I slept GREAT last night - have every night since we got here actually. This hotel is amazing and they actually have a book with a selection of pillows to choose from! I have about 6 I think. LOVE it!
So I slept in and got up around 7:30 which is pretty late for me. Today we all transferred hotels from the Sofitel Wanda to the Grand Mercure Xidan. How hard can it be to transfer hotels, right? So I'm thinking this is going to be a cruisy day -- and it was absolutely a total DISASTER of a day! :(
We had two different times for people to check out if they wanted to take the bus we provided to the new hotel: 10am and 12pm. I went down to the lobby around 9:30 to see if people were checking out and to check on the busses...and NO ONE was there. By 10:10...we had 5 people (out of about 75 transferring) that had checked out and were headed to the bus. FIVE. Great. So I got those people on the bus, and explained to them that since the traffic was so bad today and since there were only five of them, I really had to just send them on by themselves to the next hotel. I couldn't risk missing the BIG transfer of people. So off they went, thinking it would be fine.
I got a call from the hotel about an hour later saying the first bus had not arrived. Thankfully, I had the bus driver’s cell phone number. I called him - and he explained to me (in broken English) that they were closing off roads right and left for the Olympic torch coming through, so they were stuck in traffic. Good thing I didn’t get on that bus with them!
They eventually made it about an hour and a half later and checked in okay - I think. From what I heard it went okay anyways. Like I said, it was only 5 of them, but Beijing hotels can be a little sketchy! I ate a quick breakfast and got ready for the big group – and it was BIG. We probably had 70 HUGE bags to fit on the TWO buses we were supposed to have. Except somewhere along the way, one of the busses got lost. So it was just perfect that we had TWO busses at 10am for 5 people ad now only had 1 bus for 65 people and 8,000 bags!! It was such a mess...and the bus was late getting there anyways because of the traffic and road closures. So somehow, after sticking a few not-so-thrilled people in CABS, we did manage to get everyone and all the luggage on the bus and to the next hotel. We made it in less than an hour, so that was really good. I called the hotel ahead of time to let them know we were all coming, thinking if I gave them a heads up they would be ready for us. Boy was I wrong.
They had about 20 of the rooms with 1 bed that needed 2 beds, and probably another 15 that needed 2 beds and only had 1. It was just a TOTAL disaster!!! I literally spent over three hours (seriously) standing in the lobby yelling at the staff (the ones who spoke English) as the clients went up to there rooms and then came back down saying they were wrong...it was just terrible. And to add to it, this place is a DUMP compared to our first hotel. It is supposedly a 4 star hotel...but I’m telling you, I wouldn't even give it 2!! The staff is terrible, the bathrooms are gross, the hotel is very old, and my room overlooks a flooded roof-top next door. It's just so gross...and our very high maintenance clients agree. I got plenty of phone calls saying they weren't happy with the rooms...and what am I supposed to do about it!? We’re in freaking CHINA and it’s the OLYMPICS! We booked this block of rooms well over a year ago, at the hype of the Beijing Olympic hotel room situation -- when everyone said all of the rooms were going to be sold out and blah blah blah. Well now there are lots of rooms available and for a much cheaper price than what we paid. Oh well -- I finally sorted it all out and got everyone happy (kind of) and in the proper rooms. It was SO SO frustrating though.
I had to go back to the Sofitel this evening to get two of our employee’s bags that got left behind, and that place was an absolute zoo, too. The Australian president and many of the Australian athletes checked in there today (probably why we couldn't get more rooms and had to check out!). You couldn't even breathe at that place!! I'm sure most of the hotels are like that now - the city is just getting crazier and busier with each day. We have already been warned that most of the city will be shut down tomorrow for the Opening Ceremonies.
So anyways - that was my disaster of a day. I'm hoping things slow down now - we are having a surprise 50th birthday party for my boss on Saturday night here at this crappy hotel, but other than that, I think I should finally be able to relax a little! I'm off to see the night life tonight! I hear the Today Show is here in Beijing...maybe I'll try and find out where they are...
I'll write more tomorrow!
-TK
It seems like yesterday was so long ago! I guess I need to write every night so I can actually remember everything!
We left the hotel around 8:15am on TWO buses for the Badaling section of the Great Wall. I was the only Jayhawk employee on the trip -- the rest of the guys I workw ith had to go to company meetings all day. Since I am the one who arranged most of this, I got to go with the clients! :) S
o the other bus only had one kind-of-English-speaking tour guide. The people on my bus were VERY happy they had me - even though I am no tour guide for China it made them feel much more comfortable. So when we pulled up to the Great Wall, we could immediately see how crazy everything was. Turns out we were VERY lucky we chose that day. The following day (today) that section was shut down for the torch to come through and then a cycling race there. I had no idea...just lucky we got there that day! There were huge camera crews all over the place filming, and there were big cameras on cables flying by above the roads and the wall...it was just insane the publicity and press that was there on that day!
