The Adventure Begins

Our adventures began on the first Thursday of 2007. Months of planning had gone into this trip, which has quite possibly been the most complex vacation I have ever planned. 48 hours before the departure of our flight from the US there was still no guarantee that we’d be able to leave – my passport sat with the Japanese consulate in Chicago as they pondered what to make of a Pakistani who wanted to travel to Japan as a tourist. Countless times on this trip, as I had traipsed from one consulate to another, I had been asked why I wanted to go visit a country where I knew no one. Befuddled, I was only able to counter with a silly, logical argument that as a tourist I wasn't going to know anyone in my destination country – I was going to be a tourist after all. This never amused the relevant officials.

Still, the passport arrived in time, and everything else fell into place, just as these things tend to do. We landed in Hong Kong, spent two days there hunting for an apartment, (which I will be moving into at the completion of my travels and at the start of my classes), and made final tweaks to prepare for nearly a month of constant travel.

Arrival in Beijing immediately began to dispel preconceived notions for me – the airport was phenomenal, and immigration was a breeze (one of the few places in the world a Pakistani national is welcome, apparently). A quick cab ride brought us to our hotel, where we changed and then set out to explore the ancient city. First stop, Tiananmen square.

You hear about the size of the square, but nothing comes close to the immensity that you experience when you stand in the middle of it. Bounded by the Forbidden City to the north and huge Soviet-style museum buildings to the east and west, the place is massive. The first item on our list was a visit with Chairman Mao, who lies preserved in a temple/building in the middle of Tiananmen square. The experience was surreal, and a little disturbing. You’re not allowed to talk, joke, or take pictures, and you are quickly herded into and out of the building, so that your total experience is barely ten minutes long. During that time, you get to see the man that set China on its modern path to glory, although there are rumors that the body is a wax replica – the story being that the original body was pumped so full of formaldehyde by panicked doctors when Mao passed away that the disfigured body became useless. It’s hard to tell, but I can see why that story persists.

With evening fast approaching, and the cold biting at us, we decided that it was time to eat. It took a bit of walking around, looking at unfamiliar food, and trying to decipher Chinese menus, when suddenly the great Golden Arches of McDonald’s appeared before us. I was disappointed – I didn’t want my first meal in China to be a Big Mac, so I was ecstatic when right behind the McD’s we spotted a Muslim restaurant. There would be no problem with food there, so we dug into some great Chinese fare. There is a sizable Chinese muslim population in Beijing, and we had been told about the number of halal Chinese restaurants scattered around the city. We hadn't expected to find one this early in our trip.

After a quick trip back to the hotel, change of garb, and it was off to a Kung-Fu performance that rocked. Lots of great acrobatics, music, and costume. It made me think wistfully of my days training with Shaolin monks in New York. Some day perhaps I’ll pick that thread back up again.

Exhausted, we made it back to the hotel by 11pm, and collapsed in bed. I was excited - our Asian adventures were underway!