I was really looking forward to coming back to china for a week again. I was wondering what it would be like after 10 years, but it seems either my memories of what it was like are wrong, or Beijing has gone downhill since then. Already I'm just wanting to leave, but I just have to bear it.
I have real doubts about how this city and more importantly how the foreign visitors will cope next year for the olympics, unless they have some major changes that they havent done yet. The subway here is barely coping with normal crowds as it is, the trains are old and small, ticket booths are all manual and the passageways and steps are all very narrow. English skills are very very poor, even with people who are dealing with foreigners every day. It's not english friendly at all. I would have thought that with the world coming here next year they would have made a bit of an effort to learn the international traveller's language. I went to the railway station today to try and get a ticket to Shanghai, but I had no idea where to go because there were no signs in english and the crowds were massive, so now im hoping on getting one from a travel agent in the hostel.
My body is in a little bit of shock I think - going from to mild humid heat of SE Asia to the dry and hot weather here. It feels like wagga in summer, except for the really bad pollution.
Yesterday was a long and trying day. My flight from HCMC to Hong Kong left a little bit late, so when I arrived in HK, my tight connection had become even tighter.
Here's a word of advice - Cathay Pacific are absolutley sh*thouse with connecting flights. They just sell you tickets for other airlines, then go and change them round for you, without letting you know.
When I arrived, a lady was there holding a sign with people's names who were all connecting onto other flights. She told me to go to transfer lounge W1 which was on the other side of the huge airport. When I finally made it there, already cutting it fine, I was then told that I was at the wrong desk and to go back to E1 - where I had just come from pretty much. I made it back there hoping I was going to make it, to to told that Air China were no longer operating that flight and to go to lounge E2. At the cathay pacific counter in E2 I was told to go back to E1, but after I "calmly" explained I had been there, I was then sent to the drangonair counter, where I discovered that they had changed my flight to one leaving 20min earlier, and i had missed checkin.
I was put on standby for the next one a few hours later, and I finally got my boarding pass 5min before boarding closed - on the other side of the airport. I was also told my baggage may not be on the plane......
After running a marathon just to make it there, i arrived just on final call and made it on the plane - which then sat on the tarmac for over an hour due to air traffic control delays.
Eventually we made it to Beijing, and after another wait on the tarmac, I made it out of the airport with my bag at some time after 10pm - 12 hours since I left HCMC, only 5hours flying time.
So the moral of the story - dont get connecting flights with cathay pacific. I dont think they even fly planes anymore. they all seemed to be parked at hong kong airport.
Other than that, I had a pretty good time in HCMC. I went to the Chu Chi tunnels from the war. They are so tiny, there is no way I could have been in the Viet Cong. I also fired an AK47 which was fun. Went to the war museum [formally named "museum of war crimes comitted by the french and americans" which was funny]. But it was all out of order and all over the place so it was pretty hard to work out what they were trying to say.
