Getting lost in a familiar, but fast-changing place

Never before had I found myself so lost. To my right, crowds of people swarmed in and out of a new light-rail station. To my left, tall buildings loomed above an overpass. If I had been led to this spot blindfolded, I would have guessed I had come to Zhongguancun, or another bustling commercial street in downtown Beijing.

Yet I was far from the city center, in Tongzhou district, a region that had seemed to me to be on the eastern outskirts of Beijing when I had studied at a nearby university 15 years ago. One of my best friends owns an apartment in Tongzhou, and I was on my way to meet her there.

I first tried to follow the same route I'd taken when I last visited her, three years ago. I remembered a narrow old bridge spanning a historic section of the Grand Canal - but this time, I didn't spot a trace of the ancient waterway. Thick clouds obscured the skyline, making it even harder to get my bearings.