delayed in beijing

so it seems that as long as i type in all lowercase i'm good to go. otherwise if i start hitting 'shift' or 'control' or some punctuation marks the computer will start guessing what it thinks i want to say which makes typing extremely difficult...

ok, so let's backtrack for a moment...this journey started yesterday at 715 am when i was woken up by my parents who were already en route, but late, to drive me to newark. i had completely overslept, as i was up packing until 330-4am. i threw myself together and ran out the door...then had a minor panic attack at wawa when i tried to withdrawal recently transferred funds for this trip. my card kept saying 'insufficient funds'. i couldn't figure it out...ran home to get my other card and realized that in my state of extreme exhaustion the night before, i had transferred funds to my savings rather than my checking account...ugh, anyway, problem solved and finally en route to newark...

while dozing in and out of sleep, i couldn't help but notice how much i was coughing...and 'mom, do i have a fever'? oh you have got to be kidding me. both my brother and my roommate were sick before i left...this is just what i need. fortunately, i placed an emergency phone call to work and was able to arrange for a zpack (thanks debby!). got to airport relatively early...went through security with ease. packed and repacked and reorganized my bag hoping they would let me on the plane with both my bags which they did...(i definitely overpacked but i guess that's what happens when you wait till the last minute)

we sat on the runway for over an hour. i'm not exactly sure why, but the rest of the 13 plus hour flight wasn't bad...i didn't get much sleep though. we flew over the north pole to get here which i thought was an interesting route, but i guess maybe the fastest. there were a few screaming babies in my section, always are for some reason. i watched a couple sit-coms, half of a movie and read up a little on southeast asia...

arrived to beijing at 419 pm...with my connecting flight to hanoi being less than an hour later. i asked to be let off early but they said no and i had to wait for the 40 seats ahead of me to slowly get off the plane...then i found myself running through the beijing airport...where to? i'm not quite sure as most of the signs were in chinese. i kept stopping at information desks to see if i could figure out where to go but the people at the airport spoke very limited english and i had to run all over the airport -which is huge btw- to find the check in desk...at 505 with the help of a very nice security guard, i made it to the china southern ticket booth only to find out that they were closed and that i was about to miss the last flight to vietnam for the day...ugh. they put me on the next flight which isn't until tomorrow evening...

i then found a hotel reservation desk where i booked this room at "the (less than) perfect hotel" haha. more reminiscent of a jail cell than a business class hotel room if you ask me! but i am very grateful for the in-room computer and free internet. the shower has no curtain and the smallest bar of soap i've ever seen. its like soap for ants. the furniture is very basic and still has the plastic coverings on them. there is a filtered water cooler in my room, but it has a layer of dust on top that is so thick i could etch my name into it. needless to say, i think i'll pass on that. thankfully, i still have 3 liters of water from newark. the people at the reception desk don't speak much english but were very nice and helped me figure out the computer and tried desperately to help me figure out the phone...

i am definitely like a fish out of water here. i'm so thankful for the people that do speak english, otherwise i would probably still be wandering around aimlessly at the beijing airport. it's very strange to look down the street and see that nothing is in english...only chinese characters. on the ride here via the free hotel shuttle, we passed an area of town that looked rather run-down. there were what seemed to be store fronts along both sides of the road, but as we drove i wondered if they doubled as people's residences as well. all store fronts seemed to have signs in red neon characters...

i'm beyond exhausted. i'm hoping i'll be in a more optimistic mood once i get some sleep. unfortunately i'll be missing out on a side trip to Sa Pa with the other girls who are in vietnam already. i'm disappointed, but maybe it's better off that i just rest for a couple of days...especially with this cough. thank god for azithromycin and medical connections :)　besides, there is a ton to explore in hanoi.