China is still China...

You have to close your eyes in vehicles (or voluntarily take the back seat and know you will be bounced around). As they pass into the incoming traffic and cut each other off like it is nobody's business. They don't tie their loads down, nor do the lines mean anything. Traffic is horrible, but vendors yell at the drivers Safety First! Hence why I request high speed trains whenever possible; yet you get pushed through lines and stepped on.

The pollution is so bad you can't see past the 1st set of buildings, but I hear there are beautiful mountains in the distance and today the China Sea is to my right, but I can not confirm that.

You never know what the next meal is you will want to eat, so you over eat on what you like. Hence why we consumed the entire bowl of watermelon at breakfast!

The government determines when the city can turn the air on and nobody runs AC all night...no matter when it is on it will never be cool enough for an American.

Your body will struggle to catch up on sleep yet you will wake up at all hours during the night (usually in your own sweat or from nightmares of horns honking and cars passing). You will feel dirty an hour after your shower. The country still doesn't use toilet paper, wash their hands or sit down to use the restroom.

Plus, you have to be on your work game 100%. Both train rides I ended up next to my VP who wanted to discuss the upcoming line review. Someone is asking you questions at 6 am train pick ups all the way through dinners that end at 10 pm.

However, it is an amazing experience and I feel very comfortable here (especially now that it is my 3rd trip). I can maneuver the train stations and have mastered the squatting potties. The vendors are so nice to us and would give us the necklace they were wearing if we said we like it. They are amazed with my blue eyes and just stare at them. They realize this is not our comfort zone and do what they can to make us comfortable.

We stay in some of the nicest hotels I've ever been in and they have the most amazing rain feature in the showers and the fluffiest of towels.

When the food is right, it is delicious (amazing cabbage, snap peas, pumpkin, mushrooms, broccoli and glass noodles...I just stay away from the meat!). They have some of the freshest fruit you have ever tasted.

Plus, I have mastered the packing list, so know what to bring to be as comfortable as possible...(note to add a portable fan for next time).

All in all even though I write about the challenges and such it is the challenges that are the most memorable and ones I want to laugh about when I reread my blog years later!

Sent from my iPhone