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Well, I am here in Guangzhou, leave for Yangshuo tomorrow! Can't wait! It is a big place for backpackers to go and relax and party and so on...

I came to Guangzhou on recommendation from Kneider for the shopping. And yes the shopping is good! Guangzhou is a huge export/wholesale city. I wandered around some leather wholesale malls today and experienced some black market shopping. I was hunting down some Balenciaga bags, again on Kneider's recommendation, and found them in many shops, all offering different prices. I scouted out the cheapest one, and went and searched the internet for how to tell a fake Balenciaga from a real one, so I think I ended up with the real ones. I went back to find the shop in a 4 storey maze of shops, but found it closed! Most of the shops had closed up, luckily the owner had remembered me and quickly shuffled me into her shop. She told me the police might be coming so we had to be quiet. I had no idea there was anything illegal involved in this wholesale shopping! Perhaps it was because they are wholesale but are selling retail. There was A LOT of foreigners there, mostly Africans and middle Easterns, I talked to one guy from Iraq who used to be a PE teacher but now buys wholesale from China. I'd say 99% of the foreigners shopping there were there for the same business reasons. Kneider will be back there in the future joining them I'm sure!!!

Anyways, back to the Balenciaga, I told the girl what I wanted, she made a phone call, said '10 minutes' and gave me some tea. We chatted, I taught her a bit of English, specifically the difference between colleague and college. Then in walks a young guy with a garbage bag, dumps the purses on the floor, and voila, I had my illegal Balenciaga. I quickly noticed afterwards the ridiculous amount of people running around with big garbage bags full of leather bags/belts/shoes/etc. Another great Chinese experience!

...also, I should mention about my current room in Guangzhou, I thought the 4 bed hotel room I shared with 3 guys and the public shower (ie. 3 shower heads only open between 8pm and 11pm and with no privacy, no stalls, just open) was bad! This hotel charges 3 times the price for a small L shaped room without a window!! Now I'd take that 4 bed public shower hotel over this in a heartbeat!!! Again, another Chinese experience!

Tomorrow I am off to Yangshuo for one week, then back to Wuhan for maybe one day, then Beijing for 2....and then Canada. Got mixed feelings about returning home, happy to go to T.O. for Cyn's b-day (yahhhh legend!) and see Suz, and visit Robbie boy for a couple weeks, then back to the good old festival theatre for another couple months of bartending. Please help me find a good "real world" job!!! And of course, seeing the fam. and friends, although now that I will be the only child home, diddy will have a grand time keeping me "entertained" i'm sure! Thank god for the satellite TV!