Beijing - take 2

So we finally arrived in Beijing, early afternoon on Saturday, unfortunately not leaving time to see the great wall. By the time we'd collected our luggage, we arrived in the city centre with about 5 hours in which to see as much of Beijing as we could...

Entrance to the forbidden city

We were dropped off at Tienanmen square. At four times its original size, this is the 3rd largest city square in the world, and indeed it is hard not to be slightly overwhelmed by its size. In the middle, stands the Monument to the People's Heroes, a huge, imposing obelisk. We moved through the square at a pace to reach the forbidden city on one side of it. To reach the official forbidden city entrance, we walked through two large quadrangles, with red walls, full of street sellers trying to get us to buy geisha hats and statuettes of Chairman Mao. On reaching the official entrance, we were told the visiting hours were nearly over so we couldn't go in. Instead we made our way to the gardens, which were open for longer. Using our Chinese student cards from the University, we paid only 15p to see the gardens, rather than 30p! The gardens were extensive and pretty, although not as grand and manicured as I'd expect palatial gardens to be. It was interesting to see people had etched into bamboo as we may etch into trees.

For dinner, the only option we would consider was Beijing duck (Beijing used to be called Peking). We found a restaurant and had a great meal of duck pancakes, with a few extra dishes. The duck was amazing! We had just slices but apparently you're often given the whole duck carcass and expected to eat it all - even the bill! We also ordered bullfrog, mainly for the novelty. It had a meaty texture but a slightly fishy taste, the main off-putting factor was that it had lots of small bones in, making it pretty tricky to eat. On the subject of food, back in Dalian we had delicious pancakes from the street stalls, filled with egg inside the actual pancake. They were served with a sweet, spicy sauce and are one of the things I now miss most about China!



















Before we left the city, we wandered through a vibrant night market, including a huge silk shop and many tourist souvenirs. On the way to the hotel, the bus driver stopped outside the bird's nest Olympic stadium, so we could hop off the bus, take a few photos and jump back on!
The next day it was on the plane to old blighty. What a packed and fantastic 3 weeks. I met some great people, not only from Durham but also from China, Sweden and Russia. I learnt huge amounts about many cultures, developed an undying love for dumplings and egg pancakes, experienced the paparazzi of China, saw so many amazing things, and I even learnt about 3 whole sentences in Chinese...

Beijing - take 1

SO we had managed to get the University to re-arrange our flights to leave Dalian on the Friday, allowing us a day to look around Beijing before heading home on Sunday. On Friday morning we had a leaving ceremony at the University where we were all given certificates for completing the summer school, and grade sheets of how well we'd done in our classes (we had to write a mini-essay for our Chinese history class and had short Chinese speaking and written exams). We all said our goodbyes then headed off to the airport, arrived at the airport, and stayed at the airport for a very long time... No seriously, a very long time. Turns out the fog, that we had come to accept as part of Dalian, was particularly bad and holding up flights. Our flight kept getting delayed for longer and longer. I am so glad someone had cards because unless you're a fan of shopping for dried sea cucumber, Dalian airport holds very little entertainment. When we hit the 3 hour delay mark we were given a free dinner. After about 8 hours of waiting in the airport, our flight was cancelled. Finding negotiating new flights in Chinese very difficult, our trusty guide came to help us out. Unfortunately, getting 21 seats on a plane for the next day isn't easy so the only flight we could get was late in the evening.

Group nap at Dalian airport

In the mean time, our guide explained how to get to a hotel for the night. Although we ended up at the wrong hotel, we stayed there, which was great as our rooms were really big! It was a strange set-up though. The rooms had permanent beds then also camp-beds to fit more people in, and some rooms just had rows of recliners. We decided to have a look around, especially to find the spa, which we figured may provide some entertainment if we weren't leaving until 11pm the next day. We found the spa on the bottom floor and tried using our limited Chinese and their equally limited English to ask questions. However, the biggest barrier we had to overcome was constantly being told 'take your clothes off''! Turns out it was a naked spa and no matter how loud we tried to shout 'mingtian' (tomorrow), they couldn't understand that we didn't want to go in the spa there and then. Eventually, we just got in the lift and left.

