In October when we were invited to spend the Christmas Break with Edward's family in China, we named a few places we would like to visit: Beijing, Xian, the Great Wall. Tibet, via the week-long train ride from Beijing.
Beijing, come to find out, is a four hour plane ride from Shenzhen, where Edward lives. It is very cold in winter, which would mean packing extra winter clothes, which seemed prohibitive. And the smog this winter has been intense and debilitating.
Xian, site of the life-size clay army, is far from Shenzhen, too, and also cold. Ditto the Great Wall.
Tibet on the train was a joke, although we'd have done it if Edward and his mother had agreed.
Since Edward was not going to plan the itinerary until he had gone home for the break (he attends Syracuse U), we also gave him some general ideas about the kinds of things we would prefer: old over modern, country over city, the seldom-traveled over the much-trampled tourist meccas, people over most alternatives, traditional Chinese anything over global or western or "fusion" stuff.
Especially, we made a specific request to visit the "home village" Edward has mentioned many times.
With a proper understanding of Chinese and a very detailed map, it is even possible to locate his home village. (To give you an rough idea of where to put your finger on a map of China, Taiwan is approximately behind Yujia's elbow and Hong Kong is approximately behind Edward's.)
With these interests expressed, but no clear sense of where we were going or when or how, beyond the JFK to Hong Kong and the Hong Kong to JFK parts, we departed for China. You might say this was "learn as you go."
Eighteen hours later, most of it in the air and the remainder in line at immigration in Hong Kong, we found Edward waiting for us.
You've got to love a city with buses that carry "sincerity" and "eternity" signs on the back. From Hong Kong we crossed the bridge and stopped for another border crossing to enter the mainland.
The border crossing is more involved than this toll station, but not a lot more involved. It is rather like crossing into Canada from Buffalo, New York.
We rested from our long flights at the Edward's home, then from Shenzhen we traveled north and east about three hours drive to see the Yuanshan Temple in Lufeng.
Then on to Luhe, the town near the villages we would be visiting. Edward's family owns an apartment building there. Like their big home in Shenzhen, this building has room for much of the extended family. In fact, his father's older brother and family occupies the second floor.
From Edward's family residence in this town we took daily trips out to see the mountains and the villages that his parents were born and raised in. First his mother's village . . .
Then his father's . . .
I will have more to say about both of these villages in later blogs; but for this thumbnail sketch they must just be points on the map.
After three days of town and village life we drove back to Shenzhen. From there we went to Guangzhou, as we did during out 2011 visit, where we ate with a lot of people we know, toured several old treasures, and sat in traffic.
At this point we were nearing the end. We went back to Shenzhen to pack and then to Hong Kong for a day before heading back for New York.
Day to day we knew generally where we might be heading, but often we waited for Edward to say, "We're leaving now," which was sometimes preceded by animated conversation in Chinese and sometimes came out of the blue. Gradually as we became seasoned travelers, we knew the drill: grab your coat, put on your shoes, and wait at the door.
There it is in a nutshell, a succession of surprises and priceless experiences. In retrospect, the trip that rolled out before us one surprising moment at a time looks straightforward and easy.
And far too short!
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