In transit

So I didn't really consider what I was going to do for between six and seven hours at Beijing airport waiting for my connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. I would take advantage of the unlimited internet access and comfy seats in the business lounge for a mere 50RMB (which I was forced to exchange into cash at 50RMB commission thus essentially paying double for my time, but whatever; that £20 in my wallet hasn't been spent on anything else in the last year) and spend more time online, but despite definitely being winter in China, somebody decided it would be a good idea to crank up the air conditioning as if it were 30 degrees outside. I purposefully didn't bring my winter jacket with me on this trip, foretelling the inconvenience of lugging it around in the heat. I carelessly forgot to take into consideration potentially heavily air conditioned buses and shopping malls, even where it might be appreciated where it is 30 degrees outside.

So since I landed in China I've had a reasonably leisurely brunch, followed by a half hour of surfing while my fingers froze off, followed by a wander to the gate, getting distracted by a coffee shop, spending an hour warming my hands on some warm tea, followed by cooling my hands once the cup was empty. I dislike air con. So I decided to warm up my toes by walking the length of the airport back to the business lounge, and that's where I am now, slowly numbing my fingers again.

I'm also pretty tired. Four and a half hours of interrupted dream sleep isn't my favourite kind of sleep. I did get an hour on the airport bus and maybe another hour on the plane, but sleep in a chair just isn't as good as the sleep you can get in a bed. I guess I just don't fancy battling with the air conditioning to take a nap in the airport. But I like airports. There's something about being between countries that kind of makes me feel trapped in time. It doesn't matter that I'm tired now. I'll catch up when I'm out of the airport. I guess I really would get tired if I were Tom Hanks in The Terminal.

After all this procrastination (but it's forced procrastination, and perhaps that's what I love; there's nothing I have to be doing, largely because I can't. And for goodness sake girl, you're on holiday) I only have a couple of hours left to wait. My fingers are sufficiently numb now to decide to go and take that walk back down to the gate again. But if this post wasn't enough evidence of the excitement that Beijing airport has to offer, here's a picture that I took of my tea.