Anyways - when we pulled up - both of the buses stopped kind of in the middle of the road. The other bus (the one I wasn't on) was in front, and the tour guide got off and started yelling at the people on the bus to get off. So of course they just got off and started trying to cross the street to get to the entrance to the wall. Meanwhile, the police start running over swarming the bus and yelling at them (in Chinese) to get back on the bus. Well they didn’t know what they were saying and just kept getting off the bus and crossing the street (dodging traffic) - following the tour guide and almost getting run over. Meanwhile, I am FREAKING OUT on the bus behind them watching all of this happen! I was yelling at our bus driver to let me out to find out what in the world was happening, but he wouldn't open the door – especially not after he saw the angry police everywhere! Everyone got off the bus, crossed the street, and disappeared in to a sea of people...and our bus just kept driving down the road. PUKE. I was about to throw up - seriously. So we pulled in to this parking lot down the hill - both buses - and we all got off my bus and started walking back to the area where the people from the first bus got off.
It was probably 10 minutes away, and the whole time, I'm thinking I just lost half of my group and I'm going to lose my job. ;) Well thankfully, they were ALL standing there waiting on me...all confused. I couldn't believe it! They said the cops were yelling at them and the tour guide told them to just keep going – apparently he didn't know it was illegal to empty a bus in the middle of the street on the busiest day ever at the Great Wall of China...shocking. We bought our tickets (disaster…again…) and finally got to walk on the famous Great Wall of China (with very strict instructions to meet back at that spot at a set time)!
About half of the group went to the right - the easy way that is very crowded, while the other half (and myself) went to the left - the more steep and less crowded section. It was a very hazy day...not sure if it was pollution or what, but you couldn’t see all that much. We just kept walking and walking and walking...and finally reached the highest spot we could see. And when we turned around to see how far we'd came, you could barely even see the bottom or the winding wall that you see in the pictures going on for miles. It was a little disappointing, but still cool to say I've walked on the Great Wall! I got a couple good pictures.
I did get to see quite a few more Olympic athletes that were also at the wall. There were some massive blonde girls from Sweden...not sure what sport, and the Argentinean men's basketball team was there -- they were all at least 8 feet tall, I swear!
After climbing for about an hour and a half, we ALL (I counted at least 14 times, for real) made it back to the meeting spot safe and went back to the buses and headed for lunch. We stopped at some little tourist trap shop in the middle of no where and of course they made us go through the factory and look at the gift shop before they would let us eat...SO cheap though. The food was very traditional Chinese, but most of it was pretty edible. Some shrimp, some chicken, a little beef and a lot of pork and veggies, some other stuff I’m not quite sure what it was. Fruit for dessert as usual – the Chinese aren’t real big on ice cream and cake and desserts…unfortunately. Maybe that’s why they’re skinny and we’re not??
Most people managed to choke down enough to get them full, and we all looked around the gift shop a little more to keep the tour guides happy, but no one bought much of anything. Then it was off to the Ming Tombs. TOTALLY overrated in my book. It was such a waste of time...but then again, I'm not really in to history or anything like that at all. We basically walked through some underground temple where there were some tombs and bones...and that's about all I got out of it. :) BORING.
We headed back for the hotel and arrived around 4:30pm. All I wanted to do was take a nap - I was just exhausted from walking all day - but I barely had time to shower and get back down to the lobby to organize the next bus to dinner. EVERYONE got on two more busses and we went to this really cool outdoor area around a lake for dinner – I can say it but I have NO idea how to spell it, so I won’t even try. There are just lots of little restaurants outside around this beautiful lake and the weather was perfect.
We reserved the whole roof top area of a bar and had traditional Chinese barbeque. Let me tell you, I am SO SICK of "traditional Chinese" food. Just SICK! They actually had little barbequed DOVES (the bird) on skewers!! The corn on the cob was absolutely NOT edible, as was much of the rest of the food. No one really complained much, but I know they were all thinking the same thing! I literally took a couple tiny bites of most everything they had and just spit it right back out! The guys did manage to drag me down to the bar and do a tequila shot with them to loosen me up...and my whole throat and stomach burned for at least an hour after that!! No food and tequila is a BAD combination - especially for someone who drinks as little as I do!
