bittersweet departure

After nearly 6 months of traveling back and forth to Beijing, my work here is coming to a temporary halt.  I'm moving back to Boston.  The project in China is stalling and my boss felt that there is no point of living in Beijing.  I agree with him, and have once complained about the lower quality of life over here.  Now that I have a chance to go back and live in Boston, I feel some regrets for leaving. 

Call me crazy, call me mad.  But the city was starting to grow on me in many ways.  I've met some great friends, mostly from the climbing community, but also some colleagues.  I'm disappointed that the work part didn't pan out as smoothly as I had expected, but I am not giving up.  I'm moving one step back right now, but it will go on.  When I found out about my early departure, I really regretted not visiting all the places on my tick list.  I fear that the longer I wait to visit some of the more remote places, that it will become less and less like old China.  The new China is evolving fast, and I fear that slowly the places I would enjoy visiting would disappear.

I went to Shanghai recently for work, and stumbled upon an old community similar to Beijing hutongs.  It was tucked quietly behind the Fifth Ave. of Shanghai, West Nanjing Road.  Zhang Yuan was once a bustling community in the early 1900s, owned by Mr. Zhang.  Through the years, it has lost its glory and faded into the background.  The architecture inside this community varied door to door, unlike most of the newer housing development.  A walk within the community brought me back in time.  Not only is the pace slower, but the traffic noise of Shanghai seems to disappear as well.

As one of my newly made friends said to me when he found out that I was leaving, "The end of one road is also the beginning of a new one that leads somewhere else.  The climbing community in Beijing will always welcome you!" 

Goodbye China.  For now.  I know my love affair with you is not over yet.