Day 1: Laughing in Chinese
October 18 Who goes to China? I suppose 26-year-old women about to lose their free PIA tickets (to the joys of marriage). It was really my parents’ idea and I acquiesced to it (the most aptly I have ever used the word ‘acquiesced’!). It is a seven-day affair and we are staying at my dad’s friend’s house. He lives here alone while his family lives in Pakistan and therefore has plenty of space to spare. According to my dad who is visiting after at least 20 years – and general knowledge around the world – Beijing has transformed drastically. The airport was impeccable, systematic, quiet, neat. The sweet immigration officer barely looked at our faces as he stamped us through. Is it because he doesn’t know English or because he assumes we don’t? I wondered but gave him a ‘greatly satisfied’ rating. There were Likert-scale rating buttons outside each cubicle! Stepping out into Beijing, even at the airport, it felt like I had sudd...