He says the country is beautiful and the people are great but there are a lot of other things he wish he hadn't seen. Things like rafts of dead pigs on the Yangtze and less than stellar living conditions of the peasant class. 12 people in their group were the only people in a 100 room hotel in one of the empty cities.
A pic he sent of a place where they stayed with a peasant family.
We stayed in a village with a "peasant" family last night. The govt does not allow air cond or heat right now and it has been raining for weeks. The house was very damp and cold even though it was built by the gov in 2003. The family was moved into this new house from a house without running water.
He was impressed with the english speaking elementary schools. They have no computers, minimal supplies and use an outhouse but the education appears to be excellent. He said kids as young as 6 or 7 years old speak perfect english and were among the best behaved school kids he's ever seen.