Blog from China - Monday
It's Monday morning and I have arrived in Chengdu...the capitol of Sechuan Province.
This is the province hardest hit by the earthquake on May12th. It has been almost a month and the recovery mission continues, but there is little hope left that families will be reunited with lost ones. Some 18,000 people are still missing...people like you and me who got up in the morning, ate breakfast and went off to work or school...people like you and me who kissed their loved ones goodbye, fully expecting them home for dinner. 70,000 bodies have been recovered and five million citizens are homeless. I don't know what to expect when I reach the tent settlements and other temporary shelters that have been set up for them. I am at once scared and terribly sad. The reality of my trip is sinking in.
It started off with the Visa snafu I blogged about last week. Then, with my new visa in hand I finally departed on Friday, but not before air marshalls boarded our plane dragging a Chinese man in handcuffs. It turns out he was being deported because of faulty papers. The flight attendants told me it's not unusual to have deportees on a commercial flight. But usually they are not screaming at the top of their lungs like this man was. Needless to say, it was very disquieting for all on board.
Thirteen hours later we landed in Beijing and decided to visit a marketplace before heading back to the hotel and getting some sleep. Eve, Deirdre, Audrey Kolina (our producer) and I wandered about, and I quickly remembered the sights and smells I had experienced a year ago during my first visit here. Everywhere there were smiling people, many encouraging us to sample or purchase their wares. Turn to the right and there was fresh roasted pork; to the left fried scorpions and seahorses on sticks. Hundreds of beads and jade bracelets.
Meredith at Beijing marketplace
Eve is a master at the marketplace haggle. She was able to "negotiate" her way to buying five stainless steel thermoses for just 300 yuan (6 yuan equals 1 dollar), one-third the asking price. I decided not to make a purchase because I am a shopping wimp, incapable of buying anything but retail. We had a great time, but now as I travel from the airport in Chengdu to the office where I will pick up my press credentials, that adventure seems far away and frivolous. But it does remind me of the insanity of life. From one minute to the next, it can change forever.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Blog from China - Monday.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://meredithtoday.ivillage.com/system/mt-tb.cgi/6869
Hi Meredith,
Happy to see that your visa snafu was cleared up and that you finally made it to China. Looks like you ladies were having a good time at the marketplace. I'm not one for haggling either.
As for the Chinese man being deported who was screaming I am sure he wanted everyone to know that he was unhappy about his circumstances. If he wasn't happy then he most likely thought why should anyone else be.
Nice smile Meredith but you aren't fooling me LOL My wife and I look just like that after our annual trip to Japan and after 13 hours the eyes tell all LOL Think our flights and hour or perhaps alittle more less then yours but depends on the flight. Seems to vary each year.
Anyways good luck on your assignment it's definately a tough one under the circumstances.
The scope of the tragedy in China is just impossible to comprehend without being there, and to think that the disaster in Myanmar was even more massive -- it's so hard to get a grip on the scale of devastation and suffering. When you hear such huge numbers, it's easy to forget the point you made -- that these are millions of individual tragedies: parents made childless, children left orphaned, husbands and wives widowed, and people who have lost everything including the towns and villages where they lived, so they don't even have a place to return to.
I'm sure that seeing the tent settlements, and hearing first-hand accounts of unimaginable loss, will be gut-wrenching. If you can keep reminding us of what happened, though, it's a price worth paying. We have much too short an attention span sometimes.
Meredith,
I cannot wait to see more from China. What a good use of your talents to go to the front line of devastation. I'm sure that you will help us to see what's going on from some new perspectives.
While you were gone the Today Show must have lacked for stories...did you see the one about the couple that had sex for 101 straight days? What's the big deal....my husband and I have done that several times in our 32 years. Hell, I didn't know it could have gotten us on the Today Show. Maybe we should do it again!!!
I hope that your trip is not excessively exhausting. Maybe even have fun here and there???
Sue
Hi Meredith,
Great to see you made it to China safe and sound though a bit noisy with that guy on board. I am sure you needed a quiet flight but now you are there and you can get to work and maybe even relax a little.
I don't really like shopping either, online is okay but I don't enjoy the store scene that much.
Have a nice trip and can't wait till you are back on Today.
XXXOOO
Joan K.
Wisconsin
Hi Meredith!!
This is the first time I am visting your blog and I LOVE IT!! Wow...CHINA...that would be awesome. I hate you had a rough start to your trip...but I wish nothing but the best for the remainder of it. I am 30 years old and the first time I got onto a plane (scared to death...I might add) was last year when my husband and I took our 10th anniversary trip to Las Vegas...I thought that was a long flight...I could not imagine 13 hours and + with a screaming man!! Hopefully your flight back will be more peaceful. Have a blast in China.
I was in New York this past December and was able to go into the NBC building and had planned to arrive early the next Friday morning and come to the Today show...but...I just could not get up and out that early...New York is MUCH colder in December than Georiga is :0)
You inspire me so much. Thank you for all the joys you bring to the Today show!!
Have an awesome trip and take TONS of pictures!
Meredith,
You made a great point about the individual suffering. It seems that we're desensitized to suffering of any kind with tragedies becoming the subject of jokes on late night TV. Even programs which are reporting tragedies do so with a lack of empathy, reporting death one minute and joking on the set the next. The take away for kids is "Oh well, that happened to somebody else. No need for me to be concerned."
Meredith,
I saw your report this AM in Beijing. I work in the costume shop at Ballet San Jose, in California. I thought you might like to know that our ballet company is performing in Beijing at the Poly Plaza Theatre June 13 through June 14. You can look at blogs and schedule at www.balletsanjose.org
Thanks!
I am heading to Chengdu in a couple of months. I would love to know if there are things I can bring with me that they need there. In addition are you going to Wolong National Natural Reserve or do you know if you can get there since the earthquake?
Hello Meredith
I read your blog on your trip to the Great Wall and I had tear pouring down my face as I was laughing so hard. I remember trying to make it up the wall and was absolutely exhausted. So I could totally relate to your experience. I too had been to Chengdu, Xian. It is sad to see the destruction that they have experienced. My heart goes out to them all. I look forward to seeing more when you cover the games in August.
Welcome home
Mike
Fellow Rhode Islander.