…and then the Chinese military detained me.So when I stopped teaching English in Japan an

…and then the Chinese military detained me.So when I stopped teaching English in Japan and returned to America, things didn’t go quite as smoothly as one would hope. A lot went wrong on the way back, but I’m going to focus on one particular mix up in this trip.  The cheapest flight involved flying from Japan’s Narita Airport to Beijing before heading back to the states.  There was one teensey little problem.My plane didn’t land in Beijing.Instead it landed in some planned communist town where all the buildings were identical and all the streets were straight and at right angles. It was the pretty much the opposite of the sprawling chaotic Japanese roadways I’d grown accustomed to. So I get off the plane and I’m not at an international airport which is kind of a problem and I tried to get a transfer from the counter but uh, I got quickly escorted by the military to a small room with a steel table and a couple of folding chairs where I had to wait.For like, three minutes at most, they were very quick and polite about things, I had printed out an itinerary and I gave it to a lieutenant and he said they’d get this straightened out quickly.  You see this was right after the Beijing Olympics had ended and everyone had to get some English training in but these guys figured they’d never get a chance to use it but lo and behold foreign tourist in trouble!So various officers kept on coming in and asking me if I wanted a glass of water, how my day was going, if there was anything else they could do to make me more comfortable. So I get escorted to this Major who is standing in front of a small division and she explains that getting this straightened out is a high priority and they’ve got flights set up out of Beijing so I’ll be getting through with no delays, she then orders the division to turn right.  Asks me if there’s anything else they can do for me, then orders the division to march out. Yes, she was busy and in the middle of something but it turns out the People’s Liberation Army’s Ground Forces will make time for you.“Oh I gave a copy of my itinerary to someone, if I could have that back, that’d be great.” It was returned to me while I was in the waiting area and I was on a flight straight to Beijing.  If I could google rate it my capture and interrogation, it’d be 5 stars would be detained again.On the other hand customs in Beijing were dicks and made fun of my name. What the hell guys. -- source link

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