Blog o'travel: Leaving Nanhui

So, after a year and some extra time, I am leaving this town which is maybe 50km from the centre of Shanghai.
So, what was it like to stay here....
Hmmm, it was quite different to anywhere else that I have visited (not that I stayed this long in many other places!)
I have had some odd experiences...and I might as well share some of them..
1.One time I was walking along a street ,oblivious to the world (for the most part) when a woman started pointing at my legs and shouting (or ,I guess it was shouting, people naturally talk loudly here (or maybe I talk too quietly!)) in amazement that I had hair on my legs... I thought this was odd until I realized after a few more days1 that a lot of people were more amazed that I could walk around the town in a pair of shorts in November !
2. I tried to visit as many small towns s possible and normally I would try to walk through the towns. One time , I sat on a bench and a guy sat down beside me. We talked in broken chinglish...Well, I said a few english words and he said a few Chinese words. He seemed friendly enough so I offered him a bun...After that , I went to get up and walk to the market by my own...or so I thought...Oops! He followed me into the market and proceeded to explain what fish looked like and what is the best meat. I explained to him (well,through physical actions) that I didn't really want to hang out with him....then he grabbed my hand and tried to point in the direction of an apartment block...I made a quick exit...The moral of that story...never give anyone your buns (or maybe the moral is : a bun in return for a tour of a market!) Anyway, I think I will buy better buns!
3. If you come t China , just be careful when crossing the road. It took a while to get used to cars not stopping on a red light but eventually I understood when they stop (If you walk out in front of a car , they will stop if you pretend that they are not there! I think I would be knocked down within 5 seconds back home but it seems to work here (as do the horns...aaarrrgggghhhh!) ) so the system works!
4. People are friendly but you have to be patient as sometimes, they haven't a clue what you are asking! Last week I mus have said the Chinese word for bus 8 or 9 times to people on the street and all I got were quizzical looks! (I know the word but my tones are all over the place. I hope I didn't insult anyone!!! ) I always mix up the Chinese word for '4' and '10' ,if you are ever in China , remember this as it might sounds very similar depending on who says the number ....always make the '+' sign with your two hands as then you will know that they are saying '10'!
5. If you are ever in a park and you are trying to converse with an old guy who keeps staring at the hole in your jeans (the hole was just above the knee) do not assume that he is staring at your knee because it looks white and it has hair on it! One such guy was trying to talk to me and saw the hole in my jeans and pretended to try to fix it. Then he started moving his hand northwords... I think this was the time when I stopped visiting that park!
6. If you go to China , you have to play ping pong. I played at the local centre for a while and it was good fun although I am not sure what the teacher thought of my grip on the paddle! To be honest, everyone there was getting free lessons as they were working for the government, they allowed me to have lessons for free (partially because I looked a bit different and partially because they were nice people) but it was appreciated!
7. People over here don't really look where they are walking at times! I have seen people walk straight into others in front of them and just bounce off the other person and keep going. This looks a bit weird as I had never seen this in any other country!
8. Most of the people (and I have not met too many!) that I have met are very good cooks! I must start trying to cook a bit more!

Shrimp, tomato and eggs,vegetables and brick a brack.

Thanks for cooking the grub, Jolie and Abel!

9. The western persons view of what is a good looking person COMPLETELY differs from a Chinese persons view of a good looking person! Most western people will think that a person with a tan is good looking but this does not seem to be the case here. If you are skinny and tall , with big eyes, you are seen as good looking here. This isn't always the case outside of China! Eyes are very important here. Sometimes, it feels like people stare through me when I talk to them. This has not not really happened to me before and it was a bit disconcerting at the start!
10. Seeing an animal dissected on the street before being served for dinner was an interesting experience!

The butcher carving out all the different parts of the cow .... on the street

11. Getting a medical or indeed a visit to the hospital is an experience here. The medical is pretty cool as you have maybe 8 or 9 things to get checked out and you get checked out by 8 or 9 different doctors so it goes VERY quickly. There are no delays. I was not sure which tests that I was undertaking at times but there were pictures on the walls of each of the rooms to indicate what tests that you were taking. I was glad about this , especially when I walked into the room where the doctor had to examine the prostate. Otherwise, I would probably have got the shock of my life!!! (You will be glad to hear that there is no picture of this 'procedure') :-)

12. Actually, the procedure that involved getting an xray on my spine lasted no time at all...see the doctor, he prescribed the xray...went to another room, got the xray - went back to the first guy ,he gave me the prescription. All done and dusted in 80 minutes. class!

Wait a minute, that spine looks a bit out of shape. eep!

13. Seeing meat hanging outside the shops still looks a bit different to me. Sometimes you would have bodyguards minding the meat , too!

Dog: 'What are you looking at?'

Me: Nothing

So , what could you find in Nanhui if you visited the place? Well, you would see an abundance of bridges (Qiao) and lots of vegetables/plants/stuff growing from the ground and lots and lots of yummy street food!