Katelyn and Gregory Haskins find their way through—and around—the world
As we travel around Asia, we’ve been comparing notes with Marco Polo—and one place on which we certainly disagree is Tibet. Amidst his account of the locals’ scandalous marriage practices, he barely mentions a lama or makes even a passing remark on the significant lack of oxygen in the air. But for us, from the sacred monasteries in Lhasa to the foot of Mt. Everest, the altitude wasn’t the only thing that exceeded expectations.
Back when we were putting together this whole trip, a few people were surprised our first stop would be Vietnam. We’re sure many people growing up in the 60s and 70s would never have dreamed of traveling to Hanoi, Saigon, or Phnom Penh. For us today, the cities of Central Asia possess that same forbidden draw—we desperately want to go to Kabul and Islamabad. But while we hope that someday we won’t think twice about packing our bags for Afghanistan or Pakistan, for now we will have to settle for getting tantalizingly close, just across the border in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.
With Southeast Asia in the rear view mirror, we headed back to the Middle Kingdom for the third time this year. Given China’s strict policy on swine flu, our biggest concern (other than missing the flight, natch) was making it past the quarantine officers at Guilin International Airport. Unfortunately, some bad dim sum in Katie’s stomach was conspiring to make that as difficult as possible, striking at the absolute worst moment: after clearing health inspection, but before passport control. It’s a no-man’s-land with nothing but immigration forms and security officers, and no bathrooms to speak of. Katie endured bravely, though, and we make it to baggage claim without incident.
It seems almost like a dream now, but nearly a month ago my parents and Nick traversed the Pacific and met us for a whirlwind tour of Beijing (and Shanghai) and Seoul. Having not seen them for 8 months, you can imagine my mom was looking forward to this trip even more than we were—and her Hilton points provided us with awkwardly luxurious accommodation throughout.
I’m not sure this year’s Spring Festival (a.k.a. Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year) quite lived up to it’s name, falling in late January, but the four-day weekend gave us a great chance to finally go and see China—a piece of it, at least. Read on
