Coming Back to Reality

Now that I've been back home for a couple weeks, I feel like I'm back to my usual routine. It was nice to be gone for two weeks and just have fun. But it was a bit tough coming back to everything. For one, I had to cook and clean for myself which I got really used to not doing when we stayed at hotels and went out to eat everyday. Plus I can't say my cooking is anywhere nearly as good as the food we had in China. Although not all of our meals were good, we did have good meals in every city we visited.

I can't believe how much we did during the two weeks we were in China. It would be impossible to share everything in this entry so I'll just share my favorites in each city. In Hong Kong it would be discovering the hidden parks within the chaotic city and finding a little peace and rest for our weary feet. I will never tire of the views from Victoria's Peak even though it was my third time being there and the view from the 55th floor of the IFC was also amazing as well. In Shanghai I enjoyed the Yu Gardens very much, the bakery and the xiao long bao, but Xintiandi most of all. The limestone peaks in Guilin were my favorite, but beware of the people. And in Macau I enjoyed the architecture, food and most of all the Portuguese custard tarts.

Perhaps one of the most exciting moments during our trip in Shanghai was seeing Zhang Ziyi very briefly. Honestly I don't really like her work, but there's something about seeing a celebrity. I've captured some video of the event below.

Waiting for Zhang Ziyi's Arrival - Part 1

I had to split up the video because of size limits. The rest of this video and others are posted on my Eyespot video page.

Speaking of celebrities, I was this close to seeing Jon Bon Jovi last week in Nashville where I was at for a conference. He was staying in the same hotel as our group and it seemed like everyone saw him except me. I'm not a huge fan of his either, but again there's something about seeing a celebrity. It seemed like I would just miss him by a second. He wasn't too happy with our group and very much wanted to be left alone unfortunately. Oh the stress of being a celebrity!