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Originally published in Pre-Upgrade Sally in the Zen in 2010-2011
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In April 2007, Zen Master, Zen Mum and I signed up for the The Best of China Cities – 12 days tour with a 6-city itinerary: Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, HangZhou, SuZhou and Shanghai.
Translation: TRIP OF A LIFETIME
As an American-born Chinese, I make Zen Master proud by being unable to speak my own language. English is the first language that I recollect when I was a child, Chinese being secondary. In light of our trip, I’d thought it would be a good thing to be able to speak some Mandarin.
So, you know, I could blend in and not be a complete freak.
The library is my bestest friend, and it lent me some conversational Mandarin CDs for a few months prior to our departure.
I had kept a journal while in China, and here verbatim was the first page:
Friday, April 6, 2007:
Woke up at 4:00 AM. 13-hour plane ride painfully long. Saw for the first time Palom Plateau – mountains near Beijing.
Translation: Woke up early to catch bloody long flight out of either Atlanta or Chicago (I don’t remember which) to Beijing. As the plane neared Beijing, saw rugged mountains (LAND!!) and when we finally disembarked, I threw myself on the ground and rolled around on terra firma because I’d forgotten how it felt. Can we say claustrophobia?
And can we say: Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.
WOW! Too bad I couldn’t get a better picture, but the tour bus was going too fast!
Oh my!
I’ve always had problems with anyone invading my personal space. That went out the window here. We learned pretty quickly that there was no such thing.
The final entry in my journal for this day:
SLEPT LIKE A ROCK.
Next stop: TIANANMEN SQUARE AND THE GREAT WALL
