Greetings from Shenzhen

Arrived at Shenzhen tonight. The trip came up last minute. My fabulous assistant changed my flight, I popped into a shop for a clean shirt and socks (happened to have brought along an extra pair of undies,) and here I am eating nuts at the lobby lounge.
My parents were visiting Shanghai and Beijing last couple of weeks. It was nice to see them and we had a nice time catching up. Last weekend we went to Beijing to surprise my uncle's family. It was fun. Dad's mission of eating didn't pan out as well as he wished. But they enjoyed the hotels. I believe they likes the room of Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao, surprised by the suite upgrade at Hilton Wangfujing, and enjoyed the Chinese Restaurant at Doubletree Beijing. They enjoyed the restaurant so much that they ate there 5 times in 4 days.
We had a nice Peking duck at Made in China in the Grand Hyatt. It is not news that Made In China has been making the best ducks. The famous local places has not been keeping up. Quanjuda is a bit disappointing when the duck arrives the moment we finished ordering. It is faster than any McDonalds. We originally booked at 利群, which is supposedly most authentic. Here is a picture of it. It is located in a Hutong. But when we got there, with a reservation, they made us wait in queue of 20 tables ahead of us! We are too non-tourist to deal with that! We left!
Beijing traffic has gone from bad to worst. It is impossible to get taxi, even at the hotel!!! WTF with that?!?!
So, I left my parents in BJ on Sunday, and went on with my work life. I definitely has deserted Jim a bit on his own past 2 weeks. I started traveling again only after 2 nights in Shanghai. Last night, I took the train from Shijiazhuang to Beijing after my meeting to spend the last night with them. We left Beijing at the same time just different flights. :-) I am quite sure they enjoyed the part that I paid for all the hotels and meals. :-) ... Oh well... Not always that you get to pay for your parents' trip.
Can't wait to be home and have a nice weekend to catch up.