Investigating the other floors, we found the lift couldn't stop at floor 4, so we took the stairs. We were greeting by the sight of a girl in a sailor costume and a couple of other people sat outside a door, from behind which loud music was coming. We tried to ask what was in there. We were told 'music and dancing'. Was it karaoke? no. Can we go in? 'take your clothes off''! We were offered lounge wear if we wanted to go in. Eventually they let us go in and sit at the back to watch, what appeared to be some kind of show. We had managed to walk in to some kind of Chinese gentleman's club. First, a girl in a rather see-through dress gave a dramatic dance with a parasol. But what happened next was very strange. The girl wheeled out a trolley of vivariums. She then put an entire snake in her mouth, then took it out. She then put a spider in her mouth, followed by a live iguana (just its head went in her mouth). She then danced around a bit, before removing the head of the flailing iguana and the spider. IT was truly bizarre.

The next day we got a telephone call to our room at 6am "leave you must leave". Then a knock at our door making us leave the room. We gathered in the lobby, confused and dazed to be told the hotel knew we wanted to get to Beijing and woke us up as there was a flight at 7am. However, there was not necessarily room on the flight, and getting to the airport at about ten minutes to, we missed it. However, we did managed to get on an earlier morning flight to Beijing, which was only delayed by an hour or so...

China - Week 3

Our typhoon food supplies!

Back in Dalian, Monday lessons were cancelled. Why? A typhoon was on its way! Apparently some parts of our province had been evacuated so we were told to stock up on water and stay inside. Naturally a bit concerned, we tried to look for more information. By the time the storm reached us it had been downgraded to a ‘tropical storm’. In reality, Dalian just suffered particularly wet and windy weather and nothing more dramatic. Having a definite lack of indoor activities, we soon got bored with half a day inside. The weather to us English folk was nothing more than a blustery day, and we saw some of the locals getting the bus into town so we gave up the drama and decided to go shopping. Some of the others headed to a big indoor shopping centre, figuring that it had cafés and a cinema, should the typhoon hit. However, proper shoping centres mean higher prices, and there were a few things I was keen to get in the underground market, so some of us headed there instead. Underground may not seem the best place to go in a ‘storm’, but as it was 3 or 4 floors deep, we figured if the bottom floor started filling up we’d make a speedy exit!

Later in the week (when the weather was calmer) we had a badminton tournament. I would never describe myself as a sporty girl, but once one of the teachers forfeited I came 3^rd. I have never been so sweaty in my entire life. Yes, it sounds pretty gross, but considering the heat and humidity had you panting just crossing the road, a couple of hours of badminton did not exactly make us all look our most attractive!

On Thursday there was a leaving party organised by the staff and students of the university. Unfortunately, I got charged with the responsibility of making sure someone from England prepared a presentation on England and our time in China. Failing to find another volunteer, I prepared a PowerPoint to present at the party, which was kind of awkward because I didn't really know what to say but it seemed to go ok! The leaving party included a presentation by teachers and students saying how much they enjoyed having us visit, including a highly attractive picture of me asleep on the bus. They's also prepared some games for us, including telling the time with your arms, passing water using cups in your mouth and carrying a balloon without using your hands. In the evening, the Chinese students came out with us to King Club in Dalian. Most of them had never been clubbing before but we all had a great night out! The building was really cool inside with chandeliers, throne-like chairs and brass pipes all over the ceiling. A few of us (mainly the Russian students) went to JD bar after, which was much less decorative inside but sold a cocktail suitably named 'Goodbye Dalian'. Returning to the hotel in the early hours of the morning, we found the doors hadn't been locked, despite a curfew of 12am - yay!

Xi'an 2

City wall

The following day started off with a cycle ride around the city wall (this time an actual bike was involved, not a circular walk!). The bikes had no gears and were pretty hard to get going on but we managed to go all around the wall in about an hour. The views of the city weren't too fantastic, partly due to the fog, but also because the nearby high-rises blocked out the view. However, the wall was a good view in its own right. With pagodas and awesome lamp posts with dragons holding lanterns in their mouths, even very extravagant bins! The ride was a little uncomfortable in the heat but definitely worth it!

Museum of stone tablets

Giant pomegranate!

The afternoon started off at the museum of stone tablets, also known as the stele forest. It is full of commemorative stones, mainly from funerals, and stone statues. It also houses an old bell from the bell tower. Whilst the first room of steles - which was indeed like a stone forest - was interesting, the following rooms were less so, particularly as we couldn't read any of the inscriptions or information. The last room however, was more interesting as it consisted of stone artwork and statues, including huge tigers. In the middle of this cultural site, housed in old temple grounds, was a giant plastic pomegranate man! The pomegranate is a symbol of Xi'an, and a anthropogenic character has been built to advertise this. Although quite a lovable character, I found it funny that it kept cropping up in the middle of these historic sites.

