  Thirteen hours total flying time to Istanbul - nine with bassinet seats, and four without. Cross your fingers that Elin is a good passenger! |
| Day 2: March 8th - Arrive in Istanbul, Turkey | |
|
We arrive mid-day in Istanbul, find our hotel and figure out the lay of the land - how do we travel with a baby? We'll learn as we go!| Day 3: March 9th - Day in Istanbul | |
|
We have the whole day to play around Istanbul - hopefully we'll take a short cruise on the Dardanelles, see the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sofia. All with naps and diaper changes as needed.| Day 4: March 10th - Overnight train to Thessaloniki, Greece | |
|
This is our last full day in Istanbul - we'll stow our luggage at our hotel, play around the city, and catch the overnight Filia-Dostluk Express train to Thessaloniki, Greece.| Day 5: March 11th - Day in Thessaloniki | |
|
Our overnight train will arrive around 8:00 a.m. which gives us the day to walk the ancient streets of Thessaloniki and soak in the Greek culture.| Day 6: March 12th - Travel via train to Sofia, Bulgaria | |
|
We'll wake up early to catch the morning train to Sofia, Bulgaria, passing through the Rila mountains in southern Bulgaria. Sofia is a very ancient European capital, just brushing of after decades of communist rule. This city is very east-meets-west, with onion domes and shiny new skyscapers in the middle of downtown. It is an often overlooked city on most European tours and has a gorgeous Orthodox cathedral!| Day 7: March 13th - Day in Sofia, Plovdiv, and overnight train to Istanbul | |
|
We'll spend the morning in Sofia, and then mid-day make our way to Plovdiv which is two hours southeast of Sofia on the same train line to Istanbul. Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, and has quite a charming old town center to enjoy. Hopefully Elin will nap well as the stroller hits those cobblestone streets! Late that night, we'll catch the Orient Express (renamed the Balkan Express) back to Istanbul.| Day 8: March 14th - Morning in Istanbul and flight to Amsterdam | |
|
We arrive in Istanbul around 7:00 and we have the morning to enjoy our last bits of Turkish culture (and coffee!) before our afternoon flight to Amsterdam. Once in Amsterdam, we'll make our way to the city center and stroll along the canals before hitting the hay.| Day 9: March 15th - Morning in Amsterdam and flight home | |
|
Because of our flight schedule, we get to enjoy a relaxed morning in Amsterdam, getting breakfast and strolling around the city before we have to be at the airport at 1:00 p.m. Sadly, at this point, Minneapolis is our next and final stop!]]>
We found a souvenier shop and purchased Russian goodies one more time (how we'll get all this stuff home, I'm not sure! - our bags are going to burst!). Right next door was a very cute cafe which served a great breakfast of orange juice, Russian blinys, honey cheesecake-thingys, and of course, great coffee. As always seems to happen when we have a time deadline, our server disappeared and forgot my coffee. I wasn't going to leave without my coffe, and they weren't going to let us leave without paying, so an agreement was had by all - but it still made us late in getting back to the hotel to get our bags. 
Fortunately, it was just a passport check, but one we didn't know we needed to do - no signs anywhere!
The Hermitage is one of the premier art museums in the world, like the Louvre in Paris, or the British Museum - and even better, it's housed in the Winter Palace, the home of the Russian czars from Peter the Great onward. 
Tim and I aren't really art afficianados, but it was the grandeur of the palace we were hoping to see. Our tour of the palace (led by the trusty map in our Lonely Planet guidebook) took us through rooms filled with Russian art, British art, Flemish art, and Italian art. Not only is it known for it's size (hundreds of rooms), but it's collection is very impressive - Monet, Da Vinci, Rodin, Degas, just to name a few. They even have the dining room table around which the royal family was sitting when the Bolsheviks stormed the palace in 1917. While I'm sure some would accuse us of going too fast, we managed to see all the rooms we wanted and skipped most of the art we thought was ugly (yes, there is such a thing as ugly art). 
We emerged from the Hermitage to dark storm clouds brewing - my digestive system felt about the same on the inside, so we headed back to our hotel for a mid-day break and a chance to grab the Pepto Bismol. Feeling much better after a short rest, we continued on our quest for the day to see the Gulf of Finland. Conveniently, Bus 7, which we could catch right outside our hotel, carried us all the way to the western point of Vasilevskiy Island. The bus dropped us off in front of a very large hotel, which we skirted in our hunt for the oceanfront. The oceanfront park was filled with a few tourists, but mostly locals who were flying kites or windsurfing on the choppy sea. We sat on the cement levee for a while and dipped the toes of our shoes in the water to say we had touched the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. 
