The Triumphant Return

Just wanted to let all y'all in China know that I made it safely back to the US this morning after only, ahem, a few delays and disturbances.

For probably the first time in my entire life, I was out the door and ready to go well before it was time to actually head to the airport. I know, I was amazed too. Kunming clearly didn't want me to leave, as Wenlin Jie took at least 10 minutes to travel down. Ugh! I did make it to the airport barely on time to get bags check (and argue with the attendant about my overweight luggage), jump the security line, and board the plane directly. Sitting behind me was a row of mid-40's Chinese men in their polyester polos, reaking of baijiu and mumbling loudly in their local dialect. Though the girls sitting next to me were quite nice, the men behind me were obnoxious the whole flight. The one directly behind me argued with the flight attendant about having to actually fasten his seatbelt... He then proceded to lean forward and grab my chair for almost the whole flight, stroking my hair on more the one occasion. He was also physically pulling my chair back on several occasions, especially during landing.

I did eventually arrive in Beijing relatively unscathed, though I had forgotten to write down my friend Yam Ki's address in Beijing, and I had no mobile phone with which to call him. The pay phones at the Beijing Airport only take IC cards, and the smallest denomination they had was 50Y cards in the vending machines. Finally, someone offered to let me use their card for 10Y. I bargained with him, thought to myself how greedy Chinese are, and finally settled at 10Y (he walked away, what can I say). So, after calling Yam Ki and confirming his address, I hopped a cab...unfortunately there was some miscommunication and I ended up at _ _ yuan (garden) instead of _ _ gong yuan (park), and ended up spending about 45Y more than I was originally intending (total of a 115Y cab ride, yikes!).

I did finally arrive, and I had a lovely evening chatting with Yam Ki, Shan, and Laura and admiring his ridiculously HUGE apartment (it's two stories and has five bathrooms and several patios!). After a quick night's sleep on his couch, it was back to the airport.

Things went well and we taxied away from the gate several minutes before our scheduled departure... That is, until, as we sat on the runway in line to take off, the women directly across the aisle from started vomiting profusely. She had a pain in her stomach and was utterly uncomfortable, which she, of course, had every right to be. She moved back to the toilet, and we turned around and headed back to the gate so that she could get medical assistance and disembark the airplane. They wheeled her off and removed her luggage for security reasons, and we ended up leaving an hour late.

But I made it, I'm here, and now it's time for the obligatory 4th of July BBQ! Happy fourth to all, may you have a good day no matter where you are!