Preparation

Hey guys, to whomever reads this. This is, I suppose, a travel blog, but its less for you and more for me to chronicle things.  I haven't traveled that often, but of the times I have, they were amazing experiences...but then I forget.  I'll never forget the spirit tree in Trinidad, or the hippie caves in Matala, but the feeling of experience erodes with time.  It takes a bit of digging to remember the feeling of strong camaraderie in Trinidad, and the interesting family dynamic in Greece.  I'm hoping to revisit this in later years, and drink to what a little shit I once was (still am/will be).

This trip I am about to take, will embark on October 6th, 2013.  It will be the first time I travel to China in 17 years....fuck, I'm getting old...

Shanghai--->Beijing--->Guangzhou---->Hong Kong

Will return on November 18.  I suppose this is a trip to expose me to my roots, understand were I came from, finding my identity, yadda, yadda, hooray motherland, blah blah...but I'll be joining tour groups for the majority of the trip (Shanghai and Beijing) so i'll be taking everything in with a grain of salt.  I plan to/ need to go again once my Chinese has improved drastically and have a more defined area of exploration (location or academic).

^
That shit was weeks ago. In about 10 hours from now, i'll be boarding a flight to China.  I'm not that exhausted, not that prepared, and i don't really know what to expect, just as i like it.  I probably packed far less clothing than i should, and far more electronics than necessary.  The parents played the role of costco santa and are stuffing tons of wholesale, party sized...toiletries, craisans, and vitamins to dole out as gifts.

here is a pic of a pile of Scotch Brite sponges that we are giving away.....

But there is a bit of a backstory to this tradition of stuffing large amounts of seemingly menial objects and giving them out as presents. My father was telling me, yet again, as I criticized the 2 mega tubes of cling wrap that we are going to bring overseas, that his family had no money when he was growing up.  His parents were away a lot, so my dad and his sisters had to fend for each other.  When his parents did return, they would bring back bags of rice, vegetables, large amounts of other necessities.  To prep for these large hunter-gatherer journeys, they would inlay their clothing with burlap sacks because they would not be able to purchase bags at where they would get their commodities. It is interesting to see how a simple survival tradition has progressed into something so bizarre.  So why do we need 5 large bottles of glucosimine and 3 kirkland bottles of calcium? The fuck if I know.  being costco mules isn't going to be very fun, haha, but hey, its tradition...maybe....This is making me realize that the quality of life that we have, what i think is menial, might be a luxury.  I don't think this means much, nor do i want it to. this can give the delusion of feeling superior, luxury is an easy and gilded  focal point. This brings me to what I am hoping to attain on this trip.  I want to get a better understanding of where my parents come from.  I'll save the bar scene, the night life for another month, another year, with other people, but this is an opportunity to see my father's stories of his village come to life, to see where his friends are and what could have been him had he stayed in Toisan.

on that note, parents are packing everything in now, hahahaha, they are optimizing the fuck out of that luggage space. gotta help