We sat in the waiting room with our bags between our feet. Rows of yellow seats were bolted to the floor, facing a giant window that looked straight toward the mountain. From here, the five peaks of Huashan looked like a lotus flower.…
Category Archives: Chinese Dreams
We arrived in Beijing after twelve hours in an airplane and immediately started moving. Trains carried us between cities. Buses climbed toward mountains. We stood beneath the Great Wall, squeezed through stations, wandered through markets, and once ordered an entire Peking duck because the waiter said it served four or five people.
Dani and I were still newly married. We were learning a place together, often without knowing exactly what we were looking at or how we were supposed to move through it. We mostly kept going. There was always another train, another street, another meal, another thing neither of us had seen before.
The Warriors
The government bus left Xi’an behind and wandered through apartment blocks and warehouses before stopping in a parking lot lined with shuttered souvenir stalls and women selling cups of pomegranate juice.
I looked at my wife.
“This can’t be it.”
The other passengers stepped off, turned right, and disappeared into a line of shrubs.…
Another Bowl
Dani stopped outside a candy shop.
Wooden barrels filled the store from floor to ceiling. Each overflowed with brightly wrapped sweets in every color imaginable. Along one wall, glossy candied ducks stretched across souvenir boxes like oversized gummy bears.
We grabbed a plastic bag.…
The Dragon Kept Turning
Through the windshield, Xi’an’s Bell Tower rose ahead of us, illuminated against the night.
Horns and engines competed in the streets below as drivers fought through traffic.
Months of planning had gone into this trip. Weeks of adventure lay ahead.
Yet it wasn’t the Bell Tower I found myself looking at.…
Conservation
We arrived at the panda reserve just after it opened.
The paths were nearly empty.
Without a map, we picked a trail at random and disappeared into the bamboo.
The first panda sat alone beneath a tree.
It didn’t acknowledge us.…
A Griddle among the Eggs
The street toward the temple was packed.
Cars pushed through gaps between pedestrians while storefront speakers blasted the same electronic beat. Vendors stepped into the crowd holding up wool hats, silk scarves, and imitation electronics.
“Hello! Look!”
“Good price!”
“Come see!”…
Too Tired to Tour
The subway carried us back into Chengdu.
We passed beneath a carved wooden gate and into a narrow alley where scooters threaded between pedestrians and women sat beside buckets of turtles. They lifted them toward us as we passed.
Dani blushed and waived her hand away.…
The Blue Tiles Stayed Blue
A sea of photographers stood atop Jingshan Hill, tripods planted against the wind.
They faced south.
Waiting.
Someone beside me checked the time.
Another adjusted a neutral-density filter.
Nobody spoke much.
We all looked down toward the Forbidden City, waiting for sunset—waiting for the palace lights to come on.…
Wonderland
Dani had carried an Alice in Wonderland dress across China.
For three weeks it stayed buried at the bottom of her backpack while we climbed mountains, wandered temples, and rode overnight trains.
Shanghai was the only place it belonged. It didn’t matter it was freezing.…
Peace Hotel
From the Bund, the river looked like a sheet of hammered metal.
Across it, Pudong’s towers blinked through haze.
On our side, the buildings sat shoulder to shoulder in pale stone and dark windows, their facades lit from below like someone wanted them to look older than they felt.…
The Rooflines Didn’t Match
We followed a procession of guides carrying colored flags through a maze of hutongs.
Every few minutes another group merged into ours, then peeled away again.
Neither of us seemed to know where the mansion was. We simply followed the flag in front of us.…
Stage Lights
A hostess led us through People’s Park to a large pavilion and handed us a pot of jasmine tea.
The advertisement had called it a teahouse among other things.
Our seats sat high in the back, but a raised platform put us above the rows in front.…
Six-chicken
I stepped off the subway and looked around.
I knew this station.
Ghost Street.
We’d ended up here by accident our first day in China.
Then, I’d had no idea where we were. Now I knew which way to turn.
~
Ghost Street blazed with neon.…
Crossing the Yangtze
A railroad tunnel crossed beneath the Yangtze.
I had wanted to ride it ever since I saw a photograph of its swirling lights years before.
Only now did I realize the tunnel belonged to Shanghai.
I stood outside its entrance reading the signs.…
Not The Fish
The Fish Hotel couldn’t take us.
Our reservation didn’t begin for another three days, and on this Saturday night every room was full.
The receptionist apologized, then offered us a room for the following night at nearly three times the price we’d paid.…
The Collector
The address led us to a cluster of condominium towers.
We circled the block twice then turned back toward the street when a security guard waved us over.
Cautiously, we approached.
He handed me a business card printed on ordinary paper.…
Twenty-two Tickets
Before sunrise, we rode the subway through a silent Chengdu.
Our stomachs wanted breakfast.
Instead, we went to the railway station.
~
The ticket hall felt almost empty.
Six windows stood behind the counter, but only one was open. We stepped forward and handed over our reservation number.…
Scenes of West Lake
We skipped breakfast in Shanghai because we assumed Hangzhou would be easy.
By noon, we still hadn’t eaten.
First Dani found a coffee shop.
Inside, everything was pale wood and Scandinavian furniture. The tables were full, the pastries looked good, and the prices looked like San Francisco.…
Dingling
Our journey began with dragon-turtles, each carrying a stone tablet on its back, ancient characters neither Dani nor I could read.
Moving past them, willow trees bowed over the path, and morning sunlight flickered through the branches and across the stone.…
Jane
Dani waited on a bench along the Bund, while I wandered a little farther down the river with my camera.
Across the Huangpu, Pudong’s towers glowed against the evening sky.
I’d set my tripod up and was adjusting the exposure when a woman stepped beside me.…
The Sign
“Wake up.”
“Hey. Wake up.”
Dani’s voice drifted into my sleep.
Then someone bumped my shoulder and I lurched awake.
The bus, which had been quiet for hours, now surged as people pushed toward the front windows.
I rubbed my eyes against the sun and looked out my window.…
Back to Shanghai
Our journey to the Yellow Mountains started at Shanghai East Rail Station—the same station we’d arrived at that morning.
Hundreds of travelers waited for the escalators, which crisscrossed between three levels of platforms.
Beside them, an empty stairway climbed toward the departures’ hall.…
Between Two Flights
The pilot’s voice came over the intercom, breaking the silence.
“Please put your seats and tray tables in their upright position and prepare for our descent. Welcome to Beijing.”
Twelve hours of sitting had left my back stiff and my eyes dry.…
The Whole Duck
Peking duck—its name alone begged us to try.
A waiter handed us menus.
“A whole duck serves four or five people.”
Dani looked at me.
“We’ll take one.”
Behind him, rows of lacquered ducks hung from steel hooks in the kitchen.…