A Trip Across Countries and Continents—Descriptions

I sat in Dulles airport, the low hum of announcements and distant conversations blending into the background. I read a fantasy novel on my phone, occasionally looking up to see hurrying men and planes waiting for takeoff. It would take me more than 15 hours of flight time before I return to Shanghai, where I shall begin my journey. Yet, in truth, it has already begun—from the moment I stepped on my school bus. This journey would take me across countries and continents, from bustling cities to the serene temples, from the Great Plains to misty mountains.

Shanghai, the city I grew up in, held no surprises for me. So I'll start with the first new place that I encountered: Chengdu. I barely spent time in the city itself, but rather a mountain to the side where the meditation camp took place. I took a taxi there and hiked up the mountain with my mother, enjoying the view along the way. There was not much to say about the hike in particular, and it did not offer a view that was much different about other mountains I've been to. What did strike me was when I walked with my mother to a nearby temple.

We walked around a small peak to the temple, and the route was serene and beautiful. The rain drizzled down and a soft mist hung in the air, the damp, mountain air casting a cool breeze against my skin. The humid mountain wind brushed against my face, and the sound of rain hitting the trees and bushes echoed around me, along with the incessant tap-tap from drops of water plopping on my umbrella. Sunlight shone through the mist, lighting the ground in a green and mystical sense, leaving one to wonder where this path would lead. In some parts the trees casted shades on the ground, blocking off all sun, leaving the ground bare and dark. At the end, the sides of the path open to a clearing, on the left is a field of grass, with a row of tall pine trees at the end. Between the trees sits a little wooden hut, the thick mist concealing its true appearance. On the right stands a peaceful temple—not the usual temple that you see, but more of a place to live and meditate peacefully...

Next was the metropolis of Changsha. A gigantic city with a population of over eight million, Changsha was a place known for its humidity, night life, and spicy food. When my friends and I got there, we were welcomed with a thick and humid air with rain—not a pleasant experience. That did not stop us from going to our hotel and setting up. In the afternoon we went out to Changsha's most famous street for tourists: Huangxing Walking street. Standing at the end of the street and looking down, one would see two rows of buildings down the side, with a messy arrangement of advertisements for restaurants, drink stands, snacks, messages such as I ❤️ Changsha, etc. Next, you would see a hoard of people filling the place up like a water filling up a tunnel, and each person goes and walks with the flow, stopping only to enter a a sub-flow (as in side streets), or to brush off against the creek (to buy something in a stand). And when we walked down the street, we joined the flow of water, flowing as they do.

Standing in the middle of the crowd, with clothes sticking to my skin from the thick air and sweat, I just happened to look up, and saw a completely different scene: ominous dark clouds hang in the sky, and even in the afternoon sun, the day seems dark and gray. When it is night time, the lights cast a bright glow in the sky, painting the sky gray. It is as if we were in a novel about the end of the world, when the sun and moon disappears, leaving us with only a dooming gray layer of clouds.

The messy sound of conversation, the occasional blare of car horns, and the buzzing traffic continued on, oblivious to the oppressing clouds.

And so we carried on as well, not letting the air affect our mood. But it was still a relief when we stepped into an air-conditioned mall for dinner. Feeling the cool air against my skin, I just had to praise whoever invented air conditioning (Willis Carrier). Our day ended with a classic spicy Hunan cuisine and a visit to a store that sold junk food and snacks in abnormally large amounts.

The next few days of the trip offered a small mountain with a view of the city, an island in the center of Xiang River featuring a statue of Mao Ze Dong, singing in the KTV, watching soccer games 3:00 in the morning, and an exciting and complicated escape room. The trip concluded with our saying goodbye in front of the hotel before going our own different ways.

After that, there wasn't really much new to see going to my grandparents in Xiaogan and Yangzhou, but I spent a great time with them. I worked in a small yard where my grandma planted many different types of food to eat, from cucumbers to chrysanthemum to wax gourds to pumpkins, my grandma liked to plant many different types of delicious herbs. Every time my parents and I return, we are excited for fresh plants plucked directly from the yard.

