China: There and Back

China. Check. We almost didn’t make it there, though, but once we did, it was awesome. I’ll start from the beginning. So the day before we left we had a big snow storm, which was really only a few inches, but, still, Jalalabat airport is no LAX. They literally have to herd the sheep and the kids off the runway before a plane lands or takes off. So, needless to say, after a storm they often just close the airport and cancel the daily flight without much concern for the waiting passengers. Unfortunately, though, snow wasn’t our only problem. Food poisoning was another. Yeah, not fun. We both had it…badly. We were beginning to think this trip wasn’t meant to be; however, by the time the long night was over and morning came, the sun was shining, the snow was melting, our flight was on-time, and, except for being dehydrated, we were feeling much, much better.

We had a 14-hour layover in Bishkek, so we decided to go hang out at a restaurant with some friends before returning to the airport around midnight to await our 7 a.m. departure. It was actually fairly pleasant. We checked-in two-hours early for our flight and sat at the gate, which had our flight posted on the television above it. However, by the time 7 a.m. rolled around and still no sign of any action, I decided to ask about our flight. And, to my surprise, they said it already left! What!? No! I asked him to call on his radio and ask. Sure enough we were sitting at the wrong gate and the plane did already board but hadn’t left yet. So the angry airport worker loaded Sarah and me on the bus to take us to the plane on the tarmac. We made it.

After Bishkek we had a 6-hour layover in the ethnically diverse Uzbekistan transit terminal. I now believe that America in not the melting pot of the world…it’s really the Uzbekistan transit terminal. I think every continent, except for maybe Antarctica, was represented there (seriously). We saw people from India, Switzerland, China, Russia, Pakistan, Korea, Nepal, Australia, Egypt, Bangladesh, and even some bare-foot, bongo- playing American hippies! It was awesome.

By the time we arrived in China we were tired but quickly reenergized when we realized we made it. And the fact that everything was so modern that we could have easily have been in the international section of any major American airport was exciting. In fact, on the nighttime taxi ride to the hotel the city skyline could have been that of a major U.S. city, complete with a McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, 7-11, and Starbucks on every corner. I couldn’t help but think of the now defunct Oldsmobile’s old catch phrase, but with a twist: “This is not your father’s communist country.” It’s just not what I pictured. But I do believe it may only be a difference in appearance. Time will tell if this new model of communism with an open economy and closed social system will have a different fate than Oldsmobile. Since they’re preparing for the upcoming 2008 Olympics, the city is immaculately clean and the cranes busily building brand-new skyscraper hotels are peppered throughout the city of 15 million people (three times the population of Kyrgyzstan).

The Great Wall was, well, (to quote the late President Nixon) “…a great wall.” I thought it was impressive that for mortar they used rice, egg whites, and lime. I wondered if they used the same mix to feed the workers, too. The Summer Palace and Forbidden City were also impressive. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit Tiananmen Square because the Chairman decided to entertain some UN representatives for the next two weeks.

The food was another highlight. My personal favorite was the Peking Duck. Wow! If you go to Beijing, you have to go to the Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant. It’s amazing. They’ve had plenty of time to perfect it since their establishment in 1864. One food disaster for us, however, was our first evening. We asked the concierge for a restaurant recommendation and they recommended a restaurant around the corner from our hotel. We went, excited to eat something other than sheep, but when we opened the menu it was all sheep meet—fried sheep, breaded sheep, sheep on a stick, fried vegetables with sheep, etc. It turned out it was Uigher food, which is from Far-Western China and just so happens to be the exact same as Kyrgyz food. We didn’t stay long.

After seven days of living in the 1^st world again it was tough to come back. But we did. And now we’re trying to acclimate ourselves all over again.