We walked through a little hutong area (an old traditional Chinese residential area) to get back to the bus, and there were bikes EVERYwhere. Most people in Beijing jut have bikes, not cars. So one of our old, rich, and very reserved clients was walking along and a bike came out of no where and hit the little bell on the bike RIGHT behind him. It scared him and he tried to jump out of the way but ended up jumping right in to the path of the bike. Oh it was just great - he was so embarrassed and shocked and just didn't know what to do. The lady on the bike was so pissed and was just standing there glaring at him...and obviously had no idea what he was saying as he apologized right and left. :)
Good times in China. ;)
We got back on the bus to head back to the hotel around 10pm. So THAT is why I was just too tired to write last night...
More to come tomorrow. :)
-TK
This morning we (as in all the clients over here for the conference) left the hotel on two buses at 8am to visit a local orphanage called Shepard's Field. It was about an hour bus trip just outside of Beijing, but it wasn't bad at all. This orphanage isn't one of those terrible government run orphanages - it is fully funded by donations and houses special needs children. (www.chinaorphans.org - check out the website) It was so hard to see all those beautiful little babies that have no one. Like I said, it was a pretty nice place, and it is run by an American Christian family, so all the staff was wonderful, but it was still hard to see. Surprisingly, a lot of the children there were little boys. Most of the orphans in China are girls, but these were special needs little boys. Anyways, we all got a tour of the place and then got to play with the toddlers, then the babies.
I got pretty attached to one of the little boys...as soon as I squatted down to say hi to him, he grinned really big and ran over to me with his arms out. It was so cute...I picked him up and was with him most of the time we were there :) A different little guy REALLY liked my watch - haha - of course I had to let him wear it!! It was pretty hard to leave the babies, too. Three of them are getting adopted this week, so that was great to hear! :)
On the way home from the orphanage, we got stuck in a traffic jam, and then got stopped at a police check point. It literally took probably half an hour, and we were already running late because no one wanted to leave the orphanage.
We made it back to the hotel, switched people on the buses (TOTAL CHAOS) and one group left again to visit one of the companies we are invested in. I, however, got to take some of the females (trophy wives who didn't want to visit the company) shopping! And of course we went to the biggest knock-off shopping market in Beijing, the Silk Market. I absolutely LOVE that place! I spent quite a bit of time there last year when I was here. I bought a couple of hand-bags, some watches (of course) and some Ray Ban Sunglasses...I'm sure I'll be making another trip back.
Surprisingly, I actually saw a lot of Olympic athletes there this afternoon. The entire US Men's Water Polo team was there, and let me tell you, they were HOT! They were all dressed the same and completely stuck out - a bunch of tall, muscular, blonde-headed guys amongst the tiny Asians. I talked to a couple of them and they tried to convince me to come watch one of there matches, but I doubt I will. The French soccer coaches were there, all trying to negotiate on an iPod...I told them to just start walking away and the price would drop, which they did, and I was right. They thought it was pretty funny. I also saw some Italian Olympians, but I didn't talk to them, so I'm not sure what sport they were competing in.
One of the investors who is attending our conference flew in on Monday from Singapore, and he had the entire US Swim team on his flight. Michael Phelps and a few others were in first class with him, the rest of the US team was in business class, and the entire Canadian swim team was in COACH...haha... pretty funny. They had been training down in Singapore, and once they saw the sky and pollution in Beijing, most of them immediately put on there little face masks and groaned. The air here has been pretty bad. It was nice the first day we got here (Sunday) but was terrible yesterday. It is a little better today, but I would be upset, too, if I was an Olympic athlete and had to compete in this crap! It literally hurts my throat to just walk around outside in it for half an hour!
After the shopping experience at the Silk Market (and let me tell you, it IS an experience!) I came back to the hotel and worked for a little bit – got a lot of organizing and my regular work to catch up on. We had a big dinner for all the guests this evening in the ball room here at the hotel. It was supposed to start a 7pm, and at 7:10, I think there were like 10 people there (supposed to be 100). So it didn't quite go as planned - everyone was REALLY late and I was freaking out - but it all worked out and turned out good. I thought the food was terrible - I literally couldn't even pronounce half of it (again), but all of the other rich people here like that kind of stuff, so whatever. I picked around at it a little bit and just ate the dessert! :)
So it's off to bed now. I am so tired - I just go go go all day and never sit down! I always have my day planned out in my head and think I'm going to have plenty of time for everything, but every day is hectic and there's never enough time for anything!! The joys of organizing a conference in foreign country…
I’m off to the Great Wall tomorrow... :)
-TK
