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Reports

During my travels, I received free accommodation for a night in exchange for writing a daily travel diary. This diary documented how I reached my next destination, the hosts who welcomed me, the food I was offered, and other experiences along the way. Below, you will find the archives of these extensive reports. Please note that English is not my native language, and most entries were written quickly, often around midnight. Enjoy!
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Friday, 6 June 2003
--> Toronto, Ontario, Canada (4)

Had a day of non-travel at Genny Jon's to do some necessary updates and in the eving I joined Genny and her friend Mary-Jo Fung at the Star Walk Buffet north in town. Now where did I hear that name Fung before?

This will be an easy day for me to report about. What happened today? Genny went to work this morning left me at her apartment as I could stay another day at her place. With the use of her phoneline I could connect to the internet and write another few updates. With all the train travels of the last week I definitely had to catch up with that and took a full day for that too.

In the afternoon I had a walk down the streets in the downtown area and I was amazed about the weather. It was sunny and warm, just like summer. I walked in a shirt and could totally burry that winter jacket of mine for a while. I guess summer had finally started!
For something to eat Genny told me I could get anything from her kitchen, like cereal and some thing to make some sandwiches.

She gave me a call at her house around five in the afternoon. She was still at work and gave me the instructions to get on the subway northbound to Finch station, the final station on the tracks in the northern suburbs of Toronto.

A friend of hers would pick me up at the passenger's pick up and we'll meet up later. "I came up with the idea to go to a buffet today," she told me. A buffet! That's sounds good. "Yes, and it will be all you can eat! I love that!"

I got on the train, read the free newspaper Metro while moving through the dark tunnels to Finch station and swiftly met up with that friend of Genny, Mary-Jo Fung.

"You stayed with my brother Stan last year," she told me in her car. What?
"You are his sister?" I asked warily.
"Yes," Mary-Jo smiled back.

What a small world it is again. I keep being confronted with that fact. I stayed with Stan Fung in Sydney, Australia, last year in March.

I asked Mary-Jo about Stan, how he was doing lately. I remembered from my head that Stan was a professor at a university and flies around the entire world almost every few months to give lectures and speeches. And Stan had introduced me to the Chinese culture and cuisine like I never was informed about ever before. And that while I had just entered Australia!

"Stan is very stressed at the moment. He had to go to Shanghai this week, but didn't know if he could go because of SARS. Of course everybody in the family said he shouldn't go.

Mary-Jo drove up to the IBM Research building, where we picked up Genny. Our tummies were all rumbling when we arrived at the Star Walk Buffet, a big building in the middle of suburbia where everybody enjoyed plate loads of Asian food.

Of course I jumped a few feet in the air when I saw all the sushi! Ooh! Pull me away here, if you can! But I also tried everything else I saw.

I could not always figure out what it was, but it was crunchy. "That's pig's ear," Genny explained. Oh. Ok. Or something else unknown was soggy, but very tasty. "That's cow's stomach." And I went to get some more.

It was clear that Mary-Jo and Genny were having lots of fun with me.

At the end of the night Mary-Jo dropped us off at the apartment complex. I thanked her for her company for the night. "Say hi to Stan if you speak to him soon!"

Back in the apartment Genny watched some news channels on her snowy television. "I don't want to get cable, there isn't much on television anyway," she said when she adjusted the antennas on top of the television.

Not much later I headed to bed, my air bed, again. I am off for a good sleep. You know, I dreamt about flying this night.

Good night Toronto!

Ramon.

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