In Guangzhou, I am staying at Sun Yat-sen University’s guesthouse. The university campus is a beautiful one with a green space along the central axis and trees lining the main street. While the scenery is quite pleasing, summer in southern China cannot be discussed without the presence of all sorts of small species. Upon my arrival, a dead tropical cockroach was lying on the floor of my bedroom, which worried me a lot – one cockroach in sight usually denotes at least several dozen more somewhere in hidden places. So far, no more cockroaches spotted but I cannot rest assured…

Then, before going to bed, a giant spider-like creature crawling up the wall in the hallway next to the entrance door. I had no idea where it came from. Apparently it had only six legs, and if fully stretched, could be more than 15 cm long. It was moving quite quick.

Then, today, it was raining all day long, and on my way out, I spotted a giant snail, whose shell was as big as a child’s fist. From head to tail, it would have been about 15 cm long. It was crawling up the staircase.

Finally, a lizard that was spotted just now. It was moving fast on the floor in the hallway. This was a tiny one, so not threatening. Rather cute actually.

I wonder I am going to see tomorrow. No more in my flat please…

Anyway, my greater concern now is that I have to make a presentation at a workshop tomorrow, and I have early symptoms of cold. Still to make some changes to my slide. Would it be wiser to sleep and rest first and wake up early to complete the work? Time to decide…