Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Back in the air again !

I finally got my passport back last thursday with a brand new visa on it ! One would think my troubles were done...That same day I was rostered to do a Turn around flight, which I was told 4 days prior that I would be removed from it, well turns out some one was sleeping and I got marked Absent...Fuming I was, but since I have all the evidence (emails) I will not make a great fuss about it, at this point I have done my part, it's just that you get a salary deduction (sort of penalty) from missing a flight, and if this is not corrected before the next pay , you better beleive it I will be a betch on steroids. 

My first flight after 20 days was Beijing , and how delighted I was, specially with my May roster : Beijing, London, Glasgow, Moscow, Lagos. I am someone that is not easily impressed, remembering back at my first trip to London where I could not be bothered and now I just get so excited to go there. I am weird. Well same thing is happening with Beijing, I got there, and I was like, that's it ? I think it was the frustration of having my passport number not updated in the flights general declaration where I was delaying the whole crew explaining to the local authorities that discrepancy . Moving on, we got in town around 3pm , quick nap and off we were to diner , I always had nightmares of eating out in Asian countries ! probably due to mass marketing of unsanitary practices there in restaurant in the western medias. Diner was awesome and cheap, One of my best diners on a layover, not as good as Paris but different. Next day, we (the crew) rented a car with driver and went on to visit the Great Wall of China, I was really excited about that, the landscape is quite odd, a bunch of old crippled houses made out of old reddish bricks and dirt everywhere, but also a lot of trees ! Got at the station to start the tour and immediately we were bombarded by locals trying to make a sale ... I am pretty aggressive when someone is in my face, even more when I don't understand the language and I say no ! That's the negative I will be taking back from Beijing, the people are pushers when it comes to selling. Also a very strange phenomenon I experienced, people randomly taking pictures of me or asking me to be part of a picture with them. Maybe I look like a superstar, lol , who knows ? But I quickly realized that it was not the case, when  someone took my picture with out asking me and I went to ask them why , and they ran away, at another occasion I grabbed one of them and said : you take picture, you pay me ! The guys face went completely blue of fear, being that he must have been 5 ft 5 and me 6 ft 3 lol. Back to the visit, so after taking a lift to go up the mountain where the wall is laying, every one was in agreement that we would not be walking much as it all looked like an ever ending brick road, nothing wowing there besides the fact that it was built 1300 years BC . The way down, we had to go down a slide , which was the highlight of my day lol (took a video of me going down). Next we were off to the forbidden city, this one I did not visit the inside as it would take a whole day, so next time ! 

Click here for pictures : Beijing 

No comments:

Cities I've visited