My surprise for this morning was that we were meeting in the lobby at 6 a.m. Oh joy. Today was action-packed with one stop after another. We climbed onto our tour bus, made a quick stop to pick up three additional people from Texas, and then headed to a jade “museum.” Our guide showed us, through a glass window, workers sitting at their stations and carving out everything from bracelets to interlocking dragon balls. All I could think was why weren’t they wearing any face or hand protection? Ah, the marvels of the sweatshops. We ventured in a bit more, and were educated on how to tell real...

I forgot to mention that while my group was out shopping the night before, they got dinner, leaving me to figure out what to eat. My best option seemed to be the hotel’s dining room. One glance at the menu told me to try the white fish in lemon sauce. I ordered, and then in about three minutes my waitress came back to tell me they were all out. My second choice was a tuna fish sandwich and French fries. While I waited, I contemplated how it could be that so many restaurants in China consistently ran out of food. It was mind boggling. Didn’t they have any idea how to order enough for dinner...

Woke up feeling weak, and my heart was fluttering. Initially, I didn’t think much of it, but after getting ready for the day thought that this probably wasn’t normal, especially since I also felt breathless. Since I still had an Internet connection, I looked up my symptoms and got back the result of “extreme dehydration.” If I didn’t do something about this, the web doctor said that the next stage could be convulsions. Realizing that I hadn’t actually had very much to drink the day before, I grabbed my purse and walked to a nearby “convenience” store, where I bought a 2 liter...

I decided that since we were leaving around 9:30 a.m. for Beijing, I wouldn’t bother with the horrid basement breakfast. After getting ready, I dashed out of the hotel. When we had arrived in Shanghai I noticed a sign that had mentioned a nearby temple. I had said something to the others about it but was met with silence. (I could almost see the tumbleweeds rolling down the street.) If I wanted to see it, I guess I was doing it alone. I found the sign again, and headed down the road, which was another busy, bustling area full of small stalls that were overflowing with antiques and, in most,...

For some odd reason, our air conditioning doesn’t work. It starts out OK, but by morning it is fucking hot in the room. I woke up because of the heat. The others said they woke up in a pile of sweat. So lovely. Our breakfast came courtesy of the hotel, and it was in the basement. Very yuck. The only thing edible I could find was a few slices of white toast with margarine. Not really very filling. The day started off as cool and overcast, and our plans were to walk to the Bund, which is the eclectic architectural area near the river then go up the Pearl Tower and go inside to the Shanghai...

On the agenda was a trip to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial, but we didn’t go. No idea why. Since it was our last day in Guangzhou, I thought I would take a short stroll around the block; get some drinks. I went into the 7-Eleven and got a razor, a big Evian and something else. I must have spent too much time marveling at the Hello Kitty maxi pads, because one of the clerks came searching me out. Out of the store, I turned the block and in the park saw a bunch of elderly people working out on what looked like children’s playground equipment. One woman, at the front, was dancing with a sword....

Because of the spa incident, we didn’t keep to the schedule. We got up on our own and had breakfast in the lobby. I discovered baked beans on the buffet line-up and was pretty excited to have beans on toast for breakfast.  They also had some fried potato cubes that were decent. I’ve noticed that since we eat such small meals and, the ones I do eat, consist of vegetables, OR I don’t eat at all, my appetite is about non-existent. I also can’t eat like I used to. It will be a real shocker when I get home. I put on some trousers the other day that used to be snug. They are...

Our hotel is quite nice. The lobby floors are marble and the art/furnishings are sort of 19th century Neo-Classic.  Maybe a bit too Western but it’s definitely a hotel that I wouldn’t be able to afford anywhere else. Because of all of the adoptions that go through Guangzhou, the breakfast buffet is sort of half Chinese and half American/British. It was a welcome change. I was feeling like fruit, so I partook of the pineapple, papaya (horrible), and banana. I also got some toast, New Zealand butter and marmalade, and orange juice. I wasn’t feeling all that adventurous on the breakfast...

The other people in my group had two meetings at a local university on our last day in Hong Kong, so I was on my own. I was a bit uneasy about it, because the subway system is very confusing. (Oddly, for how big it is, I could never find a lavatory. I’m pretty sure they don’t exist.) Luckily, Ah-Yen, Peter’s wife who is native to China, decided to go with me and act as my translator. What a relief. For breakfast, we ate a fish ball restaurant (yes, you read that correctly), and because of my bad stomach the day before, I decided to take it easy. I ordered what looked like egg noodles (they...