It finally happened-I managed to find myself alone and completely lost in downtown Beijing in the middle of the night. It was Bre's birthday this weekend, so her Mum bought her a room at one of the fanciest hotels in the city, "Sofitel." It was absolute luxury and we all needed the soft beds and fancy shower with hot water after the week we'd had. We were looking forward to sleeping in this room so much that we even considered staying in the room all night and ordering room service. Though, as we all well know, you can't keep a good woman down, and Bre wanted to doll up and go out-so away we went to act out our mid twenty something impulses. We had a delicious dinner at The Tree, which is an eclectic restaurant that brews it's own beer and specializes in wood burned pizza , it also has a giant oak tree running through the restaurant and out onto the roof. It is one of my favourite spots in Beijing. Anyway, as these things often go, we hopped from one place to another and before we knew it, it was past four a.m. and we were still sitting at the expat pub chewing the fat with some really old but funny british guys. This is when things got dicey: Maggie apparently left for the hotel without telling anyone and Bre disappeared into the night.
and...I was alone.
and...my phone was dead.
and...I was not a responsible adult so I had neither the room key or any hotel information.
and... no one knew what I was saying when I asked for directions to the hotel. All the english speakers had packed it in, I guess.
And so I did what any survivor does and I started to wander a bit. I felt a little unnerved, I mean, I had essentially done the most irresponsibel thing by not carrying hotel info with me in a foreign country, and now I was wandering, still keeping an eye out for Bre. Sigh.
But hark! A 24 hr KFC! Naturally I stepped inside and grabbed a seat. Played with a straw for a bit and tried to look tough. Then I got sleepy, so I took a nap.
Then it was light out and it seemed I should head for a new destination.
I waited outside the Starbucks for about half and hour for it to open, and when it did, I went inside, washed my face, grabbed a cup o' jo and flipped through a Chinese fashion magazine. Thank god for Starbucks, or I would have been awry. Well, I was awry, I still had no way of getting ahold of either of my friends and no way of knowing how to get to the Sofitel until the English speakers woke up. So I started to get teary, but then out of nowehere, MARK showed up! I guess he had been staying with friends in the city the night before and wanted to get some coffee, and so he spotted me sitting lonely in the Starbucks, close to tears and obviously unkemt. So we chewed the fat for awhile and he managed to get ahold of my vagabond crew, we all met at the Starbucks and went for breakfast! Success!
The sad part is...I never got to sleep in the sweet room on the sweet bed or feel relaxed and rejuvinated at all.
Nothing is easy in China, after all.
So that is the story of how I survived homelessness for an evening. Do not do as I say, do as I do. No-that is bad advice also. Don't do anything. Ever.
Um-on a different note-there is no time zone change in China, so now the time difference is 15 hours ahead of Alberta, peopes.
Now I need to go to sleep because I am severely lacking in it and I have to face my 11-11's three times tomorrow.
xox
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