A Long Road to Beijing - World Association of Soil and Water ...

nearby to buy a couple of books but was not impressed with the service. However, I was able topurchase some souvenirs from smaller shops; sellers were friendly and the prices were right!This was my fourth time in Beijing. During my previous visits I had been to someimportant sights of this great city already, such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, theSummer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven. So now I only wanted to go home after havingfinished this important WASWC secretariat mission. A good memory of this visit is the snowfalling in Beijing (falling most of the time) for five days straight, a record never experienced forover one hundred years.Someone asked me during my trip this time which Chinese city I liked best. I had visitedseveral so it was hard to think about it immediately. But now after my trip was about to end, Irealized that it was this very Beijing that I liked best, though whether ‘to love’ also or notremains to be seen. My reasons are its cultural, historic and artistic places and its streets are wideand reasonably orderly. And there are many entertainment venues, good shopping areas and theirtransportation systems are diverse and inexpensive.I flew home that evening, physically tired from the long trip but mentally satisfied withthe results of the mission and the whole experience. The road I journeyed from Kunming toBeijing was long and tiring, but it has led to an important milestone for the WASWC and itssubsequent operations. The journey in time, however, for the WASWC, from 20 years ago untilnow, from its birthplace in America to its new home in China, involving so many famous anddedicated soil and water conservationists, can be considered as a long, long road to Beijing too.I sincerely thank all my Chinese hosts for having facilitated my travel on the “long roadto Beijing” this time. Hope to meet them again and repay their hospitality soon.…………………………………….Bangkok, January 24, 200312