"Robert" Liu Hao, my currency-trader friend and host.

Landscaping where Robert lives. Want to decorate your lawn with one of these?

Rainfall on local flowers.

Never mind the smog. This place is green.

These are actually edible.

Makes you feel cozy, doesn't it?

Fishing at Nan Hu (South Lake).

These homes go for 4 million RMB or so ($500k US).

A darling hotel not far from downtown Guangzhou. Hope you like orange.

The 'Colorful Days' Hotel, designed and named around the themes in Wong Kar-Wai's artsy Cantonese film "In the Mood for Love."

Classic pirated goods.

Modern archictecture & design. Guangzhou is no backwards place.

Typical traffic on a typical hot October day.

We were't far from the city center. The sky is usually about this clear.

Guangzhou's money is private for the most part, unlike Shanghai's.

Every bus is a colorfest of advertising. Clean and nicely air conditioned inside, too.

She's there to greet guests and send them up to the restaurant on the 3rd floor. But it's mid-afternoon, it's hot and humid, business is slow, and she's bored out of her mind.

Just down the street is the showroom for Ferrari, Maserati and Rolls Royce. Yeah, there's money there.

Your new Rolls. Costs more than your house.

He's selling corn about 10 feet from the Rolls Royce.

High-rise apartments everywhere.

Most American midwesterners like myself would have a hard time with this kind of cramped living.

More fruit for sale, next door to the Maserati dealership.