Hong Kong 26-27/02/2015

To end my holiday month that has been February I decided that a little trip to Hong Kong was in order.

I was only there for a night but I definitely managed to fill it with all the things you can't do in China.

By the time we have traveled by bus and negotiated border control, which was absolutely heaving (no other way to sufficiently describe it) because of the new year holiday, it was lunchtime before I arrived in central Hong Kong and was reunited with friends. First on the agenda was Michelin starred dim sum. It was nice but the setting lets the experience down slightly (its in the bottom floor of a shopping centre, that was a complete mission to find!) but I'm not a Michelin critic so what do I know. I can now though claim I've eaten the cheapest Michelin starred food in the world! The chances are it will also maintain the only personally awarded title of 'Michelin starred restaurants I've been to' for a while...

After lunch we headed to the Mong Kok street market for a spot of tourist shopping. I can now tick 'buy a Chinese silk gown' off my China shopping list. This market is definitely a good place to hone your bartering skills.

Early evening was spent in the 'classiest' of ways possible by drinking some beer on top of the IFC mall building, which has a lovely - and surprisingly quiet - rooftop garden, while watching the sun set and the famous lights of Hong Kong come alive.

Hong Kong Harbour

John and I then decided it was time for dinner and preceded to Soho for some pizza and chips. Really we should have walked up the hill to Soho in order to earn our meal but instead we took the hillside escalator. When in Hong Kong!

Our day was completed in the most lavish of ways. We headed for the Ritz-Carlton hotel to the Ozone bar, which is the highest bar in the world! Another personal title can be awarded here for 'the most expensive gin and tonic I have ever bought' but it was most definitely worth it for the experience and the spectacular view of the harbour. I can't say we dressed the part, I was wearing trainers, John was carrying a backpack and we were both of bit sweaty from the humidity but as long as we didn't look at our reflections we felt like we belonged! If only our bank balances could agree...

Us lowering the tone in the Ozone bar. I'm quite proud of this picture with both the view from 118 floors up and us inside - I couldn't have planned it if I tried.

Day two of the flying visit to Hong Kong was spent doing some much needed shopping. That was after a full English breakfast and a pot of tea though. Whilst my shopping didn't quite tick off the whole list (I'll head to another part of the city) I am now the proud owner of some new clothes. This is quite a big deal after wearing about the same 5 outfits on rotation for the last 7 months. My pupils have commented on the fact that I wore the same skirt two weeks in a row to their class. I haven't made that mistake again!

After running round in circles, I think I inadvertently did about 5 circuits of the same block, during the morning shopping trip, we were verging on the peckish side, so headed for a late lunch before getting the bus home. I opted for the cultural fusion of fish balls and a strawberry milkshake - surprisingly they don't pair too badly.

This trip has definitely turned into fulfilling all my food cravings. I couldn't sleep on Wednesday night and inadvertently found myself thinking about all the things I wanted to eat that I haven't eaten since I left the UK. 

The ultimate list was as follows:

• bacon
• sausages 
• fried egg, with a runny yolk
• bacon roll
• hp sauce
• mature orange cheddar
• cheese toastie 
• toast (ideally brown bread) with butter 
• homemade soup
• salsa

Hong Kong has definitely ticked off most of this list. The  soup will have to wait until July. The pizza also curbed the apparent need for cheese; the number of times I talked about and mentioned cheese on Thursday was beginning to alarm me! The desire for toast was the also almost alarming. Sadly toast is about the one thing you can't make in a microwave, but all is now well in my world again!

After writing this it seems that my two days were mainly spent eating!

I definitely enjoyed this trip to Hong Kong more than my last because I didn't get reverse culture shock this time, I was more prepared for everything being so different. This meant I managed to appreciate the uniqueness of Hong Kong and all the things it has to offer this time...phew!

G x

The unexpected weekend 21-22/02/2015

So after my failed attempt at trying to spend a few days in Singapore - for some reason the airline website wasn't happy with me - I expected a pretty low-key weekend. Turns out this wasn't the case!

John, who works at another school in Foshan, invited Tom and I along to join him on an outing with the parent of one of his pupils. All I knew was that we had to meet at 2pm, on Saturday at John's school and the parent would be taking us somewhere, which would include hiking and hot springs so naturally we needed a swimming costume. Therefore that is all I packed. It turns out I was unprepared for her proposed itinerary...

