the night i slept with chairman mao

Misha and I had a fight ten years ago. What is significant about the fight is not what it was about, but when it happened.

We were traveling in China at the time and by train and then by bus had found our way to Lijiang, in the southeast corner of the country, near Sichuan, Tibet and Burma. We took a room in the newer part of town, in a hotel overlooking Mao Square (named for its three-story tall statue) and, according to my journal, planned to catch a bus the next morning to hike parts of Tiger Leaping Gorge, larger than the Grand Canyon and arguably the deepest gorge in the world. But our argument went late into the night so by the time we were making up, it was late and we decided to sleep in and go on the hike the following day. We spent the next day exploring the old part of the city and were eating dinner at Mimi's Cafe when the cook and kitchen staff suddenly ran yelling through the dining room toward the front door. Backpackers from around the world started pointing and yelling and talking and I heard in English over the babble: “Earthquake!” Diners elbowed our way outdoors and streets emptied out of Old Town, our paths lit by sparks from falling power lines.

We slept the night in Mao Square, every aftershock rattling people’s nerves. In the morning, a couple of us crawled into our hotel to get our gear, jumping over an 18 inch gap where two parts of the building were separating. We bought tickets on the second bus out of town and while waiting, walked back into the rubble that had been Old Town. At that time, I hadn’t seen death before an undertaker cleaned it up. When I saw a mourning family carrying a body, I realized how fortunate I was to be alive.

Stories, some of them true, travel quickly among backpackers. We heard the earthquake was a 7.0. We heard thousands of people died. We heard people who were hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge during the earthquake had to be airlifted out. We also heard not everyone hiking the gorge got out alive. If we hadn’t been fighting, we might have been camping in that gorge when the quake hit.

Ten years ago I missed my chance to take a hike, but on that day, when I came close to death, I realized the life I have is a gift of which I should take full advantage. Every moment I have is an opportunity to touch another person, to push myself further, to experience more of this wonderful world God has provided. I try to live each day in gratitude and wonder and joy. And someday, I hope to return back to Lijiang, catch that bus to Tiger Leaping Gorge, and hike deeper into this beautiful world.