Em,

Sorry to have been so slack in not responding to your comment sooner: I have been turning the question you asked over in my mind.

Yes, I do think it makes a difference to how I see things on the trip - places, moments, experiences - having the additional question of blogging to consider.

In the negative, I guess what I ocassionally fear is that it could make things somehow less 'of the moment' - less real, more staged. Sort of, 'I know! Why don't you stand like this and do this and then say that - and I'll blog it!' When A proposed shaving his head, I jokingly said to him, 'Oh my God!! Before and after pics! Is it wrong that the first thing I thought of was the blog?!'

But really, I think that concern is misplaced.

Life and people (including myself) are simply too capricious and unpredictable and wilful and easily distracted to be faked or staged for the sake of a puny blog.

The best bit is having a forum to note all the stuff I love looking at any way ... crazy ginseng men with root-like penises; goose tongues at the dinner table; insane break-dancing kids in space-suits ... and being able to note those things down and thus have a record of them.

Having people comment here is absolutely the icing on the freaking cake - so thank you to all of you! (The cake itself is damn delicious, but the icing's even better - THAT'S how much I appreciate your comments and your responses!)

The writing and the cataloguing of travel experiences in this blog sometimes also enables me to see connections I hadn't thought of before - almost as if, before writing the events down, I hadn't fully seen how various tangents and thoughts and ideas might intertwine. But mostly, it's just fun.

Indulging our passions for interesting food and 'newness' and culture-shock and quirk has definitely been 'the plan' from day one - but the blog has been an unexpected twist in the tale. I never thought I would feel comfortable exposing my thoughts and experiences like this, and to start doing so took a huge leap of faith.

I'm pleased I didn't let fearfulness stop me from giving it a go. Come to think of it, that last statement is probably an apt comment on the decision to do the trip itself, as well.

(And Em, one last thing - every time I see a 'Strong Man' straw hat being worn here, I think of you! Thanks for being the Original China Travel Whiz.)