After we were picked up it turned out we were being whisked away to this lovely lady's hometown called Lixi, which is about 140km from where we are in Foshan. In China, 140km (about 2 hours drive) is no distance at all so we all still thought this was some afternoon jaunt to the countryside. It wasn't until we got there and our hostess took us to check into a hotel after asking us what we wanted to do for the next four days that we realised that we were not going to be chauffeured home that evening. It was after some confusion that we had to explain that we only had the clothes we were wearing so would therefore only be able to stay one night.

After checking into our rather large hotel room, complete with electric mahjong table, we were taking along the road to the family home of our hostess. In China, people are very welcoming friendly and hospitable to their guests whether they are new or old friends, something we definitely experienced in Lixi. The whole family were at the house, due to it being the new year, and despite all the other guests we were given various fruits to eat and tea to drink as soon as we arrived. I definitely felt spoilt,  but also slightly guilty that I might have been encroaching on precious family time, family is a precious thing after all.

After being plied with homegrown mini oranges (something that is seen in abundance in China at this time of year) we, along with the rest of the family gathered around the table for a lovely family feast. Amoungst the various dishes on offer was slow reared chicken which is apparently a specialty in the Lixi area due to it being reared for about 6 months rather than a matter of weeks. The only downside to this, which our hosts pointed out first, was was that this chicken rearing approach makes the meat very tasty it also makes it very tough to bite - I was cursing not having sharper teeth. I should probably add at this point that in China you don't get served butcher style-cuts of Chicken breast/wing, instead meat is prepared using a VERY sharp cleaver style knife which cuts straight through the meat and bones and the whole lot are cooked. While this adds to the flavour of the dish it makes eating pretty hard work (for me anyway) because I still don't seem to have the hang of trying to separate the meat from the bone using only my teeth and chopsticks (which in my opinion need a more vice-like grip on them). Thankfully, it seems here on the mainland there are no rules when it comes to eating so using your fingers is allowed, as well as spitting out the bones on the table when you've finally gnawed all the meat off them!

After dinner we set out for an evening of fireworks (you can buy some impressively dangerous looking ones from many a stall in Lixi) and cycling around the town. Tom, John and I's bicycle of choice was a 3 person tandem (not sure what the proper name of this would be). In hindsight not the easiest choice, to say this contraption was hard to steer would, I think, be an understatement - but once we had the power/steering ratio down we we unstoppable, until we veered towards an obstacle or crossed a dark bridge. After setting off some fireworks and sparklers on a very dark road bridge (and just about succumbing a passing motorcyclist to smoke induced blindness) we peddled merrily off home, had some milk tea and retreated to our hotel; beer was required to try to sort out the events of the day, and to work out if we'd missed any subliminal messaging prior to out departure about this proposed 4 day itinerary...

As our stay had been cut from the proposed 4 days to 2, it also meant that the itinerary had to be cut. I'm not entirely sure what was planned for us but instead of spending Sunday hiking we headed for the local hot-spring baths. I really enjoyed the naturally heated baths, some of which were very hot, as it was set outdoors in beautiful rural surroundings - not something I get to see on Foshan! The baths were very busy though with lots of families home for the holiday enjoying the natural remedies of the baths (I'm just glad the water is changed every day!)

The tranquil view from the hot springs

After our relaxing morning we had a lunch of fish and goose, along with some local plum wine, on board an old blue boat - definitely a quirky venue for Sunday lunch.

Lunch!

Our afternoon was spent visiting the local temple. This temple is one of the nicest I've seen due to its lovely buildings and pretty surrounding scenery. This temple has to be accessed by ferry because the original town of Lixi, which this temple sat next to, was flooded to form a reservoir. All that is left now of the town is the beautiful old bridge and the old schools. After spending the afternoon playing football on the accompanying beach area with some friends of our host family, which we promptly halted after us almost annihilating some of the (much!) younger players with our dodgy football skills it was time to head home.

Due to the fact that the 3 of us were leaving Lixi sooner than anticipated, we had to down our travelling standards and take the bus home. Mind you, I quite like bus journeys in China you see all manner of things on the journey - trucks full of cages of rabbits and dogs (fate unknown), seemingly endless road tunnels, scrapyards piled high with old cars and lorries and, strange blue statues on hillsides...

