Adventures in Beijing

Our first stop was the funky wonderful Beijing Bookworm and then on to White Cloud Temple where we had a meeting with Fen Shi Wao - a Taoist priest with shining skin and a top knot. He began by scanning my body and telling me which organs were weak. He asked Nathaniel what he wanted to know about his future.

I then asked him about the great Chinese epic Journey to the West. My passion for the epic was one of the reasons I wanted to journey east. In discussing the story, he said, "Taoists interpret the characters in the story to represent different organs in the body. Self cultivation of each of the organs brings about an immortal body." He recommended a Taoist interpretation of the epic which was available at the Temple. He did not wish to be photographed.

White Cloud Temple

We ate at the Spice Restaurant with Bill's friends Paul Mooney and Eileen Wen Mooney, the food critic for the Beijing Times. Nathaniel got his first taste of red peppers. . .

Paul, who is a correspondent for The Times, asked us, “Are you still planning on flying tomorrow to Urumqi?”

(There had been rioting in Urumqi the past three days.) I looked at Bill. “Sure,” he said. “There’s a curfue now, it should be fine.”

“Check the internet tomorrow,” Paul advised.

The day ended with Bill's talk at The Beijing BookWorm for his new book Zen Baggage. The talk sold out -- both seats and books!! A good evening before leaving the next morning for Urumqi.