Vemance Hotel Guangzhou

i knew it would happen, but only four days in and sarah has chinitis, all the smells, tastes and intruguing aspects of CHina have resulted in symptoms including vomiting in front of a chinese family in Qingping markets. we walked through a really really fascinating marketplace full of kittens, puppies, tortoitses, so many fish, salamanders, chip munks, every manner of claw, dried lizards, mushrooms, fungi and bunny ...

... ride to guilin today, the tourist mecca of zhong guo, thats china for all you non-chinga people. simon got his hair cut by the barber at our hostel, its looks great, he is a true asian now. they were pasting black stuff on the guy to my right and i asked for it too, so i now have black hair. simon has had lots of chances to practise his mandarin which has been exciting. yesterday we went for lunch at ...

I am finally getting a grasp on the completely different way that Chinese people think, which is more to say they ways in which they refuse to think, or have been programed not to think. It has taken me awhile to understand it as I refused to believe what was staring me in the face upon my arrival. In fact it is such a sad picture that I did not want it to be true. But after 3 months I will purge my insights in order to be free of them.

Everyone here follows the voice ...

Enjoyed our meetings and colleagues. Went to dinner at a typical Guangdong/Canton restaurant. Menu was very creative. Plenty of exotics - baby pigeon, sting ray, fish guts, beetles, snakes, chicken feet. Was a bit naseous, but likely because of jet lag.

Arrive after 11 pm and my company screws up the pick-up. 20 guys trying to sell me sim-cards are chasing me around baggage claim because I'm clearly not moving out. After an hour and deciding I won't be picked up, I bee-line for the first cab in lineup. The ...

... and Si, her brother's name, was usually a girl's name. The same is true for the names of her father and his sister. Her ye ye picked out all these names. But at any rate, Vivian's name means beautiful, graceful, and intelligent, so I think she is well-named. After socializing and taking pictures, the group of us went to a restaurant for lunch. We had chicken, pig stomach, and shrimp that we ate with legs and ...

... and I have a fantastic breakfast. Which is more than I can say for the weather outside. It is grey and very smoggy looking. When I am ready to check out, leave via the hotel's back door and was met by a golf cart that drove me the 300m to the terminal building. It seemed a waste of effort but I enjoyed the novelty of it just the same. Baiyun Airport is an impressive structure, just like every other major airport in China in a desperate race to out impress each other. I find ...

... We climbed the stairs of a tower that was 9 stories high. I went the first three floors and decided it was high enough. The altar at each Buddha was filled with flowers, canned orange and grape soda, and apples. We watched the monks chanting and enter one of the temples. After the temple we met with John and Jane for beer at the Elephant Castle Bar in Guangzhou, and ended our evening at the Italian restaurant we now love.

... managed to find our digs for the night, which ended up being right in front of our noses the entire time. Located on the quasi-island of Shamian formed by the Pearl River and a local canal, the Victory Hotel overlooked the waters of the canal and fronted broad, leafy avenues of this ambassadorial area. We checked in (Steve and Cori mightily pleased by this upgrade to their living conditions), and headed to a local restaurant for dim sum. The banquet hall ...

... shopping area he had found with a McDonald's and etc. We had some food at a local place but it sucked. I was very disappointed. But they were selling coconuts outside which were not green but dried so they were generally 2/3 full. That ended up being a big part of my meal. Also had some Oreo's earlier in the day. Anyways, tomorrow we are off to Yangzhou which should be a better place to find food I can eat.