It was also quite and interesting weekend because Eva, who whisked us away on this adventure, wasn't shy to share her opinions on things. It was quite nice to get an honest opinion on the inner workings of China from a Chinese parent. Her opinions of both the school system and the one child policy were pretty scathing which was unexpectedly open of her but definitely refreshing to hear an adult confirm what the pupils all say.

G x

Taiwan

So I've decided that I really like Taiwan. Out of China and Taiwan, Taiwan comes out on top in every way. The people are very laid-back and very friendly to boot. The country is also simply beautiful. My 6 days in Taiwan only scratched the surface of what was on offer - many people wearing staying for about 1 month to truly explore the country - but at least it leaves plenty unseen for another trip some other time.

I started my Trip in Taipei, after flying there from Haikou.

Wednesday - Day 9 (11/02/2015)

My first stop on the tourist trail was to the Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall. Chiang kai-shek is a very important political and historical figure in the modern history of Taiwan ( i'm not going to say anymore because my history and politics are definitely not accurate/correct). The entire hall is quite striking from the outside with it's blue roof and the hall itself contains a huge bronze statue of the man himself, who is flanked by an honour guard comprised of various Chinese military personnel (who in my opinion have quite an entertaining marching style). I met a Taiwanese American family on the plane to Taipei and after asking them what they thought I should do in Taipei the honour guard in the memorial hall was excited suggested by the youngest son but was quickly shot down by the older son who thought I would be very disappointed because we have 'the real thing' in the UK - I feel like I have to agree on that one.

Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall

Honour Guard

After a trip to Longshan temple, which is very colourful indeed, I headed to the National Palace Museum. Reportedly, this museum has more mainland Chinese treasures within it's wall than the whole of mainland China, as all the treasures from the Forbidden City in Beijing were raided and taken back to Taipei (again I'm sketchy on the history here!). There was a huge selection on display from, jade and ivory carvings, to European snuff box collections, ancient Chinese artifacts and artwork and what seemed like the most popular item of all...a piece of jade carved into the shape of a Chinese cabbage. I've never seen so much excitement and awe over a carved vegetable, but I have seen plenty of imitations of it, so it must be very well known in China.

Part of Longshan temple

After my cultural afternoon, I headed to the Shilin street market, which is the largest street market on Taipei, if not Asia!?! (again don't quote me, I clearly need to swot up on my Taiwanese facts!) I definitely only saw a tiny part of this market, but it wasn't what I was expecting, I was slightly underwhelmed by the atmosphere in the area I was in, it was busy but nobody seemed to be having that much fun trying out new foods, maybe other parts of the market were better. After polishing off a chicken skewer and oven roasted bun filled with minced pork and molten gravy (I had the burns to prove it!) I headed back to the hostel for the night.

Thursday - Day 10 (12/02/2015)

On my second day in Taipei I paid a visit to the memorial hall of Dr Sun Yat-san, a man who has monuments in his honour throughout China (again sketchy on the history). I then headed to the National Museum of Taipei which, although comparatively small to the Palace museum, had some beautiful exhibitions on tradition textiles and glass bead work of Taiwanese tribes - more up my alley than jade cabbages.

Dr Sun Yat-san memorial hall

After spending some time relaxing in the sunshine and soaking up the atmosphere of Taipei in the gallery gardens, as well as eating a milky way (I'd forgotten they existed over the last few months) and listening to a busker playing some jazz I paid a visit to the 228 museum, at the edge of the park. After heading back to the hostel a group of us headed to the Raohe Street Food Market. This market had a much more exciting atmosphere than the previous one I'd been to, this potentially had something to do with the brightly coloured temple at the top of the street creating carnival-esk vibes. There was a huge variety of food available with BBQ squid on a stick being in plentiful supply. I also discovered that chocolate and cheese seem an integral part of the diet in Taiwan, two things that are very hard to get in Mainland China (I feel cheated).

