Off I go...to the unknown

28/3/08 Friday
Oh the joys of living so close but yet so far. From Cairns I flew to Sydney and then back over Cairns to get to Beijing. Six hours of flying to get...back to where I began. I suppose that is what happens when you are using frequent flyer points. Sat on the runway in Sydney for fourty minutes and getting more panicky as the minutes went by. Thoughts like...are we waiting for my next plane to leave the gate so that we can get in went through my mind. Eventually made it in the terminal only to find that my next flight was also delayed an hour.

Arrived in Beijing an hour late and made my way through body scanners (for SARS) and then to immigration. Then caught a groovy little, extremely fast train to the other end of the terminal to collect my luggage. No quarantine inspection, just straight through the doors into a foggy 4 degrees. Waited for over an hour with smoking, spitting Chinese people for a taxi. When I did get into the taxi, the driver tried his English but it was all a bit too hard after flying for so long and I was well...a bit frozen. Despite having Chinese instructions and a map he still dropped me off in the wrong place and I had to walk a couple of blocks to find the right place. Got to bed at about 11.40pm China time. Bed very hard but slept well under two doonas/duvets.