I've been Tianjin-ed

Ok, so I have a lot of things to talk about regarding China but there is one story I have to start with. I was Tianjin-ed upon arriving in China.





Let me explain.





After a 13 hour flight from Chicago, I landed in Beijing. This is a long flight. I've been to Europe a number of times and know what an 8 hour flight is like. The extra 5 hours is brutal. I can only imagine the 18+ hour flights to places like Australia. You'd be right in thinking this all sounds like an excuse.





What happened is this.





After landing I collected all of my belongings and headed for baggage claim. Along the way I was taking pictures of all the novel Chinese advertising and warnings. I guess I had expected everything to be in Chinese just as everything is in English in the US. What surprised me was the amount of Chinese/English signage I saw. So I proceeded to document it. Then I get to checkpoint the first.





Here I encountered my first instance of having to fill out a form that asks for my name, date of birth, passport number and visa number. This form had been passed out along with two others during the flight but I hadn't received one. I find a station with the required form floating around and fill it out. Well, not completely as it turns out. I can't remember what I had failed to write but it did mean I was standing just past the guard as a crush of Chinese travelers are trying to pass the checkpoint. No kidding, it got to the point where the travelers were just throwing the forms at the guard and rushing past, no control just a bureaucratic hassle to overcome. The guard was stacking the forms as quickly as possible and probably could have gave a damn if I had filled the form out accurately. And then I was through.





Next was the checkpoint where they actually look at your passport and pound in an entry stamp. Again I have to find a form that I should have got on the plane and fill out the same information as before. I've traveled approximately 50 yards. I'm still taking pictures as the Chinese/English signage strikes me as amusing. I don't see how anymore but it was novel at the time and digital camera's mean it doesn't cost me anything but my dignity. So I'm snapping away like a clueless tourist, emphasis on clueless and I pass through checkpoint two.





I'm now headed to baggage claim and I am struggling to decipher where I need to go. There are signs but the description of the destination isn't consistent. Never the less I end up in baggage claim. I can't tell you if this area was dedicated to international travel or not. I think it was because everyone had to pass a third checkpoint where the above information was required and we had to declare any items of value that we were bringing in. It doesn't make sense that domestic travelers would have to do this, hence my conclusion. Here I did have something to declare, three 750 ml bottles of booze to be handed out as gifts. The guard couldn't have been less interested, seriously. He was more engaged in his newspaper than what I was telling him was in my suitcase.





And so I was through.





Now I've done some international travel and what greeted me was not completely unexpected. There was a mass of humanity looking for arrivals; loved ones, relatives (no that isn't redundant) business contacts, etc. What this does have the feel of is an end point destination. I don't see any obvious signs for where to go for connecting domestic flights, its noisy, I'm tired and I see a guy with a sign saying "Adrian" (my name) and "Southern" underneath it.





Here's where things start to go wrong.





I dismiss the guy with the sign and walk over to a spot where I can collect myself. I open my computer and re-check my itinerary. I know I have to make a connecting flight to Dalian and I know I don't have a ton of time to do it in. I had also been told that the Chinese were building another airport near the one I'd just landed in to increase capacity. The itinerary says I have to take China Southern Airline to Dalian. Ding! This guy is here to help me get to my connection! I walk back to him and indicate that yes I am the person he is looking for. We nod at each other and smile a lot neither of us speaking the other's language but both seeming to indicate that this is a confusing situation and that its understandable that I might be hesitant in acknowledge his task to assist me. The clincher comes when he keys up his cell phone and shows a text message indicating "Adrian UA851"; my name and my flight number.





The deed is done.





For 33 years I've been living with the fact that Adrian isn't a common name. I can never find any kind of novelty gift item, like the kind you'd buy at Wal Drug, with my name on it. Now I've just flown 13 hours with 250 other souls and I'm certain I'm a snowflake, unique. I assume that this man is here to expedite my connection and that someone from my company has arranged this because of an oversight on my itinerary. The driver says Tianjin a handful of times indicating our destination, takes my bag and we head out to the parking garage. Now I'm sure there's been a mistake in my travel planning and I'm relieved that he's here to help me out. Tianjin must be the name of the other airport that is being built and we've got to hurry up if I want to make the connection. There he has a newer VW that he loads my stuff into and we head out.





Urgency only serves to reinforce this series of events.





The way the Chinese drive is unreal. There is almost no order to it. While we never really reach any significant speed, my driver (and everyone else on the road) has no patience. We pass on the shoulder a couple of times. I'm convinced he's trying to get me to this Tianjin airport as quickly as possible.



Time passes.



Now I don't think he's taking me to the airport anymore. I realize Tianjin is a city separate and some distance from Beijing. I figure this is alright as I have a voicemail I can't get to on my US cell phone that I suppose would explain the whole mess. I finally can't keep my eyes open anymore and fall asleep. I wake to the sound of honking horns. The honking isn't unfriendly just often. I have about 2 minutes before the driver pulls up to the Renaissance hotel (by going the wrong way on a one way street) and presents me with the bill.



55o RMB! That's like $ 80. Something isn't adding up.



Things only get worse for me when I find out that the hotel doesn't have a reservation for me. Nope they weren't expecting me.



1100 RMB please.



I do manage to get a room and the hotel is easily the nicest I've ever stayed in. Then I start calling everyone I know to find out what went wrong. During this process I begin to get the picture that this is a colossal coincidence and I'm way off track. There never was any arrangement for me to go to Tianjin. There is nothing for me to do (for my work) in Tianjin.

And I've missed my flight. By a lot.

So the next morning I call down to the business center and ask for some help setting up travel accommodations to Beijing and then Dalian. When I finally get to Dalian, I find out that there isn't a reservation and that there wasn't one the night before. No big deal as there are rooms available.

Then things get stranger still.

My company had set up a reservation for me the day before. Also when my contact in Dalian calls the hotel to let me know when to be ready for pickup he gets transferred to ANOTHER Adrian's room. This guy has a Chinese assistant that calls my contact back to complain about the pickup time being a bit early for the flight back to Shanghai. More confusion follows and the mistake is realized.

So I finally hook up with my Chinese contacts and we head up to Pulandian so I can get to work. I'm only a day late and everyone is getting a good laugh at my expense. I couldn't have scripted a more bizarre beginning to my trip. Fortunately China has provided me with even more strange experiences.

This post is long enough, I'll save the rest for later.