Today was one of the toughest days ever. I am grateful that finally now at 1:15 a.m. I arrived at the hotel in Kunming. But, my flight was suppose to leave at 9:10 from Beijing this morning and instead we were kept in the plane from 8:30 a.m. when we boarded until 9:00 pm when we finally took off. I feel like I slayed the dragon today -- I was the only caucasian person, the airplane was full, I couldn't find anyone who could speak English and Chinese (I did manage to find a guy from Zimbabwe who spoke English)--
Many of the Chinese men became very upset -- they were yelling and trying to open the door of the plane. At one point they did let us in the ramp between the plane and the airport but they locked the airport doors. I have never seen anything like this.
Initally when we got to the airport it was snowing and then the airport closed. After that, noone knew what was going on -- no explanations-- just wait I was told. My honeymoon with Chinese culture is over....my eyes are open. I will see the good but there are some things that aren't quite right. The fear from many passengers was that there was a mechanical problem -- but the attendants denied it -- I almost tried to get a flight for tomorrow but I just sucked it up -- I was resigned to my fate--
I am happy to be in Kunming tonight but it is going to come as quite a shock to Yami (whose plane is still not in) that we need to do everything tomorrow morning-- meet Silin and sign paperwork and go to the bank-- I was told that she was brought to the SWI nearby -- I hope there is someone she knows with her.
By the way, I forgot to lock my suitcase and it along with many of its contents are wet-- this hasn't been such a good day--
Tomorrow, we'll have Silin-- All the preparation that we have done comes to this-- I hope I can get it all together for tomorrow -- I just want her and to spend time with her and I thought I would get a chance to do that b/f I had to do all the red tape things but I'm feeling that the guide and the officials are in a hurry (too bad I couldn't get here earlier today)
Sorry for the not-well edited post -- hopefully tomorrow's post will be much better --
Had a great time with the boys today. Grandpa Craig and they made chocolate chip pancakes. Then we took a walk with/for Addy -- Micah and I left a little early. He's got a cold and is a little tired but he's doing al right. He has some congestion and a cough. I gave him a dinosaur Vitamin C and gave Nance the bottle and another herbal children's cold med. Micah and I did a puzzle while Craig and Isaiah and Emet played pass the pig and then whiffle ball. It was a beautiful fall afternoon. They just left. I'm glad you're on the ground after your grueling day.
ReplyDeletehang in there! you're almost there!
ReplyDeleteP.S. you are amazing to have survived that trip with your sanity intact!
Stick with it Davida - I've been there, only stranded for 12 hours in the middle of a 30 hour bus ride, heading from Dali to Jinghong. There's something mysterious about Chinese society when things aren't quite in the groove. I am sure your luck will improve very quickly. Kunming is a beautiful city, I hope you get to enjoy it a bit.
ReplyDeleteOh what a nightmare!!! I'm just catching up - I can't imagine how horrible that must have been on the plane for that long!
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