Bryan’s First Post
aka “Don’t Eat Cheesecake in China”
Alright, first let me apologize for jumping onto the Bryan and Keela blog a little late. I’ve been a bit busy traveling, going to school, eating spicy food and killing spiders. I did some flying last week between Singapore and the US and I had a couple of layovers in Beijing, China that I wanted to blog about.
I have been in a lot of airports over the last year or so, and I can’t help but compare them to each other. On this last trip, I had about 18 hours of layovers at Beijing Capital International Airport. There were some good things, and some bad.
The Bad:
1. I ate some cheesecake. It was bad. It tasted like cheese. Like cheddar cheese, or gouda or something weird. Not like cheesecake cheese. Also, that whole graham cracker crust thing that is so awesome? Don’t even think about it. In China, we’re going with sucky yellow cake. On the other hand, there was a random raisin in the middle of the cake for a nice surprise.
2. I drank some coffee. It was bad. It tasted like cheese. Just kidding. But it was bad. Not very hot, not very big, and not very cheap. There was a random raisin in the middle for a nice surprise. Just kidding.
3. I bought some preserved “fruit.” It was kind of weird because I busted open the package and the first two things I got were a dried sweet potato and a dried carrot. Maybe they changed up the Food Pyramid while I was gone, but I was unaware that these two guys counted as fruit. Either way, they don’t taste that great normally, and drying them out doesn’t help.
The Good:
1. The airport is huge. So huge that they oftentimes don’t really use parts of it. Those parts are good for sleeping. If you just walk down to the other end of the terminal, the lights aren’t even on. And, they have the benches that don’t have armrests so you can just stretch out across four of them and sleep. I did that a couple of times, and my hand fell asleep. I hate that.
2. The English translations are kind of amusing. There was one sign on the bench that I was sleeping on that said “Do not climb on the bench and watch your children.” I thought that could mean a couple of different things.
-Don’t climb on the bench, but Do watch your children.
Or, Don’t use the bench to climb on to get a better vantage point from which to watch your kids.
Either one works I guess.
Also, my flight was delayed and they made an announcement that they would like to give me a “meal” for my inconvenience. I walked up to the counted and they asked me if I wanted a coke or a bottle of water. I took the water and waited for the food. They said thank you and moved on to the next guy. Apparently it was a meal of water (or coke). Maybe, by “meal,” they meant “refreshment” or something.
Conclusion:
Anyways, the Beijing airport was not the worst airport I’ve ever been stuck in (I’m looking at you, Doha), but it was not exactly a walk in the park either. Either way, I am glad to be home in Singapore, back to school and back with Keela, and done with traveling for a few weeks.
Bryan Lupton
