A MONTH
IN CHINA中国一个月
Haik and Ani, Great Wall to the Li River to the Bund, with two weeks of work in the middle. This page knows where we are, what the sky's doing over our heads, and whether it's a decent hour to call.
Packing. Not much, on purpose.
Mission debrief
we're homeWheels down, Burbank任务完成
Thirty nights, eight cities, one very heavy suitcase. Thank you for following along — every note in the guestbook got read on a train somewhere.
Who & why
the short versionWhy a month in China?
Two reasons, tangled together. We're rebuilding the house on Palm, and most of what goes into a house — windows, doors, kitchens, stone, lights — gets made in the cities on this route. And the businesses need equipment that's built there too. The Canton Fair in the middle is the biggest trade show on earth, so we timed everything around it.
The rest is the reward: the Great Wall with nobody on it, hotpot that hurts, a castle hotel in the karst, egg tarts in Macau, and Shanghai at the end because Shanghai deserves three nights.
Dispatches from the road
photos & notes, newest firstPhoto wall
Mission globe
drag to spin · tap a cityROUTE LAX → PEK → … → PVG → LAX
STATUS STANDBY
Day by day
← → keys workThe work stretch
Canton Fair · Guangzhou · Oct 16–29Held twice a year in Guangzhou since 1957, the Canton Fair is the largest trade show in the world: a complex the size of a small town, tens of thousands of exhibitors, and buyers from every country you can name. It runs in three phases, each with its own industries. We're there for the first two, then leave the week the third one starts.
Where we're sleeping
8 hotels · tap a key cardGetting around
planes, bullet trains, one border on foot| Date | Leg | Dep | Status |
|---|
Weather telemetry
October climate normalsFlight deck
live on flight daysThe food map
where dinner isFood passport
Twenty dishes to get through. A stamp appears when a dispatch mentions the hashtag — so yes, we have to post proof.
Mission extras
learn · unlock · playPhrase of the moment
Tap the card to flip. These are the ones we'll actually use.
Achievements
Unlock as the trip happens. Gold means done.
How well do you know this trip?
Seven questions. No prizes, only honor.
Need to know
the boring bits, made shortThe bag
Carry-on only. Travel light, buy there — clothes get bought in Beijing on day two, laundry runs at the Guangzhou hotel. Tick as we pack.
Postcard generator
make one · share itSend yourself a postcard
Pick a city, write a line, share it to the group chat.
Bring me back a…
requests, within reasonPut in a request
Tea, snacks, a fake designer something — ask and we'll tick it off when it's in the bag. Suitcase space is finite.
Family chat
How this works
A group chat that works from China without a VPN.
- Anyone can write. Name, message, optional photo. Enter sends, Shift+Enter for a new line.
- First message is held until Haik or Ani approve it — keeps strangers out. After that your phone is trusted and posts land instantly.
- Photos are resized on your phone before upload, so it's fine on slow wifi.
- We answer when we're awake — check the call chip in the top bar.
Guestbook
leave a note for the roadSay something
We read these on bullet trains. Keep it PG, the moms are on here.
Comms
how to reach meWeChat. Free, reliable everywhere in China, and the one we'll actually see. Add us both before Oct 3 if you haven't.
WhatsApp, FaceTime, iMessage photos, Gmail, Google Maps, Instagram. If a message doesn't go through, that's why, not ignoring you.
Macau, Oct 14–16 — everything works normally there. Best days for a proper video call.
China is 15 hours ahead of Burbank (16 after US clocks fall back Nov 1). Our evening is your early morning. The chip in the top bar says whether to call.