The Plot Thickens

   And so, with our plane leaving without us, and no way to phone home, Kristel and I had to figure out what to do by ourselves. Stuck in a massive airport on the other side of the world, with no one in sight who could speak English, needless to say, we were going to have a very hard time finding our way to Linyi. After we heard the news about our flight, we decided to go to a little cafe to get a long deserved bite to eat. As we ate, we went over all of our options. After a while, we managed to narrow it down to either getting on a train and finding our way to Linyi ourselves, or getting a hotel and waiting for the next flight which was at 8pm the next night. Sticking around for the next flight would me we would have to wait nearly 24 hours for the plane, so in the end, we decided that a ten hour train ride was the more preferable of the two options. Unfortunately for us, when we asked a worker who was selling train tickets in our terminal, we were informed that the next train to Linyi wouldn't leave until 8pm the next night, the exact same time as the plane. Suddenly when comparing a 10 hour train ride and a 1 hour flight, the train didn't seem like such a good option anymore. And so, with that, we decided that a hotel and then another plane ride would be the best thing to do.

   After our meal, we started to head downstairs to the hotel information desk, but we were stopped halfway by a man in a nice, blue suit who asked very nicely, (and in very broken English,) if we needed a hotel room. It seemed like perfect timing, so we told him about our situation and he immediately started blabbing away about his hotel. It seemed nice enough from the pamphlet he gave us and it even came with a free bus ride back to the airport. It sounded perfect! That is, until he started talking prices. 680 yuan for a double bed hotel room! That's over 100 US dollars! There was no way we could afford that, even split between us! We tried to tell him no, but he wouldn't leave us alone. "I'll give you a discount, 580 yuan for the room." Too high. "How is 480 yuan for the room?" Still too high. "Here is a good price, 380 yuan for the room." We talked about it for a minute. 380 yuan is a bit pricey, but at nearly half the cost, we figured it was probably worth it. Besides, we were way too exhausted to go through the trouble of finding something else.
 
   After we worked out the details, he rushed off to call the bus that would pick us up and take us to the hotel. He wasn't gone for long when he rushed back and led us outside. Around a corner, into a parking lot, and then over to a...car? "Where's the bus?" I asked, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "It cannot come, I will take you to the hotel myself." I couldn't help but notice that he was getting increasingly nervous and fidgety. He opened the trunk, grabbed our belongings, and unceremoniously tossed them inside. I looked over to Kristel to see if she felt as uncomfortable as I did, but she didn't seem very phased by our situation, and before I could say anything to her, she boldly stepped forward and climbed into the vehicle. At this point, I didn't see that I had any other choice but to follow. The first thought that came to my mind as the man drove was of course, "Are we going to be kidnapped?" The man drove horribly fast down the city streets. Swerving in and out of cars and honking at anyone in his way; I couldn't escape the horrible feeling that something bad was about to happen to us. I could tell that Kristel was starting to get worried as well, but there was nothing we could do now. The five minutes we were in his car seemed like an eternity, but soon they had passed and we found ourselves parked in front of an old, creaky building in the middle of Beijing.