I am going to China on Friday.  There will be postcards.  But to whom should I send them?  Who are you?  I will write my passing postcard thoughts here, if they reach into your heart tell me, you are my you.
Wednesday, May 7th
I am leaving a country madly rushing into a past that no longer exists for one that is barrelling into a future that they invent as they go along.  The velocity is stunning.  After India, Egypt, Istanbul, Japan, I finally know how to pack.  Especially the packets of tuna fish.  Because one day mid journey you wake up so disoriented that only tuna fish can reestablish your identity.  

Friday, May 9th
The flights to Beijing take two days, we won’t get there till Sunday evening.  I am an introvert, 1.4 billion people could give me a heart attack.  As it is I always walk around with noise cancelling headphones and sunglasses.  

Sunday, May 11th
I am now behind the great Chinese firewall, no email apps work.   I need to be present.  

Monday, May 12th
Peking duck in Peking, check. AQI 112, masking. Jet lag insomnia. Missing the Japanese 24/7 7/11 stores.  Apparently they are here somewhere.

Tuesday, May 13th
The Zoomers dress up like ancient Chinese court aristocrats, adorable.  With sneakers peeking out from underneath, doing walking selfies.  

We visited a hutan (multi family residential alley) in old Beijing where our host, a 5th generation Kung Fu master, played two songs on the Chinese violin. And gave me a new warrior hand signal.

Wednesday, May 14th

The Great Wall of China. The Wailing Wall. The Berlin Wall.  Trump’s border wall.  Will that too become a tourist attraction?

Thursday, May 15th

History lecture at the university. It is rather humbling to hear and see what a country has been doing for the last 5,000 years when your is only 400 years old and rapidly decivilizing.

A Tang dynasty show: the headdresses, the costumes, the musical instruments, the acrobatic ballet. So much beauty.  I need a career change.

Friday, May 16th

The Terracotta Warriors are of course impressive but like the Pyramids or the Taj Mahal, you have already seen too many images of them to be surprised.  But the thousand year old Muslim section of the city is a foodie’s dream.  

Saturday, May 17th

It has been easier for me to go to China then relocate to Granby.  Divine timing.  I have two Quebecois poetry projects in mind, civic, not personal. 

Sunday, May 18th

Yangshou, south China, these magical mountains surround the city and go 300 miles to Vietnam.  

Career change from Tang Dynasty concubine to Chinese landscape painter.  Less trouble with the toilette.

Finally we saw real village life, which is 60% of the population.  Attaching several pics.  

Monday, May 19th

On the bullet train to the pandas. There is NO wildlife in China, maybe 1800 wild pandas, snow leopards as rare as the yeti, they ate all the rest.

So third career change, panda. You lie around covered in food and just chomp all day while you are photographed.  

Tuesday, May 20th

Floating down the Yangtze. Third largest river on earth after the Nile and the Amazon. 

At a relocation village - 1.3 million villagers were relocated to build the Three Gorges Dam. The tiny little 78 year old matriarch had 5 children, still works on their farm to grow their food and goes dancing in the evening. My inspiration!

At the village market if you buy a fish they will filet it but if you buy a goose you are on your own,baby 🤣

Greatest shown on earth tonight, sets moved, audience seating moved, girls and trees in pink dropped 100 feet from the sky, and horses and water everywhere. The choreography! The Chinese creativity is astonishing.

Wednesday, May 21st

Acupuncture, acupressure, scraping, herbal tinctures.  

Feng Jie, the poetry capital of China.  I bought a collection. You can read it by hovering your cellphone over it with Google Translate.  We did that in a supermarket in Japan.

Thursday, May 22nd

Today the dam and a 6 hour bulletin train to Shanghai. The trip is ending too quickly. Should have extended the stopover in Dubai 3 days but too expensive to make the air travel changes now.  

Friday, May 23rd

Shanghai for the last two days. China is magnificent. And mind boggling.  18 cities with more than 10 million people, we do not have a single one.  And the country covered with a network of bullet trains, we do not have a single one.  A robot got on the elevator with me after breakfast.

Silkworms are fascinating, I can get a poem out of them. 

Tonight is an acrobatics show. My introversion has kicked in and I absolutely need to stay in, alone, with my book Les Fiancés de l’Hiver.