It isn't an easy journey and isn't one that we would wish to change if we could.
Ha ha ha, Shaun you're right here. This could be the toughest journey you'll ever make.
I'm just back from "Man goes on 2nd date with girl to Macau". Only we only get as far as a Zhuhai hotel, have a gigantic misunderstanding, a rather great makeup, eat the greatest Jiaozi ever cooked, face the hall of evil (Zhuhai train station ticket office) and the gates of hell that are Guangzhou metro on a Sunday evening.
Plus in the interval from when I visited Willy in 2011 they have moved Zhuhai station 10 miles!!! And my date found a wonderful shopping mall for us to visit, but when we got there it was a construction site. Things change so quickly here (especially the train ticket prices!!!)
And that's before I even get started on my date having some huge problems in her life. This is the first lady I've met whose family are farmers, and her personal life is really tragic. Life sucks here if you're poor, from having to work 60+ hour weeks (and face your health being ruined by 50), to costly healthcare, a high cost of living and random catastrophes. Last week I was nearly totalled by a motorcycle driving the wrong way - luckily I have two health insurance plans here which is two more than most of the population have.
If they made a movie of my attempt to find a wife here it would be dismissed as pure fiction.
Is it all worth it? Well I laugh at all the photos of Hollywood movie stars/Kardashians beach photos. The girl I was with has a simply astounding figure, and it's all natural.
And there are so many little things that make this journey so fun at time. Like the waitress in the Yunnan restaurant couldn't stop smiling at me - I was maybe the first Westerner who'd ever eaten there. And tonight's bus journey through the mean streets of Sanyuanli was as epic as always.
And as for the culture remark, well I'm currently living in one of the poorest parts of Guangzhou. I see it all here. Actually I'm not supposed to be living here at all but that's how this country works.