Goodbye China - see you again


[HOME]

1. Beijing 02.04.08

2. Beijing 03.04.08

3. Beijing 04.04.08

4. Beijing 05.04.08

MAP 1 Beijing-Yingxian

5. Beijing-LouCun 06.04.08

6. Lou Cun-YudouCun 07.04.08

7. YudouCun-Laiyuan 08.04.08

8. Laiyuan-Wangzhuang 09.04.08

9. Wangzhuang-Hunyuan 10.04.08

MAP 2 Yingxian-Taiyuan

10. Hunyuan-Dai Xian 11.04.08

11. Dai Xian-Xinzhou 12.04.08

12. Xinzhou-Taiyuan 13.04.08

MAP 3 Taiyuan-Linfen

13. Taiyuan-Pingyao 14.04.08

14. Pingyao 15.04.08

15. PingyaoHuozhou 16.04.08

16. Houzhou-Xiangfen 17.04.08

17. Xiangfen-Hejin 18.04.08

MAP 4 Linfen-Weinan

18. Hejin-Heyang 19.04.08

19. Heyang-Dali 20.04.08 Heyang-Dali

20. Dali-Xi'an 21.04.08

21. Xi'an 22.04.08

22. Xi'an 23.04.08

23. Xi'an 24.04.08

24. Xi'an 25.04.08

MAP 5 Weinan-Hanzhong

25. Xi'an-Mazhao 26.04.08

26. Mazhao-Yangxian 27.04.08

27. Yangxian-Mian Xian 28.04.08

28. Mian Xian-Ningqiang 29.04.08

29. Ningqiang-Guangyuan 30.04.08

MAP 6 Hanzhong-Mianyang

30. Guangyuan-Jianmen Pass 01.05.08

31. Jianmen Pass-Zitong 02.05.08

32. Zitong-Loujiang 03.05.08

33. Luojiang-Chengdu 04.05.08

34. Chengdu 05.05.08

35. Chengdu 06.05.08

36. Chengdu 07.05.08

37. Chengdu 08.05.08

38. Chengdu 09.05.08

MAP 7 Mianyang-Maoxian

39. Chengdu-Dujiangyan 10.05.08

40. Dujiangyan-Miansi 11.05.08

41. Miansi-Maoxian 12.05.08

42. Maoxian 13.05.08

43. Maoxian 14.05.08

44. Maoxian 15.05.08

45. Maoxian 16.05.08

46. Maoxian 17.05.08

47. Maoxian 18.05.08

48. Maoxian-Chengdu 19.05.08

49. Chengdu-Chongqing 20.05.08

50. Chongqing-Wanzhou 21.05.08

51. Yangtze River 22.05.08

52. Yangtze River-Wuhan 23.05.08

53. Wuhan 24.05.08

54. Beijing 25.05.08

55. Beijing 26.05.08

56. Beijing 27.05.08

57. Beijing 28.05.08

58. Beijing 29.05.08

59. Beijing 30.05.08

[BACK]

English Version 59

Friday 30.05.08
Beijing
 
There nothing more to say here before 6 o`clock on my last day. Only that "my China" has filled me up completely. And that I`m not through with it. But I`m as ready as ever to take the taxi at 12 o`clock - and it is paid for.
 


The staff at Far East.... ....by speeches and singing.... ....preparing for the olympics

 

I`ve been thinking a lot about my friends in Maoxian, especially after I arrived here. It`s been almost three weeks, but they still live outside I`m sure. For how long? Maoxian wasn`t destroyed and because of that we don`t hear anything. Have they got the electricity back? Is petrol still limited? Are there food? Has classes started? That I`m sure of.
Even the houses are still standing they have to be inspected and secured every single one of them, before anyone move back in. Has the last hard aftershock occoured?
An earthquake can fill the media for a week or so. But the restoration takes years to full fill. Remember that.
I feel comfort in the Chinese saying one of my Chinese friends wrote to me: If you don`t loose your life in the catastrophe you get a lucky life. In my translation:

If you’re not killed in the disaster
You’ll have a happy life ever after

I send a SMS to Sherry my only contact in Maoxian to hear news. She`s not so systematic in her answer, but she calls me and I understand that much that electricity has returned for some, that there`s no lack of food, that all houses will be checked before anyone moves back in which will take at least 3 month, that she goes by bus to her school some place and that the road from Dujiangyan has NOT opened. Maybe it`s used by government trucks or they come from the north. Fixed telephones she don`t know about. She wishes me a safe journey home, and when I say that I hope to go back someday, she tells me I`m welcome in Maoxian.
 


Steamed buns - man tou

 

Have got an answer from the transport company Santa Fe in Chengdu which I have made contact to via the danish consul. They want to know about my luggage, size and weight? I answer as best I can, and that it will not be arriving in the near future.
I say goodbye to those in the courtyard and donate my washing powder to one of my roommates from Holland. One of the last newcomers is an afghan girl who`s lived many years in Hamburg and later in Canada. She thinks I look like a teacher she once had. The last one shows up to be Danish from the north of Jutland. He`s adopted from Korea and are now studying Chinese in a town between Harbin (up north) and Beijing. So instead of going at half past 11, it`s 10 to 12 before I`m at the reception telling I`m ready.
It`s not a normal taxi. It`s a black Buick belonging to the hotel. This one is "normal" size, but there is a small one too.
This "black" taxi-ride doesn`t end at the departure hall as the normal taxis but goes to an underground parking/VIP entrance, from where I have to take an elevator and a couple of walking bands to the departure hall. This is China once more.
And it continues, so the SAS plane to Copenhagen is cancelled, and has been so for 3 days, only not when I called on monday. Do I want to stay another day in Beijing? Neither my visa nor my insurance let me, so they end up putting me on a plane to Stockholm, which should have parted an hour earlier. From there is a flight to Copenhagen.
I thought I would have time to eat in the airport, but I end up having to buy some walnut biscuits in a shop to stop the hunger.
I`ve forgot to pack my Chinese made Swiss army knife, so I have to leave it. And later my water is taken and my lighter with the naked girl - it`s not the girls fault.
The plane leaves on time.
Goodbye China - see you again in the future. Soon I hope.

[BACK]