A hop, skip and a jump to nowhere

An old proverb says: "Pride goeth before a fall." However, I never really knew what it meant until my trip to the museum.

It was on an overcast day in November, a few weeks after my arrival in China, and I wanted to see the Andy Warhol exhibit before it closed at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. But even after my colleagues told me it was hard to find, I was stubbornly set on getting there on my own - no cabs or address written out in Chinese characters for me. No, I would travel like the typical Beijinger I hoped to become, using only public transportation.

I felt confident in my ability to do so, despite my non-existent language skills, since I'd had success getting to the Forbidden City, Sanlitun and even the 798 art zone. Plus, the museum website offered transit instructions. So I boldly set off without even a phrasebook, boarding a train at the Huixinxijie Nankou station and emerging a few miles east at Taiyanggong. From there, however, things - literally - began to go south.