Part 1:

Tuesday 12. April 1998, Beijing, a young blonde German boy arrives at Beijing International Airport, jumps into a taxi and heads to the north-west of the city. Armed with a phrase book but with no language skills, he bombards the taxi driver with an endless enthusiasm for the chinese language. The by now very stressed taxi driver took almost the shortest possible route and dropped him off at the north gate of Beijing Language and Culture University. He paid just 75 yuan (8 euro) for the 45 minute taxi ride.

The same day, a few hours later, a young girl flying in from Hong Kong arrives at the same airport, equipped with some basic chinese and lots of good english. She hops into a cab heading to the same university. Two hours later and 400 yuan (45 euro) poorer she arrives at the north gate with no luggage - now it was the passenger (the girl) who was stressed, after having lost her luggage and driven round the city chauffeuring the taxi driver's family members at her expense. The Beijing stress continued for 3 weeks until something happened that changed her life forever.

...to be continued