The Hospital, the Church, and the Karaoke Bar.

What do they all have in common? Oddly enough, these are the places I went over the past few days. After not being able to get over my fever, I decided to go to see a doctor at a local hospital. Hospital treatment here is very "3rd world" compared to what I'm used to- patients would wait and stand impatiently in the same exam room that the doctor would check you in. One old guy actually interrupted my examination to ask the doctor a question about his prescription. The corridors are pooly lit, and reek of chemicals. Also, there's a small IV room where dozens of patients would sit hours at a time strung up to IVs hanging from the ceiling. I had to take an IV for four hours, while trying to avoid breathing the same air as my neighbor with SARS-like symptoms.

I also went to a Karaoke Bar. Karaoke in Canada would be pretty 3rd world compared to what they have here in China. Within a building that one would confuse with a high-class hotel, dozens of employees cater to your needs. Finely cut marble and granite give shape to a large neo-classical lobby, from which a grand staircase takes you up to the private leather-seated karaoke rooms, each with a private washroom. All-you-can-eat buffet on every floor. Thousands of tracks to choose from. Hundreds of rooms. It's absolutely insane, considering in every room, young Chinese teens are howling off-key renditions of Christina Aguilera.

Lastly, I went to the Community Church, one of a few churches here in Shanghai. High security guards keep unwanted people out of the grounds of the church- I had to show my passport just to get in. The large congregation was a very exciting community of people from different parts of the world. It was actually weird to be an English-speaking Chinese, in a Chinese speaking city, going to an English Sunday service. Something like a double reversal.