In 12 hours, I will be on a flight to Shanghai with my dad and sister. Motherland here we come! Back to the roots. Genetically, my grandparents and their ancestors and so on (or so I know) are all from China. Maybe Mongolia if we’re going to root back to Genghis Kahn (watched a documentary recently, apparently 1/200 people living today have his blood.) My parent’s were born in Taiwan after my grandparents escaped China in the 40s when Mao ze Dong took over and kicked Chiang kai Shek & his KMT party out. It was leave or be massacred.
I’m quite excited to visit the homeland. Ive been to Taiwan & Hong Kong a handful of times (if you consider it China). I went to Beijing a decade ago and wasnt into it then. I climbed a miniscule portion of the great wall, visited the forbidden city, saw some opera’s, and got some massages (no happy endings). I realized that at different ages, different stages in our lives, we appreciate places differently. When we went, it was in December, the heart of winter, fuhh-reeezing cold below 0 temperature. And back in hormonal high-school days, none of us were ever satisfied no matter what we did. So this will be a fresh new trip.
We will land in Shanghai for 2 nights. Meeting up my dear Chinese-American friends Albert & Victoria (who I’ve set up to become BFF’s. clap clap), individuals who have become expats and found better, more promising careers in Shanghai. It’s been the common trend #recession #americaneconomy. Comrades of my generation, and even my parents generation going back to Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China for better career opportunities.
We will hang in Shanghai to see the nightline, and tour the city by day. 3rd or 4th morning, we will be en route to Fu-chou, in southern China next to Guang-zhou where my dad’s parents are from. We have some family business friends who will take us around. And then en route to Yunnan where I am most excited about. Yunnan is in southwest China, bordering Burma, Vietnam & Lao’s, a boat ride away from Thailand. The most diverse of the China states, Yunnan has over 40 different ethnic groups & religions that live amongst each other peacefully. We will lounge our way through from the capital of Kunming, to Dali, to Li-jiang, and hopefully all the way up to Utopia, aka the “real” Shangri-La. Now whether this is the “real Shangri-La” James Hilton had written about in Lost Horizons back in the 30′s, to many, it may as well have been all a fiction. “Shangri-la” or “paradise” is where you make of it (but somewhere bordering Pakistan/China). So I will decide for myself when I arrive if that is my paradise.
After a week in Yunnan, our itinerary is open. Open to X’ian, or Cheng-du.. or ending our trip at the beaches of Qing dao (in Shan-dong, northern eastern China where my mom’s parents are from). Coincidentally, the Qing dao beer festival is going on now, kind of like the Octoberfest but a Chinese version. That could be a fun or absolute terrifying claustrophic experience. I’ll let you know if I ever reach there.
I will be gone 17 days. I have to admit the older I get, the more nervous I get before leaving on trips. And if anything, my trips are getting shorter and shorter. It was India for 3 1/2 weeks in 2008. 1 month in SE Asia in 2009. 3 weeks to Turkey, Greece, Israel last year. Responsibilities are piling up against my will and I’m feeling guilty for taking such time off. But I bet once I’m on the road again, all the travel itching will begin. I have designated my sister as director/producer, and hopefully we’ll come back with some good footage to edit. The past few years’ footages have all been sitting in my battered hard-drive, completely unattended. Poor children.
We shall see. Have a beautiful August my pung-yo’s. I’m off to exploring part of my root.. and replenishing that wanderlust that needs to jet-set far too often. Bon Voyage!
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