Adventure in Shaolin - Time to go home

Amituofo!

Final episode of my story:

Shaolin time is over, time to go home. The last Sunday in China has arrived. Today I fly back, but not without a struggle :)
I checked the internet if there were any delays on my flight, but it all seemed OK.

So I decided to go back to ZhengZhou airport by bus instead of taxi. That would leave me roughly 3 hours of checkin time. More then enough.
The guys from the Shaolin Temple Traditional Wu Shu institute dropped me off at the bus station where I got on the bus to Zhengzhou. Quiet a comfortable bus for this 2.5hour trip I have to say.

 

The bus ride was pretty smooth and dropped me right of at the departure terminal of ZhengZhou airport. There the trouble started. I entered the terminal, and went for the nearest message board with flight info. It said that my flight to Shanghai was CANCELLED. Now what...., I went to the China Southern Airlines information desk and got in line at the desk. After a while I manage to block enough Chinese people who were all cutting in line and I managed to speak to the guy at the desk (in China you don't really have a line, you force yourself forward and shout as much as you can to get attention.... also one of those impolite habits).
He told me my flight was cancelled.... oh really.... I asked him: Yes I know, and now what?
He explained that there was a flight from earlier that day which got delayed by more then 8 hours. I might be able to get on that flight but I had to come back in 2 hours.

So I went for some diner. Strangely enough at this moment I was not feeling any stress at all, as if I am completely in Zen mode... Diner was a struggle on itself since in the restaurant you needed to pay with WeChat-Pay, which of course I do not have installed. After some searching I found that you could also buy a prepaid card to pay and with some struggle and a lot of sign language I managed to get a prepaid card with 17 kuai Juan on it, enough for a nice huge bowl of beef noodles (Best noodles I ate in china :) ). I finished my meal and relaxed or a while and then went back to the CS desk.
The guy who told me to come back didn't remember me, but I told him that he told me to come back and he would try to book me on that delayed flight, and I showed him the flight number that he wrote on a card for me. He was doing some very stressed out typing and then said: OK, follow me...
And he took me to the 'priority checkin' lane where I received a boarding pass. YES, I was now on my way to Shanghai. The flight however was delayed so far, that I only had one hour of transfer time left in Shanghai. Anyway... I went through security checks and proceeded to the gates. At the gate I took a seat and started waiting for the latest boarding information. This is where I met Sophia, a Chinese student who running up and down the lane at the gate very nervously. She asked me which flight I was on and she was on the same flight, so she was at the right gate. A bit strange, but once she found out she was at the right gate, she left again. She came back half an hour later, checking if I was still there, and left again. This happened a couple of times. The third time I decided to start a talk with her. She was going to Oakland (or Auckland, could also be I realized afterwards) for studies. She studied business (marketing and communication kind of thing). We spend half an hour talking about University and what I have been doing in China. She told me the average Chinese girl don't like Wu Shu so much, they like shopping more.... (Sounds like a Western girl to me...).
Anyhow, after a while she left again. I had to go to another gate, since the gates had changed and after a long while waiting there we could board. And there was Sophia again. We again talked for a bit, and told me she most likely missed her flight to Oakland. I still had 30 minutes transfer time on my flight so it was getting very tight.
After boarding we spend quite a while waiting in the plane before we could take of. But finally we did.

The flight was pretty ok. And after a couple of hours we landed somewhere on the outskirts of Shanghai airport. We were transported by bus to the arrivals terminal, during the ride I noticed Sophia again and chatted a bit to kill some time, by the time we got at the terminal I had 10 minutes left or transfer, and I still needed to wait for my luggage. So I missed my flight to Amsterdam.

