The Two Colins

I arrived at Beijing on Thursday in the late afternoon. It was not without an amusing incident. The airport itself is monolithic and threatening on the outside but friendly and modern on the inside. Customs and Immigration was a breeze. It seemed this smooth entry was continuing when I was met as I exited by a girl holding a hand held card with my name. All according to plan. After an exchange of a few questions we set off in a taxi for downtown. A pleasant conversation was interrupted twenty minutes later by Helen’s cell phone. We had reached ring road one, well towards the centre (number six is currently being constructed). What transpired to prompt the phone call is that another passenger on my plane, a professor from Washington, D.C. had called his academic contact to say he had not been picked up. Julia, the girl supposedly meeting me had not meanwhile found me. A quick call to her cell confirmed she was still waiting for me back at arrivals. Julia is very detail oriented and was somewhat frantic. We put her in the loop, figured out which answers to which questions had been misunderstood and did a U turn. Two hand held signs, two Colins on the same plane and poor communications. Each man got his girl but not the one the Great Helmsman (see preceding post) intended. We all met up at Starbucks on arrivals level. Welcome to China Professor Colin Forbes, and hey why not me too?