Arrivals... Maybe... Maybe...

During our flight we were fed twice and received all the free alcohol we could handle. I had always heard that because of the high altitude one will become drunk faster than on the ground. I stuck to this rule and only had a bit of my first drink. Well, it didn't do anything. Although I hadn't slept I was unable to do so. I decided to get another drink to help put me to sleep because there was no way I was falling asleep on my own at this point. I figured that four drinks combined with high altitude would make me at least drowsy. This was not the case. I was awake for the entire 10+ hour flight. Patrick had long since passed out and I was stuck there with not much to do other than browse through the on demand movies and television shows. When one movie was done I would watch the flight screen that tells you where you are and how much longer you have until you arrive before giving up on sleeping and watch another movie or TV show.

The flight was pretty good overall. The seat belt sign was on almost constantly because of turbulence but other than that it was okay. There were plenty of movies to watch and a lot of radio stations to listen to, not to mention the meals and free liquor! I highly suggest taking Air Canada for international flights just because of my one experience with them.

Because of the delay in Vancouver, our flight was three hours late arriving in Beijing. We had thought about catching a flight to Xuzhou, our final destination, but this was now out of the question. We grabbed our luggage and got through customs extremely quick. During some research before leaving I found that there was a shuttle that went from the Beijing airport to the train station. Since we were no longer in any sort of rush we got on the shuttle and started our 45-60 minute ride to the train station.

At the final stop for the shuttle we looked around and didn't recognize anything that was around us. I had been to the train station in Beijing before but couldn't see it anywhere. Using what little Chinese I could remember from the last trip I began asking random people what direction the train station was. No one seemed to know or understand me. We finally began walking down the sidewalk carrying 2 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons each. Let me tell you, this was a pain in the butt! The side walks in China are nothing like the sidewalks in the U.S. Here, they are tiles. Not just plain tiles but tiles with grooves and notches in them. There will be tiles with circles on them or tiles with grooved lines in them. This didn't help our problem with the luggage. Eventually we found a random white person and asked him how to get to the train station. He told us and we continued walking.

About a mile or so from the shuttle stop, we found the station. After taking a rest and getting some water we went into the lobby to get some tickets to Xuzhou. According to the Internet (a very reputable source, I know) ticket window number 1 in Beijing always has a clerk that can speak English. This, however, is not the case. After clawing our way through line (the Chinese queuing system is outrageous), with about 150 lbs of luggage each, we find an English speaking clerk and get a ticket to Nanjing which is only 30 minutes from Xuzhou according to the clerk. In order to get to the platforms where the trains are you must go out of the ticket lobby back outside then fight through another line, have your bags scanned at security, and find your platform. Luckily, we found someone who spoke English and told us where to go. There were so many people offering to help me with my bags. I reluctantly let someone help me and he ended up actually helping instead of stealing my bags as I feared he would do. No one took my stuff and they seemed very pleased with themselves that they helped an ex-pat. We found the correct platform and were very happy that there was an escalator up to the platform gate. Different story when we got to the gate though. We had to carry our bags down about 2 flights of stairs.

We had gotten soft-sleeper tickets and were directed to the proper car and cabin. One of our cabin-mates had very good English and told us that we could try to fit our bags in the overhead storage area. Because of the size and amount of our bags, only half were able to fit. We ended up sleeping with some of them. As the train began moving and people started settling down the lady who spoke English started asking the usual questions. "Where are you from?" "What are you doing in China?" "What do you think about China?" and eventually "Where are you going?" We told her that we were going to Xuzhou to teach English in a school there. She seemed quite confused at this. I thought it strange that she asked where we were going since we were on a train to Nanjing which was very close to Xuzhou. Turns out it was pure luck that she asked this. The reason she was confused is because we were not on a train to a city near Xuzhou. We were on a train to a city near Suzhou. She had a bit of fun with this and proceeded to explain that Suzhou and Xuzhou are completely different cities. There is also a Fuzhou, a Chuzhou, and a number of other --zhou cities all in China. She was kind enough to write Xuzhou for us in Chinese characters so that we could get the proper train when we arrived the next morning. After a terrible night's sleep we finally arrived in Nanjing, which is not close to Xuzhou but is close to Suzhou.

We arrived at about 7:00 am and unloaded all our stuff. Patrick stayed on the platform with our luggage while I went to go get some tickets to Xuzhou. I followed all the people assuming they would be going to the exit. I found a booth that said ticket counter and stopped there. The lady in there just looked at me then pointed towards another sign that said ticket counter. I went towards the sign but realized I had to exit the station to get there. I didn't really have a choice so I left the station. I got to the other counter and it was closed. Now I had to actually go outside and assume that I would be able to get back to Patrick. I found an actual working ticket office and bought two tickets to Xuzhou. The tickets had correct pinyin and characters so I knew we were going to the right place. I went through security and wandered around until I found an information desk. I stood there for a couple minutes waiting for someone to come to the desk. No one came so I went in the direction of a waiting room. When I got there I saw some doors that looked like they would go to the platforms. They were all closed and there was a guard there. The guard was busy talking to someone else so I just walked on by and went through whatever door I wanted to. I figured if they really didn't want me to go through the doors they would stop me or yell or something. I went through the doors with no problem except that I didn't know what platform Patrick was on. I walked over the bridge over the tracks looking for him but couldn't see anything. I picked the middle platform to go down so I could look around a bit. No such luck. I went up on the other bridge on the other side of the platforms and looked around. I remembered this weird granite sidewalk next to a wall and figured that is where Pat must be. Sure enough he was just at the bottom of those stairs that I chose to go down. Well, they weren't stairs as much as it was a broken escalator.

We sat there for a while pounding waters and sweating to death. My bra was completely soaked. It looked like I had just come out of a shower fully clothed. Pat wasn't doing any better. It was about 90 degrees with about 95-100% humidity. There was a very helpful security guard on the platform that helped us find the right spot for our car. We stood there so we wouldn't have to deal with the crowd of people trying to get on the train at the same time. About 2 hours later the correct train came. It was a very futuristic looking bullet train. All there were was soft seats, no classes. There was very little overhead space so we took about 10 other people's overhead bins and still had a bag on the floor slightly in the way. Oh well. When we got situated and seated, the men sitting across from us had a slight look of "Why they hell did we get seated next to the stupid Americans". It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to Xuzhou. When we got there we hired a red cap to carry our bags for us. We are pretty sure he ripped us off royally but at the time we didn't really care. I was not about to lug those things up one more stair and tear my arms off in the process.