I have some quiet time in resus at the moment. Didn't sleep earlier because of the adrenaline effect ( which I always have trouble shutting off ) and am now suffering the consequences. The refrigerator temperature helps a little, but Dave Barry came to the rescue, and I have his book in my hand right now. Here're a few excerpts I'd like to share ( it's such a funny book I can't stand it!). :D

From an account of his trip to Hong Kong ( pre-1997, ie. the China takeover ):

When it came time to purchase return ferry tickets, I was practically a professional. I got into the "line", which was a formless, milling mass of people, and I leaned hard in the general direction of the ticket window. I finally got close to it, and it was clearly my turn to go next, when an old man -- he had to be at least 75 -- started making a strong move around me from my left. I had a definite age and size advantage, but this man was good. He shoved his right elbow deep into my gut while he reached his left arm out to grasp the ticket window ledge. I leaned hard on the man sideways, and then -- you can't teach this kind of thing; you have to have an instinct for it -- I made a beautiful counterclockwise spin move that got me to the window inches ahead of him. I stuck my face smack up against the window, confident I had won, but then the old man, showing great resourcefulness, stuck his head under my arm and shoved his face into the window too. We were cheek to cheek, faces against the glass, mouths gaping and eyes bulging like two crazed carp, shouting ticket orders. Unfortunately, he was shouting in Chinese, which gave him the advantage, and he got his ticket first. But I was definitely making progress.

On his day-long rush job of a trip to China:

(Our guide) tells us that our first stop is a museum where we'll see the World Famous Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses... These are life-size clay statues of horses and warriors; 8,000 of these statues were buried with a Chinese emperor in 221 B.C., to protect him. This was before the invention of burglar alarms.

The Peking Duck is pretty good, but not plentiful, only a couple of small pieces per person. John informs us that in China, when you eat Peking Duck, you eat only the skin.
"Sure," mutters an Australian woman at our table. "And they'll tell the next group that you eat only the meat."