This book is a delightful collection of personal accounts of adventures in everyday life and travel in China. The authors also offer insightful observations, impressions, and reflections on many aspects of Chinese life, culture and history. Readers will find the book, not only very informative, but also highly entertaining and often quite humorous. Walk through local markets, ride local buses, and stroll down back allies to experience the sights, sounds and smells of the real China. Share the challenges of and humor in seemingly simple daily routines such as doing laundry, finding mail, or taking a shower. Enjoy eventful dining, shop with Julie Sly, the Chinese way, and share a ride in a paddy wagon to a cop shop in Beijing. Tour the Forbidden City, the Ming Tombs, and climb the Great Wall. Board a cruise ship for a memorable cruise up the Yangtze River and endure a harrowing bus ride through Himalayan passes in Tibet. Meet the authors' students as they endure the trials of learning English. Experience a 'hard sleeper' on an overnight train to visit some Chinese friends for Chinese New Year celebrations. Sit with the authors as 9/11 freezes time on TV screens throughout the world and as they cope with the outbreak of SARS in China. This book is a must journey to one of the most fascinating, intriguing and beautiful countries in the world. It vividly reveals a China that is rarely seen and understood by the West.