Oh right, I had trouble with shi becoming si occasionally while traveling. That story of the stoneworker was one of the first things I read that helped me understand tones.

Maybe it’s down to effort, but Thai is the tonal language that has me stumped despite how much time I spend there. I learned the alphabet and could even read some, but every time I try to learn the tones in Thai, or rather to employ the tones in practical conversation, I am baffled. on the occasion of rare success, they’ll reply and my brain will melt, plus their states are like those of china and every different city and town has their own dialects to contend with.

Yea, foshan was chill. Still tons of great bare-bones outdoor dining and tummy-rubbing inebriated stumblers in the alleys. I went crazy for zhachuan, the fried skewers, when i was there. and all the beer shops had some marketing game going on, so if you pulled your beer tab there was a chance you could win a free beer if the bottom had the right stamp, and i won a weird amount of the time!