the 2 koreans (real ones from the motherland) from my mongolian adventures have joined me, making life instantly better. one of them actually speaks enough mandarin to obtain favorable hotel rates as well as order restaurant foodstuffs that noticably lack animal parts otherwise considered suitable only in dog food. my first week in china i was rather convince china was an expensive country. US$20 wasn't uncommon for hotel rooms which sound reasonable but i've learned that everything is negotiable. on average, i now pay US$2 for a night of housing, $1 - $2 for meals. i've traded one planner (taverstock jo who ditched me for the lure of st. petersburg) for another (korean ju wan) and so i've left my mind on autopilot. often i neither know (nor care) what city i'm in, leaving everything up to someone that has the sense to plan a course that'll have us in the far west of china in a week's time.