Quote:
Originally Posted by motion
Nice pics and stories, Rick. You're lucky to be comfortable traveling in China. I sure couldn't do it.
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Ah, but you could and would probably enjoy it more than I am now too. I was thinking about you today because of a comment you made in a previous thread about getting too comfortable and wanting to get outside your comfort zone. That's how I did China the first time in 2005. The curiosity was just killing me after dating a woman from (co-incidentally) Nanjing and then getting dumped before we were able to make a trip here together. So I stuck a pin in a map, booked a flight, booked no tour and just showed up and winged it for three weeks. I did have some local help, but was largely at the mercy of strangers. It was very challenging, but immensely rewarding. It changed my life. When you roll that way, you learn more about yourself than the country you're visting, even though China is pretty different from the US and next to no one here speaks English.
Now I'm fat and lazy, my wife handling everything for me here. It was a mini thrill when I left the hotel this morning while she was still sleeping, I walked around, found some mini mart the size of your bathroom and bought some green tea and smokes, said "good morning" in Chinese and had to quickly understand the pricing when the clerk told me what I owed her. I used to do stuff a lot more involved when my Chinese was more limited.
I like the feeling of being stuck in a strange place with $50 in my pocket, no cell phone or map and having to use my wits to figure my way out of the jam. I'll probably take a few domestic flights here on my own, while my wife stays with her folks. So there could be some more adventure to write about. For now it's just savoring the amazing food and sights (again). But I'll take it.