Shenzhen and Guangzhou

At the risk of offending the several million people who live there (look - yet again, I daringly risk overloading you with factual nuggets that you just won't find in any other guidebooks), I didn't find anything particularly remarkable about Shenzhen. Southern China seems much more lush and green - a consequence of even more ludicrous humidity than Shanghai - and Shenzhen nestles in some hilly bits, which is nice.

After more meetings Tony and I decided to take the train onwards to Guangzhou where we have another set of appointments with potential partners for the project we are working on. Shenzhen and Guangzhou basically seem to be joined up by some of the most awful housing and toxic light industrial stuff that you could ever imagine. In parts, the conditions appeared to be so dire that only the clothes hanging on the line gave the game away that people - lots of people - were living in some of the buildings. The seemingly random, sprawling network of brick, concrete and corrugated iron sometimes went on for miles at a time, interspersed only occasionally with submerged fields and crops.

As I gawped at the scenery and tried to make sense of it, my feelings of guilt and unease as I sped by in smug, air-conditioned comfort were made much worse by the thought "Christ, imagine being a postman here" that inadvertently popped into my mind. Sorry.

Guangzhou is another gargantuan city. I am in a smart hotel with excellent views from the 24th floor. There is non-stop river traffic below me and I can take in how enormous the place is. It's buzzing and exciting, like Shanghai and Beijing. After an excellent dinner (I think I will use short hand ED from now on to avoid repetitive strain injury from typing the words) Tony took me to meet his friends Raymond and Helen at a massage parlour.

For those of you - including my saintly wife - who have been lucky enough to hear my Vietnam massage parlour story (fending off the small but persistent Quac Phuc Sock in Ho Chi Minh city) let me reassure you that this was a foot massage in a totally legitimate family-friendly organisation. I am very ticklish but by biting on my finger I managed to very much enjoy the experience . The foot massage - not the finger biting.

When Abigail comes to Shanghai in August, she can have a foot massage every evening in the place over the road from the apartment we will be living in. But no optional extras.