"Nin shuo shen me, " said a foreign-sounding female voice, as I ordered a burger. It seemed so strange, almost surreal. Where was I? And why was the waitress speaking Chinese?

"Sam, would you please order your food instead of dreaming away?" Another familiar and characteristically loud voice chipped in, pricking my dream bubble.

As I looked around, I realized I was not at a fast food restaurant, in fact, I realized that everyone at the nearby tables was staring at me, for ordering a burger in a Chinese restaurant in China!

Just as travelers lost in deserts often see mirages in search of water, I was conjuring up images of sinful, fattening, calorie-laden American fast food in a restaurant in Beijing.

"Yes, tofu with that please," again, the familiar voice. That had to be my wife. This was her idea - bringing me to China. I was content with my meaningless existence as an inconsequential couch potato in New York, but my wife had other ideas. Her undying wanderlust took us to many places, and the more I saw of the world, the more I felt that reality looks better on a 30-inch big flat screen TV, especially with adequate supplies of beer and pizza.

After lunch, my wife dragged me through a vast complex that could have very well served as a football ground for giant, fire-breathing Chinese dragons. Formidable, majestic lions of stone greeted us everywhere we went. Dragons carved in bronze, stone carvings, red walls, bridges--this is the Forbidden City of Beijing, the largest palace complex in the world and named because it was off-limits to outsiders in ancient times. I had never seen anything like this. Not even in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!

Yellow tiled roofs with dragons perched on them were common. The dragons indicate the importance of a building, or so my wife had mentioned on the previous night. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 12, and is the largest wooden structure in the whole of China. Towers, walls, gardens, and palaces dot the entire landscape of the complex. Considered as one of the five greatest palaces of the world, the Forbidden City is a must-see item on every serious traveler's list. Even a novice like me could not fail to appreciate the beauty and splendor of this great relic of the past, a reminder of a bygone era of emperors and warriors, when chivalry and valor were common.

In earlier times, members of the royal family for recreation and tranquility frequented the Imperial garden. Filled with old and rare trees and plants, the garden is remarkably beautiful. There I saw my wife, admiring a pavilion, blissfully unaffected by our separation. She gave me a smile, as if to say she knew I would find my way back. In the ten years of our marriage, I had never been so happy to see her.

Back in the hotel room, I jumped into bed immediately, completely exhausted with the day's events. As I closed my eyes, my mind started swirling with the images I saw in the Imperial Palace. Getting lost in the Forbidden City was quite an adventure and I hope that Shanghai is as good as this.