Ahh - I ended up in Hong Kong by default. I really really wanted to be in Thailand, bought a ticket, tried to wait out the riots and the shootings, cancelled the ticket when all out war broke out, and went to Hong Kong to plan how to get to Paris without breaking the bank. A few weeks ago I got a great deal on a return flight to Canada....therefore officially ending my "one-way ticket" journey. I only paid $86 - Canadian!!! for a direct flight from Paris to To...

Shenzhen is the city sharing the border with Hong Kong. From Guangzhou, it is a quick convenient one hour fast train (travels at 200 km/hr). If only Canada could incorporate some of this transportation technology!!! so fast, so quiet and so easy. Between these two massive cities, are three other massive cities - where the underpants and the Ipods and everything else around you right now came from. The factory that makes the Ipod and the Ipad is in the news t...

Sunday afternoon as I was strolling through Guangzhou, I noticed a big (OK, everything here is big), Ikea. This Ikea was one on the funniest, laugh out loud, days I had in China. It will be a 'forever memory' for me.As soon as I entered the absolutely packed store, it hit me. All Ikeas, all over the world, sell the same stuff and their stores are marketed in exactly the same way.   There is a familiarity with the brand that I have only ever found ...

I know where underpants come from. And jeans and party dresses and watches and purses and socks and medical supplies and accessories. They come from Guangzhou. Just as I saw hours and hours of factories from my train window – in Guangzhou, I saw the world coming to one city, to buy all of these things. Truly mind blowing and amazing: the scale of purchasing that goes on in this city. The whole world was there – in the street, in the massive build...