The Wanderings of busman7

So the busman arrives in Beijing after a 48 hr train ride on the piece of crap Bombardier built train from Lhasa at 08:30 (rush hour on a Monday morning) with no hotel reservation. As warned, practically no one in Beijing speaks English, not the hotel info guys or the couple girls touting rooms) so he carries on to the monster line waiting on taxi’s.

After a bit in the queue he realises the folly of that approach as the chance of getting a driver that understands English is virtually nil. So he starts back tracking while thinking which plan “B” might-be best, as he stops to adjust his bags a young Chinese stops to offer assistance, he speaks no English but in a bit his friend who speaks very good English appears & when she is informed of the problem, takes charge asking what I want to do while in town & the price I want to pay for a room.

She then decides on a hotel that fits the bill with a central location & the 2 of them proceed to guide me to a place where a taxi can be flagged down, now this is rush hour with the temp hoovering around zero so they aren’t readily available but eventually, a couple blocks away from the station we have success.

Now these two kids have spent approximately 1/2 hr helping me & absolutely refuse any tip for doing so. Kind of restores one’s faith in humanity!!

The hotel turned out to be a Novetel & in the mid range price that I had asked for. Actually a bit more than I wanted to pay but prices in Beijing are up there & after the last couple weeks I deserve a bit of pampering + when finished with China I will be crashing on a beach some where in the Philippines for the 3 weeks allowed on a visa & saving the money I am spending here.

So once again have proven that having a bit of faith in destiny pays off  & as my Nepalese guide said “no hurry, no worry, have some more chicken curry” LOL

Just to let all know that I am in Lhasa Tibet & won’t be updating blog until I leave China also can’t access facebook here.

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