Finding the express route to reality on my Chinese skills

My cell phone lit up with a number I didn't recognize. Numbers I don't recognize tend to be from Chinese-speakers, so I prepared my best, tone-rising Chinese phone greeting. As I moved the phone toward my ear, I felt a rush of pride in my Chinese skills.

The embers of my Chinese pride roar daily with the praise of taxi drivers and fruit vendors. That means my ego is now the size of a small house pet.

So on this warm night in Guangzhou, I had decided to take my giant ego for a walk with a friend of mine to Beijing Avenue - the pedestrian-only gaggle of lights and shops that is the same as Wangfujing in Beijing.