Today I went to some more villages and watched the dragonboat race.

Quite a cool spectacle.

Every family (people with the same surname) races a boat up a river in a form of competition. There are fireworks and cheers.

The overall losing team buys suckling pig to the winners.

I was there with a very kind family and a man who spoke French (!) so I could communicate.

I also visited a “tier 2″ city – these are the ones which are considered newer cities in developing areas, but which don’t have the political clout that Beijing or Shanghai have. Unexpectedly, it was actually a very nice city – I think they have learnt from developing the first array of towns and made the second lot a bit more spacious and tidy.

People are very friendly. I am surprised that even in the villages, nobody stares at me. I am pretty sure there haven’t been many white people there.

I have been eating lots of crazy stuff. Today I had pigeon for breakfast and shark for lunch. (Sorry to all the animal lovers out there, this is what people eat over here).

Tomorrow I have one more day of travelling before I return to HKG where I can have some Starbucks.

me

My first transatlantic flight was actually shorter than many other flights I have taken recently.

I have been extremely busy, without time to write much here. I hope to get some “free time” about the end of the month.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer.

me