Haiyatt Garden Hotel-Dongguan

These lovely pictures are of the South China Normal University in Guangzhou, the capital of the Guangdong province. Guangzhou is 1.5 hours by bus from my town Qingyuan. It is a very large city of about 15 million people, but I have yet to feel overwhelmed or crowded by the people. It is very easy to travel around even with very weak Chinese as almost all public signs are in both English and Chinese and most young people speak at least a little English. I ...

... Master Yang and his followers on top of a mountain just outside the city.
Connie told me that it is known as the King of the Mountain house since it is so large and is the highest point of the city. I was honored to find out that Master Yang had told his followers that I
was the first person to be invited to come and stay there with him and his followers. The villa is still under construction currently.

Once we returned to Connie and Axu's apartment the topic of ...

... 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

... Dynasty because Sun-Yet San lived in Guangzhou.  It was also taken over by the Japanese during WW2 and was rebuilt by the urban renewal projects set up by communist China.  It is now the largest city in Guangdong Province which is the wealthiest province in China.   This is all from Wikipedia so if you want to know more, got there:) We arrived in Guangzhou Thursday, January 8 after a 22 hour train trip ...

... and their supposed "Space Pumpkins" are basically fake plastic squashes hung up on bamboo lattices with wires. All in all, this park was an utter waste of time and money. Even the entrance fee is only $180RMB plus another $30RMB, the total being just over $31USD, I would not go again even if I didn't have to pay. It simply was a waste of my precious time. Count this as your warning, stay away from Interlaken (Wah Kieu Sing).

Baoan is located outside of the Shenzhen Protected Economic Zone, and thus there is a border crorssing fee to "enter China". The school that I taught at (though I still lived in She Kou) was a private school, whereas the school in She Kou was a public Kindergarten school. I taught in Baoan in the 2003, whereas I taught in She Kou in 2002-2003.

After returning back to Qing Xi we started to develop a routine as each day went on. Our normal routine is for me to get up around 7:30 or 8 and check emails and then get a shower. After that we decide if we are going to go out to breakfast at the Time Coffee restaurant or if we are going to have cereal in the room. We found a place that sells cereal and another place that sells milk. My favorite milk is called "breakfast milk" and ...

... noticia de un monzon avecinandoce con muuuchas lluvias torrenciales, pero sacamos la cabeza afuera y el dia se veia precioso, asi que por ahora no hay monzon, son las 11:30 y estamos caminando a paso lento, debido a los 32 grados y 200 % de humedad, recorriendo el centro de la ciudad, que tiene varios centros en si mismo Solo en el area donde estamos nosotros hay 9 shopping malls, el mas chico con 150 tiendas ...

... scornfully disdainful of the shining new shopping malls that offer the model for the future. They're boring and soulless by comparison with the grime, activity, odours and close packed humanity of the Hutong which are far more interesting and enjoyable to visit. I wouldn't for a minute deny the people who live there the right to more financial wealth, or space, or privacy and a better quality of life as a result of their endeavours, but if they are all successful that might ...

... to return bearing gifts people steal ahead of the 3 main national holidays in February, May and October. What makes it more dangerous to the unsuspecting is that I´m told the consequences of being caught for robbery are so dire that people will kill from fear of being identified. So, for the next few weeks, I shall be watching my back a little bit more carefully and scoffing a little less at the security warnings.