Flights (aka confusion)

Final Farewell to Li Jiang:

When we woke, at 7:30am to take the photos, the temperature wasn't as cold as it had been. We dressed, gathered our things for our return, and headed out for breakfast and a bit of exploring. The taxi to take us to the airport was to arrive at about 11:00am since our flight out wasn't until 1:05pm. We stepped out of the gate, the lovely one-eyed dog leading us along. We followed him for a bit, all the way to the middle school in the area, then stopped at a noodle vendor for some breakfast. The noodles were tasty, and we had a lovely time relaxing there at her small table to eat up the warm breakfast. These Chinese breakfast foods were growing on me here in Li Jiang.

Once done with feeding ourselves, we started out to explore the parts of Li Jiang we had yet to see. About an hour into the exploration, we started running into multiple tourist groups. At one point, I decided that I would sit and wait for a tourist group to pass... instead of passing, they all decided this was the perfect time to take a photo with the Westerner on the bench. I can't even count how many people took a photo with me as they passed. They were very kind and friendly about it.

Once the photo session was done, Fan and I continued exploring for a bit, catching all the places of interest that we had missed, and headed back to the hotel to wait for the taxi.

The taxi was right on time, and we loaded up and headed to the airport. We arrived early enough to catch lunch, but since we couldn't find an easily accessible restaurant in the Li Jiang airport, we just checked in and went to wait for the plane.

The plane arrived on time, and we boarded at the time scheduled on the dry-erase board. The airport had very few terminals.

Landing in Kunming:

Once we finally took to the air, the flight was short, sweet, and without incident. We had quite a long layover until our flight from Kunming to Beijing so we decided to store our luggage with the airport security. They charged 5 RMB per bag up to 4 hours and 10 RMB for 4-10 hours. We headed out to see the park that is reported to have all the birds, and were then going to visit the small flower market near the airport so as not to encounter any traffic jams, since the taxi driver had warned us the road construction on the main street was causing traffic jams in the city. It was Tuesday, so we knew we would need to avoid 5pm traffic. Our flight left at 7:55pm, so we were going to head to the flower market at 4:30pm, then from there hit the airport between 5:30 and 6pm to get dinner and our bags and check in for the flight.

We found the park just fine, and since we couldn't find any restaurants near by, we settled for food from the bakery that we could choose to share with the birds if we wanted. We each had a buttered and sugared bread and another pastry. My second pastry was a hot dog wrapped in sweet bread with cheese and some green onions baked on top. This was glazed with a sweet sugar glaze and baked to perfection. Fan's second pastry appeared to be a filled sweet bread, but I was more interested in my lunch than questioning her about hers.

We headed across the street to the park and were amazed at the numbers of migratory birds floating in the small lake. At first I thought this had to be all the birds there were, the numbers were amazing, but when we started down the path, we noticed another lake filled with birds. I'm horrible at estimating, but I can say for approximation there were about 2 birds per square foot, and these birds were about 2/3 the size of your average duck. They were packed in there.

I was far too hungry to share my bread with the birds, but they didn't mind taking Fan's hand-outs. Like any birds, they would squabble over the small bits of food. After a generous wander around the park, we caught a taxi to the Flower Market, well before the alarm for 4:30pm went off.

We made it to the flower market and were informed that the airport was a short walk from the flower market and we wouldn't even need to take a taxi there. We browsed the wares of several booths, purchasing some small gifts and then Fan found some blue roses to buy for herself. She was amazed at how cheap they were compared to their price in Beijing.

Dinner and failure:

After securing our gifts and such we headed toward the airport. We were ahead of schedule, and none to worried. We were told the airport was only 5 min away, but found ourself walking for 30 min to get there. This was fine since we arrived at the airport around 6pm with plenty of time to eat a meal and get our luggage back. We headed to the KFC again and sat down. We left KFC at about 6:45 to get our luggage and, instead of being able to just go retrieve it, we had to wait for an attendee to bring it to us. This took until about 7pm, which had us a bit frustrated, so we had to hurry back upstairs to wait to check in. We still appeared to have enough time to get through security, to the gate to board the plane. We waited in line to check in and I pulled out my passport. Fan pulled her wallet out to get her ID, but couldn't find it. She searched for a while through her bags, trying to find the ID but eventually told me to check in while she looked.

I got to the front of the line, but the attendant said she wouldn't help me and that I should go to another line. I am still uncertain why she moved me to another line, but I went to the next line, and waited for the 2 people in front of me. By the time I reached the front of the line, I can't even speculate what time it was, but the attendant told me I was too late and that I should go book another flight. My spirit was crushed.

Fan had gone somewhere to look for her ID or to call someone. She was nowhere to be found. I was alone, and couldn't read a word of Chinese. All the flights and flight listings were in Chinese. I had never in my life missed a plane before and certainly not in a country where I couldn't speak the language. I was exhausted from lack of sleep and so overwhelmed.

I set my bags down in the middle of cold airport floor and just cried. I couldn't think of what to do. I was horribly frightened.

About 2 min. after sitting down on the floor, I called Fan. I could barely get the words out... "I missed the flight. They told me I was too late."

"Oh wow." was her response. She couldn't think of what to say.

I sent a text message to Cullen and he was astounded (he may well have a different description and is more than welcome to contribute).

I just sat there for a while, crying. The couple from Shanghai said hello to me... all I could manage was a wave back. I had tears pouring out of my eyes and my mind was running in circles while all I saw was Chinese characters. A girl came up and asked me in perfect English if I was ok... of course, I had a hard time getting the explanation out, but while I was telling her, Fan called and told me to come over to the entrance of KFC where she was looking for her ID still. I thanked the girl, she was so kind and caring, and headed over to where Fan was frantically pulling all the contents of her bags out on the floor.

Fan was certain she would have to spend the night in the airport because without an ID you can't even book a hotel in China. With me there, she could at least book a hotel with my passport. Though this made things easier, she still searched over and over for her ID. Taking a break only to go find out how she could get tickets back to Beijing and how much work she would have to do to get her identity verified.

When Fan returned, she noticed that her ID was right in the window it was supposed to be in, just buried behind some business cards she had received. We were both relieved. Not only could we book tickets and get out of Kunming the next day, but she was now able to book a hotel with ease.

Fan booked the tickets for the same flight number the next day. We headed out of the airport and jumped in a taxi for the hotel her husband had found on the internet near the airport in Kunming. We were both a bit shaken and just wanted some sleep. Thanks to Cullen and Fan, I was able to calm down and get some rest.