knocking on your door but there's nobody home.

my butt was hurting after sitting and sleeping so many hours in the plane so it was finally time to stretch and on to the toilet i went. when i stood up, a miracle happened, my chinese seatmate smiled at me, i automatically smiled back, the asian way of course, like ling-ling the concubine.

after i got back from nature's calling, the only chinese flight attendant who reminded me of gong li's role in "memoirs of a geisha" came dashing from the other side and asking non-chinese passengers whether they were landing in beijing only as a  transit or as tourists, i automatically raised my hand and she came to me, but i gave another answer and asked for my luggage, i saw she got irritated but still kept her gong li smile.

now she asked me if i was a transit passenger or not, of course i said yes. so she gave me a paper, sort of form to fill up. to be honest i dont know any of these, and i am aware not to fill in papers with my signature which is not my language (or am i just scared? because i saw the movie brokedown palace) anyway she told me that i need it for the customs in china and I HAVE TO FILL THAT IN AN INSTANT but still with a smile on her face, reminds me of characters in a chinese opera. so i told her, i cant fill it up because i dont have a ballpen (laugh all you want matthew - sorry long story, but he's my bestfriend in the philippines)  so the irritated chinese flight attendant that reminds me of gong li with a perpetual smile on her face that reminds me of characters in a chinese opera took the liberty of filling up the form for me, all i need to do was sign it. with a wisp of my fingers and all was done.

after that, i never saw her again in the airplane.

it was early morning, and we just passed siberia and passing through mongolia and in a couple of hours, china and in no time beijing.  i listened to some of the french tunes which was amazing because one band reminded me of my favorite french musicians, les ogres de barback, which is full of accordion sounds and gypsy influenced music. after two full songs, i fell asleep.

when i woke up, the sun was shining brightly through the window.  only two more hours to beijing, in no time the flight attendants were serving breakfast, i kept myself from laughing how the chinese struggle with european utensils, im sure they would laugh at me seeing my chopsticks skills.

i felt that my chinese seatmate was dying to have a conversation, so an hour before landing in beijing, i talked to him. blah blah blah prying into each other's lives. but he was nice, he kept me awake because i was about to fall asleep again.

we landed at beijing past 9 am in the morning. hazy skies from the windows greeted me and the pilot said that the temperature outside was -7°c, unbelievable because it looked like high summer, so dry and the sun WAS shining. never saw winter like that in my life. oh well, there's a first time for everybody.

me and my chinese seatmate said goodybe and went on with our lives. i said goodbye oh, correction, au revoir to the flight attendant with a swashbuckling attitude and looked for the irritated chinese flight attendant that reminds me of gong li with a perpetual smile on her face that reminds me of characters in a chinese opera took the liberty of filling up the form for me, but she wasnt to be found.

to be honest, i was SO excited landing over beijing, even if it's just a transit. i mean its entirely a different world than i am used to, it is SUPPOSED TO BE the orient.

so i got out of the aircraft and into the terminal, beyond me or us, there was a woman shouting "transit visa, transit visa" so loud, and irritating. so of course i hurried there.  i asked her if she can speak english and she said yes, and i asked her again if she can direct me to the transit visa section and these are her exact words: here is second floor, go straight, go left, go straight, go down first floor. then withouth another word she shouted AGAIN "transit visa, transit visa". i was open mouthed. it's like watching a robot cartoon series and I WAS ON IT.

in other words i got lost.

but thank god i got 3 hours layover time, after i check in i will get lunch.

now i just followed the moving walkway past something that caugh my eye stating "transit" but in small letters because it was dominated by big chinese characters.

when i was in some sort of check-in/control area, it was in chinese and i dont understand it. luckily i spotted my chinese seatmate, said hello and asked him what was that check in thing. he said to me, dont go because its only for chinese nationals and with pre-entry visa. now what am i supposed to do?!

so we said goodbye for like the 10th time and i went back to the reception with the chinese characters and asked them if they could speak english (this is not discrimination of the chinese language nor writing that the english language is superior, but in my case, i NEED to go home immediately as i was for a day delayed), they simply said i should go over to that check-in/control area. arrrrrrrghhhhh i have to go wayyyyyyy back AGAIN. i just rolled my eyes.

basically i dont have any idea how in the world that works, so i just fell in line, and waited at my turn, chinese police were controlling and standing everywhere.

when it was my turn, the police officer was a shy and timid woman, i am probably much older than her. i gave her my documents - passport, including the paper i signed in the plane. she looked at me and looked at the passport and again, because i looked different from my passport picture - then was long haired and with lip piercing, now was skinhead withouth lip piercing. there was moment of silence then she looked confused and to my amazement we both laughed at each other! the amazing thing about humor is that there is no language barrier.

