China: Boat ride to beyond

Today was my much anticipated ferry ride to China.  I remember when I first read about the possibility of taking this ferry, and thinking to myself how lucky I would be if I was able to accomplish this without any burps or hiccups.  So far acquiring the ticket was not a problem.  I made it to the ferry terminal with, like, 3 hours of time.  I was trying to find out where to check in (they told me I had to in advance) and a nice Korean gentleman came up to me, sensing my possible predicament, and in anti-climactic fashion, was hardly able to speak english.  Even so, he knew what I was trying to do and directed me to the counter where I should check in.  Then this nice gentleman, Mr. Kim, beckoned me to join him for some food.  Despite having just devoured a half dozen Mandu, I felt it would be impolite to refuse, so I joined him down the hall for some soup, anju, and baked fish.  We tried to talk, but given my limited Korean it was difficult, so I fell back on mentioning various Korean dishes I liked and rubbing my belly.  He was pretty cool, until he gave me a bible--I have had way too many people try to convert me to Christianity in Korea--don't they get the irony of that!

We boarded the ferry with ease--it was huge, and quite cool.  As soon as you walk on board there is a small foyer that looks no different than a hotel lobby.  I had purchased a business class ticket, which meant I was in a room with 4 beds, and got a key.  It was simple, and quaint--plenty good for me.  I didn't linger in the room, where 3 other Korean businessmen were taking off their shoes in what was obviously going to become some reenactment of Risky Business, and instead went to explore the ship.  There were 2 places to eat, a few karaoke rooms, a coffee bar, and a few shops.  I mistook the coffee bar for a bar bar, and the lady working there dragged me to the proper place, after throwing a small mini tantrum at my ignorance, I think.

The journey was comfortable.  I never even realized the boat had begun to move, in fact.  After a few hours hanging in the bar a younger Korean guy sat at the table next to me.  We exchanged small talk, in English, for about 30 minutes, before I realized, "hey--this is like probably the only guy on the boat who I can talk to."  So I made a friend.  We hung out for a few hours, eating and drinking.  He was a pretty cool guy, but I think I got him too drunk, because I never saw him the next day, not even as we departed the boat--and everyone was supposed to get off.  I thought about saying something, like "hey, I think this passenger might be dead in his bedroom", but nobody would understand me anyway, and there should have been other people sleeping in his room.  Anyway, I hope the dood is ok.

It was an exciting moment when we arrived in China.  I experienced a rather slight sense of panic as I crossed the border because the guy took a REALLY long time looking over my passport, but in the end, he let me through.

Mr. Kim stayed with me until I got on a bus that would take me to central Beijing (we actually landed 150 km to the east of it).  Super cool guy despite the bible thing.  The bus took about 3 hours to get to Beijing.  The scenery reminded me of Tennessee.  So did the allergies. It just kinda dropped us off somewhere.  I wasn't sure, but I had a map from the hostel on my computer, so I flagged down a taxi driver and showed it to him.

 
He kinda, half nodded, but started to drive, so I figured it was ok.  He stopped on a super busy street and pointed down a brick alleyway filled with life. I got out quickly because he had stopped in the middle of the street and everyone was honking.  Obviously the hostel was down that way--how far, who knows.  I got out and walked until I found it, 15 minutes or so down the way.  I prayed as I tugged on the door, that it wouldn't be locked, since it was around midnight now, and luckily it was open.  Trek finished, and no problems encountered.  Almost as soon as I got into the hostel Pieter from Belgium found me.  Its so fun meeting up with fellow travelers.  He seems to be traveling a couple days ahead of me now.  Maybe I can catch up.