The Last 24 hours in China (Part 2)

We made no hesitation about grabbing our belongings and leaving. In the lobby Bimba was checking us out and Nimalah was taking our bags and loading them into the back of the vehicle. Bimba approached and said that we owed 8 Yuan for the water we drank in the room. Holly and I felt that after the fiasco that we just went through with the door the hotel should be willing to waive the fee and we told Bimba that. I mean think about it. The hotel management wasn’t able to get our bags back. Without Bimba’s brave shenanigans our bags would still be locked inside the room. Why should we pay for water when they couldn’t even unlock our door?

We walked with Bimba to the front desk and he explained, we hoped, in Tibetan, what we had just conveyed to him. After a spitter-spatter of words that we couldn’t understand from Bimba there was a slight pause and following was a line of staff all saying ‘sorry.’

Our faces lit up. Apparently, it was that easy. No arguing. No second-guessing. The hotel staff apologized and we were on our way to the airport. Another guide joined us on the journey to the airport. Nimalah was picking up another group at the airport so the guide that he would be working with came along.

At the airport Bimba and Nimalah helped us with our baggage and got us checked in. Then we said our goodbyes and passed over our tip money for them, 500 Yuan (about $75) for Nimalah and 600 for Bimba. Bimba got a little extra because he dangled on the side of the hotel four floors above the ground.

We spent some uneventful time at the airport and then flew to Chengdu where we had an hour layover before flying to Beijing. By the time we reached Beijing it was after 11:00 at night. We were hoping to see some indication that a shuttle was waiting to take us to our hotel but no such luck. Holly had emailed our Beijing hotel while in Tibet and asked them if they would pick us up but we didn’t receive a response in time. Regretfully, we would take a taxi and furthermore, we would be waiting in line for awhile before getting one.

When it was finally our turn we hopped into a taxi and showed him the address. He looked confused, he called the number on the paper, he showed the paper to another man, he called again, he put his flashers on, got out of the car, and showed the paper to someone else. Putting these events together we concluded that our driver had no idea where our hotel was. Another taxi cab driver approached our vehicle that could speak English. He told us that he would bring us because he knew where the hotel was. We were a little nervous about this. Something just didn’t feel right about it. We realized that the drivers wanted to switch patrons and we reluctantly switched. We heaved our bags out of one trunk and into another. When we sat down in the back of the next cab we checked the meter and it said 11.00. Wondering why it already said 11.00 Yuan, we asked him to reset it. After unsuccessfully trying to explain to us why the meter already said 11.00 he refused to reset it. That was enough grounds for us to leave to taxi. We told him to open the trunk. He became very agitated and an argument ensued. After some harsh words he reluctantly opened the trunk and we heaved our bags out of the trunk and walked away. The driver being very upset followed us. We walked right up to one of the airport attendants. The driver shouted and yelled at the attendant and when he was finished she looked at us very calmly and asked us in English what had happened. We explained and she said that we could get another taxi. Our former driver went on to take another patron and we heaved our bags into yet another trunk.

We gave our hotel booking slip to the driver. He looked at the address, he looked at the phone number, he called, he hung up, he called again, and he shrugged his shoulders. Based upon his body language we could tell he had no idea where to take us. So out of the taxi we went and heaved our luggage out of yet another trunk. We were very angry at this point. It was almost midnight and we had an early morning flight back to the states. All we wanted was for this night to end.

Another taxi driver saw our agitation and he said questioningly in English, “Taxi?” We rambled on about how he would be the fourth taxi and did he think he could really bring us to our hotel. After three other taxi’s we had our doubts. He assured us that he could so in our bags went into the trunk and into the back seat we went. Now, we were finally leaving the airport. We were amazed. We thought for a second we might actually make it to our hotel. Quickly, our hopes and dreams of a good night sleep came crashing down. The meter on the dashboard said 0.00. I asked him to turn on the meter and he refused. I told him to turn on the meter and he said, “No meter, 70 Yuan.” I knew that was too much so I told him we didn’t have that money and to put the meter on. What he was trying to do was make us pay more than what the ride would really cost. An argument ensued and I yelled for him to pull over and let us out. Thankfully he pulled over and now we yelled for him to open the trunk. He yelled, “You pay me!” We yelled back, “No! The meter says zero.” He angrily got out of the car and we did as well. He opened the trunk and we quickly grabbed our things. After some more harsh words, the taxi cab sped away and we were left standing on the side of the road in Beijing at midnight.

There wasn’t much we could do not to panic. There were some buses pulled over on the side of the road so we went for them. The drivers inside were trying to sleep and we tried to ask one for help but he waved his head and hands in a manner that said, ‘no.’ It was then we stopped and looked at each other. I said, “Alright let’s think about this for a moment. What are our options?” Holly had a plan. “Let’s walk back to the airport. Stay there tonight and catch our flight tomorrow morning.” I thought it was a great idea. I pretty much had no clue as to how to handle the situation. We began the walk back to the airport. We realized that a five minute drive turns out to be a long walk especially when carrying forty pounds on your back. Walking the streets of a far away country at midnight didn’t help our nerves either.

To Be Continued Next Week