I am grateful that I am among the few journalists, less than 30 to be exact, to have the chance to follow the torch relay across the mainland. We are divided into two teams working on an alternate basis between the provinces.

While it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, each of us knows it far better than anyone else, that this is also a challenging task, which can't be achieved without cooperation between each other.

Before our journey, we kind of had a division of our effort. While most of the reporters are English literate, they rely on me, from China Daily, for accurate translations when it comes to interview with foreign torchbearers.

Guangzhou is our first leg for reporting. My sense of self-importance increased as we went through the list of foreign torchbearers, which as it turned out was dampened at my first attempt to show off.

Despite the fact that those foreign torchbearers vary in terms of their profession, nationality and background, most of them share one thing in common: fluency in Chinese.

While I proudly raised a question in English for Scott Oelkers, the managing director of Domino's Pizza in China smiled and asked if he could answer in Chinese for the convenience of other Chinese media.

"I came to China around 30 years ago, probably long before you were born," said the torchbearer half jokingly.

As we moved to Daniel Krause, a sculptor from Chicago, USA, who is currently teaching in the Sculpture Department at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, he talked in Mandarin, as colloquially as a Chinese native.

In fact, since he has been in Guangzhou since 1987, focusing on abstract figurative sculptures with inspirations coming from the common lives of Guangzhou's residents, Krause declared himself as "a representative of Guangzhou."

My self-importance was reduced to the nadir when I stopped by the Yuntai Garden on the White Cloud Mountain at around 11 am, I heard another wave of cheer as there was a torchbearer approaching.

As Krause carrying the flame, jogging gracefully towards Yuntai Garden, I heard among the cheering chaos, voices from two boys, "Jiayou (Come on), Daddy!"

"Didn't I tell you that my sons speak better Chinese than I do?" asked the proud father.