Luckily my cofellow seemed to be expecting this. We turned the corner and found, to my surprise, a little bus station. "Oh, they have a new bus station!" I exclaimed. "No," my cofellow explained, "It's always been there, but they thought the intersection was more convenient. It was recently decided, however, that it was unsafe." Safety over convenience? What a thought.
The bus into the county city took about an hour and a half. I walked from the local bus station around the corner to the main street and got something to eat (a chicken sandwich!), met up with my other Chinese cofellow to say goodbye, and then jumped on the public bus across town to the long-distance bus station.
Next, was the sleeper bus. We left Tengchong just after 7 pm and most of the night is a haze, though I remember the bus being stopped to have our identity cards (or in my case, passport) checked, multiple bathroom stops, and one longer multi-hour stop in the wee hours of the morning, I guess so that the drivers could rest too. We arrived at the Kunming West Bus Station the next morning and I felt proud of myself for finding the airport shuttle around the corner without having to ask anyone (especially given all the taxi drivers who want you to pay them to take you instead!).
When I arrived at the airport terminal I found my way to the airline's check-in desk only to discover that I was too early to check in. So I found a restaurant, bought a somewhat expensive, but interesting tuna-and-egg pizza, and settled in for the three hours before I could check in. When I finally checked in and made it through security I felt relieved, figuring that things would be easier from here on out. How wrong I was.
Everything was going well until about an hour into my flight from Kunming to Chongqing. An announcement came on saying that there was heavy fog in Chongqing and the flight was being diverted to Chengdu. The woman next to me encouraged me to ask the flight attendants about my flights specifically, since I had an international connection. They told me to talk to staff on the ground who would help me figure out what to do. We landed in Chengdu and waited for quite a long time for our baggage to show make it out to the baggage claim. One of the older men on the flight picked a fight with a service representative over it. When my luggage finally made it out, I made my way up to the airline desk and asked them if there was anything I could do to change my flights. They said something about my connection not being able to take off either due to the fog and them not having international capabilities and that I should go with the others to the hotel to rest. So I did.
Before I went to sleep I sent an email to my parents letting them know what had happened, and when I awoke in the morning (January 6th) my father had a solid plan. There was a flight that evening from Chengdu to Doha that would mean I would arrive one day later than planned, but that would be better than going back to Chongqing since the next flight from Chongqing would mean a two day delay. So I made sure I was in the first group of passengers to go back to the airport. I hoped that, armed with the knowledge of a specific flight they could switch me to, I could convince them to make the change. Alas, they said they did not have the authority to make such a change and that I needed to go back with the plane and other passengers to Chongqing and make any adjustments from there.
When I arrived in Chongqing I looked around for someone who might be able to help me. Given that so many people's plans had been disrupted, I thought there might be staff at the gate to help with such concerns. There was no one at the gate itself, but there was an information desk just a little way down the hallway, so I asked them who I should talk to and they told me to go to the international terminal. So I picked up my baggage, made my way outside, and found the waiting place for the shuttle to the international terminal. It pulled up almost immediately and I got on, but the driver got off and I waited there for about twenty minutes. I found myself nervous and impatient to get this whole mess sorted out.
When I made it to the international terminal I went through the customs inspection at the door and looked around in vain for a Qatar Airways desk. Then I asked someone whose job seemed to be standing in the middle of everything. She gave me a number to call Qatar Airways. Then, luckily before I had dialed, another airport employee said no, that was the wrong number because I wasn't trying to buy a new ticket. I finally obtained the correct number and dialed. I got through to giving someone my confirmation number when the call disconnected. So I dialed again. This time I got through to a very helpful woman who--after many questions--told me that I could get on the flight to Doha in two days, but I'd need to get a certificate from the first airline (China Southern) that confirmed that I had missed my flights due to weather, and send it to Qatar Airways as soon as possible. Realizing, however that I might not be able to access my email (due to the Great Firewall and China's dislike/distrust of Google) she suggested that I ask China Southern to send it to them directly. She even suggested that I could call her back so that she could explain the situation to them. This, of course, required going back to the domestic terminal.
I walked back through the customs area, found the waiting stand for the bus in the other direction, and climbed on when it arrived (still with all my luggage), and then waited another twenty minutes to depart. When I found the China Southern desk I tried to explain the situation to them. They said they didn't have email, but they could give me the certificate of proof. Luckily I was able to get on the airport WiFi, connect to a VPN to bypass the firewall, and send a picture of said certificate to Qatar Airways. I think this must have been the step that couldn't be done, for some reason, in Chengdu. Anyway, another call to Qatar Airways and my new itinerary was confirmed: the same flights, just two days later. Fortunately, when I suggested that I needed somewhere to stay in the meantime, they made the necessary preparations for a complimentary hotel room. I spent the next day and a half in that hotel room sleeping odd hours and reading (I chose the Divergent series as something easy to read but gripping enough to keep my mind off the fact that I wasn't home). I even took a hot shower. The hotel staff were all very sweet, thrilled with my ability to speak to them in Chinese, and almost overly eager to coordinate my meals at the hotel restaurant.
I had been told to check in three hours before the flight, so I left the hotel an hour before that, arriving at the international terminal at about 8:45 pm (January 7th). This time when I walked in, however, the walkway through the Chinese customs inspection into the check-in area was closed off. "When could we go through?" I asked one of the guards. "At 9:25," he responded, gesturing at a signboard which indicated that check-in opened exactly three hours prior to each flight.