It was so relaxing to watch the waves, wind, and not-so-far-off storm clouds shoot off cracks of lightning. On the way back to the bus stop, we wandered through a very large neighborhood grocery store - the first we had seen in Russia. As always, we enjoyed wandering the aisles, seeing what Russians typically eat, and purchasing a few supplies for dinner ourselves. 
We weren't the only ones to find this a magical place - every bridal party in the city (dozens of them) made their way to this spot for pictures and to shoot off fireworks from a special bridal canon. We ate our dinner of sausages and cheese on a park bench in full view of the bridal parties, limos, and in ear-shot of the canons. It was a gloriously strange spot to eat! The clouds and the spray from the fountains made this a very cold, wet spot to sit in for long (poor brides) and we quickly made our way over the river and towards the famous Peter the Great statue that defines the city.
The dog park outside the St. Nicolas Cathedral was a great place to sit and rest our weary feet as we waited for the the sun to hit the onion domes one more time. It was not to be and the sun continued to hide behind the clouds as we made way out of the park and toward Sennaya Ploshchad.
You could get them filled with caviar, cream cheese, or mince meats, or you could get them with strawberry jam. We feasted on more blinys than we care to divulge - so yummy! 
The next part of our day was particularly frustrating, although we're chalking it up to one of those Russian experiences all foreigners must go through (and probably nothing like what they had to do 20 years ago) - registering our visas with the Office of Foreign Affairs. Despite the massive amounts of reading I had done on the subject, it still managed to eat up two hours of our precious time in St. Petersburg, and cost us $50 a piece. 
No one seemed to want to register our visas, some said they couldn't, and some didn't speak English well-enough to understand what we were asking them to do. We tried 3 different agencies before a helpful lady at the train station managed to hook us up with an agency that could register us before leaving Russia on Sunday.
It's hard to describe that feeling that you get when you are standing in a place where so much has happened - you've seen pictures of it your whole life and yet you didn't think it would be this beautiful. We basked in the sun and the glory of the plaza for a few moments before swarms of police officers started shutting down the square for an Elton John concert.
We had excellent, first-tier seats, which provided us an intimate view of the stage and the dancers. It was heaven to sit and listen to Russian music (Tschaikovsky) and to watch Swan Lake in the country in which is was born - goosebumps for three hours straight.
At the true end of the performance (yes, they did end it exactly the way it should have ended!), we exited the theater and our eyes blinked a bit in surprise as we realized it was still very light outside at 11:30 at night. These are the St. Petersburg "white nights" where the sun only sets for a few hours every night. Many people were still out having drinks, walking the streets, and enjoying the cool evening air. We were hoping to get some night photos of the city, but our droopy eyes couldn't imagine staying up until 12:30 a.m. to wait for the dark. The artificial dark of our hotel room was good enough.]]>
Being in Moscow for the first time - after reading about it and seeing it in movies for your whole life - is a little overwhelming and surreal. Every street corner brings a new view that you feel you've seen before, and yet, it's so much bigger and brighter in person! Every building has so much history - all those places that I studied in my history class were right there in front of me!! The Kremlin is so much more red than you imagine it, with the red glass stars on the towers that Stalin used to replaced the double-headed eagle that had symbolized the royal family of Russia. 
As we walked along the Moscow river toward the Kremlin, we were giggling like little kids, snapping away with a fury. And then we saw it - St. Basil's and Red Square - it really is as grand and beautiful as we imagined. All those childhood memories of seeing parades through Red Square came flooding back, but this moment in time, the square was flooded with tourists snapping away and gawking. No ICBMs here - it's a very different Russia now. 
Well, no use getting down on the situation - Red Square was still glorious, and there were many other parts of Moscow to explore. We headed toward the Arbat, the famous pedestrian street running southwest from the Kremlin toward the Moscow River. The street is fairly touristy, with cafes and souvenier shops - but we had one thing in mind - food! We stumbled into this great Russian fast-food buffet place... more like a cafeteria with an Old Country Buffet feel to it. It was packed with locals and hearty Russian food. The rest of the Arbat stroll found us looking in many shops and stalls for fun Russian stuff to take home! Makes us hope for bigger bags - but then we realize how much we like the light load!
