I'm in Shanghai, and what a cool city it is! Despite it being blistering hot every day, the city is always bustling and its cleaner and more beautiful than ever. I got to see my Grandfather, who was very sick at one point but now he has recovered pretty well. He had bad vision before and has now completely lost it, but everything else is OK, my grandmother is doing well, and their maid seems like a nice and responsible lady so I'm very relieved. One thing I can't STAND about this city, or about China in general is the internet! One of the first things I noticed when I logged onto Chinese internet was that Pokerstars.com and the Pokerstars software is completely blocked in all the hotels I've been in so far. I get this message: Unable to get the latest software version from the server, Error code -2/-83

This is actually okay because as a Full Tilt Pro I believe Pokerstars sucks anyways (well, not really X_X) but when I play on FTP, it lags literally EVERY MINUTE. For those who have been watching me play, you will have noticed me timing out again and again, including 2 notable reraised pots HU vs mastrblastr --;. BLAH, can't wait until I have reliable US broadband again.

On the opposite spectrum of things, one of the best things about traveling all over China is the FOOD. Two in a half weeks ago we were in Zhuhai, and in one of the seafood resteraunts we stumbled upon this little guy:

He was cute until I touched his tail and he snapped at me (fortunately his mouth was bound), so we turned him into this:

Some other delicacies I've tried are snake, bullfrog, numerous different shellfish, wild mushrooms, and tons of weird body parts of animals (pig's ears, pig's tongue, cow's neck, etc.). These were varying in deliciousness, but at least I can say I gave them all a try. The more traditional stuff is great too, my favorites being the correctly made chinese version of sweet and sour fish, and lamb kabob (spiced with Guiyang spices to perfection!). They also tried to make me eat dog meat, but I'd rather jump off a bridge.

In other news, I'm going to Beijing tomorrow! We're leaving by train, and I'm going to go see a volleyball match (I don't yet know who's playing or anything, but it should be fun anyways). I'm going to take tons of pictures of the Olympic village to post here, I can't wait.

I'm also running better at shortstacking 200/400 PLO. Its a pretty wild variance fest, and I caught some lucky breaks recently:

Gussing Gus: www.liquidpoker.net/h/501574

3 way flip: www.liquidpoker.net/h/501573

BEIJING SOON WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!