Back in the USA

Wow. Having spent the previous 11 days in China, I expected the jet lag, but hadn't predicted the "culture shock" (as one of my trip mates termed it) of re-entry into my own country. Why is the air condition so cold, I wondered. Why does the traffic seem so inefficient? Where are my chopsticks? Most of all, where is my day's itinerary?

The one thing I can categorically state about my visit, and which I will continue to emphasize here, is that what I will share is what I saw and heard - and nothing more. Yes, our visit was facilitated by an organization that is part of the Chinese government. Yes, we got a privileged view of China and often were given "VIP tours" of certain sites that we visited. True, we only saw life in cities and did not get to experience the life of rural Chinese people.

No, I didn't completely lose my mental faculties - I knew at all times that I was in a country with a government that has often been criticized for human rights violations of its citizens. There were security cameras everywhere, and I went through numerous security checkpoints where my bag was X-rayed and I walked through a metal detector.

On the other hand, we were allowed to ask anything, and all of our questions were answered. We were allowed to wander around every place that we visited. We had time in each of the three cities that we visited to travel on our own, and we did. I felt safe, safer than I did in the last big American city I visited (Philadelphia). 

So, take my posts with as large of a grain of salt that you need, and please leave comments with your questions. I promise to answer each one.  --Steve