June 30, 2019
An Interesting Cycle Journey to the Airport
The year was finally over. After a bunch of preparations, I got one of the folding bikes I use in Shanghai, loaded it onto the back of my scooter and set off to the school where I work. I then dumped the scooter in the basement for storage and took off on the folding bike with a couple of bags. I rode through a lot of congestion on the way to the main train station and made a stop at Starbucks along the way.
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Once at the train station, there was no guarantee I could take a folding bike on the train, even if placed inside a bag. People say you can, but the official rules say you can't. As with everything in China it all depends on what the people do at the security check.
But first I had to get my train ticket printed. Time was against me.
That done, the bike was folded and I lugged it through the maze in front of security. It was ferociously hot, probably 35 degrees at only 11am and I was already sweating like crazy. Once there, I presented my passport and ticket and took the bike through security. Nobody said anything! Perfect, this was exactly what I wanted.
I got out of there as fast as possible and then onto the train where the bike was stored by an unused door. The police came on several times to look at it but they said nothing which was again perfect.
The train ride itself was bliss and offered a much needed cooldown from stress, basically a sure sign that this trip was happening for real. It didn't take long at all to reach Zhenjiang station where I got off. As I did so I saw a sign with an airport and 'waiting area' which got me curious. However that airport wasn't the one I would be cycling to from the train station.
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At that point, the only thing to do was brave the heat and get started. It was hard to find a place to buy a hat to keep the sun off my bald head, so instead I improvised and tied a white shirt around my head. Probably made me look like a fool, but white foreign devils are already fools in China so what difference does it make.
The first 25km or so were very brutal into a headwind, and the searing heat was taking away all my body fluids. So it was stop, stop, and stop for more drinks. Several wrong turns were made as well including a road owned by a power plant company and a security guard made me turn around.
GPS couldn't be an option because I had to power off my phone to save battery. I would be relying on memory, road signs, and the positioning of the sun to keep me going in the right direction. Any other clues were welcomed such as bus route signs, information displayed on buses themselves, and so forth. All of this worked to get me to the ferry terminal where I needed to be in order to cross the river .
Pulling up to the ticket booth I said in Chinese to the lady, "One ticket please" and she saw me on the bicycle and said whatever, just go ahead. It was free.
The ferry itself wasn't too inspiring, just a hardy vessel designed to take any vehicle across the Yangtze River. Unfortunately the deck area was half full of water at the beginning. The bicycle could easily navigate this but the pedestrians got soaked while trying to walk through this crap. Made me think this boat could sink at any minute but thankfully it didn't.
Once on the other side I was shocked. It was a completely different world to Shanghai and it felt like going back several years. I think the reason for it is that generally speaking, the northern part of Jiangsu province is poorer than the south (separted by the Yangtze river). Moreover, this particular ferry landing spot was an industrial peninsula cut off from the rest of the land. It was technically still part of Zhenjiang city while the border to Yangzhou city was further inland. Put all this together, it all felt rather out of place.
They may now be anal about garbage sorting in Shanghai but here, it was throw trash wherever you feel like it. After crossing a bridge where it looked like there were some people escaping a jail or something, I saw a bunch of police arrest what looked like several convicts dressed in dark gray grab. It was definitely prison facility that cycled passed, but I sure as hell wasn't going to stop, chat, or take pictures, especially of what just happened.
Things were to get even weirder. I wanted to stop and use the wifi to at least turn on the phone and get more accurate directions to the airport than using the sun positioning and road signs. There was a newly built place that looked like it must have wifi. It hada what appeared to be a market, coffee shops, and a brand new apartment complex. But after cycling in to take a closer look, this was all just a façade: a ghost town. It was guarded by several security boys and they just couldn't stop laughing at me even when I was miles away. We'll see who gets the last laugh bitches. I'm on the way to the airport for Thailand and you're stuck here guarding a ghost town.
But there were more important concerns. It was now pushing 6pm, which was approaching check-in time for the flight. I still hadn't a clue as to where I was and could not see any airport signs. What I did find was an "international hotel" so that was the perfect place to stop in and use the wifi. They were very nice and helped get me connected, so I then turned on the VPN and used Google Maps to realize there were still 25km more to go. OK then.
But the amazing part was I had totally been on track the entire time leading up to this. Directions sorted, I planned to bust it out north on a busy road and get there around 7:30pm which is exactly what happened.
It sure was a relief to turn off that busy road onto the airport causeway, because the busy road was full of trucks blasting their horns and not very pleasant or inspiring cycling. Plus the heat and the air pollution were all beginning to take their toll on me and I just wanted to get out of China as fast as possible.
So finally at the Yangzhou airport, the adventure was only getting started. As usual, the check-in desk was short staffed and it took at least half an hour to get to the front. There was a small charge for the bike and they managed to get it loaded onto the plane which was a relief as the airline woman was being a real pain about it initially. A few security guys said it was no problem and we got it all sorted.
Then it was through immigration, where the officer was totally confused about why I was exiting China via this particular remote airport and not somewhere like Pudong. He asked me all sorts of questions. The main reason was of course to save money on flights, but they would never understand. If you fly out of Pudong you'll pay through the nose in taxes and other airport fees.
The key here was not to speak any Chinese and just say "I speak a little" when asked. Eventually he was satisfied with my answers or he gave up. Either way, thud went the stamp.
The flight was slightly delayed which was fortunate. I used this time to recover from the biking and order some much needed jiaozi, i.e. dumplings at the restaurant. But I could hardly enjoy the jiaozi because without any warning she snatched the bowl from the table and said, "You're finished eating". Uh really? No, I'm not. It was because she had finished work promptly at 9pm and that's when the restaurant closed apparently.
There are many little annoyances about China I have and this is yet another. There are countless other stories like this where, if you let your plate sit on the table they will come around and snatch it away. You have to be forceful and say, "I am not finished eating yet."
At this point I was thinking maybe I'll raise a stink, but actually in the end decided to let it go. After all, I was on the way to Thailand where this sort of thing doesn't happen.
Things improved on the flight were I had a middle seat at first, but the airline staff moved the guy in the window seat to be with his girlfriend somewhere else, so this meant I now had a window seat. It was a really blissful flight at the beginning, and I tried to sleep but then the turbulence kicked in midway and never stopped. Finally we landed in Bangkok airport around 1am and were greeted to the sight of immigration lines that would have lasted well over two hours.
At this point I would have been content to just chill out and read a book through the queue. While doing this, an official looking guy came through the queue and approached me to strike up a conversation. It was evident that he worked for immigration and was trying to see if I had been to Thailand before and knew how things worked. He was talking to the right guy because I have probably done over 30 trips.
He got straight to the point and asked, "Do you want to fast track?" I said yes and he said it'll cost 500 baht and said "Follow me". We went to a secret immigration counter where he processed the passport and then said, "Put the money in the passport" which I did.
Some would say corruption but is it really? Yes of course it is. I got to save two hours in the line, some of the money he made he keeps while the rest gets piped up the chain to his supervisors. Later I retrieved the folding bicycle and it was a short taxi ride to my favorite guesthouse out in the suburbs.
Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 75 km (47 miles)
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