I am officially one year older - I'm finally 24. Those of you who know me may be thinking. "How did you skip a year? We thought you were 23!" But here in China I was 23 when I got here so now I'm 24. However old I may be I am, and always will be, a day older. So what did I do on my birthday? I went and did a bit more shopping - as that's what Hong Kong is best for. But unfortunately I wasn't feeling good for the most of the morning. I checked my e-mail in the morning but haven't really had a chance to respond. I decided to go to Guangzhou even though I didn't feel good as I wanted to be there a day early in case anything bad ... read more

He smiles at me and we nod. He seems to be a really nice cool guy but I can only continue to wait. A lot of kids go by talking to each other in Cantonese "Hello!" they call. Not to me this time but to the receptionist. A woman comes in and sits near me. She also smiles and waves but I continue to wait. Wishing I could speak to them. A woman walks in with her child, talking with her hands to the other two who waved at me. They sit down and soon after the child points at me and laughs. He comes to give me the information I asked for. I ask him some questions including if I could possibly get a job there. "Usually we ask the people we hire to be ... read more

I'm sitting in the lobby of a five star hotel. No, I'm not staying here - I wouldn't pay that kind of money for a room - I'm simply sitting here. Lobbies like these simply act as resting places for the well dressed. And being white I could walk in here wearing almost anything I liked - besides beggar clothes or my birthday suit. I came in to use the bathroom but I have a whole hour to waste and nothing to really do. Yesterday it rained - all day - and not what I used to call "Chinese rain" that Dalian gets but real hard rain. I went to see Dinghushan and was carrying my umbrella around the whole time. I got sick of carrying my umbrella around the whole time. I got sick of ... read more

People running here and there with luggage. Men sitting and simply staring at me with no intent in their eyes of stopping, smells of entire chickens being eaten on a stick, signs flashing here and there "Guangzhou is our home. Come back soon" even though buses are being loaded. Announcements going out almost every second in both Cantonese and English but the roar from the crowd is too loud for me to make out anything aside from "Ladies and Gentlemen. May Ihave your attention please?" Followed by a lot of mumbling. TV screens the size of a normal house TV announcing boarding times and departures. They seem so tiny in this huge hall that all I can do to know whether I'm supposed to leave is continue standing up and showing my ticket every time a ... read more

Sitting here with my feet on top of my shoes. For a person who used to love not wearing shoes at all in this kind of weather it's rough to wear and walk around in sandals all day - not that they're bad shoes. They're some of my best and most comfortable shoes. My hair feels nice on the back of my neck. Paul just took me to get a head massage at the best Salon in Daliang (not to be confused with Dalian as the only difference in spelling is the g in English but the characters are completely different). The massage itself was so relaxing that I fell asleep (or just about) but then afterwards the man who blowdried my hair literally took 4 minutes arranging my topmost hair trying to figure out where ... read more

Your attention please. Passengers for the flight CZ6321 to Guangzhou. This flight has been delayed due to the accuedrop. The new departure time will be announced later. Your attention please. Passengers for the flight CZ6543 to Shanghai. This flight has been delayed due to the accuedrop. The new departure time will be announced later. Over and over, each flight is announced until the people around me begin to recite the phrase and laugh at each others rote memorization of the passage. Two hours ago I came for my flight. At the time it was delayed due to fog. "When will it depart?" I asked an airport attendant standing next to a white blackboard with a message scribbled in undiscernable Chinese and my flight number beneath. "I don't know. Whenever the fog clears." I sat and waited. ... read more

This is my last entry for a little while. I'm going to go off to Guangzhou. While I'm there I want to see Zhaoqing, Shenzhen and possibly Macau or Hong Kong. We'll see once I get there though. I more than likely will write my entries down and type them up when I come back but if I have to write while I'm there I will do that. Camillo thinks that I'm going to be in trouble. He thinks Guangzhou is very seriously not safe and that I am going to be in trouble the way I want to go. He thinks that if I want to be safe at all there I should go stay in a nice hotel and not a hostel or a cheap hotel. Now what I keep telling him doesn't seem ... read more

"Okay. Now try this" he paints on a sheet of see-through white paper with a beautiful large brush and I look on amazed as each stroke goes on the paper unanounced and yet perfect. Each line not a line but a piece of art. How can one line make itself into such art? I wonder amazed. I try it myself but I am afraid. The man who just left scared me. Scared me out of my comfort. I have been left with a shallow self, shaking on the inside a bit and it shows. It shows on the paper with each stroke. The lines are not his lines, not beautiful strokes but shaky to the point of sometimes even being invisible. "No, no, not that. Argh." He shows me again. And again the same beautiful strokes ... read more