Trip Number One - Meeting Xin Jiao

I boarded an Air Canada airplane in the wee hours on a Friday morning in Atlanta Georgia.  I had been up all night packing and then driving to Atlanta and I just could not sleep.  After the airplane took off I fell asleep and slept all the way to Toronto.

Later I was on a flight from Toronto to Hong Kong when thought of doubt and reality began invading my mind.  How would I manage; I don't speak Chinese; I'm crazy for trying this; will Xin Jiao really be there waiting for me?

I knew nothing about what waited on the other side of the door.  It was adventure to the extreme.  But I was ready for it.  At least I thought I was, but as I said before, doubt was setting in.  I drifted in and out of sleep and watched on board movies.  It was 19 hours of travel in a cramped middle seat on the airplane.

Ron a friend from Canada and his lovely wife were in China and just happened to be in Hong Kong and had volunteered to get me to Shenzhen China where my beautiful Xin Jiao was waiting for my arrival.  I called her on the pay phone and she said no that she was waiting for me at Shekou so I found my way to the boats with the help of an American who lived in Shenzhen and went across the bay to China.  About a 30 minute boat ride.

Everything was so new to me and I worried about Ron because I didn't have his cell phone number.  At the same time I didn't want to upset Xin Jiao.  Fortunately I had given Xin Jiao's cell phone number to Ron's fiance and they communicated with each other while I was on the boat.

The boat arrives and I wait for my luggage.  Standing in line waiting for my turn and the man barks of something in Chinese.  He sees the puzzled look on my face and points to the passport in my hand.  He looks at it and a few things on his computer then stamps the passport and I head for the door.

Here comes the thoughts again.  Will she be there?  Will I recognize her?  Will she be as beautiful as she is on camera?   I go through the door only to be hit by the oppressive heat and humidity and the first smells of China.  There were several people there waiting for loved ones and then I see her.  All I could say was WOW.  Xin Jiao was even more beautiful that I had seen her on the internet.  She is 48 but to me didn't look a day over 30.  We hurried into a taxi and off to where she lived.  For the time being she was living in her sisters home in Shenzhen.  She cooked supper and I must say it was great then she took me to my hotel about 3 blocks away.

It was difficult to go off to sleep, I was on the third floor of a hotel and the noise on the street were deafening. It was like day time but it was dark.  China being as big as it is never sleeps.  The streets are full all of the time.  Cars and more cars; honking their horns at 3am; people yelling and laughing...   I finally drifted off with dreams of what was to come.