Apologies

I have fallen off the face of blogging planet. Sorry about that.

In Bangladesh, I was somewhat under-entertained, so it was easy to write a lot and have detailed posts about various events of aspects of life there, or life in general. But in China, when I have plenty to do and don't write for a month, suddenly there is a LOT to catch up on, which feels intimidating and daunting and all-around impossible.

However, an even more daunting task is looming: a return to the gym. And so, suddenly, blogging seemed manageable.

The most notable things I've done have been weekend adventures: a trip to Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors, a day on the Great Wall at Mutianyu, and a (government-funded) trip to Hong Kong to get a new visa.

They were all lovely in their own way, though I think we learned in Xi'an that we are not cut out for tour group travel, which ends up feeling more like work than fun.

Hong Kong, on the other hand, was apparently supposed to be work (I had the travel orders to prove it!) but ended up feeling more like fun. A lot more like fun. I was blown away by Beijing after Bangladesh, but a good way to become disillusioned with Beijing is to go to Hong Kong. Sure, it doesn't have Beijing's history, but it does have great food, amazing shopping, gloriously functional public transportation, and polite people (which even extends into the realm of taxi drivers!).

My wanderlust is reawakening after a not-unhappy year hunkered down in the greater Washington, DC metro area. I am considering carefully what should be my 35th foreign country. It looks like we're taking a couple days off to make it an even week off for Chinese New Year in January, so we'll see where we're off to. I've heard it's best to get out of China and maybe even out of Asia given the massive numbers of Chinese travelers who all have the exact same days off. Which means who knows where we'll turn up... stay tuned!

And hopefully at some point I'll get my act together for some photos and details about our adventures thus far.