China - On our Way

Cody and I finally set out on our journey to China on Sunday, the 8th of February in the evening. We had eaten some Kimbap at the local Kimbap Nara in order to save money until we got to China, but when we reached Gwangju Bus terminal around 10:00 pm and realized that we had until 12:30 am until the direct bus to Incheon International airport, we inevitably got hungry for junk food. We admirably didn’t head for the stands full of Pringles and Powerade like usual, but then any good that did went right out the window when we decided to visit the bus terminal’s TGIF’s and grab some fries and a brownie covered in ice cream. Whoops, bad us, but it was worth it.

After the food, we settled down to await our bus with some books we purchased from the tiny English section of the bus terminal’s bookstore. Cody settled into some Sherlock Holmes, and I started my random pick The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a story about an Autistic boy researching into a dog’s murder.

The bus finally showed up, and we hopped on the bus, hoping to be able to sleep for about 4 1/2 hours. Unfortunately, what with being keyed up from the brownie and the trip, it took me about an hour to fall asleep. I had only been sleeping fitfully for about 2 hours when, surprise, we arrive at the Incheon International airport about an hour and a half earlier than planned. We are there at about 3 am, the check in desk does not even open until 6:30, so what do we do? We attempt, and fail, to sleep on the uncomfortable benches near the check-in counters. 6 hours later, after almost getting lost in the airport, and splurging on McDonalds, we finally were on our 2 hour flight to Beijing.

My first view of Beijing through the window? Smog. Oh, and Brown landscape. I realize it was winter, but this was ridiculous in anything but a desert. It turns out it wasn't quite as bad as I first thought, but it was a startling sight.

The last thing I will include in this slightly boring blog is disembarking the plane. For the first time in my life, I was startled to discover that we has to climb down stairs out of the plane! I was the first time I've ever been on the tarmac, and it was strange, and yet exciting.

That about ends how I made my way to China, now on to describing my time there...