I rode on a boat out into the waters between Xiamen and the (quite close… a short swim) series of small islands that are part of Fujian province but which are occupied /controlled by the “Republic of China” (AKA “Taiwan”), which is pretty far away. Politics/history.
Control of these islands has been an issue of requisite American political posturing dating back at least as far as the Nixon,/Kennedy debates and election. (“I’ll fight for them harder”… “NO, I will”)

After the boat ride, I rode a rented bike for a bit to reduce mileage on my shoes

hell, and it’s not even 11 AM here yet! A busy morning!

What do you think of this?
On the metro in Shenzhen you can select your preferred temperature zone!

One of the two robots in the hotel in Shenzhen is really channeling the robot vibe!
I wonder if that robot know the difference between North and East better than the hotel guy on the phone who had misdirected me regarding the location of the hotel entrance!

In Shenzhen I met up with Adrià, a young (award winning!) film director from Tarragona who was currently in China. He has made several short films that were shot in China.
We had coffee along with a couple of his partner and another of his friends.
Coffee in China can be a bit “borderline”. At the counter I ordered a latte. After we had all ordered and were sitting down, in an aside I said to Adrià that I’d prefer to be ordering a “tallat”. He smiled enthusiastically and agreed. Ha ha
(“Tallat” is the Catalan equivalent of the Castellano word “Cortado” which is an espresso with a small amount of milk added. No, NOT it’s not the same as a “macchiato”, no matter what the clowns at Starbucks will tell you!)

As a nice gift, Howie had painted a few portraits for me to carry home in my suitcase: Me, Rhonda, our daughter Mindy, and her son Jack.