I was asked the other day by email if I had been abducted by aliens – this was another way of asking why I haven't been blogging recently. Silly question, I think. If I had been abducted by aliens, they would certainly not want me live blogging the incident, which would be bad for the whole cover-up thing. I assume that they would either confiscate my laptop or kick me off their wireless network.

Seriously, and in the interests of transparency (if anyone cares), I've just been on the road. Prior to the holiday and for a week afterwards, I was in the U.S. shuttling back and forth between DLA Piper offices and, when possible, getting a day off here and there. Not the most relaxing of trips, but I did get to meet a lot of my colleagues and hopefully establish some solid professional relationships. Very important thing to do when you work in one of these mega-firms – they are simply too big to know everyone.

Anyway, I got back a couple days ago, hit the ground running trying to catch up with work, and I also participated in an early morning tele-seminar on China IP law (thanks to all the bloggers out there who publicized the event – we had a good turnout). My wife and I are still jetlagged, and I am still nowhere near caught up with everything. I have 7,962 unread items in my feed aggregator – this is a daunting challenge.

Two comments before I sign off. First, I will probably be slow to get back up to blogging speed this week but am planning to be back on track by this weekend.

Second, as with every extended trip abroad, I couldn't help but notice the increasing China sophistication of the people I ran into, lawyers and others. Everyone you meet has been over here, done business with Chinese firms, etc. People increasingly know geographical place names, politics, and the legal system. It's rather exciting and slightly scary at the same time.

Most readers of this blog are China experts or would-be China experts. The prospect of the "China Mystique" dying must scare the hell out of all those consultants out there. I often wonder at my long-term value as a foreign lawyer in China as my colleagues around the world develop their China knowledge. Doesn't keep me up at night, but it is something worth thinking about.