Getting One's China On

So here's the checklist for the trip. Amazingly, I'm nearly completely packed the night before my flight. My procrastination when it comes to packing is a long-established joke in my family; my mom still rolls her eyes in exasperation when she recalls how I started packing for a semester in Rome about two hours before my flight - and we lived about an hour from O'Hare.

Clothes - t-shirts and shorts, mainly. It's gonna be 85-90 degrees with high humidity, so nothing fancy here. I asked a cousin of mine who visited China recently if I needed something dressier for restaurants, clubs, etc., and his response was "Capri pants are all the rage in Beijing, so stock up now". Thanks. Mom always implores me to bring a jacket, no matter where I'm going, and I shrugged this off today until I read that a rainstorm of sub-monsoon strength is hitting the Chinese mainland in the next couple of days. Raincoat, check.

A/V equipment - Sony HD Cam w/tape stock and extra batteries (I'll be shooting a short video over the course of this trip as well); Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot camera (thought about buying/borrowing an SLR for this trip, but if I'm already lugging around a camcorder, that's just too much); Macbook Pro; iTouch; iPod; Blackberry for phone and work email connectivity (if you want to reach me quickly this week, with helpful suggestions or spiteful comments, email me at nathan.moore@travelchannel.com - I should have the Bberry on me at all times).

Medicine Cabinet - Hep A shot and typhoid pills beforehand; Tylenol PM; Imodium AD; a strong course of prescription antibiotics if the Imodium AD can't do the trick; Tums and Tagamet (sensing a theme here?)

Movies - loaded on the iTouch - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; Harold and Kumar Go To Guantanamo Bay; Into the Wild.

Books - Time Out Beijing and Frommer's Beijing guidebooks; a great new travelogue called "Lost on Planet China" by Maarten Troost (I'm not the only fan - check out some other travelers appreciating his guidance in this YouTube clip); and Norman Mailer's WWII epic "The Naked and the Dead".

Music - So in the spirit of Cameron Crowe, the director of "Say Anything", "Jerry McGuire", "Almost Famous" and other movies that usually rock but sometimes suck (i.e., "Elizabethtown", but that's what you get for casting two leads in Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst who can't, you know, ACT), who has spent his entire life making mixed tape after mixed tape to mark his mindset and mood during any given season, I thought it might be fun to put together a mixed tape for all of you, a China Playlist, if you will. These are songs out of my library that, in some cases, seemed to suit a trip to China, and in other cases are just songs that are stuck in my head and represent "Summer 2008" to me. Listen along and in one sense you'll be on the road with me.

1) "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" - Kill Bill Vol. 1 Soundtrack - RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan starting things off right. Uma Thurman stalking people with a samurai sword - is that wrong?

2) "Johnny Appleseed" - Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - "If you're lookin' for some honey, best you don't go killin' all the bees". Amen. Theme song to last year's "John from Cincinnati" on HBO. Crappy, nonsensical show, but the surfing footage was spot-on.

3) "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" - Radiohead. Hum along.

4) "Lovers in Japan-Reign of Love" - Coldplay. Generally, I can take or leave Coldplay, but this new album is impressive. And this is maybe the best cut.

5) "Skinny Love" - Bon Iver. Eau Claire, Wisconsin - represent!

6) "Hard Sun" - Eddie Vedder. Off the "Into the Wild" soundtrack. Hope the movie's as good as this song. As a solo traveler, I can relate to the story - just hope mine ends a little better.

7) "Wolf Like Me" - TV On The Radio. I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's - his hair was perfect.

8) "Lost" - Coldplay. Been stuck in my head for weeks. Damn handclaps.

9) "White Winter Hymnal" - Fleet Foxes. First band other than the Beach Boys that remind me of the Beach Boys.

10) "Fire It Up" - Modest Mouse. Que sera, sera - kind of how I feel going into this.

11) "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" - Santa Esmeralda. Also from Kill Bill. Gotta love that Spanish guitar.

12) "Time Won't Let Me Go" - The Bravery. I always get a little nostalgic when I travel, especially when I'm on the road alone, for previous trips I've taken.

13) "Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)" - The Pixies. Slow dance version of the Pixies' apocalyptic ride on the El Nino, from "Pump Up the Volume" - maybe the best thing Christian Slater ever did.

14) "Reckoner" - Radiohead.

15) "A-Punk" - Vampire Weekend. My favorite new band. So whitebread but....not.

16) "Falling Slowly" - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. From the indie movie "Once", this won the Oscar(TM) for Best Song last year. Gotta see this movie if you haven't yet.

17) "Growing Up" - Peter Gabriel. Great, spooky lyric in here - "My ghost likes to travel so deep into your space".

18) "Seven Nation Army" - White Stripes. I've been told that this song is the new crowd anthem at soccer stadiums in Europe. Would be great to hear it in Beijing.

19) "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World" - U2. This song has a whole new meaning in the context of my host country.

20) "The Lonely Shepherd" - Gheorghe Zamfir. Zamfir! Panflute! I've said enough.