i was about to push a button below her saying that i am VERY satisfied with her work, but her face fell into a frown and asked me for a visa and i said i dont have any visa i am only on transit, then she directed me to another counter, pity. she was nice.

i was guided by a tin, lanky and mean policeman to the other counter. it takes forever before the line moves. when it was my turn, the unsmiling police controller stamped my passport and withouth another word sent me away.

now the queston is, how to get to my boarding gate? so i went down. it was all confusing, i was hungry too and could not think straight.  it was a total chaos at the first floor and i realize it was the same departure/arrival area.  goodness i was scared because i thought i went out the wrong gate and could not enter the departure area anymore. this is china, they imprison people, even innocent people, i dont want to end up working at some tiles and bircks factory. i was looking for the bloody checking-in departure area, i asked the staffs around the airport, unfortunately they couldnt speak english. normally, i was challenged and loved every minute of this adventure, but unfortunately time is of the essence for me.

so i went back and forth, looking for philippine airlines counter as i had to change 3 flights and two airlines just to get to the philippines. so, when no answer was found, i got frustrated, i dont care if i get out of the airport neutral zone, went out and had smoke!

it was bloody COLD outside! eventhough the sun was shining so brightly it doenst have any actual power on it. it still didnt hit me that i was in china, but going out of the airport - reality bites.

when i went back, this will be a do or die thing, as i was about to go up the escalator a group of chinese men, ive never saw such a large group of chinese men before. plump, thin and stout.  bump me off the escalator, i fought my way to jump off the escalator, they were talking, im sure they were talking about me.

at the top, it was WRONG again. there was no other way to go back down, so i went down with the escalator going up, hoping i would not get caught but people were looking at me - so it was obvious, when i got down i just rolled my eyes.

so i was pacing back and forth NOBODY WOULD HELP ME. so i went to the lost luggage desk and asked for help. they directed me to a big gate which i passed several times, it was the departure and boarding area. it was strange here. even if things were in your face, it doesnt seem obvious.

so i fell in line, went in and looked for philippine airlines counter, and found it! it was on the far far side, but miraculously i found it. so i huried, hoping to catch a late lunch, i still have 2 hours to spare.  i dashed in line, people were looking at me because i only have a messenger bag and no luggage.

as i was pondering, a filipina asked me to fall in line before her, and i said no of course, but with a friendly smile. but she insisted that i should go before her as i wasnt carrying anything.

so comes the usual prying. she asked why i was not having any other luggage except my messenger bag, so i told her my epic story just to go to the philippines, and we all laughed, because she thought i was a jetsetter. ha! double whammy.

i grew fond of her, we talked and talked, she was glad that i still speak tagalog fluently and i said of course, i never forget it.

in the philippine airlines counter - it was so dissapointing as there WAS NO FILIPINO STAFF. we were talking about it, because of language barriers if complicated questions are to be asked.

when it was my turn, it was really a barrier. i only asked them to track my luggage but the chinese girl gave me a complicated answer and she looked confused with her answer herself. so she took my luggage tag and told me to sit where she can see me, but i told her there were no chairs. so she guided me to a dark corner with chairs and said she'll come back in 20 minutes, i looked at my clock it was 1.30 hours before my boarding, so much for having lunch.

20 - 30 - 40 minutes passed, the chinese lady character wasnt in sight and she told me she wuld keep an eye on my, i didnt fall in line anymore and went directly to the counter and i demanded my luggage tag becasue she took it. there was a moment of commotion, i feel that they dont want to give it to me, but i demanded it and immediately. after 10 minutes, they gave it to me and said that my luggage was not boarded in the flight from beijing to manila. i was frustrated and looked at my boarding pass, they spelled my name incorrectly. there was nothing to do except open my mouth.

in the security check-in, the line was long again, and i was praying that they wouldnt check my name on the passport and the boarding pass because i will have to fall in line again and i dont have time.

fortunately they didnt checked the spelling and fortunately i removed all the metals in my body INCLUDING MY BLOODY LIGHTER. so it was fast, it was strange in this airport. everything was so cold. even the duty free shops didt have any sparks in them. i scoured every duty free shops with cigarettes and tabacco to look for a lighter and i dont care how much would it cost. but there was amazingly none. the duty free salespersons would look at me strangely like i was buying illegal drugs in china.

i went to the smoking area, and asked for some light, but unfortunately there arent any people carrying lighters around them, it was some odd way of lighting cigarettes. i found the same filipina in the philippine airlines check in counter, we smoked together and she was fascinated by my roll your own tobacco. she thought it was weed. hahahahahaha - first time i hahahahaha on this blog.

i was about to call my cousins about my plight because they were picking me up at manila, but my bloody batteries were almost empty. the kind filipina wanted to lend her mobile phone for me to use.  but i politely declined and i said it was my own problem.

boarding time came, as usual, our flight again for an hour was delayed.