My China Odyssey

The smile that had crept upon my face during landing was still there as I disembarked the plane. The leg of the journey that began almost twenty-four hours ago was drawing to a close. But, the journey I have dreamed of for more than fifteen years was about to begin. I was so absorbed in thought that I barely remember exiting the plane and going through customs. After passing through customs I began looking for my contact in the People’s Republic of China, Bin Xu. I passed a few greeters holding signs with names printed in English but my name was not to be seen. Since my flight was about forty-five minutes late I figured Bin would be one of the first in line waving a sign. I had no idea what he looked like so the sign was my only link. While circling the greeting area I spotted what appeared to be a fellow American in the same predicament. Having some time to kill, I decided to walk up and start a conversation.

I had deduced correctly; he had arrived about an hour early and was still waiting on his contact. For some reason this made me feel a little better about my current situation. He was from Portland, Oregon and in Shanghai on business for the next couple of weeks. We chatted for several minutes discussing the experiences of our long journeys. I found that our intitial experience with China Air’s food was very similar. With one exception, he spit the food out of his mouth without a second thought. After a few more minutes of comparing our adventures, we decided to look around once more for our missing greeters, being sure to alert the other if we came across missing greeters. During my second pass, I heard what I thought was my name being spoken. I turned to see a man about five foot tall wearing glasses and dressed in all black. I was unsure if this was Bin, or if I had just imagined hearing my name. Just then he spoke once more with an unsure smile on his face, “Johnny White?” .

I smiled and answered, “Yes, you must be Bin.” He nodded. Even though I had not been very worried, it was a relief to know I would not be sleeping in the airport. He told me his arrival had been delayed as well and apologized for the inconvenience. After exchanging pleasantries we made our way to a group of buses just outside the terminal. Bin directed us to the one that would carry us to downtown Shanghai . The bus was nearly full but we were able to find two seats just across from one another. As we chatted Bin told me we would be staying at a hotel in Shanghai for the night and take a bus to Nantong in the morning. As much as I was looking forward to arriving in my new town, I was pleased we would not be traveling any further this night. The soft pillow that had been dancing around in my head for the pass several hours would soon be a reality. I guess that the rigors of my trek had began to take a toll on me, at some point during the bus ride I nodded off. The next thing I know Bin is tapping me on the shoulder and directing me off the bus. From there we jumped into a cab. The air conditioner was blasting away which was great as it was a very muggy night. As we drove my eyes were drawn to the many sights around me. I’m not sure how long the cab ride took as I was transfixed on the beauty of Shanghai at night. Before I knew it we were pulling up to the hotel that would be our home for the night.

Tags: Travel

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