China Journals 6: Sleepless in China

Friday; April 28, 2006

• Panda crap
• Farewell Coach
• Lucky-Me
• Uber-delay at Beijing Airport
• Droz Dropped-Dead

Wake-up call: 530am. Flight to Beijing: 720am. Still sleepless thanks to Jam and Jane, we boarded the plane back to Beijing. (syempre after the usual breakfast meal) Upon arriving at Beijing International Airport, we saw Frank. Still dressed like a coach, he was wearing the same jacket, pants and shoes he wore three days ago. I sure hope he changed his underwear (or at least used SIDE B). He was still waving a bottle of mineral water to catch our attention. Uniform maybe?

This day’s “itenary”: Panda Zoo, Summer Palace. Our group decided to skip the Summer Palace for some rest (Or maybe because we have to pay 80 Yuan per person to enter. That was roughly 640 pesos) Panda Zoo was a disappointment. We drove for more than an hour to see three tiny pandas eating bamboo. I thought it would be a big zoo with other animals but what we saw was everything they have. BULLSHIT! I should have stayed in the bus to recharge a bit. After that, it was lunch already. I don’t have to tell you guys what we ate, it’s already a give-away.

Just to wipe off the disappointment from our faces, Frank brought us to another shopping center to kill 90 minutes. I chose to have a stroll instead of going in the mall because I’m saving up for Shenzhen, the shopper’s paradise according to Ting. I saw several people playing cards on the alley. I tried to figure out whet they were playing to no avail. Suddenly, a police appeared going towards our direction. DAMN! BUSTED! Funny, he suddenly brought out money and placed a bet on the banker side! WHEW! I’m getting out of here. I saw a group of people gathering around a newspaper stand. They were reading magazines. Well, it looks free so I grabbed a magazine myself. After browsing though the English magazines on the newspaper stand, I returned to the bus. Shortly after, they all retuned too. To the airport we go!

We heard from the PA that our flight will be delayed for 30-60 minutes. Luckily, we brought some playing cards. We played Lucky 9. Lose 3 games, you do a consequence. First victim Dane. We asked him to introduce himself to a local (with handshake) and ask for his/her name. Lora followed suit doing jumping jacks 5 times while shouting out Japanese cadence. Dane struck twice with a pump and grind dance number to the tune of careless whisper. Mark humped the post screaming “get, get awwwww!”. Strike three for Dane (forgot what he did). Lora catching up with another “getting to know you”. Lastly, Jane and Jam did Otcho-otcho and Ispaghetti simultaneously. “OOPS, the plane is here! YEHEY!” They weren’t as happy as I am though, frustrated I didn’t get to do a consequence. They vowed revenge in the future.

The following paragraph contains language not suitable for very young readers:

Aboard the plane, the captain told us that the flight will be delayed AGAIN. This time because there was a military practice taking place. PUTANG INA! Why now?! I’m dying to have my rest at the plush Shanghai Hotel! Just when you thought that nothing worse could happen, the cabin’s power went out. BULLSHIT TALAGA! It was soooooo hot and dark. We were all very hungry. Sitting around me were people who look Iraqi, Pakistani. Nothing personal but PUTA that was really scary! This was scarier, I was seated next to a gay Indian who was trying to talk to me! He looked rich but PLEEEASSE! Time was moving at a snail’s pace. We stayed there for more than three hours. YEP, PUTANG INA TALAGA!

We arrived Shanghai Airport at around 1am. My God! Allan was still wearing the same brown collared shirt 5 days ago! Was it that cold to not take a bath?! Ok, ok, Maybe that was also a uniform. Julie at least changed attire but maybe we were just lucky enough to witness her 30-day change-over.

An hour drive to the hotel followed. DROZ-DROPPED-DEAD! 240am