Big wild goose pagoda

This is one of the largest pagodas in China and is situated within a Buddhist temple site. We didn’t get to go in (or actually that near to) the pagoda but we did wander around the temple grounds and shrines. The main shrine had a huge gold statue of the Buddha, the photo doesn’t show just how large and imposing it was. We also all got given a card of our Chinese birth year animal (I’m a goat) to be stamped with a blessing. Living in China, we seemed to have gained so many blessing and so much good luck I reckon I’m set for the next few years! All around the temple were also THE best ‘keep off the grass’ signs I’ve ever seen. For example, one said “may your hands show mercy and may your feet care for the green earth”.

Night out

We asked our guide, Bing, if he could tell us anywhere to go out in Xi’an. He called his friend, Yaya and she took us to a street, through a China-town arch, lined with bars. This is when we discovered drinks from a bar in China were a lot more like prices in England, rather than the beer for 25p from our Hotel shop. Having failed to barter free mixer, we ended up at a jazz bar, where we could sit outside in the warm night air. Although the days were too hot and stuffy the evening temperatures were just right. We suddenly saw women dressed as Disney princesses on the street, who came to our table and handed roses to all of the girls (don’t forget, it was Chinese Valentine ’s Day) – what a lovely surprise! We then moved on to a club. If this was a typical Chinese nightclub, England has a lot to live up to! Entry was free and I walked down a corridor only to come out into a room that looked like Cheltenham town hall! There were marble floors and pillars and chandeliers in a massive high-ceilinged room with a bar in the middle. There was a wandering balloon modeller (!) and performers on a stage. The one thing it lacked? People dancing. Turns out, the Chinese don’t really do dancing, which I found surprising given their complete lack of inhibitions karaoke-wise. The only dancing space in the club was the stage (when the performers had finished) and the rest of the huge room was full of tables, which people just stood or sat around. Of course, we took it upon ourselves to demonstrate the correct use of the dance floor! Unfortunately, by the end of the night my rose had got extremely crushed and I had to throw it away on the way home. That aside, it was such a good night out.

Xi'an

Time for another weekend trip! As this one was a little further afield, we clambered onto the coach after lessons on Friday, and headed to Dalian Airport, Xi'an -bound! Xi'an was about a 2 hour flight from Dalian - the equivalent of taking London tourists to Southern Spain for the weekend! But as I explained earlier, in terms of the whole of China, this was a relatively short trip.

 Terracotta Warriors

the largest pit discovered so far

the kneeling archer

Our first trip in Xi'an, was to see the Terracotta army. Even at such a massive tourist site we were still asked for photos, as most of the tourists were Chinese. The terracotta army has a fascinating history. It was built by Emporer Qin Shi Huang, who also unified the states of China and directed the building of much of the Great wall. He began to plan the terracotta army at a very young age. It consists of several 'pits' of these warriors surrounding a huge mound in which his tomb lays, surrounded my rivers of mercury. All this effort was believed to go with him into the afterlife, and trust me if this is true - he is definitely king! Previous rulers had been buried with small figurines but none with an entire life-sized army. My first thought on entering the first, and largest, pit was: this man was crazy. The army looks impressive today, but knowing each warrior is thought to have a unique face, and each was once brightly painted, is astounding. Although the story of the army was passed down in legend, it was actually discovered when some farmers were digging a well. Only one warrior, the kneeling archer, was found in one piece, and none had weapons as the pits had been raided and destroyed by the emperor's enemies.

Huaqing hot spring
Our next stop was the Huaqing hot spring, a palace and baths for emperor You and his concubines. After my initial disappointment that China did not quite look like the set of Mulan, here certainly did. Set impressively against a mountain, the main pool had a stage, that can rise out of the water so that shows could be put on for the emperor, and it's still used today. The whole place was very ornate, with pagoda-sty,e buildings and dragon statues everywhere. There were also tablets with Mao's poetry inscribed. There were a series of baths and at the end we could wash our hands in the spring water and rub a stone of jade for luck. We also learnt that in China, tinsel is not just for Christmas! The next day was Chinese valentine's day (Qixi festival) so the grounds were decorated accordingly. We also saw a man fishing the fish out of the lake, apparently just for couples to pay to release them again tomorrow!

