All was well on United Airlines from Houston-Chicago-Beijing. I stopped and spent the night in an airport hotel in Beijing like I've done before, and got up Thursday morning expecting to take Air China (AC) flight 901 at 9am, arriving in Ulaan Baatar (UB) by 11:15am. By about 8:45am, while waiting in the warm and smelly international terminal, AC started handing out food. Hmm. No information, mind you, just food. We eventually were told there was bad weather in UB, and we were delayed until 7pm. Yowza. Shortly thereafter, we were told (not asked) that we were going to a hotel. Before I knew it, all the passengers were herded onto 2 buses and driven 30 minutes to a lovely Chinese hotel nowhere near the airport. Again, no information.
Upon arriving at random hotel, we were paired up into rooms. Being solo, that means I got to pair up with a complete stranger. Luckily, she was a 30-year old girl with another mission group so it worked out ok for me. Some of the other passengers were not as enthusiastic about their new bunkmates.
For about 8 hours, the passengers of AC flight 901 napped, read, ate the provided Chinese food, tried to contact friends/family, and generally became increasingly restless. There were a couple of hotheaded German guys, a cranky Nigerian, a chatterbox Brit, and several other nations represented. I befriended the mission team from Canada, including my new roommate. The only communication we got was a poorly translated written message posted in the lobby that said:
"AC 901 delayed bad weather in UB. Please stay in room and will call when bus arrives. We hope you enjoy your stay in our hotel!"
By 5pm we were starting to worry we would be stuck overnight in the random hotel. Rumors were circulating that in fact the weather in UB was perfectly fine, and instead the issue must be with AC since they seemed to be going out of their way to provide us free food and lodging. But God was merciful and we finally left for the airport at 6pm! That put us back in the (less) warm and smelly terminal at about 7pm. Still no real information about a departure time, so we just waited.
In the meantime, I chatted with one of the passengers, a Chinese man from Shanghai who spoke very good English. He told me that AC stands for "Always Cancels." It was interesting to see a Chinese person just as annoyed as the rest of us. At some point, he pulled out his laptop and started watching a DVD. I notice it's the original episode of the ABC show "LOST." The one where the plane crashes and there's mass chaos, and all the passengers are running around screaming, etc. At this point in the day, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Come on, Shanghai man, use some judgment.
Finally, after a 13-hour delay, at about 10pm we get on a plane and leave for UB. It's not only the longest delay I've experienced, but the strangest. It left me with some distinct impressions about the Chinese. Let's just say I'm really happy to be in Mongolia.
Sorry for the length! I expect future stories to be shorter, but this one was just too good not to share. In the future it will be all Mongolia!!
