For no other reason than you caught a place at just the right moment, a fleeting instant in time, when something extraordinary is taking place right in front of your eyes.
Like the earth is putting on a show just for you. Just a few hours away from Qingdao we make a night’s stopover to visit where our good friend Xiao Hong grew up, a smaller city in the Chinese wetlands - a place where the sky seems to carry on forever in all directions - a place called Laixi. Here there is a reservoir which feeds all of Qingdao, a massive body of water that stretches for miles, shimmering under the evening sky, covered in a mystical layer of mist, enveloped by barren trees that highlight its otherworldly qualities. The air is clear, there is almost no sound, its expansiveness and almost primitive nature defies my preconceptions of what China must look like. It is ultimately peaceful. It is immaculate in its nature. Here the open sky finds no end, these open plains echo on forever. Here a simple car ride turns into a moment of reflection for the soul, as we are all speechless and taken deeply back by what is taking place before us, what this place has shown us. This wide open sky. This profoundly beautiful moment. And then it is gone, vanishing into the night, gone as quickly as it came. Shattering beauty comes unexpected, but what a gift it brings with it. This, believe it or not, is China as I never imagined.