That evening we went out for hotpot - a very popular type of meal in China. In this restaurant we were each given a pot of boiling water on a mini stove. The idea was then to add ingredients from the table into our pot, and make up our own sauce to go into our meal. Each person also had an egg to poach at the end, then made the remaining eggy water into soup! We went for a walk later to have a look around the city near to our hotel. We saw a fan dancing class just practicing in the middle of the street. Then we came across a park full of roller-skaters and decided to give it a go! Turns out I'm a massive wimp with no balance... to stop I had to keep skating into walls!

China - week 2

Early in the week we had the town tour we were supposed to take the first (very rainy) day. Our first stop was the huge monument opposite the beer-festival park, built to celebrate the city's centenary. Its a huge curve lying horizontal to the ground, with a mass of footprints leading up to it. It was strange to think that such a large city could only have been there just over a hundred years. Our next stop was the 'lovers road'. We were dropped off at one end of the bridge and picked up at the other (?!) but the Chinese tale goes that if you walk the road with your partner you will be together forever. Then we headed to Tiger beach. It was next to the sea but where the actual beach was was a mystery to me! Luckily, sand wasn't the main attraction. There was a huge sculpture of decorative leaping tigers.
 That evening we went out for a Korean barbeque. We sat in an (un-air-conditioned!) room with little barbeque pits on the table, where you cook your own meat. It was tasty but so much heat in one room in such a hot country was verging on unbearable!

A Korean barbeque

Wish I'd picked up this classic!

What a room for KTV!

We went back to the underground shopping centre this week with some of the Chinese students for a good spot of shopping. We also went to a larger shopping centre later in the week with lots of western stores... and unfortunately western prices :( But that evening we headed off to Karaoke - or KTV as it is in China. The students really wanted to take us as it's a really big thing that they do a lot. We went into this big fancy building, with ladies in Chinese dresses at the door and past a maze of small rooms with sofas and TVs, only big enough for 10 people max! Being a large group, we got given a huge room, with a balcony and a big performance area - it was like a mini-club! The Chinese weren't at all embarrassed to start of the entertainment and by the end we were all dancing an singing. Considering my apprehensive view of karaoke, it was a great night out!

China - cultural revelations

In my first week in China, I noticed many things that would be out of place in England. The one thing that continued to amuse and bemuse us throughout the trip, was the fascination of Chinese people with us! Now, Dalian is not a tourist city and it would be fair to say we were pretty much the only white people there. But we didn't just get stares in the street - people would come up to us and ask us for a photo! With them, with their child or sometimes they stood behind someone taking a group photo of us! It was like a taste of being famous, for three weeks. On our beach trip people tried to 'subtly' take photos on their mobile phones, others posed with us and we were told what a pleasure it was for them to meet us. Even in Beijing and at the terracotta warriors, I was asked for photos, as many tourists were Chinese, rather than European.

Having my photo taken for some local ladies

I was also amused by the fashion for couples to wear matching outfits. This included boyfriends and girlfriends wearing the same t-shirt or complimentary t-shirts that joined together to make a phrase. There were even special shops to buy matching t-shirts or shops that sold the same t-shirts in girls' and boys' sizes. All the girls also had parasols to keep the sun off. Some looked like umbrellas and, in fact, doubled as umbrellas, but others were very lacy and pretty. I wanted to bring one back but I knew I wouldn't use it in England!
Another habit of Dalian inhabitants is spitting. All ages and classes tend to spit in the street - I even saw it done in a restaurant. I've heard it may be because Chinese medicine considers swallowing phlegm to be unhealthy but I can't tell for sure.
I was surprised at the dumpling-making house to learn how much schoolwork the 15-year-old girl was given. She showed us a study full of music and instruments but said she no longer had time to play. She was going into school in her summer holidays for extra tuition as she was considered very bright. She told us that she went to school at 8 o'clock every morning and sometimes stayed until 10 at night to finish her work. She didn't meet up with her friends outside school because she didn't have time. I can't imagine working so hard when I was her age! But it sounded like this was the norm, not that she was exceptionally conscientious.
It also became apparent in lessons that there is a large cultural gap between the older and the younger generations. Our culture teacher would say one thing and the students tended to disagree with her. For example, we were told the Chinese don't like public affection, but we saw plenty of couples holding hands etc. She also claimed that the Chinese would never say 'I love you', for example, to their parents but the students claimed they would.

