Today, at 10:05 in the evening, three hours from now, we will finally fly to Beijing. From the moment I got up this morning, fourteen hours before the flight, I didn't know what to do with myself. I showered, got dressed, and realized our morning affirmations had been left unsaid, our daily meditation not done.
It was as if I were looking forward, living in the future, from the first rays of sunlight that illuminated our hotel room, rather than that we had a day of leisure, to do with as we pleased, with nowhere to be until after dinner. There has been such anticipation for this trip to begin that the last few weeks, let alone days, have flowed by like molasses, and I have found myself in the state of suspended animation I wrote about in my last entry.
The real trip doesn't actually even begin for another week, once we arrive in Xi'an, unpack the bicycles, and set out on the road west. The Beijing visit will be interesting, but not too much of an adventure, as we spent about a week there five years ago, at the beginning of our last cycling trip in China. We know how to manage a city trip fairly well, with all of the Asian cities we've visited in the last decade. So there will be unexpected pleasures, surely, but I already have a feeling for the contexts in which those pleasures might appear. The totally unknown bits will begin on my birthday, May 12, at the start of the Silk Road on the outskirts of Xi'an, on two wheels.
Today, I managed breakfast, a cafe with Internet, and a visit to the Auckland Art Gallery, before Tali and I looked at each other, even though it was only 2:30 in the afternoon, and decided that we might as well wait at the Airport, as long as today was going to be a day of waiting, rather than a day of leisure. All went well and speedily with our check-in, and here I am in the Koru Club Lounge, passing the hours, living less and less in the future, as the present approaches, preparing to claim my full attention.
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