Why I wish I wasn't single and alone in Xinjiang in summer 2009
Cecilie Gamst Berg reflects that it's always better to travel with a companion in China
One thing about my life I regret is that I didn't churn out some sprogs in the 80s, when I had the chance. I wouldn't have had many, just enough for a card game whenever I felt like it.
So, two children, assuming that I also had a husband.
But wait! Because I'm me, perhaps I wouldn't have been able to hang on to the husband for - arrrggh! - up to 30 years. So I'd have needed three children to ensure the ready possibility of said card game. But if I had only the two, I could have commandeered them to go with me to the only Chinese province I haven't yet visited, Heilongjiang ("black dragon river"). Three sprogs on such a trip would veer into the unmanageable.
My two children could have carried my things and been of use in general. Now, without children, I must go to Heilongjiang and its famous capital, Harbin, and I must go by train. Solo. You'd be surprised at how few people want to travel through the entire China by train nowadays.
"But you can go by yourself!" people chirp. "That'll be fun."
Er … not really. But it still beats flying.