Beijing Bedlam

Bedlam- a scene or state of wild uproar and confusion

Let me tell you a little bit about my trip back to America. Well, at least one leg of the journey.

My original route was Bangkok to Beijing to Chicago to Harrisburg.

Everything was going smoothly until about an hour into my Beijing to Chicago flight when the captain came on the PA system to tell us that we were heading back to Beijing. Apparently some part of the plane (possibly the air conditioning unit) was smoking, which obviously doesn't make for a safe 13-hour flight. Initially, I was really bummed about turning around, but at the same time not too devastated, because I figured I'd rather be delayed for a few hours than explode somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

Upon returning to Beijing, we passengers had to wait on the plane for an hour or so while the crew decided whether our plane would be able to fly. The crew decided it was not safe to fly the plane and told us we would all have to go through Chinese customs, get our luggage and report to a ticket agent to reschedule our flights - all 300 or so passengers.

Sometime in between de-boarding and making my way to the ticket agent, I decided to stop off at the bathroom. While doing so, the belt from my coat felt into the dirty toilet water and got wet. I had no choice but to throw it out. It was the right thing to do.

I finally made it to the line to rebook my ticket. It was a long, long line of unhappy people. I quickly learned firsthand that many Chinese people do not believe in lines and are what elementary school students would refer to as "cutters." Of course many of the Americans were no better. After all of the time in Thailand, it was shocking to hear so much English profanity. There was a group of U.S. college students who, though they are from some of the nation's best universities, apparently use a limited range of adjectives - mainly swear words. It was truly bedlam as people's anger and frustration grew throughout the day. Making matters worse, we received no communication from the airline, other than the four ticket agents who had the awful task of rebooking 300 demanding customers' flights.

Not wanting to take part in line-jumping, excessive complaining or treating the ticket agents in a demeaning way, I decided to just wait my turn. Well, seven or eight hours later, I finally received a new ticket, which was to depart the next morning. Fortunately, despite the total chaos at the ticket desks, the airline did one thing right - it put us up at a hotel in Beijing.

I had to wait outside for the shuttle from the airport to the hotel for about 15 minutes. It was my first brutal reintroduction to winter after a 15-month-long summer in Thailand. I was FREEZING! I only had a three-quarter sleeve, spring jacket and a small scarf with me. BRRRRRR.

When I finally made it to my room, I laughed a little bit. I had somehow received a suite. This was my office/sitting area.

This was the master bathroom. The smaller bathroom wasn't quite special enough to be blog-worthy. As you can see from the pictures above and below, the master bathroom had both a tub and an amazing, scorching- hot shower. My frozen skin has never so enjoyed nearly burning.

Finally, the lovely bed where I spent a few hours in and out of sleep before my 4:45 a.m. wake-up call. Despite the luxuries of the room, the stresses of travel somewhat hindered my ability to sleep well. But at least I was clean and somewhat ready for the remainder of my trip, which had changed to Beijing to Tokyo (7-hour layover) to Chicago (5-hour layover) to Harrisburg.