The temple at the entrance to the street market

Friday - Day 11 (13/02/2015)

Friday saw my departure to the much raved about east coast of my new favorite island, my train journey to the coastal city of Hualien was definitively scenic with tantalising glimpses of the blue pacific ocean amoungst the lush green scenery. Hualien itself is, fairly low of tourist attractions but it didn't stop me wondering around and taking lots of pictures. Hualien has also claimed the title of the first place I've seen a firework display whilst I've been on this continent.

A lovely temple I found

The Pacific Ocean!

Fireworks!

Saturday - Day 12 (14/02/2015)

Taroko National Park was the true reason I headed to Hualien, it lies to the north of the city (another well suggested destination by my friendly plane family). Taroko gorge is famous for the striking river gorge which carves its way through the mountains before heading straight out to the Pacific Ocean. The river was more like a heavy trickle when I was there, it must be breathtaking during the rainy season. I headed straight to the top of park to the waterfalls, which after some of the other waterfalls I've seen at home, I wouldn't hurry to class as a waterfall but the caves made up for this slight disappointment. There's something quite nice about being given a hand-me down poncho (i feel like a bonafide Chinese tourist now) and a warning that I might want to take off my shows from a fellow tourist before entering a cave with water streaming through the rocks to form a river beneath you - it builds a certain sense of camaraderie with your fellow tourists (and someone to wave wildly at when you pass them later in the park). After firstly somehow landing in the little cave river and then accidentally terrifying some girls in the pitch black cave - I was just trying to be nice and get out of the way on the narrow path by standing against the wall out of the way. Its a bit of an ego kick when someone screams when they come face to face with you, whilst having their hand on your chest...

The underwhelming waterfall

The cave

After making a swift exit from the cave, I explored some more of the surrounding area before taking bus back down through the park and back to Hualien. Despite only seeing a tiny park of the park the bus trip back is nice because it winds its way back down the road alongside the dramatic gorge and it's surrounding tourist spots, so its definitely the most picturesque bus trip I've ever been on!

The gorge

Sunday - Day 13 (15/02/2015)

My original plan was to spend two days at Taroko but I was told it was forecast to rain (turns out this was a lie) so instead I headed back to Taipei in the morning instead of in the evening. At least this meant I got to spend some more time in Taipei.

When I got back to the city, I headed north to an area of the city called Beitou. This part of the city is famous for its hot springs and the accompanying baths, there is even a hot spring museum which I visited just to tick it off the list (not that it was a bad experience).

The hot spring museum - definitely not traditional Taiwanese architecture

After this I headed up hill to the hot spring itself – the sulphur smell definitely detracts slightly from the magic of the natural wonder. I was going to go to the public hot spring baths but when I was there it was OAP hour and I wasn’t allowed in…

The hot spring

Monday - Day 14 (16/02/2015)

My last day in Taipei was spent in the west of the city exploring some of the day markets and the varied produce on offer. As it was a Monday, many museums etc were closed (this is how it works in Taipei) so my idea to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art was scuppered so instead I spent a lovely few hours relaxing in the sunshine in the park, and eating one last Milky Way, before heading back to the airport destined for what feels like an endlessly cloudy Foshan. 

Some of the many things on offer at the market...

How I feel about Taiwan

G x

Hainan - Haikou

Monday - Day 7 (9/2/2015)

I only had about 24 hours in Haikou by the time I had arrived from Sanya and then had to leave from the airport. Haikou, despite being the capital, was slightly disappointing after the sunshine, hot weather and smiling faces of the Sanya, as I arrived to cooler temperatures and drizzle. I didn't realise there was such a difference between the north and the south of the island.

My whistle stop tourist adventure of Haikou started with a visit to the 5 Officials Temple, a place dedicated to some exiled government officials, from various dynasties, who have made a difference to the education system in Haikou. It was quite a large compound but definitely on the verge of becoming run down and unloved.

One of the courtyards in the 5 Officials Temple

My next stop was to find the old streets and market streets near the river. I'm not sure if I found the right street but I found plenty of busy stalls, a lot of people and even more people on scooters obnoxiously weaving their way through the pedestrians on the narrow streets. The streets were predominantly full of stalls selling nuts, seeds and dried fruit and animals in cages - all the puppies, rabbits, guinea pigs and birds that I saw were very cute so I think they were destined to be pets rather than dinner.

I came across a street with beautiful architecture that, to me, seemed very out of place on a tropical Chinese island but it was definitely a street with history.

