Typical conversation with taxi driver etc.
Them: American?
Us: Englando (alternatively Engrando in Japan)
Them: Aah! David Beckham!
Us (with varying degres of enthusiasm): Manchester United.
Them: Aah! - lapse into companionable silence.
We left Korea at last after a lovely stay in the centre of Seoul with a French Canadian teacher. Due to some mis-information (yes, really.) we were a bit late arriving to check in for the ferry. We arrived by taxi and a harrassed looking official with a walkie-talkie collared us immediately (lunky forn types with big backpacks...noticable? moi?) and dragged us off to check in. If there is one way to get through the formalities quickly, it is definately to be the only western passengers and late for an Asian ferry! Within a few minutes, and only a mild scolding later, we had joined the last of the passengers on the transfer bus, and were soon settled in our almost luxurious cabin - double bed, en-suite shower room, vanity console, comfy seating, and best - a DVD system!
After watching the absorbing spectacle of our large ferry being tugged and pushed into the narrow sea lock (due to tidal variation) we settled down to 24hours of serious slobbing. We ate in the canteen, we planned, we saw a bit of the East China Sea, and we watched Bridget Jones 2, Casanova and the Da Vinci Code. Almost always in English. Lovely. I suspect we might be the type of people who end up on cruises. Aaargh!
We arrived in China later than expected, docking in Tenjin 2 hours later than we thought. We toddled onto the shuttle bus and were sanguine as the supposedly 2 hour journey to Beijing took about 5 hours. When the bus started to arrange who wanted to be dropped where, I showed the name of our subway stop the unofficial hostess lady (I say unofficial, because she hid in the stairwell when we went through the motoway toll barrier.) and she took over from there. As with everwhere else of the trip, people have been endlessly accomodating where ever we have been off the usual tourist trail. Even the taxi driver was given our hosts phone no. to make sure they we on the kerb to meet us!