Our sad and weary feet needed a break, so we headed for a cruise of the Moscow river, from Kievsky station all the way past the Kremlin, the giant statue of Peter the Great, amusement parks, and many Stalinist-style buildings. We also met a Russian guy and his girlfried who were studying English in New York and were back in Moscow for a short visa break. They were excited to talk to us in English and had many fun facts about Moscow and living in Russia post-communism. At the end of the cruise, we stepped off the boat to yet more onion domes - this time, they were baby blue with stars!
Tim whipped out the tripod and for 5 blissful minutes, we took in the beautiful lights and sounds of Red Square at night. The sky was still glowing with twilight which gave the buildings a gorgeous backdrop. Then as quickly as we entered the square, with panic on our faces (it was 11:03!), we RAN to the nearest subway station, plowed our way through the crowds and emerged above ground at the Leningradskiy Train Station.
He said "Saint Petersburg!!" and then pointed to a narrow entrance to the platforms. Without his help, we would have missed it! We continued to run, more like an all-out panic sprint, until we reached our carriage and the ticket lady rolled her eyes when she saw us. We must have looked so pathetic, and to make matters worse, the carriage felt like a sauna. We were afraid the whole train ride would be a steambath. Completely drenched and coughing from all the running, our train pulled away from Moscow with us on board. We settled into our very small (but cozy) first class cabin (which did have air conditioning!). ]]>
With a bit more confidence on public transportation today, we boarded a cross-town bus and managed to get off at the correct bus stop. The hills above Almaty (and in the shadow of some pretty incredible peaks) are accessed by cable car, providing excellent views of the city and the peaks of the Atlau mountains that divide Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The top of "green hill," as they call it, is somewhat of a theme park, with a petting zoo, cafes, lookout stations, and a large reception hall (which looked to be getting ready for a lavish wedding - oh, the flowers!) We worked our way along the paths on "green hill," snapping photos of the panoramic views and marveling at the large Soviet-style TV tower which dominates the Almaty skyline. We didn't have too long to linger - it was really hot in the noon sun, and we had a rendezvous with a taxi to the airport at 1:00 p.m.
Almaty's airport, while very new and expensive, still felt like we were in a small country. All the normal airport procedures were backwards... you didn't check in for your flight or get your boarding pass until you passed through customs, you went through passport control after that, and then they had a huge international departures lounge where all international passengers waited for their flights. It wasn't until they called boarding for your flight that you went through security and went right to your plane. We've never seen anything like it! 
We landed at 9:45 p.m., but to our bodies it felt closer to midnight. Passing through Russia passport control and immigration was a breeze (we had so many other scenarios in our heads!), and we took advantage of the Airport Express train that runs into Paveletskaya station in central Moscow - a 45 minute trainride. From there, we queued up with what seemed like the entire population of Moscow for metro tickets (they still love to queue even though the communist days are over!) and finally purchased 20-ride proxy cards for the Moscow metro (handy because they can be scanned through your purse, you don't even have to take the card out to be read!). Figuring out the Russian-only subway signs took a little work, and after a little confusion about where the #5 line was, we were on our way toward Park Kulturi station, near our hostel.
As we made our plans for the day, dark clouds were gathering over the peaks, making us glad we chose to stay in the city and wander rather than heading up to high elevations to hike. Almaty seems to lack greatly in taxis (which we discovered we have really become accustomed to after our time in China, Peru, and Kyrgyzstan)... so we had our hotel call us a taxi to take us to the start of a walking tour on the other side of town. But did we get a taxi? No! We got a Mercedes Benz sedan with a hefty $18 taxi fare for a fairly short ride (less than 3 miles). So we learned our lesson, and after seeing no other taxis in Almaty, we quickly learned to take public transport - and it's all in Russian. 
Our walk took us to the St. Nicolas Cathedral, a turquoise and gold-domed cathedral which at one point had been used by the Bolshevik's to house their cavalry. It had been renovated and the iconic art inside was beautiful. Russian Orthodox faithful are very ceremonial about entering cathedrals and we felt a little out of place without all the kissing the ground and signs of the cross - but it was still neat to be a part of where they worship, and feel like a part of their community of faith. We found a shady bench outside the cathedral and snacked on Kazakh desserts, bacon-flavored Pringles (our first choice amongst other crazy flavors!), and yogurt smoothies. So relaxing!
