Safe and sound. For the moment at least.

China China here I am. This is my first internet usage, but so far it's pretty friendly. An hour costs 3 rmb, which is the equivalent of about 30 US cents. The keyboard is standard English, but the buttons and tabs on most pages turn up in Chinese letters. I can access blogger, but I can't actually view my blog as it's blocked. I've seen the comments and thanks for the well wishing. So far so good on the staying out of trouble.

Now for the good stuff. Kyleen and I are staying in a hotel that starts with an sh sound, which we've appropriately nicknamed the shithole. We have to stay here till Sunday afternoon when we can move to our actual hotel. We don't actually get a key but have to show these makeshift ID cards to the attendant on our floor who then lets us in our room. We're also pretty sure she locks us in at night so we can't go anywhere either. The highlights of the room are: the dead bugs on the wall that were killed but not scraped off, the inch of standing water on the bathroom floor since the sink leaks and the pipe at the bottom isn't actually connected to the drain, the "every drop is precious" signs to accompany the water conservation notices (and the sink that leaks a gallon an hour), the bathtub that was installed in early 1940s and has never been cleaned since, and my favorite, the toilet that doesn't flush. You can't flush paper and you have to hold down the handle for about 45 seconds to get it to drain out the pee. Apparently no one in China goes number 2 because we're absolutely certain that toilet couldn't handle it. On the bright side, K and I have convinced ourselves that we can't get sick since there's no where to be sick at.

The Detroit airport is pretty dull, as I learned from the 6 hour layover we had there. And to keep the record going, I was searched at the Tokyo airport by security. I have flown only 5 times since 9/11 happened, and at least once every single time I've been searched. This was pretty standard except I've never had anyone ask me if they could see my feet or stood and smelled my deoderant for a minute. I guess I was ok because it smelled "spring fresh" like the label said. Thank God it didn't smell powder fresh.

We're not supposed to drink the water or use ice, which means we stick with warm sodas or beer. You can drink the water if it's been heated, and we all know nothing sounds better on a 90 degree day than a good hot cup of hot chocolate.

And that's all I have to say for now. I think K is sending an email out to some of you now, so I'm sure she's confirming everything I said. If we weren't so damned jet lagged and tired we probably wouldn't think it's so funny. But for now, we can live till Sun.

Also, anyone who owns a blog and is so inclined (since I can't view them) you can always copy them and email them to me so K and I can have a laugh. I don't know if I can go 30 days without seeing any more than the title of Chuck's posts, and not being able to view anyone else's at all. But we'll see. So if you don't hear from me in the next few days, I've succomed to bathroom disease of some sort or fallen in one of the hole in the floor toilets somewhere.