I1/2: 西郏河 → 后沙峪

September 17, 2024

I don't want to be one of those Foreigners who is gushing about how amazing China is, cause I know a lot about all the ways that China frequently isn't amazing, but oh my holy God is Daxing Airport a mind trip.

In the last year I've been through Haikou, Shanghai Pudong, Hangzhou, Changsha, Beijing Capital, Frankfurt, Dublin, Beihai, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Sanya, Lanzhou, Cheng, and Beijing Daxing airports.

I had glowing things to say about some of these airports¹ and decidedly not so glowing things to say about others². It so happens that my deepest ire is reserved for the very poor quality from the places where I had a much higher baseline expectation, but if Daxing is the new standard for what China is doing these days, although I normally find the foreigners who won't shut up about how modern and how amazing this country is to be pandering for views and attention, I can definitely see where they are coming from.

Color coded wristbands for people who might need help and for what kind of help are available at the entrance

I'm back at the airport because it's the easiest way to get mass transit into the city, and I need to go all the way to far side of the city to catch up with the Beijing Cyclists⁵ who have provided me with an address to receive my taobao shopping and are letting me drop the backpack of stuff that I might want to wear when I come back to Beijing for Yom Kippur in a little over 3 weeks.

I feel like I've got loads more I can still cut, but—even while I really don't want this much non bike clothing with me—I know that it's necessary. I'm also not real keen on doing laundry every single day the way some people do.

Plum American Tourister has a handle that won't retract. It's been gently "tossed out" in the direction of someone who will fix it. Big blue is full of stuff being mailed back to Hainan.

Not including the bit of time I spent on an AliBike, it took almost three hours on subways to get to their place. This gives me lots of time to organize my thoughts on how I will word the complaint to Beijing 12345 (the all purpose government information and complaints hotline) regarding the situation with my original booking in Daxing.

Don't get me wrong, my new place is still very reasonably priced, incredibly clean, and they've got a passport scanner⁶ instead of manual entry on a phone app, but—in addition to costing 40% more—they're also right next to the road, and they're lacking the courtyard house amenities or trendy style of the place I explicitly chose to stay.

They just stood in line to wait for the subway. Without being told. What happened to the Beijing I remember?

I suppose, if all the icons are female presenting, that's also gender neutral

Current plan, now that I have my stuff, is to do sharebikes most of tomorrow, visit the offices of the Beijinger and Important State-owned Publishing Company, and cross the border into Hebei at whenever o'clock I get back to Daxing and my bicycle. It means putting off the meeting with the Large National Media Outlet until Yom Kippur but I really want to get on the road.

¹ Security lines in Changsha were actively handicapped friendly. A man who travels with small children clearly had input on the design in Fuzhou†. The VIP waiting room in Cheng was stunningly decorated‡.

† They had cribs at security, so it was possible to put a squirmy child down while unpacking and repacking your carry-on. They also had explicitly gender neutral language and icons on the baby care rooms.

‡ It was like something out of the 90s with big red velvet armchairs and hand crocheted antimacassars.

Usually, they say 母婴 and sometimes they have large signs prohibiting men.

² Fuck Frankfurt and double fuck the fuckheads at Lufthansa Luggage Services, Frankfurt.

³ In 2009, I had an emergency flight from Beijing Capital to the US and the bitch at the supervisor counter told the person on crutches that "resources [were] limited" and, since I "hadn't made a wheelchair request seven days in advance" on a ticket bought two days earlier, I couldn't have one. The ordeal was only ameliorated by literally everyone else in line refusing to be "served next" until they did something about my inability to make it my gate on my own.

⁴ They also have truck-shaped luggage carts with a built in toddler corral.

Last night, I tried asking for a Twice Cooked Pork Over Rice sans rice. Instead, they brought me the full sized multi person dish. Today, I just wasted all the rice that came with my Kung Pao Chicken.

⁵ Sometimes I don't give people names because I am shit with names. Other times, it's because I think they might not want to be all over someone else's social media

⁶ I know this because a group of three middle eastern students from Hangzhou and four athletic looking Russians in Paris 2024 Team Russia clothing that did not look like it was available-for-purchase stuff were checking in when I got back from the bike shop yesterday evening.

Today's ride: 3 km (2 miles)
Total: 53 km (33 miles)

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