Weirdly, it was firstly ordering food. I'd done a Mandarin course before the trip, but my pronunciation was absolutely awful so we ended up either pointing or eating at places with pictures on the menu.
secondly, the public toilets!!!
'wear gas mask, use safety harness, don't fall in'
Hah! Yeah, the public toilets in China have a lot of catching up to do for sure. Hole in the ground is one thing which isn't fun of course, but it can be managed. The lack of privacy in some of them is a different matter though. I'm never going to get used to that. I'm lucky enough to have a bladder and guts that are somewhat easy to control. Have kept visits to a minimum.
Got the book btw! Currently reading Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on The Shore", will do "The Girl with Seven Names" after.
