Travel adventures in China

Traveling within China has turned out to be more tumultuous than I perceived it to be.  Today we traveled from Beijing to Shanghai.  All was well until we arrived at the Beijing airport.  Here is a list of events that followed throughout the day:

• Our gate changed without any prior notice.  We were shocked to hear that the gate that we (7 of us) were sitting at had been moved to the other side of the airport.  By the time we arrived, we had to wait about 45 minutes to catch a bus to our plane. 
• Once we were on the plane, we sat on the tarmac for 1 hour.  The captain never came on the intercom to tell us why.  In the interim, we kept hearing squealing noises from either the wheels or other parts of the plane, which was quite disturbing.
• While taking off, the emergency exit sign fell from the ceiling on to the lap of one of my classmates’ wives.  The steward looked at her and gave her the “oops” shrug.
• We left Beijing at the time we were supposed to arrive in Shanghai.
• When my luggage arrived in Shanghai, it was soaked!!  It looked like someone had left my suitcase sitting in a tub of water for the entire trip.  When I unpacked my suitcase , my clothes were sopping wet 4 layers in.  I spent a good hour drying my things with a hairdryer.
• Our taxi from the Shanghai airport to our hotel was like the Mr Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland.  We almost crashed into a median and 2 vehicles at various points in the ride.  Even better was that our driver fell asleep 3 times en route!

I feel very fortunate to be writing this blog after today’s events.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  )