They’ve Got Your Number.docVIP

They?ve Got Your Number AIRBORNE: Know your instructions before flying through the air in China I expected a lovely Chinese vacation spot, where a happy family rents a boat or basks on a sandy beach. The guidebook didn?t mention stepping off a cliff with absolutely nothing below. It didn?t matter that at Yanxihu Lake, no one we met spoke any English. We quickly learned the magic word: piao, meaning ticket. I?m feeling pretty good about knowing this. Each time we step up to a ride, I proudly say piao and hand in my ticket. I buy a piao for slipping down to the lake. A steel cable is strung from the top of a cliff to the bottom at about a 35-degree angle. As a skier, I?d estimate it?s at least a 100-foot vertical drop. The slider (that would be me) dons a mountain climbing harness, clips on to the cable and free slides to the bottom. The attendant helps me step into the harness. I say piao; he hands me a paper with four numbered paragraphs written in Chinese. He wants something. It seems important. I point to my ticket in his hand, and say piao! I have given him my piao. What else could he want? He insists. I shake my head and point to my mouth, the universal gesture for “I don?t speak your language.” He points to the stairs I will ascend and to the piece of paper. He doesn?t want me to go up without understanding these four things. Could they be safety instructions? If they are, he is the only person in the park, no, the only person in all of China, who is concerned with safety. I give the man what he wants. I pretend to read, moving my finger from No.1 through No.4. I smile and nod, the universal gesture for “I know exactly what I?m doing.” I ascend the spiral steps to the concrete landing, where the cable stretches over the pine tree-covered cliff. Two harnessed people, a boy and his mother, are ahead of me. I?ll watch them and figure it out. How hard can it be? The attendant clips a hook to the boy?s harness. Instruction No.1: “