late night in beijing , catching up , tired , writing this knowing gotta go finish packing down the street at the university hotel. but good time tonight at the swank kerry center hotel complex where i went with attractive date tabatha to take part in a canadian networking reception. loud crowd , large jazz bar , great miles davis sounds from the 4 piece band . we from ontario were given little canadian flags and minutes later in walked ontario’s premier maguinty with entourage. the first person he comes up to is yours truly , shakes hands , suave , and i chat with him amicably , tell him what am doing in china , and offer him my new CD , ‘george from athens to beijing’. He offers : ‘you are a good-will ambassador’. Pleasant chat with his wife just after that . photos to show too.

taking the long haul flight – first time beijing to toronto – cool . six weeks in china , much done , much accomplished , doors open , hearts opened . roles on many fronts to be played . to be continued !
is this an escape for me , a fantasy trip here ?  maybe , but a meaningful one . a british girl in an expat bar the other night saw my cctv piece and says to me – ‘you’re the first foreigner i’ve seen sing in chinese. everone else is learning chinese but for business. i don’t mean to sound cynical . thank you for writing a song in chinese about the olympics.’ (i declined to defer to jeremy for writing credits, prefering to enjoy the moment).