Shanghaied

None of us have been duped into sailing the high seas, exactly.  But on Sunday night, Lunar New Year's Eve, despite the chill bar lounge music in the Royal Meridian in central Shanghai, many stomachs were rumbling like the great oceans ...

Long story short: seven of the nine travelers got food poisoning at a popular family restaurant near our hotel before we rang in the Year of the Ox.  Jon, who must have eaten more of this poison than the rest of us, is currently in hospital here in Seoul on IV.  One of our managers took him after he'd called in sick Wednesday morning and I haven't seen him since.  Visiting hours, see, are within my working day, giving me only one hour in the morning to visit - not counting the unpredictable traffic that might turn a 30 minute drive into one over twice as long.  So, Ruda has set him up with stuff to read and - go figure - Jon had thought ahead and brought a few of his own things to the hospital.

Although I'd initially been pretty concerned, knowing Korean doctors' propensity to overprescribe medication and Jon's (over?)willingness to take it, I've since spoken with him and he's doing well on a dose of antibiotics while he awaits test results.  Actually, he's not only doing well, he's been asking about emails and phone calls and is more than ready to get back to work (mentally, at least).  Maybe I'm the one that's been Shanghaied?

More to come later today.