White Swan guests sent elsewhere
This would just totally tick me off.
This article talks about the crazy man from North Korea, Kim Jong-il's visit to China.
Tight security around a five-star hotel in southern China on Friday fed speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is visiting as diplomatic efforts to restart talks on the North's nuclear program gathered pace.
Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police swarmed in and around the opulent White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, putting up road blocks leading to the hotel. Passers-by and bystanders were turned away.
and then a bit later in the article
Employees at the White Swan Hotel said the Chinese government had booked the entire hotel for several days. "A VIP is coming but we don't know when," a woman who works at one of the hotel's restaurants said by telephone.
A front desk receptionist said the hotel was fully booked. "We had to send our guests to other hotels ... We will only open for regular business on the morning of the 16th," a third employee said.
I will be all kinds of ticked off if they send us away from the White Swan so one idiotic crazy man can have the whole hotel to himself. I mean, if nuke talks had a snowballs chance in hell with him that might be different, but they don't.
I haven't heard from any adopters who were chased off because of this... I just can't imagine the stress of it.
posted by RumorQueen at 1/13/2006 06:24:00 PM
1 Comments:
This comes from here:
http://holtintl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30124&sid=7cae16d16f491f934a275ba598cfc5f0
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 4:41 AM Subject: [Journey_to_Alexandra] The crazy last two days
Elvis has left the building. So I'm told it is safe to talk about what's been going on. What a couple of days it has been!!! Wednesday, Catherine told us that some "government official" would be coming to Guangzhou (maybe) and they said that they needed to clear the entire hotel to get ready for his arrival. This a 900 room hotel. Huge and they said the Chinese government has taken over the hotel and everyone needs to leave by Thursday at noon. Catherine argued with them that we needed to stay and Holt has such good relationship with them (holt has an office here in the white swan) and they finally agreed saying that we could stay and Luftansa airlines would also be allowed to stay. She told us security would get tight, but I never imagined just HOW tight security would get.
We learned (from the US) on Thursday that our "important" visitor was the head of North Korea. (For those of you who aren't sure which Korea is the bad one and which is the good one... This is the bad one! The one with the nukes. This is the crazy man who refuses to disarm. It was the meeting regarding this very topic which would take place here. Lucky us!!! How many adoptive parents get to stay in the same hotel with someone who ranks up there on the lunatic meter with Osama Bin Laden??? How many of you who have been there and done that can put that in your adoption book??? On Thursday, in the afternoon, I got a phone call from the front desk that said that we would have to move our room (again). The government has taken control of floors 11 and up (I think it goes to 25). They told me I had 1 hr. to pack and someone would be up to get my stuff. My dad was at the orphanage, so I did a mad dash around and packed us all up once again. They put us on the 9th floor in two adjoining rooms. On the heavily smoking floor. The room stunk!!
Catherine called a meeting that night and told us that we would have to wear temporary White Swan passes around our necks at all times when we are out of our room, carry our room ID and passport at all times even in the elevators. I knew things would be tight here, but I can't even being to accurately describe what it was like on Friday. Thursday night I tried to go to the business center and as soon as I got off the elevator, a man in a dark suit walked right next to me not saying a word. As soon as I turned right to go the the business center the whole hall was blocked by "secret service" looking men (only they were Korean). I said I was trying to go to the business center and they just pointed to the staircase. I said no, I need to go to the business center and they again - more forcibly - pointed to the stairs. So down I went, on a staircase lined with these guys on both sides, and then rode the elevator back up to my room.
Friday the security was even worse on the whole island. The island basically shut down. A few stores stayed open, but not many. The island was closed to cars or to anyone else who wasn't already on it. (which was us, luftansa and all the security). They entire second floor of the hotel shut down (front desk, concerige, bank, etc... ) There was only 1 entrance open and there were Metal detectors and xray machines at the entrance. To get back in, you needed your room id and your passport. Getting to breakfast that morning was a feat in itself. We tried to get on the elevator and were quickly ushered to the "service" elevator. They grouped us all together in the coffee shop where at least they let us eat. There were security people and police people everywhere. They were there as soon as you left your room, got off the elevator and all over the hotel. Silly me, again try to go to the business center on Friday afteroon (the business center said they were open). I had to use the freight elevator once again which dumped me in this hallway. I started walking down this one corridor and this man was yelling at me to go the other way. I said Business Center? He said yes down that hall.. So I started walking down that hall and another man said STOP! I said Business Center. He said WAIT. And kindly, but firmly ushered me back into the hall by the elevator. Finally I found a hotel employee and he talked to him and took me to the business center. Then they called up to the room to tell my dad he is not allowed to leave the hotel, because he won't be allowed back in. There was a mix up in the room numbers and they didn't have his room number on the police roster. They brought us cookies and tea to apologize.
Dinner - We can't go out for dinner so we have to stay in. No place could deliver either so Catherine asked the hotel for a reservation for dinner for all of us. The hotel said no. Restaurant sold out for all the security police people. Once again, our fearless leader, Catherine argued with the hotel and they said okay. We can sit in a part of the restaurant off to the side and eat at the buffet. Coming down those stairs into the coffee shop was a sight I don't think I will ever forget. This is a huge restaurant, remember there are 900 rooms. The ENTIRE thing was packed full of men in blue suits or police uniforms! Talk about being the minority! We stood out like a sore thumb! Dinner was good however, The buffet here is pretty tasty if you could get past feeling like at any moment you can be shot if you make a sudden move!
He left this morning and by the afternoon things were back to "normal" here at the white swan. I think the other families are re-checking in today. They did move us back up to our suite on the 22nd floor. So we packed up AGAIN and moved out of the smoky room!
For the first time, I think I got at least a little glimpse of what it is like to live in a communist nation. The government can easily just take over a private hotel and if you don't like it - too bad. It was pretty unsettling having all these police and security people everywhere. Escorting you everywhere and you couldn't even talk to them. (They don't speak English like the people at the White Swan do!) There were police boats in the water right outside of the hotel. Police on the rooftops around the hotel and all of the streets were blocked on the whole island. POLICE EVERYWHERE!! The island is usually filled with adoptive parents and now it was just us. The Holt group! We learned that it was just not the North Korea leader. There were Chinese Government officials here too as well as someone from the US. (I did see a few US Secret Service people here but not many).
But in the end, Catherine kept us safe and in a much better hotel than the one we would have been shipped off to. But what an unsettling day and a half it was! I asked her if we should be worried about a terrorist attack on this hotel while he was here and she said no that probably wouldn't happen here with him. She said if George Bush was staying here that would be a different story - She would have moved us!
So that is it, in a nutshell. We had to keep quiet until he left. It's so funny, because it is only a "secret" here in China. In the US, it was common knowledge that he was here at the White Swan. But here in China they are still in denial mode. Catherine says that it will probably be in tomorrows news here!
I would have loved to get a picture of all these guys, but I was a little fearful of getting shot. I did get a picture at dinner last night (pretending to take one of my table) but it doesn't nearly do it justice.
Thanks for all the concern about us! I'll post more later about our day today!
Kathy
Post a Comment
<< Home