Beijing - Day 2: I know what I did the last 6 days

Day 2: 30 May 2011 (Mingdu Hotel - Forbidden City)

2:05 a.m. - Tut tut...tut tut....tut tut..... My deep sleep was shattered when I heard the phone ringing. I thought it was our wake-up call, which was scheduled for 3:30 a.m. daily (Subuh is mighty early in China in the Summer and days are long, but nights are short).

When I picked up the phone, a sleepy female recptionist told me in her halting English that my luggage had arrived. I almost jumped for joy, despite being very sleepy. The clock showed 2:05 a.m. I was deliriously happy. I thought, at least, I could now change into fresh clothings.

Took the elevator down and was ushered to a small room. When I looked around with my haf-asleep eyes, my joy turned into horror as I could not find my bag among the luggage in that room. But thank goodness, my daughter's luggage had been found. I was somewhat relieved but felt sad at the same time.

Dejectedly I pulled my daughter's luggage into the elevator. As my missing bag was occupying my mind, sleep eluded me. So I decided not to go back to sleep. I decided to talk to God, have a conversation with Him.

It was a plea to Allah. In the stillness of the night, I pleaded to Allah to send my luggage back to me. I continued praying until Subuh prayers. And after waking up my daughter, I went back to sleep.

Before the alarm went off, I was awaken by the ringing on my phone. My husband who was worried about my missing luggage had texted me  to enquire about it. Dejectedly I relayed the bad news to him.

8:00 a.m. - As I had no fresh clothes, my daughter offered her T-shirt (thank God it fitted). I continued to fervently pray to Allah for the return of my luggage.

We had breakfast in the room (We weren't really keen on having breakfast at the coffehouse as we were sceptical of the halalness of the food). I had brought bread, cheese stick, sardine and maggi. This morning we had sardine sandwich.

8:25 a.m. - Went down to the coffeehouse to have coffee but the coffee tasted awful. Helped ourselves to some boiled eggs so that we could eat those for the next day's breakfast.

9:00 a.m. - Left Mingdu hotel for Forbidden City (See story on Forbidden City)