{"id":169,"date":"2019-01-26T13:35:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-26T13:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/?p=169"},"modified":"2020-01-19T12:27:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T12:27:57","slug":"30-years-ago-today-on-january-26-1989-i-first-set-foot-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/?p=169","title":{"rendered":"30 years ago today on January 26, 1989, I first set foot in China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

30 years ago today on January 26, 1989, I first set foot in China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I followed the backpacker\u2019s trail of the day. Hongkong, Guangzhou, \nYangshuo, Yunnan, Leshan, Chengdu, Xi\u2019an, Beijing. I still let Lonely \nPlanet dictate my travel routes. In fact, coming across their first \nChina guidebook in a guesthouse in Indonesia a few months before had \nmade me come to China in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t easy. It was a struggle to get a ticket for a bus or train,\n a bed in a hotel. The towns were mostly drab and grey. It was \nfrustrating at times, but fascination won out big time, fascination with\n the masses of people, the endless bus and train journeys, the size of \nBeijing and its boulevards and monuments, the curiosity of the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little could I know that I would return to the country countless \ntimes. That I would visit countless places, known at first, off the \nbeaten track later. That I would be a tour leader in China. That I would\n circle the globe several times, distance-wise, on Chinese hard sleeper \ntrains. That I would one day learn the language. That I would live in \nKunming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor could I imagine the enormous changes that would come to China. Who could?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been a special ride. It still is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30 years ago today on January 26, 1989, I first set foot in China.  I followed the backpacker\u2019s trail of the day. Hongkong, Guangzhou, Yangshuo, Yunnan, Leshan, Chengdu, Xi\u2019an, Beijing. I still let Lonely Planet dictate my travel routes. In fact, coming across their first China guidebook in a guesthouse in Indonesia a few months … Continue reading “30 years ago today on January 26, 1989, I first set foot in China”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chin-eng"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}