Once I made it through check-in. the next step was the departure from China desk. I was a little worried about this because my visa had expired just after I was supposed to have left China. They did, indeed, ask me about it, but when I explained that it was due to the fog and the resulting changes in flight itineraries they let me through with a mere "don't let it happen again!"
Finally, I felt like I was almost home. Just the small hurdle of one nine-hour and one fifteen-hour flight left! Aside from the length of it all, though, the rest of the journey went smoothly and I was delighted to be given a drink of Champagne and a dish of paneer along the way. The former seemed properly celebratory. The latter was the first of many foods-to-be-consumed now that I was not limited to Chinese food. When I finally arrived at home (on the evening on January 8th) it was over one hundred hours after I had left school. But, exhausted as I was, I had made it home to my parents, cats, dog, a glass of good wine, a plate of warm homemade curry, a heated house, and my own soft bed.
Before I went to sleep I sent an email to my parents letting them know what had happened, and when I awoke in the morning (January 6th) my father had a solid plan. There was a flight that evening from Chengdu to Doha that would mean I would arrive one day later than planned, but that would be better than going back to Chongqing since the next flight from Chongqing would mean a two day delay. So I made sure I was in the first group of passengers to go back to the airport. I hoped that, armed with the knowledge of a specific flight they could switch me to, I could convince them to make the change. Alas, they said they did not have the authority to make such a change and that I needed to go back with the plane and other passengers to Chongqing and make any adjustments from there.
When I arrived in Chongqing I looked around for someone who might be able to help me. Given that so many people's plans had been disrupted, I thought there might be staff at the gate to help with such concerns. There was no one at the gate itself, but there was an information desk just a little way down the hallway, so I asked them who I should talk to and they told me to go to the international terminal. So I picked up my baggage, made my way outside, and found the waiting place for the shuttle to the international terminal. It pulled up almost immediately and I got on, but the driver got off and I waited there for about twenty minutes. I found myself nervous and impatient to get this whole mess sorted out.
When I made it to the international terminal I went through the customs inspection at the door and looked around in vain for a Qatar Airways desk. Then I asked someone whose job seemed to be standing in the middle of everything. She gave me a number to call Qatar Airways. Then, luckily before I had dialed, another airport employee said no, that was the wrong number because I wasn't trying to buy a new ticket. I finally obtained the correct number and dialed. I got through to giving someone my confirmation number when the call disconnected. So I dialed again. This time I got through to a very helpful woman who--after many questions--told me that I could get on the flight to Doha in two days, but I'd need to get a certificate from the first airline (China Southern) that confirmed that I had missed my flights due to weather, and send it to Qatar Airways as soon as possible. Realizing, however that I might not be able to access my email (due to the Great Firewall and China's dislike/distrust of Google) she suggested that I ask China Southern to send it to them directly. She even suggested that I could call her back so that she could explain the situation to them. This, of course, required going back to the domestic terminal.
I walked back through the customs area, found the waiting stand for the bus in the other direction, and climbed on when it arrived (still with all my luggage), and then waited another twenty minutes to depart. When I found the China Southern desk I tried to explain the situation to them. They said they didn't have email, but they could give me the certificate of proof. Luckily I was able to get on the airport WiFi, connect to a VPN to bypass the firewall, and send a picture of said certificate to Qatar Airways. I think this must have been the step that couldn't be done, for some reason, in Chengdu. Anyway, another call to Qatar Airways and my new itinerary was confirmed: the same flights, just two days later. Fortunately, when I suggested that I needed somewhere to stay in the meantime, they made the necessary preparations for a complimentary hotel room. I spent the next day and a half in that hotel room sleeping odd hours and reading (I chose the Divergent series as something easy to read but gripping enough to keep my mind off the fact that I wasn't home). I even took a hot shower. The hotel staff were all very sweet, thrilled with my ability to speak to them in Chinese, and almost overly eager to coordinate my meals at the hotel restaurant.
I had been told to check in three hours before the flight, so I left the hotel an hour before that, arriving at the international terminal at about 8:45 pm (January 7th). This time when I walked in, however, the walkway through the Chinese customs inspection into the check-in area was closed off. "When could we go through?" I asked one of the guards. "At 9:25," he responded, gesturing at a signboard which indicated that check-in opened exactly three hours prior to each flight.
Once I made it through check-in. the next step was the departure from China desk. I was a little worried about this because my visa had expired just after I was supposed to have left China. They did, indeed, ask me about it, but when I explained that it was due to the fog and the resulting changes in flight itineraries they let me through with a mere "don't let it happen again!"
Finally, I felt like I was almost home. Just the small hurdle of one nine-hour and one fifteen-hour flight left! Aside from the length of it all, though, the rest of the journey went smoothly and I was delighted to be given a drink of Champagne and a dish of paneer along the way. The former seemed properly celebratory. The latter was the first of many foods-to-be-consumed now that I was not limited to Chinese food. When I finally arrived at home (on the evening on January 8th) it was over one hundred hours after I had left school. But, exhausted as I was, I had made it home to my parents, cats, dog, a glass of good wine, a plate of warm homemade curry, a heated house, and my own soft bed.