Next, in Fuzhou I was a counselor for a summer camp. There wasn't much new to see in the camp, but when we took a walk to the beach, I changed my mind. I wasn't the beach that was beautiful, but the sunset. The beach faced east, and the setting sun faced west, where the mountains were. One day, the setting sun painted the horizon bright yellow, with tints of red on the edges. But the sky was filled with heavy, thick clouds that oppressed the light until it fell behind the mountain. Another day, the sky was more clear, with less clouds, and the setting sun painted a small area above a mountain red, in an inverted triangle, with the tip right above a small indent in the mountain. The red was split in the middle by tornado of grey cloud, as if a volcano erupting, sunlight the fire, and clouds the dust and debris.

Nothing new of interest in Shanghai, and we arrive at our next stop—San Diego. I have been to San Diego quite a few times already, so the scenery wasn't new to me. We lived in a friends' house which contained two orchards. In them grew small peaches, oranges, lemons, pomelos, apples, and even avocados, all hanging from the branches of different trees. We arrived just at the time the fruit was ripening, and we were able to eat fresh, juicy fruit each day there while we rested from our flight.

The last thing on our family's agenda was our road trip to Virginia, as we were planning on moving there for my new school year. After we took off, the first thing we saw was the vast, lifeless desert, spanning to the end of our visions. My most vivid memory was when our family drove on a certain part of the highway, and there was a sign next to the road which named that part (I can't remember exactly) something like 'imperial way'. I remember looking at the road which ran to the end of my vision, and since the time was around 8:00 a.m. and we were driving east, the sun hung high and shone bright and directly on the road and us, lighting and heating the path before us, as if at the end of the road would be the imperial golden palace of Helios.

The desert botanical gardens in Phoenix, however, offers a different view of the desert. In the gardens, I saw hundreds of different types of life, from cacti to agaves to tumbleweeds to trees. I saw the life and ecosystem of a desert, I saw how they survive in the hot and arid weather, and how the plants and animals interact to benefit both. I also learned about the native tribes that used to live in the desert. The setting sun also lighted the ocean of clouds in a brilliant yellow and orange glow, casting the desert dusk in a bright yet comfortable blaze. This place is better demonstrated through images:

Next, my family and I drove across the Great Plains of Northern Texas and Oklahoma. This time, I saw just endless yellow grass across my vision, with only low some shrubs that came here and there. As we moved East, the low shrubs gradually grew higher and greener, and the weather changed from dry and arid to be more humid.

Lastly, we arrive in the more humid Eastern part of the US, where the forests grow on endless hills, where rivers and creeks trickle past the valleys. And it's where my family will make our new temporary home.

Scenery was not the only thing I saw along the way. I visited museums, memorials, famous restaurants and universities as well. In Oklahoma City, I visited the National Memorial and Museum, in Amarillo, the Big Texan Steak Ranch, and in Albuquerque, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, as well as Vanderbilt University, and University of Virginia.

I'll save these things for my next blog: Learnings and Reflections.

Over the summer, I flew a total of 24949 kilometers on plane, drove 4458 km in car, and more than 2643 km in train. I'm sure that's farther than some people travel their whole lives.

List of places I went:

1. Washington DC, USA

2. Shanghai, China

3. Chengdu, Sichuan

4. Changsha, Hunan

5. Xiaogan, Hubei

6. Yangzhou, Jiangsu

7. Fuzhou, Fuzhou

8. Shanghai

9. Los Angeles, CA, USA

10. San Diego, CA

11. Phoenix, AZ

12. Albuquerque, NM

13. Amarillo, TX

14. Oklahoma City, OK

15. Little Rock, AR

16. Nashville, TN

17. Charlottesville, VA

18. Fairfax, VA