Beijing again, Vancouver again
After an uneventful return to Beijing (although I did have to see Hero 英雄 on a plane again), I rested for a day, didn't do anything and got ready to head back to Seattle via Vancouver.
Monday night, I was leaving dinner and got in a taxi where the driver didn't know how to operate a stick-shift. He appeared to be covering a shift for someone who knew how to drive a taxi properly. As we headed toward the 3rd Ring Road going 30km/h in 3rd gear, I realized that this would not do... and got in another one.
The next morning, I was taking a taxi (again - my life in Asia seems to be short periods of living interrupted by long rides in taxis, but I love it), and we got stuck in traffic 2 Km from the airport entrance. After about ten minutes of driving on the shoulder, I saw a five-car pileup in the left lane; three taxis and two passenger cars had collided.
Upon arriving at the airport, I saw a Turkmenistan Airlines jet readying for departure. Sadly, I couldn't get a photo of it.
Checking in at PEK is bizarre. Going into the Int'l Departures area, you first fill out a customs form, pass customs officers, then go to the ticketing hall to check in. If you're flying a major carrier, you have to search through many rows of check-in desks to figure out where your flight (and class of service) is checking in. After checking in, you then head through Immigation control, then security and presto, you're in the terminal.
My flight left on time and was pretty uneventful.
PEK airport logo
Beer left in the airport
Waiting in the airport...
PEK has a lot of cargo traffic across Asia
Air China tails
Yanjing Beer
Duck for dinner? Only on Air China!
Air China did show the worst movie I'd seen in a while - The Astronaut Farmer, a ridiculous, badly done story about a former astronaut who builds his own spacecraft in rural Texas. Say what?!