I next alley I walked down I loved and loathed in equal measure. It was the fresh food market. It was amazing to see the variety of things available. Naturally as Haikou is an island there was lots of fish available: large, small, dead, living, dried, eels and just about everything thing on offer imaginable. I was face to face with one very large, and very dead, fish at one stall. There were lots of other animals of offer to pacify any culinary craving: snakes, tortoises and other shelled creatures, pigs in cages, things that looked like badgers in cages, meat markets and just about everything imaginable - I even saw a man skinning a cat, it's still a mystery to me how you kill a cat though! Towards the end of the street you could by all your cooking equipment to prepare your fresh produce as well as all the vegetables to accompany it. As much this street was interesting from a foreigners point of view I didn't take any pictures, for the simple reason that trying to navigate this narrow alley street was hellish. There were large ominous looking puddles everywhere, people angrily barging past each other, scooters constantly blocking the way and incessantly tooting their horns and well as trying to avoiding tripping over the various items littered around the stalls. I decided not to throw a camera into the mix.

By the time I'd navigated my way through the warren of streets I decided to head back to the hostel where I, surprisingly, met up with a German girl who I had first met in Sanya. This was good because it met I had a dinner buddy to go and dine on street food with.

Tuesday - Day 8 (10/2/2015)

So after sleeping in much later than I planned - the eye mask I bought clearly works well - I managed a quick trip to Baishaman park to see how the beach in Haikou compared to that of Sanya. It looked nice but didn't quite have the scenery of Sanya.

After some streetfood for lunch it was time for a very busy bus to the airport for my flight to Taipei, Taiwan.

G x

Hainan -Sanya

Tuesday - (3/2/15)

So my trip started off with Kelly saving my bacon (from the UK) - the wonders of technology, and friends! Being slightly unorganised is definitely the downside when I booked my holiday the day before I left - clearly I will never learn! I should have known when my bag got stuck on the door handle, when I left my building, that something was going to go wrong!

Anyway, after my organisational hiccup was solved, I boarded a surprisingly busy (given I had booked 24 hours before) evening flight from Guangzhou to Haikou, in the north of Hainan. Upon arrival I was shepherded into an awaiting taxi which, not surprisingly already had 3 other passengers ready and raring to go. The boot was so full of bags that the taxi driver had to tie all the bags into the boot because the lid wouldn't close - she did this very expertly, it obviously wasn't the first time she's had to do this!

The taxi ride to my hostel in Haikou, which is the capital of Hainan province, turned into a nice little late night tour as I was the last of the passengers to be dropped off at my destination.

Wednesday - day 2 (4/2/15)

After one night in Haikou, I set off to the south of the island to a city called Sanya. Hainan is a big island, so it took me about 2 hours on the bullet train to get there. The journey offered lots of green scenery streaming past the windows - seemingly mostly composed by palm trees and crops, as well some mountains. The tantalising glimpses of the bright blue sea were very welcome sights, I don't get to see green fields and the sea in Foshan - something I definitely miss.

So on stepping out of the train station it was much hotter than I expected! Even though the temperature here is only a degree or two greater than Guangzhou the fact that the sun is out and there is blue sky clearly makes all the difference.

By the time I'd navigated myself to the hostel it was about 3pm, a little bit later than I'd planned - turns put that didn't matter because the hostel was only 300m from the beach! I played it safe on the first day - not knowing what a day on the beach in China is like. Turns out I was very overdressed for me stroll along the sand and I was definitely letting the side down in terms of tanning capabilities; there were plenty of groups of men standing around in thongs topping up their already very dark tans - not something that I expected to see when the general consensus seems to be that pale is best.

The hostel that I stayed at was very nice and because I'm travelling by myself, the owner offered to introduce me to some of the other guests who had formed little groups - turns out I already knew one of them, Emma. British council teachers seem to pop up everywhere which is good for me; those 2 weeks in Beijing have proved useful in a number of ways, making new friends was definitely one of the best.

Thursday - Day 3 (5/2/15)

Thursday was an early start by Sanya standards - the hostel owners were surprised to see us in the foyer at 8.30am. Three of us headed to another town, called Baoting, to climb Qi Xian Shan (7 fairies mountain). It's a good job we did leave early because we hadn't realised this place was over 2 hours away... 

