Where I Left You

I wandered off and left you. I am not sure how that could have happened. There was simply so much commotion. I was confused by the cacophony of Mandarin that I simply did not understand. There were so many people. And the heat…the heat and the humidity. It must have left me dazed and confused. In this midst of this confusion, your hand must have slipped from mine and before I realized it, I must have drifted into the crowd and been carried away by the current going down stream. But I have found my way back. Take my hand and we will continue on from where I last left you.

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I was stranded in front of the Sheraton. Well, it’s perhaps not nice to say, but when you are blonde haired and blue eyed in China, you are an oddity and there is no shortage of people who want to help you out. Or at least have their picture taken with you. They are curious about you. The fact is, I could have joined a traveling freak show and drawn huge crowds. But this was not one of those moments. There were no crowds here. This was an upscale establishment away from the dense neighbourhoods of the common man. But there was a doorman who promptly felt the need to help me in the midst of my distress.

“Is there a problem here?” he inquired.

I explained what had just happened and discovered that the Sheraton does have a bus that goes to Mutiyanu at 8:30 every morning. Well, it was now 9:30 so that was out of the question.

The doorman was outraged that the taxi driver would leave me stranded and wanted to report him immediately. I hesitated. I had been warned of the punishments that some poor Chinese souls have had to endure as the result of some disgruntled Caucasian complaint. I had only been in Beijing but a couple of days, there was still much to see. The Great Wall, I was sure, would still be there tomorrow.

I made quick inquiries as to what would be appropriate to visit in the amount of time that remained in the day. The doorman called me another cab and as he opened the door for me to get in, he handed me a card and explained that on the back he had written the taxi number of this cab as well as the phone number of where to make complaints if the driver should happen to give me any difficulties. I thanked him as he closed my door and waved the taxi on. And for the second time that morning I found myself thrust into the throng of vehicles aimlessly encircling the city.