Finally Seizing the Opportunity
June 14th, 2006 by MarkPeople who have known me for a few years in Taiwan will have no doubt recognized a common theme. I was going to visit mainland China last summer, but I just didn’t get the chance. I hope I can make it this next time. I must have said those two sentences once or twice a month for the last three years! In 2003, I couldn’t go because of SARS. In 2004, I was broke and looking for a job. Last year, I left Modawei and came to Ron’s school. At the time, I was pretty busy moving, etc…, so I didn’t have the chance to go then, either.
This summer will be different, though. Despite my overwhelming desire to save money, I’ve already booked tickets and I’m going no matter what. I’ll arrive in Shanghai on Sunday night, July second, spend about a week there head up to Beijing for a few days, and then come back to Taiwan on Saturday the fifteenth. To help me out of my Taiwan-induced bourgeois wimpiness, I think I’ll take the train from Shanghai to Beijing… maybe the hard sleeper. I’ll definitely be meeting up with John, and hopefully some other people, too. If you live in either of those two cities and want to meet up, or have any suggestions of places I “must see”, please let me know. This is going to be awesome to finally have a chance to see the mainland! I’m psyched! I’m already practicing my 捲舌 and checking out online China guides.
:
June 14th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
you have only 13 days in China !!!!!
It’s such a short time !! There’re tons of places you MUST SEE in China !!!!
Come on Mark…
June 14th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
I’ll be getting married around then so I’m sure to be busy. Otherwise, I’d be happy to be the lightbulb to you and John.
June 15th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Welcome you to mainland China! I’m John’s roomate and an occasional reader of your blog. And user of your number tool, nice work. I look forward to meeting you.
June 15th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Smokey, I feel the same way. If only I had limitless money and time, I’d spend a whole year travelling in China. This trip, I’ll just hit a few key spots. I don’t have that much time, and I’m not planning on any sort of “whirlwind tour”.
Micah, congratulations! I’m sure this won’t be my only trip to the mainland. What city do you live in?
Lennet, see you soon.
June 16th, 2006 at 12:09 am
Micah lives in Shanghai too. I’m proud to announce that I’m partly responsible for both Micah’s move to Shanghai and his meeting his wife. hehe
You and Lennet should definitely talk while you’re here, since he’s planning a move to Taipei.
June 16th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Mark, any time you want to take a trip to China, write me email, I can help you to make plans or maybe we can go travel together.. It will be great to travel with someone knows chinese cluture.
i think you got my email address,right ?
June 20th, 2006 at 2:34 am
Hey - drop me a line when you’re in Beijing. They’ve got 卷舌 and 儿化音 beyond the dreams of avarice here - it’s great.
June 20th, 2006 at 3:42 am
Smokey, thanks for the offer! I guess you already know my plans this time. I’ll send you an email before I go next time.
Brendan, that would be great! Believe it or not, Franc just recently suggested that I get a hold of you to ask about your experiences in Harbin. I’ll email you at this address before I take off from Shanghai.
December 7th, 2006 at 6:14 am
Such a pity that I wasn’t here when you announced your plan to come to Beijing, otherwise my family - my husband and kids would have been happy to invite you to our home to show you how nice we Beijing people can be. Hehe…
Maybe drop me a line next time when you come to Beijing. It’s always nice to meet new people, isn’t it? Well, even if you don’t have the time to meet us, if there’s anything we can help with here, let me know.