Haiyatt Garden Hotel Dongguan

... how dangerous hiking in the dark without a light can be. Because this particular trail was mostly uneven, large, well worn rocks I had no desire to hike any portion of it in the dark. So I took a fast pace and made it back with enough light to take photos the whole way. When the others came stumbling though the dark down the trail about 30 minutes later they got a pretty sever tongue lashing from the girls who had stayed behind for not heeding my advice. I just smiled :-)

... elegir vivir en la burbuja occidental o en el universo chino.

De repente me di cuenta que caminaba a un paso acelerado en una concurrida acera de una ancha calle amenizada por el estresante bullicio del colapsado tráfico. A lo lejos en mitad de la avenida domina el Citic Plaza, uno de los emblemáticos rascacielos de la ciudad y uno de los más altos del mundo el cual estaba iluminado por los primeros rallos de sol del día. Allí estaba yo con mi ...

... por casa de mi abuela por última vez para decirle adiós, también por el taller a decir adiós a los que por allí estaban (lo siento Ana, pensé que te vería). Estaba contento. Y creo que todos lo notaban.

Encendí mi ordenador para buscar unos mails, aproveché para despedirme de amigos facebook (que en China está vetado, pero algún truco encontraré para que funcione).Anoté en un cuaderno teléfonos de perdonas de contacto en oriente, por si acaso. La pobre Binbin ...

... looking forward to spending much more time in Guangzhou as it is far more developed than Qingyuan. In fact people in Guangzhou joke that you know Qingyuan is a poorer, more remote, and less developed town because it has cleaner air and water! I have explored Qingyuan a little bit but it does not seem to have very much going on as far as night life. I hope to explore some its natural attractions which include hot springs, mountains, and forested areas.

... English teach at the university and the friend staying with them, Lieu teaches foreigners Mandarin. They were both astonished at how well I could pronounce the words that they were telling me. It was really funny as they say I was surely a Chinese person in a previous life as I have very excellent
pronunciation. They told me that I had real potential to become a good speaker. I was delighted to hear this as learning the language is one of the things that I came to China to ...

... of the fund, I will make
sure that all the information’s in our data base is changed in your
name as the beneficiary of the fund.

I now decided to make this proposal to you for our own benefit so that
the funds will be release to you as the next of kin or relation to the
deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for
it and I don't want this fund to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed
Dongguan, Guangdong, China m.awot

... seeing some of the uncoordinated Chinese try to bowl. If you bowl a certain score or get a certain number of strikes, you receive a "prize". Here is a picture of me receiving the great prize of a bottle of water for bowling 4 strikes in a row. And here I am receiving my second award of buy one get one free for bowling over 170. Finally Mike and I had a bowling championship to see who was the Grand Master of the World and he ...

... not to eat in Kowloon. The food however was fabulous - as a treat Olly and Brett took me to the Hong Kong Cricket Club where we had Peking Duck, which is served whole (head and feet) and is sliced rather than mashed up with two forks like we do at home. Divine. We also had Dim Sum at Dragon i - a nightclub that serve Dim Sum during the day on an outside terrace. Scallops and Steamed Pok Buns and all the other things that youd think would be easy to find in Asia but have ...

... be able to refuse John's kind offer to pick up my hotel bill! While I was teaching English, I was initially too focussed on the subject matter and lesson contents, but I learned to enjoy the students' company first and foremost and from this came a number of friendships. Now that I know I'm leaving China, I feel a wave of nostalgia about people and wonder what's happened to them. There's a proprietary feeling about "my kids" and I hope ...

... other students, but another to work with a bunch of Asian kids without any inkling of what I consider to be professional standards or ethics. Time´s gonna have to tell on that one too.... I´m pretty relaxed and can suffer most things except idiocy in the workplace! A brave new dawn, and probably a lot more comfortable to try to do something positive than to turn down the opportunity. Here´s hoping although I can´t help wishing Sam was still around.