05/06/2005 For the nth time, i'm wondering what the hell I'm doing going to china. It's been a while since I've been to a country where I didn't speak or understand the language. And unlike other foreign countries I've been to, it's not like I could even pronounce something by reading it. I'm actually concerned about how i'll be able to find my way around. Now, as we are about to land, there's an anxiety that I haven't felt in a very long time. I've been to morocco, prague, vienna, Bosnia, Croatia, and I've managed to get around. Though in those places, I've at least studied one of the languages spoken there or at least learning how to pronounce their alphabet, and then deciphering signage by their cognates... but CHINA? I have a tough enough time getting around in New york's Chinatown. Now, I'm going to a place where there are a BILLION of them. Lord help me. I might as well have traveled to another planet. I should be grateful though. It's good to know that there are still places on this planet where a westerner can go to be thoroughly disoriented. If this place is as enchanting as the tourbook makes it out to be, I wonder why there are so many chinese who have left. We are now at an altitude of 5000 feet, and about to descend upon Shanghai. I'm wondering what it will be like to set foot upon Chinese soil. Will it be any different? Will I weigh the same?