DAY NINE Sept 25
Some pix:
Xin Tao hotel buffet
Wal-Mart
Chinese crouch toilet (common)
Luohu shopping mall
Nanshan hospital
(click to enlarge)






In answer to some questions, yes, we're (tring) to learn some Chinese, with some help from interpreters. And yes, they stare (it is not considered rude). Yes I tower over most of them...actually ALL of them. The further you get from the hospital and hotel, where there aree westerners, the more foreign you become.
The hospital is not as high-tech as USA, but more hands on. They do check on you at night but don't wake you up to give you a sleeping pill. We found out all of the patients order out for food. Lots of eateries around here. On the first floor is a couple grocery stores, and a coffee shop that provides room service.

English is taught in all the schools. And the girls constantly hear "well, hello there" or "hey missy!", and most of thre nurses (at least on this floor) speak pretty good English, or can easily find someone who does. Even the Iranians (they prerfer Persians), Romanians and Hungarians speak English. Some of the details or nuances are hard to convey, though.