I am well and truly ready for this year's trip to be over. I just don't particularly want to be dealing with Hainan's Covid situation either.

"I don't think I specifically wrote about the guy that massively overcharged me for fruit in Jiangxi. Something like 15 on what ought to have been 10. Don't know if he was expecting me to haggle or what, but when I just paid the price he told me, suddenly he was like 'oh, let me throw in this free thing and that free thing and would you like a bottle of water from the fridge?' cause most people are ultimately good people."

You did tell that story.

"And there's something really cool about having a stranger who took a photo with me 7 years ago (or 14 years ago!) stop by the comments section of a video and share that picture with me, of knowing that I'm getting to see all these things that other people don't see, and at the same time, I'm helping shape people's impression of foreigners."

[I'd put a thumbs-up emoji here but my actual computer with real keyboard doesn't support emojis. Not going to switch to my phone just for that so consider yourself to have been thumbed. :) ]

The times where nothing hurts and everything is beautiful and I've forgotten to eat for long enough that food is literally an orgasmic experience far outnumber the shitty experiences.

The most likely bad experiences are going to be the ones where I'm making the cops unhappy, and—for all that I fucking HATE the not knowing if I'm going to have lodging problems—there's a certain thrill in staring down Authority and making Authority concede.

I don't think I specifically wrote about the guy that massively overcharged me for fruit in Jiangxi. Something like 15 on what ought to have been 10. Don't know if he was expecting me to haggle or what, but when I just paid the price he told me, suddenly he was like "oh, let me throw in this free thing and that free thing and would you like a bottle of water from the fridge?" cause most people are ultimately good people.

And there's something really cool about having a stranger who took a photo with me 7 years ago (or 14 years ago!) stop by the comments section of a video and share that picture with me, of knowing that I'm getting to see all these things that other people don't see, and at the same time, I'm helping shape people's impression of foreigners.

"I got to wonder sometimes, why do I enjoy this?"

Or, more simply and bluntly, "DO I enjoy this?"

For myself, reading what you've elected to put yourself through, the answer would be a resounding "HELL NO". I know I'd personally have folded my tent weeks ago, never to be unfolded again in those circumstances.

Soldier on, lady, soldier on!

Must be a hot property market!

Nope. Hunan has been great police wise. I'm fuming at Douyin though.

I have the oddest feeling that a Marian vs. The Police story is coming.

It's really not supposed to be this hard. As well, if I'd just lower my standards from USD 10 a night to maybe USD 5 a night (fan and a shared bathroom instead of a/c and a private sitdown), I've found that the Front Desk will generally be far *more* willing to cooperate with me on account of wanting my money....

The last line had me doing an actual "jaw drop".

True.

Glad it worked out alright, anyhow.

The Team Car usually passes to the riders' dominant hand and also isn't in the habit of trapping the rider on the shoulder. I was so sure I was going to crash

Think of it as your own Tour de France experience, where the team car loads up a domestique with drinks bottles to be carried to the rest of the team, up the road.

There are two ways to do superscript. One is a positioning thing that isn't allowed. The other one is Unicode. In this case, since I'm typing on my phone I just long press on 1 and choose from options such as ½, ⅓, ¼, and ¹.

As for strikethrough, look for "strikethrough text generator" which produces an ugly but usable strikethrough.

"The great thing about having footnotes" ...

Which provides the opening and opportunity I've been looking for, to ask how you're able to create the superscripts. They aren't supported by the text formatting options provided in the editor, as far as i've been able to tell, yet it's clearly possible.

That and, for Super Extra Bonus Points in this round, can you do strikethrough too? If so, how?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I went to exactly that same place, Greg!