Conversation of the Week

Random Chinese Girl: Excuse me, could you help me with something?
Hilary: Of course...
RCG: How do you spell the city of Canada called Toronto?

This conversation came as a shock to me for a few reasons:
1-I was drenched in rain and wandering around Guangzhou looking for an ATM with Dave.
2-I'm not used to Chinese people speaking English so well outside of the classroom.
3-I had smugly assumed she would be asking to take a picture with the token foreigners, not for spelling advice...My g-d I've turned into an arrogant snob!

One of the problems with finding hotels via the internet is the inability to really get a feel for their reputation. When we checked into our hotel in Nanning, we were quite pleased with our beautifully decorated surroundings. However, we arrived at our room to discover a variety of oils and other unmentionables on our bed stand, available for purchase from the hotel. It was then that the little lightbulb in my head put those items together, with the neighborhood we were in, and promptly started flashing a "Rooms for rent, by the hour" sign.

Traveling Firsts
-The amount of bug bites I managed to amass in such a short period of time. 4 in one sitting at the WC...hehe, WC!
-Being stuck in a tropical rainstorm every day, at the same time, for an entire week.
-Cockroaches as big as chihuahuas that seem to outnumber all residents of Southeast Asia.
...and my absolute favorite - The looks of bewilderment, and subsequent helplessness, across the faces of the Chinese people whose escalator had just stopped working. It took them a full minute to start walking down the newly-stationary stairs.