Hell is a toilet in China

Have you ever entered a place, and then the smell repelled you? Well, imagine if you will a movie scene where the actor is just about to open a door, but you know there is a bomb on the otherside of the door..... can you see him open the door and getting thrown against the wall opposite by the blast? Well, just a hint as to using toilets on Chinese trains and visiting public toilets. The smell in these places might have the same effect on you! It was my first time to enter this "home of the Demon" you could call it. The toilet was in the floor, and you need to know your story when squatting or you could get it all over your trousers. The floor, mmm... how can i put it... someone left their guts just next to where i had to squat. Needless to say, i didn't even try it on this hole(toilet) in the ground. It was right there and then i stopped drinking and eating on the train. Just the thought of me even walking past that place again... i will spare you the detail!

It was my first day in open wildlife, well here it is just called life. And i was on my way to the Government hospital where medical test was the purpose of my day. I had a new guide and her name was Amy. She was a nice girl, i would say around the age of 23 and it was her job not to get me lost. So we headed down the streets of Shijiazhuang. I realised for her this was a novelty, walking down the street with a young white male. I have to add, the locals made this pretty obvious. I now know what a Supermodel must feel like walking down the road... people staring and she knowing "I am so beautiful". I quickly started to act like the Presidential candidate i am, head up and looking around making eye contact with the locals. Let me inform you, this ritual never stops. Where there are people, they stare and whisper in the ears of their neighbour.

The hospital is clean. Inside people are wearing white coats, still staring at this white fellow in their neighbourhood. My guide says a couple of things in Chinese, hand over the money and my passport and the tests begin. First they take a blood sample. This i have done before as i am a frequent donor. The nurse gives me a small cup and asks for a monster(urine sample offcourse). So heading to the toilets. In the middle of the bathroom is this man squatting... he is in for a faeces sample i guess. Got out of there as soon as i could, before it got messy. Working our way through the rooms and different tests, we chose the least busy rooms first. My guide must have done this many times before as she knew this place like the palm of her hand. The last test was an ultrasound test where you had to get your shirt off and lie on a bed. Here they checked that all your organs are in a good condition. The door was closed but me and my guide, "God bless her" barged through the door only to find a topless lady being examined by one of the nurses. All of a sudden the closed door made a lot of sense. I don't know who got out of there first? My guide with her red face, or me with a grin and red face??

After losing our way for a couple of minutes and a lot of staring by the locals, we find our way back to our bus stop for the journey back home.

(Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China)