Down and Out in China, part fifteen

Well here we go again.

The Good News: I've escaped Mongolia. A near-flawless and beautiful flight on Mongolian Airlines to Beijing, China.

The Bad News: United had to ground a flight yesterday, so there was mass chaos at the Check-In counter as people lined up for a good 100 meter stretch. I waited around in the sweaty airport for a half hour before deciding that this hassle just wasn't worth it. So I hopped the shuttle bus to downtown Beijing. Again, the bus stopped somewhere JUST out of sight of the huge Central Train Station, so I had to barter with a pedicab (actually this one had a motor) and I only talked him down to 25 yuan (about 3 bucks). The good thing was that I got a free hutong tour since he took the long way. But I eventually got to where I needed, and luckily beds were available at the hostel.

So I'm going to take a nap, try to finish what I'm thinking is my best short story yet, and probably visit the Pearl Market tomorrow (in search of a knock-off Swiss watch).

The send off from my host family was a bit sad. They've been wonderfully accomodating my entire time in Mongolia. Though Davaa DID try to pick up a couple of drunks looking for a ride on the way to the airport at 5 AM this morning. Fortunately the drunks were too drunk to stand up and get in the car, so they waved us on. But picking up drunks on the way to the airport is just the sort of thing Davaa would pull in my last few hours in Mongolia.

As a sidenote, I lot of the cynical tone you heard on this blog will probably change to more optimistic now that I'm outside of the country.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Nicole Kidman is now endorsing some obscure watch in Ulaanbaatar. They replaced Cindy Crawford on the billboard...probably because she's old hat.

Oh, and Beijing reminded me, again, why I don't think I could ever live in a mega-city. UB is peanuts in comparison, though a bit shabbier and crumbling. Beijing is sparkling new. In fact, the smog isn't as bad in late August than it was back in late June. I hope they take this into consideration when planning the Olympics. Though the thick, oil-slick gray smogline was still visible as we descended into the airport.

Also, I was reminded why I hate airports.