...

Nah... I've never been one for setting out to discover my so-called roots, after all, born in Malaysia, grew up in Malaysia (more or less), therefore Malaysian-lor. Half of each set of grandparents were also born in Malaysia. But I have many older relatives who hold the opposite view: I think, therefore I am Chinese. After being barred for about half a lifetime by the gah-men from entering China, I wasn't sprinting to get onto some China coach tour (complete with matching tour-company-issue tour bag and all) the minute the restrictions were lifted. No, lah.

But a loooong weekend is around the corner: holidays start tomorrow with Ching Ming and stretch right up to Monday, and we got invited to a friend's house in China, located in a golf resort in a town situated in the province of Guangdong (what a mouthful) - see illustration on left. They were surprised I told them I'd never been to China (aforementioned ban notwithstanding). Spent the last few days getting visas, exchanging currency and so on. Got a near scare while trying to buy RMB today - the first bank we went to said that we had to reserve the required amount because they were out of stock! Everyone must be heading for China for the long weekend :P I went to another branch and after a heart-pounding 45-minute queue wait, got my RMB. RMB>HKD now. Sigh.

We leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow via jetfoil from TST, then arrive in Heshan which is somewhere near the Pearl River I think, then it's by coach from thereon. Nothing's packed yet, but I'm getting started! Soon, I think...

At least got chance to practise my Mandarin...