying overnight there, and then taking our nonstop to Boston the following afternoon. We stopped for a scenic view of the rice paddies and took a bathroom break at the "tunnel and bridge" area. We didn't know how long the ride would be, but the time seemed to be ticking away. We hoped that we would make it to the airport in time. As we approached the city, we passed some of the amusing animated road signs warning against drinking and driving, falling asleep at the wheel, and littering. We saw that the thank you letter that we had given Mr. Zhou at the end of our last trip was under his seat. I had a similar letter in my bag, poised to give him when we arrived at the airport. It was sweet that he had kept it. We got to the airport at 10:20. We gave Mr. Zhou a hug and got photos together on our camera and his phone. We waved as he drove off to park the van. We would miss him. Wang Jun accompanied us into the terminal. There was a long check-in line, but it went quickly. Then Wang Jun walked us to security and gave us each a giant bear hugs. He stood there until we went through to the security area, and gave us a big wave as we passed out of view. It was hard to say goodbye. The four of us had had such a lovely time together, and we had been accepted into Wang Jun's family... We consoled ourselves that it's not really goodbye...it's until next time. Hopefully we would see Wang Jun in a couple of months. He will be guiding a group of Chinese students in the U.S., and will be stopping in Boston. And we will see Mr. Zhou the next time we come to China...a few years from now for the spring festival. We got through security at 10:55, and the flight was scheduled to board at 11:05. Time was tight. We usually don't cut it this close at airports. As soon as Craig returned to the gate from the restroom, it was time to board. I didn't even have a chance to use the restroom until I was on the plane. Air China fed us a nice lunch of beef and rice. We also enjoyed packaged spicy tofu and a roll. As airplane food goes, Chinese airlines are pretty good. As a condiment, we had been given a pouch of peppers with a photo of a Miao girl in silver adornment on the package. We had seen that in person! How wild! This trip had been so surreal. We listened to Led Zeppelin on our iPod, while I wrote in the journal. We landed in Beijing at 2:30 p.m. Our itinerary had called for lunch and dinner in Beijing. Since we were fed on the plane, we were thinking of skipping lunch. We picked up our bags and were met by Simon, an eager-to-please but nervous young man who said that his agency said that he should get us some fast food at the airport. We told him that we had thought of skipping lunch. He did not seem comfortable deviating from the itinerary. "Are you sure you don't want something? Burger King is right here..." I said, "If we're having dinner, we don't need lunch..." He didn't seem to know anything about dinner. And he really wanted to get us some fast food. After telling him that we didn't want American fast food, we agreed to a bowl of noodles at MyMill. We each got a "spicy sirloin noodle bowl." Simon warned us that it would be spicy. Ummm...Simon...this is the American Chili King you are talking to. So Craig and I each got a huge bowl of local noodles with sirloin beef and a can of Coke. It wasn't Guizhou spicy, but it was certainly spicier than most Beijing food. A lot of the heat sank to the bottom, so by the end of the bowl, our mouths were tingling. We enjoyed it, and when we were done, we went out to the car. Simon said that we could see our hotel across the street. There were indeed two hotels which looked like bookends on either side of Terminal 2. One of these was the Airport Hilton, which our itinerary had listed as our accommodations for the night. We drove the short distance to the other hotel, the Langham Place. We were confused. We didn't really have a hotel preference; it had been chosen for us. But we thought he had brought us to the wrong place. We showed him our print out of the itinerary which listed the Hilton. He was confused as well. He called his agency and then went in to talk to the reception staff at the Langham. He came back out to the car after a few minutes and told us that our reservation was indeed here at the Langham. We checked in, and Simon said goodbye and that he would see us in the morning for our flight. There was indeed no dinner included in the itinerary. That was good; after the noodle bowl at the airport, we wouldn't be hungry for dinner anyway. The hotel was fancy and modern. We went up to our room, 5085. It was quite nice. Our room had a view of Terminal 2 with "Welcome to Beijing" written in flowers and 3 flags waving in the wind. Again with the glass-walled bathroom, similar to in Kaili. We realized that we had forgotten to ask Simon about bottled water, always a concern since Craig's MS causes him dehydrate. There were two bottles in the room. This would not be enough to last us the rest of today and tomorrow. In preparation for such a long flight, Craig needs to stay very hydrated. Craig rested and turned on the TV while I went in search of additional water. I brought my camera and explored the hotel. The decor was very modern and blingy. I went into a shop, and found that it contained beautiful jade carvings and art that cost up to 2 million yuan. It was amazing, and I admired it. Soon an employee was following me uncomfortably closely, as if he thought I was going to try to steal something. It made me uneasy, so I exited the shop. I asked about water at the front desk. The clerk said there should be two complimentary bottles in the room. Here we go again. Yes, there are, but I'd like additional bottles. He told me that I would be charged for them. Yes, of course, how much do they cost? 5 yuan. I ordered five bottled and told him to put it on our room tab (we had paid a 500 yuan deposit, so surely they could take 25 out of that). I went back and joined Craig in the room. Soon there was a knock at the door. A lady who didn't speak English delivered the water, and seemed to expect payment. I tried to explain that it was coming out of our deposit, and that I didn't want to pay cash. She didn't seem to understand, and just said "sorry" and left. We were flabbergasted at what it takes to purchase bottled water in some of these places. Surely we aren't the only people who need more than one small water bottle per person per day? I started to get annoyed, but realized that it was just that end-of-trip let-down...once the fun part of the trip has ended, and only the hassle of traveling home remains. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, watching TV, and packing for the long flight home tomorrow. I logged into the wi-fi and sent some mail from my Verizon account (Hotmail can be spotty in China). We watched TV shows including "How It's Made," "Hustling America Texas," etc. I decided to take a bath. Thanks to the glass bathroom walls and the bathroom speakers, I could continue watching TV while soaking in the bubble bath. We made some coffee in the room. I tried to send some more e-mail, but my Verizon account suddenly stopped working because the hotel's "IP was associated with spam activity." Okayyy... We watched "American Ninja Warrior" and went to bed at 10 p.m. |
 View from the rest area on the drive to Guiyang  Farewell, dear Mr. Zhou  Farewell, dear Wang Jun  Spicy sirloin noodle bowl at MyMill  View of Terminal 2 from our room  Langham Place Hotel  Langham Place Hotel |
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