When I picked up my luggage I went to the transfer hall, where I explained that I missed my flight. The China Southern employee made some calls and told me to take a seat and come back in 30 minutes. After sitting down for 5 minutes however, a guy came by and shouted: "OK everyone going to the hotel follow me", I stayed seated, cause I had to wait on direction of the CS employee. The guy however came to me and said:" Aren't you going to the hotel? We are closing down here."
Ok,wtf?!? He explained me that KLM staff had gone home, and would return tomorrow at 8.30h. I needed to return here at 8.30h and they would then book me on a new flight.
Ok, so I went with the guy on my way to the hotel. He took us outside the terminal to a bus stop and there he disappeared. Another guy started shouting at me in Chinenglish, but I couldn't understand him... After 3 attempts he got frustrated and said: "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?!", My reply: "Yes I do, but I don't think you do".... sorry, I was getting cranky after 10 hours of travelling. He slowed down his shouting and I understood that the bus to the hotel was full and I had to ask the guy at the bus which other bus I should take. I went to the other guy and asked him, and got an answer in Chinese... great... this guy didn't speak English...
All of a sudden I here a familiar voice. It was Sophia again. She said: Follow me, (she spoke Chinese and English, that could be usefull :) ). And she took me to another bus. We threw our suitcases in.
After 20 seconds Sophia said: 'hmmm, I think its the wrong bus'... lol ...
So I grabbed my bag out again and went back to the guy who guided me here... but he was gone.
Now I everyone was gone, I couldn't find any of the people I recognized anymore... So I decided to go back to the airport and sleep in the departures terminal. It would also be better for my relationship that I did not spend the night in a hotel with Sophia I guess...

When I got back to the terminal I found a bench to sleep on and tried to close my eyes. I had to wait for about 7 hours, so that was a longggg wait. At 6 in the morning I bought a sandwhich and coffee at starbucks (for 45 kuai yuan! My super nice noodle diner in ZhengZhou was 17 kuai!)
At 7.15h the first staff arrived at the KLM desk and I explained the problem. The guy first told me he could put me on standby for a flight later that evening. Or reserve a guaranteed flight for the next day.
I said: "I need to work tomorrow, so please put me on standby for any flight that takes me back to holland asap".
He looked some more in the computer, and said:"No need for standby, I have an AirFrance flight that transfers via Paris", yey.... I was very happy and said: "Yes, let's do that". Checkin started immediately and I half an hour later I was passed customs waiting at the gate.

This man even takes his Rice Cooker to Paris :)

Man what a chaotic airport this is (Shanghai main airport is one of the largest in the world! But 10 times more chaotic then Schiphol).
Example: the gate where I was waiting was the right gate, but the electronic sign at the gate did not show my flight to be leaving from there... and the 'generic' electronic information said that my flights gate has change, but it did not say to which gate.
After a long wait I could board, and even at the time of boarding the sign at the gate said another flight was boarding... crazy....

In the plain there were some problems again. A passenger count was needed, but try to do that when you have a plain filled with Chinese people that refuse to stay seated for more then 3 minutes... :)
Anyway, after a 45 minute delay we finally left. YES! On my way to Europe again. For some reason I am filled with a feeling of joy now...

Quite a nice plane this Airbus, I like it better then the 787 I had on way to China.

I really really enjoyed the meal in the plane. I never felled so good while eating a piece of cheese while enjoying a glass of red wine (I did choose the French meal, and not the Asian meal this time :) )

After a 13 hour flight we landed in Paris, and I rushed to my connecting flight. At Charles-De-Gaulle it really became clear that I was in a well organised Europe again. Everything went smooth here.
I arrived at the gate 5 minutes before boarding started. And the plane left spot on on time.
45 minutes later I landed in Amsterdam.

Beautiful view of Hollands coastline

After landing I picked up my luggage and asked the customs officer if I had to declare tea. I didn't, so I went out and finally gave Katja, my love of my life who was picking me up at the airport, a very big hug. And we went home.

With mixed feelings I look back at my time in China. I loved the training here and there were many beautiful moments.

I finally have seen Shaolin temple and a more quiet Buddhist temple with my own eyes. I've seen the difference between performance Shaolin Wu Shu and traditional Shaolin Wu Shu with my own eyes. I traveled through China on my own and had to do many things outside of my comfort zone, which made me grow as a person. And over all, looking back, it was a trip I would love to do again..

But there were also many low-lights in this adventure. I had quite some depressed moments due to my injuries, which put me in a negative mood, I suffered from homesickness on top of that, and I really got annoyed with some of the nasty habits that the people around here have.

What I did not share with you is that I also reflected a lot on my personal life, my relationship, my job, and how I am living my life. And I found out that I will have to change some things there as well cause I am not really happy in the way things are going now.

Anyhow....

Now I am back in the Netherlands for a couple of weeks already, and each time I write on this story I already want to go back there. So I guess I will try to do this kind of trip more often.

From personal experience I can now say: If you have a dream: Just go and do it, I promise you it will be worth it, even if its not exactly what you expected, it still will be something you would never want to have missed after you've done it!

Amituofo!