Debacle #702

Oy ... where to start. I must say traveling around southeast Asia for me so far has been nothing short of an adventure, or maybe a sitcom looking back at it. I am up early at the Horison and pay my bill. I get a car for 6:50 since they just told me the buffet breakfast starts at 6:30. I go upstairs to wait patiently for 6:30 and find the buffet is in full swing. So I go back to the bell desk and ask for the car at 6:30. The first time I was there I asked them to get my bags and they write down the room number and acknowledge the request. The buffet is fine, and I go downstairs to wait for my car. The bell guy comes over and asks if I would like him to get my bags. I wish I'd thought of that.

Just like the trip into the city on June 14, the ride out to the airport is long. The driver takes an interesting route. He pulls a few U-turns here and there. Just before we get to what appears to be the start of the airport, the driver turns around and says "5 minutes". We then go off the main road and into a sea of taxicabs. He finally stops for a second, rolls down his window, mutters something in Vietnamese, and off we go again. I was told by Trangslator yesterday to ask today's driver for two red receipts for the rides to and from the airport. The only thing MoF accepts for expenses are red receipts. Done.

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I enter the busy airport and am pleased to find the China Southern lines very short. My turn comes up and amidst long study of my passport and the screen, the agent tells me he has to call his supervisor and I should please wait. I move my bags off to the side and am asked to move elsewhere so as not to block the throngs of people that are not there. About 10 minutes later, I am motioned back to the desk, and informed that they cannot check my bags to Seoul as they do not have a transit agreement with Korean Air. No problem ... and by the way the flight from Guangzhou to Seoul is a code share with (guess who?) ... Korean Air. I get my Guangzhou boarding pass, and will get the pass for my next leg in China. As it appears this is the only way I am going to get to go is if I agree to pick my bags up in China (visions of debacle #451 where Air Canada only checked by bags on the way here to Hong Kong). Then after I place them on the scale, I am 19 kilograms over which cost me an extra $76 USD. So be it.

I get to the gate just when they are boarding for a delightful and short flight to China. We land and the immigration lines are very close to our gate. I look for signage for transit passengers. Not only is there no signage, but I do not have a clue what I need to do and if I need to clear immigration if China is not my final destination. So I stand in line for a bit then get antsy so go ask someone where I should be. I am motioned back into the line. I realized even if I did get to the front of that line, I have no boarding pass!!! So I ask someone else then finally spot the transit desk. Yippee!!! Not so fast ... there's nobody at the transit desk. In Istanbul when I was there in April there were 8-10 agents there with probably 300 people in line. Nada, squat, nobody, vacant, void. I ask two separate customs guards what I should do and am told someone will be called. 1PM on Saturday and I am the only transit passenger at the whole airport :). I feel so special. Eventually ... tada ... someone shows up. I tell her my story and she disappears with my passport and luggage tags. This may end up amounting to something.

She reappears about 15 minutes later and even before she gets close to me I try to make out a piece of paper in her hand that just may resemble the size of a boarding pass. Eureka ... new luggage tags for Korean Air and a boarding pass. She tries to find me a short line at immigration but one does not exist. I stand in that line for about 10 minutes and after my interview I am told to sit over there and someone will bring my passport back shortly. 10 minutes later the transit lady turns up with my passport and paperwork and I am off. I thank her and settle in a few minutes later to cubicle 32C for the journey to Dizzy-land; the middle group of four seats with two vacant between me and 32F ... nice.

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I get to Seoul in 3.5 hours which seems like a short drive in the country compared to the 15 hour ride from Toronto a few weeks ago. Interestingly enough, for the second time in a row the immigration desk is close to our gate. I get in line; like a lot of airports there are separate windows for Korean nationals and ferenge. I learned a new trick today Bakes ... when one finds ones self in an immigration room with these lines for nationals and foreigners, get in a line near the nationals queue. They empty earlier and one usually gets motioned over to open windows when they do.

Then ... ta da the MAIN EVENT ... my Dizzy. Boy she looks great! We pick up a rental cell for the few days I am here and off we go; no sight of any other ferenge except NLA and me. I got the new name Korean-wise for ferenge from Dizzy but forgot already; it will debut tomorrow so pay attention. We ride the bus to town after my two bags were the very last off KE 866 from CAN (the call letters for Guangzhou ... yup I can see how those airport call letters match that city name, say what? I wonder how Air Canada gets the short-form AC whereas Korean Air gets KE??

We go to the Renaissance and find they have no record of a reservation for me. That gets sorted out and after finding out the internet is a mere $25 per day, trundle off to room 1520. I unpack, put on my face, then Dizzy and I leave for a walk followed by a repast. We end up at a tex-mex place ... who would'a thunk ... tex-mex is one of Dizzy's things. We have a lovely visit. She can read but understands next to no Korean. it's like my mastery of Hebrew which I can read but do not understand. She tells me there are never two consonants in a row when one speaks English to Koreans ... hence "craft" becomes "crafet" and I guess "flag" is "felag". I learn "thank-you" which (I think) is "kumsumnida". My hotel and her pad are both in the Gangnam (pronounced "Gong Nam" as in "Viet Nam").

We grab a cab after dinner to her place off the same street as my hotel. She has a lovely place, nicely furnished and with a washer/dryer combo. We visit for some time then I stroll back to the hotel. She will call me when she is up minyana and we will spend the day together starting apparently in a very funky part of town. Her friend Zach may join us. She has a nice gaggle of buddies teaching with her this year and is happy with work (except when she is not :)).