today was tinged with last day feelings. bittersweet, you just know that your vacation is ending. your last meals. your last time checking out. and hopefully your last time with food poisoning in china. checked out from our beautiful 5 star hotel. wandered around shantou, looking for good food. found it at a street vendor that served good noodle...

Yesterday for breakfast, we had a buffet type thing at the hotel.  That was good because I get to choose exactly what I like: fried bread (I'm an American...I can't stop searching for a heart attack no matter what country I'm in), watermelon, and boiled eggs! Then a large number of us (more of San's family) took 3 cars and drove a while to ...

This morning we left Guangzhou around 9:30 for Shantou.  We took two cars.  Matthew (who was with us in Beijing and Shanghai) drove me, Beibei, and Beibei's grandparents.  Jason drove San, Sineerat, and the two people of San's family that we had dinner with last night.  It was about a six hour drive to get to Shantou.  W...

Getting to visit somebody's hometown anywhere in the World gives you another insight into the place, and as I pondered putting an end to lazing around in the sunshine, Arnan's invite was too good to turn down. So it was, that I headed off on a breakneck, lazy trip which was quite unlike any travel experience I've ever had, but which was nonethel...

Where have I been this week. Some ex-teachers came back from travelling before leaving China, these past couple of days. An American couple called David and Elizabeth. I'm really sad that they've left! Well this necessitated going out a lot to enjoy final moments together, including a trip to wine bar Aussino, lunch at veggie rest., hotpot and f...