China - take a break

Having gone out Saturday night (Noah's) and having an eventful first week, getting used to China and being ill, we decided Sunday was time for a break. After a week of strange food that all began to taste the same (rice+msg) we went to McDonalds for lunch. In England I hate McDonalds and protest about anyone who goes in. However in China, after a week of full of unfamiliarity it tasted AMAZING! Not that Chinese food was bad - I miss it now - but it was a whole novel environment and it was just good to have something that I could recognise.

                                                                   Dumpling making

That evening we went to the house of a local family to make dumplings. Chinese dumplings are a completely different thing to the ones you find in stews here. Our family consisted only of a mother and a daughter, as the father worked away a lot. The mother seemed to think we'd expect Chinese kitchens to be really basic. I didn't at all, but I was expecting something more traditional than a swanky, ultra modern flat! When we sat down to dinner it was official - I love dumplings! They're a really thin sort of pastry with meat inside. We made pork and shrimp ones and beef and spring onion but you can put anything in! In my opinion they're like a Chinese version of little pasties! Om nom nom...

China - Dandong

Dandong may not be China's most desired holiday destination, but it certainly draws in coachloads of Chinese tourists. Why? Because from its riverbank, you can see North Korea. Yes, hundreds of people flock there to have a look at North Korea. It is also a 5 hour bus journey away from Dalian, but I concluded that in China that's nothing. Whilst taking visitors to London, to Scotland for the weekend would seem ludicrous to us, the equivalent journey is just down the road to the Chinese. I promise never to moan about the 'long' journey from home to university again, after finding my language partner's trip to university is 22 hours on the train!
As soon as we got to Dandong, we were treated to a Yalu river boat trip to get a closer look at North Korea. Whilst a novelty, half an hour seemed like a long time to spend staring at the riverbank of another country, although its contrast to the skyscrapers of Dandong was remarkable.
We then headed to a river for 'drifting'... This turned out to basically be rafting in dinghies of two, equipped with water guns. It was definitely one of the highlights. Even people not on our trip were shooting us with their water guns and people were placed along the riverbank to soak us! We had to wear our (lovely) yellow t-shirts, which turned my white shorts into yellow shorts!

The next day my shorts and t-shirt still weren't dry but expecting a 'cycle' up phoenix mountain, the only other clothes I had were skirts. Climbing the mountain (no bike involved... it was a circular walk) was massively exhausting, especially in the heat. It took a good few hours but was actually really good, with unusual sights such as a man with a monkey, hundreds of locks on railings (for loved ones) and a man playing a one-stringed instrument. After passing a mountain shrine on the way up, we went to look in the 'pheonix cave' on the way down, not realising this cave was a one-way passage halfway back UP the mountain and completely dark!

When we got back to the hotel, we were at a bit of a loose end, but the Swedish students invited us out to try some rice wine with them. After searching hard for one of the few bars of Dalian, we ended up at 'Noah's, for your ark bar'. Inside it was decorated to look like the inside of an ark, the rice wine was scarily pink but there was a nice range of cocktails and live music was playing. There was also lots of messages on bits of paper on the walls, in all languages, so we asked if we could add to it! There will now always be a little bit of Durham in Dalian.

China - Week 1

Lessons
We were all matched up with a Chinese student between two forgein students to be our language partner. It was great to meet someone from a completely different culture, with a lot of different views, but still be able to talk about those things that all young adults have in common. For example, I'd move from being interrogated about the features of facebook, to talking about sport and music. The students were lovely though and very keen to get to know us and swap cultures.
Although everyone was quiet in our first lessons, as we didn't know what to expect, there was always something to break the ice, such as a cat wandering under our desks or a common complaint of the noise of cicadas outside. The campus must have been teeming with them because the noise was so loud! Our basic Chinese lessons consisted of repeating sounds of the Chinese alphabet for several hours, but language lessons took off a bit more as we learnt basic phrases. In the afternoons we did paper-cutting and calligraphy.
Everyone got very ill this week though. None of us could pin down a certain food stall or cause so I think it was the change of diet and the heat on top of that. The teachers eventually got used to us running out of class... We also got the impression that the Russian students were not so friendly as they didn't really talk in class. The Swedish students however, were very keen to make friends.