The mountain is well known in the area  because of the rock formations which anoint the very top of the mountain. 

We were lucky that it was slightly cooler and cloudy that day otherwise the very steep accent would have been even harder. Hill walking in China involves A LOT of stair climbing! When we reached the top of the stairs there was one final accent before we got to the top, but this one was a little bit different and definitely the best part. It involved scrabbling up the side of one of the rock formations that were on the top of the mountain purely with the aid of some chains to hold onto. Despite expectations coming back down wasn't nearly as terrifying as any of us expected. It took us two hours to climb all the way to the top and then another hour to get back down to the bottom of the mountain, on very shaky legs. The predominantly flat landscape of Foshan is clearly taking its toll - my legs ached for days after that walk.

Our journey back was a little convoluted but it meant I've finally been on a taxi motorbike - not nearly as hair-raising as I'd expected! By the time we'd taken the bus back to Sanya and got back to the hostel they'd begun to think the fairies had eaten us...

Friday - Day 4 (6/2/2015)

So today I did something I never expected to do in China: surfing! The few hours I spent on a very beautiful beach, with good sized waves for complete beginners, has definitely not made me a pro but has made me very keen to have another go. I learnt very quickly to stop reprimanding myself when I fell off, usually face first, because it meant I got a mouthful of sea water each time - seawater doesn't taste any better on this side of the world! Even though the four of us who went hadn't had any lessons, only a quick how to the previous evening from the hostel owner, we didn't do too badly. I definitely need to practice my balance, I kept sliding right of the side of the board every time I tried to stand up! I'll start practicing now for next time...

Saturday - Day 5 (7/2/2015)

Saturday morning was spent pottering about the neighboring streets in Sanya as I hadn't really had the chance to explore before. My wander revealed a shopping mall shaped like a pineapple positioned right next to a military base whose entrance was marked by some blue coloured models of rockets - not a pairing you see everyday. 

I also drank my first fresh coconut, a must on a tropical island, especially when there are piles for sale on every corner! It was nice nothing like the bought coconut milk I've tried and it had quite a mild coconut flavour, not what I expected.

In the afternoon, a group of us when to watch the Volvo Ocean Race which just so happened to be in Sanya at the same time as me (a happy coincidence). There were 6 boats in the race around Sanya bay. We saw the start but missed the end because we were sheltering from the midday sun in the shaded bar area and we didn't expect the 10 mile race to finish so quickly! I was quite gutted we missed the end but we saw all the boats come back into the harbour - the Chinese backed team won for the first time, which obviously made the predominantly Chinese crowd very happy!

After a sunny walk back to the hostel it was dinner time. We headed for the street food barbecues which were tucked down a grotty looking side street but had a great selection of food. My food selection included some vegetables, octopus, chicken and bugs - grasshoppers and something unidentified, to be exact. I hadn't eaten bugs yet but I'm always open to new culinary experiences. Turns out the bugs are good, I definitely preferred the unidentified ones and I ended up eating the whole stick - it think the spicy seasoning and bbq flavour helped improve the experience!

Sunday - Day 6 (8/2/2015)

As it was my final day in Sanya a day at the beach was definitely in order, it was my last opportunity to not look pale for a while! We ended up at at a quieter beach to the one next to the hostel, purely because it belonged to the Intercontinental Hotel - somewhere that definitely gave me accommodation envy!

G x

Holiday time!

As Chinese New Year is in the middle of the month this year, it means I am on holiday for the whole of February - a definite perk of the job. Whilst most of my friends have been very organised about their holiday plans I have not been able to say the same. I've lost count of the amount of times I've changed how I wanted to spend the holiday.

The great thing about China is that at this time of year you can find just about any climate. It's no wonder that most people never holiday outside the country. Whilst in the north of the country the temperature is -20oC, in the south the temperature is still averaging above 20oC. As spectacular as the Harbin Ice Festival looks, I definitely do not have the clothes required to beat -20oC so naturally I decided to stay in warmer climates. I think it's the Scot in me but going to the beach in February and not getting frostbite was just too good a lure to ignore.

So my plans are this: I'm spending a week in Hainan, which is a large tropical island at the very south of China before island hopping next week to Taiwan for another week. I'm then heading back to Guangzhou to do my washing and plan the other half of my holiday - I'm thinking Singapore and Hong Kong will round things up nicely!

