Around China in Ten Days

Where did I leave off....in Guangzhou? Two days in a row I got to experience being lost, due to confused taxi drivers, mostly......and 'found' in answer to prayer. Since it was not possible to buy train tickets, we were full of praise for the air tickets the Lord supplied at a reasonable price for each leg of the journey from there on. On Sunday my brother (dubbed "Super Verne" by one of his students there) preached on weakness, and the quartet he arranged, sang in Chinese and English for the morning service.

Our next city was Kunming, where I started out twenty years ago this fall. Sadly, the cults have made such deep inroads that we had no contacts left there. Looking out the window, we spied a small burro with a monkey on its back accompanied by a dog. We also met a funeral procession in full regalia. Due to time shortage, we cancelled the trip on to Qujing where our apartment is. An all-night ride on a bus winding through the southern mountains made for a cosy sleep experience. It was soothing to me (though by no means to all) to rock in my little crib as we sped around the curves.

Then we arrived at the most exciting place, as it was new to all of us.....none other than Xishuangbanna! Summer was ours there in the banana belt! Since it borders Burma, there were lots of Burmese there, as well as Thai's and their food, and Vietnamese likewise. Everything was written in Dai, as that tribe predominates the region. Our extremely inexpensive hotel was surrounded by coconut palms. In fact one of the boys tried to shoot down coconuts with his slingshot, firing through his bedroom window. The quartet sang in the lobby for a local brother. I located one of those flimsy bamboo bridges of the scary Yunnan style, which just "had" to be crossed. (Pictures later.) Palm fronds bordered our delicious lives, as we feasted on fruits we could not identify, as well as tropical favorites such as mangosteins. I loved every minute!

From Summer we proceded (via Kunming where the plane stopped long enough to let one boy lose his passport for awhile) on to Winter: BEIJING! Brrrrrr! The Great Wall was brutally cold with a furious wind! The children and I needed to get train tickets asap to return to Hangzhou. Christian and I stood in line for an hour at the train station only to be told there were none (travel is very tight near the Spring Festival). I had told him, "Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide". We walked out and saw air tickets advertised for 80% off. There was no one in line, so we stepped right up and learned that the only thing available was for in the morning at 70% off! That was cheaper than train tickets, so we thankfully accepted God's provision. Early next morning we sped to the airport and waited an hour on the plane before take-off. We were informed in English that our pilot has flown planes for 20 years with an excellent record and the copilot for 17 years with a varied record (!) All went well until we were landing, and then it wasn't clear which one of them was piloting...or was it a stewardess trying her hand? It was very amateur, as we came down wildly on one wheel-- full-throttle roared the engines in reverse, and the plane sprang up, leaped and danced, as we braced for dear life! This was the climactic close of our trip around China.