I was even half-hoping they would be performing something that evening, but I think we missed an opera performance by a day. Oh well!
Right across the street from our hotel is the fabulous Zenkov Cathedral which looks like something out of a Willy Wonka movie - it looks candy-coated with gold onion domes! The view from our hotel balcony was stunning, with mountains in the background, but the view from up close, with storm clouds rolling in, was even better! We spent a little time in the plaza outside the cathedral watching Kazakh kids feed the pigeons and play with each other. The inside of the cathedral was even more spectacular - and to think the entire building is made of wood!! Aparently it's the only Czarist-era building left in Almaty - the rest of the town was destroyed in a 1911 earthquake. 
Almaty is also famous for it's markets, the Zelyony market being the most famous. If it was alive at some point (large animals), they sold it. Horse, sheep, goat, and pigs were some of the offerings, as well as fresh vegetables, fruit, and kymys, the fermented milk drink that everyone around here just loves. Outside the fresh food market is the "goods" market - like a huge sprawling clothing mall, Home Depot, and Target combined. Wow, who knew you could buy all these things in one place!! It puts the Mall of America to shame! 
What surprized us most was how green Bishkek was, with most of the streets lined with trees and parks just about every other block. They also had all their fountains going full blast which meant you were showered with a blissfully cool mist as you passed by.
Our meanderings took us past several more monuments and parks full of art and sculpture, through a bustling food and goods market, and to the monument to the fallen soldiers of WWII (shaped like a yurt!). The State Ballet Theater was just behind that and we took a few moments to reenact Swan Lake on the steps of this gorgeous theater. 
The actual passport control for us was a breeze and we were through to Kazakhstan before our driver even made it to the no-man's land over the river. We waited for about a half hour for him to get through security with the car (and our backpacks). In the hot afternoon sun, it seemed like a lot longer! After we met up with him again, the drive through Kazakhstan was smooth and fast over the hot grassy plains of the Kazakh plateau. It reminded us of parts of eastern Colorado with yellow grassy plains and dark mountains in the distance. The roads were noticeably better than Kyrgyz roads, with signs in Russian, Kazakh, and English - and with lane lines painted on the road surface! Still no seatbelts... 
The Hotel Otrar is a very nice hotel - and we decided to splurge for two nights (knowing our future Russia hotels won't be that great!). We ended up with a mountain/park view room with a cool balcony from which to take photos!
These are people we will never forget - I hope they realize how much their hospitality meant to us.
We were dropped off at the Silk Road Lodge in the center of Bishkek, a very nice hotel with lots of English speaking staff. They directed us to an ATM and we spent the night exploring the major Target-like store to the south of the hotel and eating pizza for dinner. Upon checking email that night, we discovered that our hotel reservations in Moscow had been cancelled due to the roof caving in at the hotel. I spent most of the rest of the night in frustration trying to find a hotel in Moscow that doesn't cost $400 per night. Crazy!! I finally found a hostel for much, much less money. ]]>
We had an appointment to stay with one of those families, arranged by the CBT office in Naryn. The drive was a little over 3 hours, passing through dry foothills that reminded us of the Sierra Nevada range in California. After many switchbacks on a road with no shoulder and precipitous dropoffs, the dry countryside quickly changed to rolling green alpine hills. 
They seemed to get a kick out of Tim and I dressed up as traditional Kyrgyz shepherd people - they even gave Tim a hat and coat to look the part. 
Their English was limited, but we enjoyed talking, miming, and learning Russian and English words together. Their plan for after lunch was to go catch "big mice" and they invited us to join them. We just about fell over with laughter when one of the guys lifted his walking stick (or as he said it, his "whacking stick") and yelled "Let the mouse expedition begin!" and we all started the march toward the green hills in a very earnest, solemn procession to seek the "big mice". Later, we realized, these weren't mice at all - they were hunting something like a prairie dog or a marmot. Apparently, they eat the insides, but sell the fur for money. They said shooting prairie dogs is illegal, but these guys were using little wire traps set next to the burrow holes. The hunt took us up over the rolling hills, towards the mountains, where even though we were hunting, it was breathtaking scenery (literally!). Later the 12 year old boy took his horse to check the traps, but didn't come back with anything.