Free time
This week we had a couple of trips into town to have a look around Dalian. We had a look at the extensive underground shopping centre and around a few markets. The shopping centre had lots of little shops, some often doubling themselves as the changing room with a curtain that could be put across the door! The city is full of skyscrapers and we ended up getting fairly confused. There were a few more unusual sights, such as a street stall selling fried urchins to eat and market stalls selling a variety of cats, dogs, turtles and other pets. There was also a larger, fancy shopping centre but selling mainly designer items. The food hall fascinated us though, will large, unusual vegetables and all sorts of animal parts! In the evening we found a cool American-theme outside bar with yummy cocktails, which was a really good opportunity to socialise.

Afternoon off

On our afternoon off we went to the beach with some of the Chinese students. Although it was still foggy, the beach was ridiculously packed! But we clambered over some rocks to find a less-full beach around the corner. I was still feeling a bit ill but I didn't want to miss out! The students took us to a porridge restaurant for dinner. I foolishly chose sweetcorn and sweet potato... it was apparently a 'sweet' rather than savoury one and very sugary! However then we headed over to the first night of a big beer festival. It was in a big park and was crowded, but atmospheric! There were loads of big beer tents with shows but you had to pay to go in. Some of the boys blagged their way in claiming they were from that well-known British rock group DH1... and they even appeared on the news! We found a stall selling fried scorpions, spiders and locusts. Apparently this was also a novelty for the Chinese. I was intrigued but they were fairly expensive, however some folk were brave enough to try!

China - Hello Dalian

My first long-haul flight was over. I couldn't get to sleep but it turns out insomniacs get secret midnight ice-cream supplies! Every cloud...
We were met by staff and students at the airport (looking for Duran University or something similar!) and climbed sleepily on to a bus to the hotel. My first impressions of China were 1)It's hot and 2)It does not look like Mulan. It was far more built-up and industrial than I was expecting. (Left is the view from my window facing the uni campus)
I sat on my hotel bed and the first thing I noticed was... my legs were HUGE! They'd swollen to twice the size. I soon forgot about them though and fell asleep. When I woke up I realised I had no idea where to find everyone else. On the other hand even if I had, I had to wait for my mystery roommate or she wouldn't be able to get in! She arrived late and showed me some photos from her travels.
The next day we went to Dalian University to register for the course. It was a big, modern campus although we past some rather cramped and dilapidated-looking accommodation. Each day of our course we had chinese lessons in the morning, then cultural/history and then an activity in the afternoon (e.g. calligraphy, paper-cutting, chinese painting...). We also had some days off when we could explore the city and weekend trips to other cities.

Weather report: Our 'orientation' day was supposed to consist of a town tour, but it started pouring down! After our emergency-scheduled tai-chi lesson, we made a dash to our staff's hotel but had to take off our shoes and WADE, knee-deep before we got there! I made the mistake of taking a kag for rain... considering how hot it was an umbrella would have been a much better idea! It was also really foggy. The fog thinned and thickened but never truly went away. We assumed it was smog but the students said it was unusual at that time of year. It did mean the heat was really dense and muggy for our stay.
We dived into the restaurant and then learnt that whilst most things were at least half the price in China, drinking coffee and alcohol out are not. In fact, one of the students said they socialise over dinner and only businessmen go out for coffee because it is more expensive!

China - Lost in Amsterdam (airport!)

Returning to university after Easter, I applied to go to a summerschool in China, courtesy of the faculty of science. My application was successful and I was off for 3 weeks to learn Chinese language and culture in Dalian, China.
Step 1 however, was getting there. It was decided that we should meet at Amsterdam airport, rather than in England. This meant I could fly from an airport nearer home, but also meant I had to meet a bunch of people I didn't know, in a foreign country... argh! The night before I began to question my sanity. "I'm going to the other side of the world, where I can't speak the language, for three weeks, with people I don't know...WHY?"
At Amsterdam airport the plan was to meet at the gate shortly before our flight. But I got there several hours early. I guessed it was best to check out where the gate was and then wander around. Luckily, at the gate I found someone on the trip (well, he found me) - yay! We wandered around the airport and heard a piano... There were some half-baked plans to meet at the piano so we thought we'd see if anyone was there. We saw a university hoody and found more people going on the trip! Who'd have thought you could find people you didn't know in a huge foreign ariport...
Luckily Amsterdam airport has plenty to entertain! There's shops, of course (mainly cheese and tulips!), but also a 'museum', a library, TV's, a piano to play, a spa, sleep rooms, a cafe where you sit in teacups... 4 hours wait wasn't so bad!
When the time came, we met everyone else at the gate, through the hi-tech, full-body scanners and we were off to China!