Eric's Beijing Diary

This evening we are leaving for the countryside. I mentioned previously that I had met a lady from a small village in Shanxi Province. Tonight Lucy is going to be taking me to her village. I asked Jean and Claire, some friends from church, to come with me, and help to assess the situation, because they both have extensive experience working with relief and development organizations. During SARS, they spent four months at a small Catholic orphanage in another part of Shanxi Province.

Tonight we will be taking the sleeper bus out of Beijing. It's a ten hour ride to the city of Lishi, where Lucy will help us catch a local village shuttle to the town closest to her village. She estimates that her village is about a thirty minute hike from there.

I have always avoided sleeper busses like the plague. This time I have no choice, because we were not able to get train tickets because of the holiday. October first is the 55th anniversary of the founding of New China. Bad planning, but this time it isn't my fault. I had originally planned to leave Sunday afternoon on the train. Travel then will be a little lighter. But when I asked Jean and Claire to come with me, Jean said they would like to visit the orphanage where they had worked. I readily agreed to this, because I think it would be helpful for me to see this orphanage.