After returning from the hunt, we meandered toward the lake and the herd of sheep, snapping photos and chatting with the group. The late afternoon was truly a relaxing time, playing with their puppy Aktush and sitting in the sun/shade. We also got to play with and admire a two-hour old baby goat that had been born in the pastures while we were eating lunch. It could barely walk and was bleating so loudly as if to say "Where's my mom, and who are you guys?!" 
broth soup, more hearty bread, and again, lots of tea.
Torugart Pass is a land route from China to Kyrgyzstan, and it is considered a "Class 2" border crossing, meaning you need special permission from the Chinese government to cross it. From all we had read and seen, all the paperwork was worthwhile - it is one of the most scenic border crossings in China (maybe only outdone by the Friendship Highway into Nepal). Our first of many passport checks came at the split in the road - one road leads to Torugart Pass, the other leads to Irkeshtam pass which heads into southern Kyrgyzstan. At this very official, brand new customs and immigration station, the officials were very business-like, following all exit procedures to the letter. They scanned our bags (we were afraid they would search them - not that we were hiding anything, but it would have taken more time). We found ourselves commenting that it was easier to enter China through the airport than exit via this pass. Our passports were checked by 3 different people, and our driver had to show special paperwork to allow his vehicle past the Customs station. 
As we climbed toward the pass, the scenery changed from dry desert to dry mountains - beautiful red rock canyons carved out of the foothills of the Tien Shan. Halfway up the pass, we could start to see snow on the peaks around the pass. The road became gravel and we slowed down to accomodate the potholes and washboard surface. As we crested one of the higher switchbacks, getting closer all the time to the final Chinese security checkpoint (not the border), we could see a line up of trucks waiting to cross the border. This absurd line up was not moving at all, with some trucks blocking both lanes of traffic, some pointed up, some pointed down the road. Keep in mind, this is a two lane, dirt road through an alpine meadow. No one was moving. Our guide got out to see when we might move and his answer when he came back was "The Chinese military is going to sort this out." Our driver was very keen on getting out of this total gridlock of traffic, so he and several other smaller cars maneuvered themselves along the dirt shoulders of the road, trying not to roll the car in the process. After several attempts at off-roading through the meadow, our driver succeeded in finding a route 100 feet off the main road between creekbeds and large hillocks of grass. I felt like putting my hands up and yelling "Woooo!!!" as if on a rollercoaster!
Our passports were checked 3 more times by soldiers and after a little more wrangling with truck traffic and muddy roads, we were suddenly at the top of the pass and the only thing between us and Kyrgyzstan was a fence of barbed-wire and a gate. There were several cars on the other side waiting to pick up passengers - one of them was our Kyrgyz driver. Things happened so fast that we didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to our Chinese guide and driver - just a wave goodbye from the Kyrgyz side. Apparently, they don't like people lingering at the crossing. 
While our driver was pumping, we decided to flag down the guard that we first met and ask him about the declaration form and the entry stamp that we couldn't find on our passports (essential if you don't want a fine upon exiting). He took us very seriously, found our stamps on our visas, then ushered us back into the customs building where he had us fill out a second form to take with us. We were very, very glad we asked because we aren't sure what would have happened if we didn't have those forms.
Our decent into Naryn was quick and before long, we were standing outside the CBT (Community Based Tourism) office in Naryn. The director's name was Kubat and he had hooked us up with a bed & breakfast in town and arranged for a taxi to take us there. He was also the one who arranged our trip for tomorrow to Song-Kol Lake and then on to Bishkek. This guy was well connected and very helpful! The B&B was in an apartment in central Naryn - very simple but we were greatful for the place to stay and a chance to interact with the landlady. After dropping off our bags, we explored the streets of Naryn - realizing most of it was closed for the night (including the internet place). Our LonelyPlanet map didn't really match up to the streets of Naryn and made the whole orienteering process worse! Added to that, we were just learning our Russian alphabet, so we had a hard time reading the signs. 
Our night at the Crown Inn was blissfully uneventful. Our wakeup time was early, as one of the items on our itinerary was to wake up early and watch the sun rise over the ancient stone fortress in the town of Tashkurgan, in the shadow of the Pamir and Tien Shan mountains. However, knowing exactly when sunrise occurred was rather interesting, seeing as Tashkurgan is still on Beijing time... everything is somewhere between two to three hours behind. 
