Beijing, Beijing, Beijing! Bye Jinx! Bye Jinx! Bye Jinx!

by Michael Ranola (Philippines)

I didn't expect to find China

This happened last January 2010. Me & my family, took a trip to Beijing, to experience our first snow fall. When we arrived from our flight from Hong Kong, it was chilling, but tolerable. We were quite happy that we were able to visit all of the tourist spots that we wanted to see such as The Forbidden City, The Olympic Village, & The Great Wall of China. We were happy that nothing untoward happened to us on this trip. That was what we thought! On the last day before our flight, everything was still okay. There was a slight snowfall, which was not a cause of concern. We had a fabulous dinner, made our last minute shopping, & slept late as we had an afternoon flight. We retired to bed around 2-3 am. When we woke up the next morning. Everything still seemed fine inside the hotel. We ate our breakfast, which is overlooking the streets. We were laughing at the people who kept slipping while walking in the street. We didn't know that we too would be experiencing this & even worse. We didn't expect that while we were sleeping, the snow began to fall heavily, & still kept falling when we awoke. We asked the concierge to arrange a cab or van to bring us to the airport. The concierge came back & informed us that he could not find either a cab or van to take us to the airport. We told him that we would be willing to pay extra, but still the concierge was not able to secure any transport for us. First Jinx! Feeling that we would not have any progress in the hotel, we decided to take the train to the airport. We were elated that we were able to board the first train to the airport. We were thinking as to why don't the people take the train instead of fighting for seats in the bus or cab? We were laughing at them. That was when the announcement was made by the train master, that the second train to the airport was stranded, due to the snow. Second Jinx! We were force to disembark on the last station of the first train. We got off the station, and tried to flag down a couple of cab, but had no success. We saw a delivery van, & decided to flag it, which fortunately stopped. We talked to the driver, if he could take us to the airport, & told him that we will make it worth his time. He agreed on 500 Renminbi for the 6 of us, including our luggage. Some of the stranded people, upon seeing us embark on the delivery van, tried to talk to the driver as well. The driver agreed to take on some of the stranded people. Since this was a delivery van, there was only limited seats for 4 people, the rests is for boxes. So we let those in need take the seats, & the rest of us were left standing. Upon arriving at the airport, we thanked God, that finally we will be able to fly home. As I was disembarking the van, I stepped on the pavement, only to slip & hit my behind. We entered the airport, & proceeded to the check in counter. When we reached the front of the check in counter, the staff told us that some flights were cancelled, & they are arranging for passengers to fly, depending on urgency. Third Jinx! We told the staff to prioritize the senior, & young kids, that was in our group. The staff was able to accommodate them to take the next available flight back to Hong Kong. I was allowed to assist the senior, and the young child to board the plane. The plane was not able to take off immediately, and had to wait for a de-icing machine to thaw the plane, before it could fly. This took around 3-4 hours, and the inside of the plane was getting hot like a sauna. Some of the passengers became uncomfortable, & argued with the staff. Then around 3 am the next day, the plane was allowed to take off. We thanked God, and hoped this was the end of our nightmare.