May 18, 177 B.C

I can’t believe that it has only been a year since I left my family.  After my year of traveling, I visited many countries including Fergana, Persia, Iraq, Egypt, and India.  On my travels I met a man named Wang Wu. Wang is different than other Chinese men; he also believes that women should be equal to men so therefore treats me with respect. I couldn’t ask for anything more. We fell in love and are now married. Wang sells his family’s unique design of porcelain, so we do a lot of traveling, and moving. This wasn’t my plan, but things change. I met Wang when I was in a market just outside of Persia; I saw all these delicious booths selling pistachio nuts, dates, and saffron powder. I saw this beautiful porcelain bowl made by a Chinese man; I went over to it, where I met Wang.

From Persia we traveled together to Egypt, and took a route all the way to India! Indian markets are just filled with color, and their beliefs about Buddhism are quite extraordinary. We were fascinated on how in Buddhism; you don’t strive for anything, because that would be considered selfish. I’m very intrigued by this thought, and wonder how many other religions are out there in the world.

From India we went to Egypt, where I found some great glass bottles, and Wang made a fortune selling his porcelain. We are currently traveling back to on the Silk Roadheaded for Rome.  I have always admired the Romans for their elegancy, and cannot wait to see what they bring on the Silk Road. I know they are big on the Chinese silk, but I hope they also love Chinese art, like porcelain.  

                When we travel we run into a number of different people. There are those who look down upon me, and there are those who are just like us and we get along great. Usually these are the middle class people selling their families works. There is such a variety of people we see; it is hard to categorize them. Some people speak new languages, some people dress/look different from me, and some people even have a different currency than us! It’s a whole new world every morning when I wake up, from when I went to bed the night before. There is always someone selling something magnificent, and great. Just the other day I saw someone selling some great fabrics from India with gorgeous prints, with colors of orange, red, yellow, pink, every color! This road has opened my eyes to the world, and has given me so much more than I can give back.

                On my trip Wang and I got word of numerous stories from other nations, we heard that Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, had died, which didn’t affect us directly, but we sure heard a lot about it. Everybody was talking about it, and what would come of Egypt. Also the Romans took over Sardinia and then enslaved some of the citizens! People were fleeing from there, so we often saw Sardinians

   come through the markets.

                The one thing bad about my trip, were my feet. Because I have binded feet, it was extremely hard for me to get off my horse, I would often crawl if I needed to go somewhere on my feet. After I met Wang though, things got easier, and he was able to help me.

                I have to go; we are setting up camp at this glorious path off of the southern route, near Arabia.

~Sincerely, Feiyan Lu