A trip to the doctor - China style

So at the beginning of the week, whilst I was at the gym I might add, my trainers managed tk simultaneously create and burst a blister on my heel. For some reason this blister then went a bit nasty and I decided I should introduce myself to the Chinese medical system.

Thankfully my school mentor, as well as the school driver (not that he had any choice in the matter) were willing to whisk me off to the doctor to see about my foot. Up until now I didn't a clue where my nearest doctor/hospital was, despite the facts there are LOTS of hospitals in Foshan, it turns out it's only a short trip away.

On arrival, I genuinely thought we were in a bus/train station. The LED signs making some sort of declaration above the entrance. The groups of people out front smoking and waiting for something/someone. The numbered kiosk windows where you buy your tickets, along with the straight, barrier lined queues directly in front of each busy window were all present and correct. The general hustle and bustle of people trying to work out where they need to go. These are all the staple infustructure of train and bus stations, and it turns out hospitals as well. In a country where there are so many people to manage just using one familar set-up definitely makes life easier. Mind you there were more seats than usual.

I keep calling it a hospital, but the part I was in was basically a giant, multi-floored doctor's surgery - a little bit different to the bungalow type building I'm used to - it just so happened to be inside the hospital.

Thankfully my mentor filled in all the necessary forms and sorted out the insurance side of things, if it had been solely down to me I'd still be standing there trying to work out what to write. Trying to join the Chinese version of PayPal was just about the end of me so a medical form would really have finished me off.

After hobbling up the stairs - my mentor wordlessly decided that taking the lift for an injured ankle was unnecessary - and along some passageways, we arrived at corridor of doctors' offices. Finding my doctor was easy, the name GILLIAN had appeared on the TV screen above his door - definitely out of place amougst the list of Chinese patients. A computer screen with my name on was far more high-tech than I expected but then everything here is still a surprise to me. The corridor was full of people loitering about waiting for their turn and probably eaves dropping on the current patient regaling their ailments to the doctor (all the doctor's office doors were open) - I know I would have been if I could understand.

By the time it was my turn to see the doctor I was the 11th patient of the day, and this was at 9.30am. On seeing me walk in, the doctor proudly told my mentor he had trained in the UK. This definitely wasn't recently (he was no spring chicken) and if he had learnt English he'd completely forgotten it - the only English words he seemed to know were pain, infection, inflammation and antibiotics; better than nothing I suppose. Halfway through my appointment the next patient group marched in and thrusted some endoscopy pictures in my doctor's face, just as he was poking and prodding my slightly purple foot. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit concerned he was just going to abandon me and move onto the old lady and her endoscopy entourage but thankfully he didn't. After getting my prescriptions it was onto the next appointment to have the nurse bandage my foot; by the end of the day I had decided her bandaging technique was a bit shoddy - that was until I had a go!

Next stop on the hospital tour was to pay, I didn't have to foot the bill for this but I did pay special attention to how much money was handed over out of curiosity. The grand total came to about ¥350, which is about £35, quite reasonable I thought and much less than I expected it to be. According to my mentor medical treatment is now quite affordable in China, but it used to be very expensive, she didn't know why the price had dropped...

The final medical stop was at the pharmacy department. It seems in China that the vast percentage of antibiotics are administered by IV. In hindsight, the next part of the process felt a bit like Argos. My prescription was handed over to the pharmacist who in return gave me a ticket with my name and number on it. I then had to wait around until my number was called to a nice nurse in a not so nice baby pink uniform at a counter who put the IV needle in my hand. After all this I was simply handed the hanging medication and went off to find a seat in a room full of other people sitting next to their hanging IVs. I like the way that everyone just gets on with everything here without any unnecessary fuss or demands. I had to come back for the next 2 days to repeat this so that I could finish my antibiotics. By day 3 I (almost) knew exactly what was going on.

I was quite impressed, the whole process took less than 2 hours, which meant I was back in time to teach all my classes that day. The plaster on my hand and bandage on my foot even got some concerned questions from my pupils, it's nice to know they care!

So in conclusion, my foot is fully recovered and I now have a medical history in China, purely under the name GILLIAN - talk about integration!

G x