Saturday, October 01, 2011

Room Friend



MJ and Steph at Lake Namtso, Tibet

In Chinese, the phrase for room mate means "room friend" and that phrase was perfect for mine. Let me introduce MJ, my room friend!

She and I met on another tea tour, the one to London in 2007. When this opportunity became a reality for me, her name drifted into my head as the person that I should invite. MJ is a tea business woman and in addition to her enthusiasm for tea, she has a deep passion for life.

I sent off an e-mail, quite out of the blue, to ask if she'd be interested in this journey. I was excpecting a polite, "That's cool - thanks for thinking of me - but I can't" e-mail. Imagine my delight when she started her note back to me with "Hello, room mate"... In fact, she had independently found the information about the tea tour shortly prior to my inquiry. It was meant to be!

MJ proved herself an extremely resourceful and creative room friend. We began calling her Rose MacGyver for her many inventions along the journey. Always ready to meet new people, try new foods, climb a mountain or tell a good story, MJ became even dearer to me on this journey. I'm a lucky woman to have had such a thoughtful, generous and smart traveling companion.

5 comments:

marlena said...

Thanks for sharing so much of your trip. I would say you were both fotunate with your room friend.

Colleen said...

What a beautiful picture of MJ and you! and that turquoise water behind you- so clear and pure.

Angela McRae said...

Isn't there some saying about "we attract what we are" ?That seems to apply to you!

Oh, and I did just order the book! Can't wait!

sweetcakes said...

What a beautiful backdrop and photo of you and MJ.

Marilyn Miller said...

You were a very lucky girl to have Mary Jane as your room friend, but then she was lucky too. I would say she can indeed be very inventive and fun.