There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.
- Robert Louis Stevenson, Scotland
I will be packing up to head way up north to the cold of Beijing tomorrow. Pretty exciting since we are taking a midnight flight and I get to wiggle in the snug comfort of the small seating of cattle class. So far weather projection has been good (or the way I like it) - real ass kicking cold. It probably would not matter if you come from Finland but it is definitely a big deal for me!
Given the last trip I made was up to Hoi An in Vietnam and took quite a lot of interesting shots, I am itching to see what Beijing has to offer. There is not a set of assumed "must-take" shots and I am not going to go rigid on it. If the Tiananmen happens to be the backdrop, so be it. But I sure hope that there will be an interesting old man crouching by a corner block, smoking his opium stick... Now, that is one shot I will pay for!
We are staying pretty central, which is damn fine. Although I have been told that it will be a heck of a walk still to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City (you know, those who just can't resist downloading all kinds of "traveler's only" advice to you the moment they found out you are heading up there?) I think my boots are definitely made for this walk.
And my violin will be heading up there with me too. Ten days without any playing just seem too long for me.
Come to think of it, I am getting more excited given that it is kind of a "update" daily in that CNN or BBC format, like "this is Vivien, reporting live from Tiananmen". My imagination is running wild again.
On a more personal note, I am returning to the Motherland (as cliche as it sounds) and I will be among where the first of the Hans roamed the land, where the Manchurians fought into our cities, and overthrown the Mings, and the heady mix of other tribes, ethnicities, foreign traders, cows, chooks, pots and pans.
This grand old dame has definitely been to places without moving a bit!
