long layovers are a bitch

[PhillyB]

sixteen hours in beijing, en route to los angeles from sydney. i wasn't able to go into the city because of space issues for visas in my passport, which was disappointing until i realized it was 35 degrees and pouring down rain with a stiff wind. not worth doing anything in that weather.

so i've got to sit here from 5am until almost 10pm before I can finally board. all i've done so far is surf the huddle, surf saints report for bad news that is good news to us, and fart a lot. i have some serious gas, i think it was the mcdonalds i ate before the flight from sydney. also i perpetuated the stereotype of americans as greedy bastards by eating an entire large pepperoni pizza by myself at the pizza hut in the airport.

that's my favorite thing so far about beijing. they have a pizza hut.

my least favorite thing: the chinese government bans fcebook (i have to misspell it or the auto censor will block me from posting this. if you google fcebook it'll just shut down the tab automatically)

[Davidson Deac II]

I spent about 4 hours in the Beijing airport last april. That airport is huge. And customs was incredibly slow. And we were just doing a transfer visa (flying to Manila from the US).

[PhillyB]

easily the most boring airport i've been to compared with its size. raleigh-durham intl. has more to keep you occupied than this place.

all the chinese people in the restaurants and other staff have been extremely friendly though. almost makes you wonder if the "everybody in china hates americans because of this huge rivalry" thing is overblown and perpetuated by our government to make us fear them and buy into more weapons programs and proliferation...

nahhhhh couldn't be.

[Davidson Deac II]

The only people I have ever heard say the Chinese hate us are a few media types and some message boarders. :)

I seriously doubt they care enough to hate us. But they are probably told to be friendly and will be fired if they aren't. Same reason employees in ChickFilet smile to much when I order a chicken sandwich. :)

[PhillyB]

maybe i read too much of the comments sections of news articles... that type of sentiment seems to be everywhere.

if asked by anyone non-official i was going to tell them i was canadian, but now i might say U.S. and see what the reaction is.

[EMSMedic79]

I used to have an 8 hr layover in Dubai on my home each R&R.... not really too much to do in that airport either.

[mmmbeans]

I was stuck in taipei for 6 hours once. Literally nothing to do but chain smoke.

16 hours to get on a plane for another 12? Fark.

[bleys]

The only people I have ever heard say the Chinese hate us are a few media types and some message boarders. :)

I seriously doubt they care enough to hate us. But they are probably told to be friendly and will be fired if they aren't. Same reason employees in ChickFilet smile to much when I order a chicken sandwich. :)

so I will be stopping by Chickfilet within the next 30 minutes.. kthxfuku

[SOJA]

jesus man are you ever in the United States, also can I come next time you go to Thailand

[Hawk]

airport whorehouse!

[Davidson Deac II]

so I will be stopping by Chickfilet within the next 30 minutes.. kthxfuku

Pick me up some waffle fries please. :)

[Guest]

airport whorehouse!

:eek:

"This man is a genuis"

God, think of the money to be made!! Fortunes!!

[Carolina Husker]

Pizza Hut eww

[Davidson Deac II]

Pizza Hut eww

Spend a month at sea, and you do crave American food. And if I remember correctly, the only other options for american food in the Beijing aiport were KFC and Mcdonalds. Pizza hut is probably better than Chinese imitations of american style pizza.