Day 1: Wednesday, January 8, 2003
We took the limo to O'Hare Airport at 0900 AM. We departed O'Hare Airport on United, non stop to Hong Kong for the 15 hour flight. Two Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) guys with big 45 pistols on their belts escorted a Chinese man on to the aircraft. They sent him inside the big 747, but stayed outside to make sure he did not leave until we took off. He was a very mean looking guy. After a time he loosened up, and smiled broadly at Beth. I introduced myself to him, and asked about his story. He told me he had been a Canadian citizen for the past 15 years. He is a truck driver and forklift driver.
He flew to Hong Kong, and then flew back from Hong Kong to Chicago. Immigration stopped him at O'Hare and took him into custody. He spent nearly a month in a federal prison in downtown Chicago. They did not even allow him to call anyone. His wife and family have no idea where he is. All his money was taken when he went into prison. They have given him a check for the cash, but he can't cash it. They apparently have lost all his luggage at the prison.
I commiserated with the guy. I told him it sounded more like the way we think you might get treated in Communist China with their record of human rights abuse, than in the US, "Land of the Free." But I also think there must be more to the story. If he did indeed have a valid Canadian passport, I think they would have let him go on to Canada. He spoke fairly good English, so I think he probably has been in Canada for a number of years, but I will bet his passport is not correct. Will never know for sure.
Steven & Miles were our two very nice flight attendants. We told them that we were taking 180 days to travel around the world, taking a sabbatical from work. They both live in Bangkok and gave us some advice on traveling to Laos & Cambodia.
We flew over Canada, and over the polar ice pack. We thought because we were heading west we would have a long day, but it was dark by 4:00 PM because we went so far north. Beautiful sunset over the polar ice pack.
The sunset was a line of black at the horizon with an orange tint, fading into green and blue in the darkness of night. It looked like a jagged piece of lightning split the ice. There was, of course, not a light anywhere on the ground. The flume from the engine exhaust gave a ghostly light against the background.
There was a guy doing Yoga in the galley at 2:15 am. Constant movies all night, most of them incomprehensible. The flight took 15 hours.
Steven & Miles were our two very nice flight attendants. We told them that we were taking 180 days to travel around the world, taking a sabbatical from work. They both live in Bangkok and gave us some advice on traveling to Laos & Cambodia.
We flew over Canada, and over the polar ice pack. We thought because we were heading west we would have a long day, but it was dark by 4:00 PM because we went so far north. Beautiful sunset over the polar ice pack.
The sunset was a line of black at the horizon with an orange tint, fading into green and blue in the darkness of night. It looked like a jagged piece of lightning split the ice. There was, of course, not a light anywhere on the ground. The flume from the engine exhaust gave a ghostly light against the background.
There was a guy doing Yoga in the galley at 2:15 am. Constant movies all night, most of them incomprehensible. The flight took 15 hours.
