version with pictures printable pdf single page March 6 • March 8
I believe I used superlatives for yesterday. Well today topped them all. Got only 4 hours sleep. Have to get off this prednisone soon so I can relax! Started reading Friedman’s “The World is Flat” about 5:15 am. Phil and Peter read it years ago but this is the perfect time for me as it really applies to this trip in so many ways and I am finding it fascinating. Perhaps I’ll make this century yet in understanding! Arrived at the pool before 6 am and had a lane all to myself for an hour. How delightful. About 6:30 am I looked up through the pool window and there walking in were Barbara and Herbert Walker Bush surrounded by security. He limped along out of view but she rode the recumbent bike just through the window! I have to admit this was a real thrill to see my first President and first lady so very close! Had a good work out, washed my hair, and ended with oxygen for 5 minutes. I will miss this place and haven’t even taken a picture of my favorite haunt. Up to the room about 7:10 am and Phil was up and working.
Breakfast is always buffet and a really sumptuous affair with western and eastern breakfast. I did both and stayed down and went through security for the first time to get into the lecture. First up was a talk by the US Chinese Ambassador Randt. He was very informative. Our Chinese embassy is the third largest we have. So much has happened today that I don’t remember the details but Phil has it down on the computer. The next speaker was President Bush. We rise when he comes into or leaves the room. I’m a bit slow at this but finally managed. He was a very charming man. At the beginning he explained he was limping because he is just recovering from a tough back surgery. Don’t pity him and he doesn’t want t hear about our surgeries on the ship either! He hopes to do one more sky dive on his 85th birthday (when is that going to be Barbara?) Those that help him do that insist he do it in tandem. He didn’t want to but they told him it was very windy at the time of his last dive. Turned out they were telling him the truth and he did appreciate not twisting in the wind by himself!
It sounds like we will have 3 lectures from him. Today he concentrated on the time he was here from 1974 on. He and Barbara studied Chinese 5 days a week and he gave his farewell talk in Chinese! He is soon to publish a book including his diaries kept at that time and he read many passages from his diary. He appears to be a thoughtful person and one who really cares about relationships and he kept trying to meet the Chinese leaders and eventually became successful in doing this. Barbara and he have been back to China 18 times since then and he loves it. He was personable and full of anecdotes and the time flew by. He looks forward to meeting our group more intimately on the ship. He will be with us through Shanghai so there will be many opportunities to see him. He turned over the technical questions to be answered by our Ambassador and answered easier ones himself. He no longer keeps up with all the details but enjoys maintaining his contacts with the Chinese leaders and hopes to spend some time with them later today.
The Congress is meeting now for two weeks and so traffic is intense. I read part of a local paper today and will bring it home as a souvenir. I believe I learned yesterday that the Chinese press gets most of their info from the NY Times and the Washington Post though they do have some correspondents assigned to the White House. There were articles about women, AIDS, etc. I’m fading fast but I’ll try to keep moving as it’s been a long day and breakfast tomorrow is at 5:30am.
Today is packing day with bags out at midnight so I worked on mine some before lunch. We are a group of about 235 so there is always someone new and interesting to eat with. Lunch was buffet with absolutely delicious and plentiful choices. After lunch Phil wheeled me to the Silk and Pearl Market place about a 10 minute walk away. What an adventure that turned out to be. Traffic is crazy and pedestrians are not favored so we really had to be carefully about getting across the street without being hit! I don’t think I’ve mentioned how very clean China is. You are fined if you spit or litter. They do have extra people on the street with arm bands picking up any litter. We fulfilled our (my) dreams there and bought a flat duffel for heavy jackets, etc., so that we don’t have to hand-carry them to Hanoi. Bought some lovely things for friends. Phil got a bathing suit and a converter, so home to rest a bit before our very glamorous dinner. It was a stretch tonight to make our two duffels shut so the extra one will help us when we leave the ship.
A Federal Judge retired from SF had asked if she and her husband could eat with us tonight so we agreed to meet them at Gucci’s on the way to the bus. As we entered the lobby a Chinese lady rushed us to us to tell us a special car had been obtained for us to arrive more comfortably. We declined because of meeting Joan and husband. Turns out they had the time wrong and never showed up and luckily talked their way in by taking a taxi late. As it would turn out- I had a most thrilling adventure on the bus! Phil and I had separate seats so we each enjoyed a window for the 45 minutes ride to dinner. A gentleman walked by escaping the air conditioner in the front. I saw his name and it was Sidney Rittenberg, the author of the book “The Man That Stayed Behind.” I told him how thrilled I was to have read his book and he sat down beside me and we chatted for 30 minutes. Briefly he was a communist in our south before WW2 trying to help people. He was drafted and talked them into studying Chinese for a year at Stanford and then being sent to China. He never left and met Mao and all the Chinese leaders and often was in the thick of it and often was imprisoned in solitary (total of 15 years). It reads like a novel but it’s his life story. As we drove along I told him of my experiences and how we met with teachers in 1979 and started a writing exchange between Marengo and a school in Guiling. He was telling me what we were passing outside-Mao’s house, the parliament I got married behind there. There’s where you could get baked Alaska etc. My picture used to hang in that building. He now lives near Seattle on Fox Island with a bridge. Later I met his Chinese wife Yulin and I really look forward to other conversations with them.
So dinner was at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse where Nixon was entertained as well as all heads of state. So how elegant can you get? Cocktails first and I was drinking one in my wheelchair when Phil decided to walk around a bit. No sooner had he left me than the President walked by and shook my hand, “How are you Jo?” “Are you drinking my drink?” See you again on the ship and off he walked. So Phil with his camera missed all that. How do you have a day to top this one??
Dinner was an elegant affair with many courses and entertainment by most charming four year old children playing accordions and singing. A day to remember forever. Too tired to even reread but love to all.