After breakfast, we were taken to the valley floor pastures by a local high school boy whose family lived in that area. These pastures are huge and green with little streams and rivers flowing throughout them. As you look out over the pastures, you are struck by the number of yurts, goats, cows, sheep, and the steep mountains on either side of the valley. The yurts we were taken to were certainly meant for tourists, but they were not the main tourist place that all the other Chinese tourists were being taken to. We were left to wander the pastures, and say hi to numerous goats, sheep, and the occasional donkey. We were invited into the yurt for a meal of milk tea, spashlik (bread), and yogurt. On our way back into town, our host hitched a ride with us in order to head into school! 
Back at the Qinibagh hotel in Kashgar (this time we're in room 117 - hopefully a better experience this time!), we dropped our bags and went in search of dinner. Our stomachs were still not back to normal - so what did we do? We ate fast food cake (yes, you heard me correctly, fast food cake in China!) and burgers for dinner (so we're not being entirely authentic - at least we ate at the Chinese equivalent of McDonald's). Our evening took us through the night food market outside the main mosque square, and again through parts of the old town alleys. Life is just to vibrant in those back alleys!
The drive started out crossing the small portion of the Taklamakan Desert south of Kashgar and the terrain quickly made way to red, sandy canyons with glacial rivers flowing through them. 
The Ghez river makes its way between the Pamir and the Tien Shan mountains and cuts mini-Grand Canyons all the way up through the foothills - with stunning 26,000 foot snow-covered peaks above them. We quickly established the word "ting" with our driver - meaning "please stop - we'd like to ogle the mountains!" After a quick passport check half-way up to Karakul Lake (the region is closely watched by the Chinese military), we passed hanging glacier after hanging glacier, and eventually ended up at Karakul Lake. 
The lake is surrounded by sand dunes with 26,000 glacier-covered peaks straight up from there. The lake is that glacier green color, or blue, or black depending on the color of the sky and the clouds. We were quickly approached (read that - foreign tourists!) by Tajik horsemen offering horse rides around the lake. At first we declined, but after a while, two men approached us in a less confrontational manner and we took them up on their offer. The horses were all decked out in traditional Tajik saddlegear and were very calm, even with two rookies in the saddle.
Our ride ended on a quiet peninsula by the lake, our guides left us, and we just sat in awe of God's creation. Tim set up a time-lapse camera shoot, and then we sat and listened to glory music on my iPod for about an hour. We cried and worshiped in one of the most beautiful sanctuaries we've ever been in - this was precious, to be remembered for the rest of our lives.
After a quick walk past the local army training grounds, we ate a wonderful gourmet supper (fried rice served in a baked pumpkin) and headed straight for bed... with visions of Karakul Lake and the Karakorum Highway dancing in our heads. ]]>
Everything from hats, to clothes, to fabric, to knifes, to swords, to plastic dishpans, to dried snakes, to hard candy, and anything else on this planet you can imagine. What a sight to behold! On the weekends, apparently this place is crawling with close to 100,000 people, but we were smart and went on a Tuesday - not as crowded, but still just as fun! After I bought several scarves (what else!) and Tim bought a traditional Uigher hat (he looks so cute!), we made our way to the Id Kah mosque. For 50 cents, we saved ourselves a 20 minute walk in 90 degree heat! 
We used our handy-dandy picture book to point at a picture of a chicken and 10 minutes later, we had pieces of an entire chicken in curry sauce on a plate in front of us, every part of the chicken except what is considered normal chicken in western cultures. 
It was a slice of heaven to watch this symphony of life the way it has been lived for centuries!
The next "audible gasp" moment came as we finally settled into our cab back to the airport and were whipping through the streets to the expressway - and all I heard Tim say as the driver slammed on the brakes was "We're not stopping!" Our taxi rear-ended another car (don't worry, we were only going about 30 miles an hour and neither of us were hurt in any way, shape, or form), messing up the fenders of both cars. We would like to say we stayed and helped, but we don't speak Chinese, and it really was our taxi driver's fault, so we paid the fare and hailed another cab in the middle of the street. 
Meanwhile, the crowd of Chinese passengers was growing more angry and restless by the minute (I don't blame them, but we couldn't join in the crazy shouting so we turned on our ipods and pumped up the volume!). At one point, a whole herd of angry passengers marched to the front of the plane - I'm assuming they demanded why their 8:15 flight still hadn't left by 3:00 a.m.?