Chapter 1 - The Journey

Getting up in the morning when you have a long journey ahead of you is really no problem. Actually, you'r so much looking forward to travelling that you barely sleep. Which tends to come in handy when you later sit in a train and in various airplanes for a total duration of about 21 hours. That is without counting the waiting at the airports. So, first dummielesson, the flight from Europe to China takes about 6-7 hours depending on the airline and departure location.

After a few hours on the train from Vennesla to Oslo in Norway I actually felt great getting back to "Tigertown". Except for the fact that Oslo downtown still looks like a cunstruction site. I met up with Steffen, who had just returned from half a year in Australia, at Han's place to eat chinese food and catch up. I was great:) And by the way, Han does cook great chinese food, even compared to what you get in resturants in China. So if you'r ever in need of a cook...

After a great meal and a wet goodbye-for-half-a-year-hug/kiss I went to exchange cash. I was in too much of a hurry...So, i didn't bother to check the rates and ended up with getting around 500 NOK too little compared to the standard rate. I do not trust FOREX anymore! Neither should you, if you ever go travelling av need to exchange a large amount of cash all at once.

Before I left for the airport I also met up with Shan who gave me some last minute advice on phone cards and chinese phone numbers in China. You see, getting a Chinese phone number to use while in China is really cheap. Costs about 35NOK and is really easy. The thing she didn't tell me though, no hard feelings by the way, was that I should by the phone card in the city that you live so that the rates are cheaper. So, now I might have to get a new number here in Nanjing. but hey, no worries, it's cheap and easy:)

Now, the flight was fine. Nothing that exciting. Except for the fact that I do not evny the people that travel airplanes in a weelchair, what a hassle. Both in Beijing and Shanghai we dropped the chair off at the gate, but it never showed up at the baggage claim. In Beijing Rebecca, the girl sitting in the weelchair, was weeled around and all the way out the door to the taxies by a tiny, cute, and did I mention tiny chinese airport service employee. The problem was we were changing planes, not exiting the airport. Oh, my... I do not evny the person not beeing able to speak any chinese that ends up in this situation. After a while the tiny,cute and tiny girl kinda just left us. She said something about getting a "new person" to come with the weelchair. So we waited, but no weelchair showed up. After a while we took the matter into our own hands and started digging, in Chinese, a though matter for any second year student of mandarin. Finally, we found it at oversized baggage claim, logically enough... The tiny, cute and tiny Chinese girl however, was still MIA. I am beginning to think she abandoned us...

Going from Beijing to Shanghai wasa not a small matter either. We got one the plane, the stewardesses promised, we think, that the weelchair would be by the gate on the other side, so we believed them and got on board. However, once we got on boards the nice, soft voice of the captain told us that unfortunately we had some planes ahead of us on the take-off schedule,15 of them to be more precice. After this I felt like I was one the phone with lånekassa: "you are now number 15 in line, please hold...you are now number 10 in line, please hold...you are now number 5 in line, please hold..."and finally,"You are now next in line, please have your social securi...eh, please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for take-off." This ordeal lasted a whopping 2 hours, that is, a whole showing of "Because I said so", the most girly movie ever. But actually not too bad, I am emberrassed to say. However, it should be mentioned that is was the nicest plane I have ever been on.

After arriving is Shanghai, we all want to get to the hostel of course. I would at that point have given anything for a bed... However, the weelchair was missing. We found it, suprise suprise, still inside the airplane. "Oh, was somebody supposed to pick that up as well...???" In the words of Red Foreman: "Dumb ass!" Anyways, after a 160 Yuan taxi trip into the city we finally ended up in our beds. In a family room, no less, since they had no more twin rooms left. I, however, did not complain about a king-size apartement with two bathrooms for about 90 Yuan per person:) (Btw. exchange-rates for Yuan is found here: http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html )


Finally, Is was sleepy time...we arrived at 10pm/22:00 and I had left at 8am/08:00 the day before.

PS. pictures will arrive later, as soon as I get my computer fixed.