After the taxi the hotel rang never turned up, and the replacement didn't either we walked with our luggage to a larger road to try to flag down a passing taxi. Many empty taxis looked at us then our luggage and must have decided a trip to the airport wasn't worth it.
We started getting desperate.
We eventually got a taxi by the sneakiest of means.
Mum stood about 20 metres up the road, away from me and the luggage, near a traffic light and pedestrian crossing , we both stood looking for an empty on-call taxi and when one stopped for the traffic light or pedestrian crossing mum opened the door and jumped in holding the door wide open.
I ran up, popped the boot/trunk and started putting the suitcases in before the driver knew what was happening. I got in and said airport. He was so flabbergasted. It felt like a car jacking and when he started driving we couldn't stop laughing. So many things could have gone wrong, he could have driven off with mum, with mum and the suitcases. he might have dumped us on the side of the road miles from anywhere. But he dropped us at the right terminal and we generously tipped him.
As I have had many dodgy taxi cab rides over the years I do one simple thing that generally stops any issues. I take my phone out and take a picture of the displayed taxi ID , I then look as though I am messaging this to someone. Since I have started doing this we have had no more 'long way round' hidden charges, stopping at uncle abdul's shop or leaving us no where near the destination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the airport after uneventfully checking in, we lined up for customs and immigration. We had to line up at three different counters who all looked studiously at our passports to check we hadnt changed in the 20 metres since they last checked our passports studiously.
Then we had the funniest/weirdest security gate experience ever.
We put the carry on luggage on the belt and walk to the body scanner.
Mum had removed anything metal, glasses, belt, bracelets, watches etc and they are in her carryon. She is wearing a nice top and button up chino skirt. She walks through and they call her back, she walks through again and then again.
A man comes over with latex gloves on, makes mum stand there by the scanner and runs his hand up her legs.. in side her skirt to her crotch . I guess her buttons had set it off, but she was mortified. Embarrassed doesnt cover it. I go to go through, once again devoid of anything metal and I get called back and again. I saw him walking towards me, the man with the latex gloves!. I had trousers on so I wasnt worried. ..instead he puts his hands inside my shirt and pulls at my underwire of my bra , "honks"my boobs then walks off. Any westerners in the now long line for the scanner and carry on machine were in hysterics laughing at this. A few suggested he just wanted to check my ample bosom was real , or that he fancied me !!
Then..
Mums carry on luggage and my carry on luggage went through the scanner xray. Mums get pulled off the conveyor belt and taken to her, she was asked if it was hers, she asked what was the problem with it. We were trying to think what could be in there to cause the problem.
Instead of getting her to empty a suspicious item out of it, a man opened the case and tipped it upside down on the counter, emptying it everywhere. Incontinence pads flew everywhere, her spare top denture plate flew across the floor. The offending item.. a pair of pocket reading glasses. cylindrical , metallic 1 inch wide 6 inch long.. I guess they hadnt seen them before. He took them away and 4 people opened them, pulled the tiny glasses out, put them back, pulled them out again. 5 minutes later we got them back then were allowed to collect everything and pack it back in her bag.
Poor mum, by then her nerves were frazzled, she was upset and embarrassed.
I think everyone could see she was close to tears.
A passing westerner said to us "well you will never forget the day you both got lucky at Beijing airport" that broke the tension and we all started laughing.
A passing westerner said to us "well you will never forget the day you both got lucky at Beijing airport" that broke the tension and we all started laughing.
Mum still refers to the day that the man got to 2nd base at the airport.
On a serious side. I went to the airport office to complain about being felt up by a man and our bag contents being thrown about and the response was
security is serious and if you don't like it dont fly or don't come to Beijing
Yep Im taking the latter.. no more mainland china, you wont get my measly tourist dollars or my visa money anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment