Just got out of the dentist, half of my mouth is numb. I was very impressed with the hospital, I first heard about it on my last trip to L.A...Mom was telling me they had done a 60 Minutes story on Bumrumgrad Hospital, that it was one of the best hospitals in the world etc.

So I went on trust, looking at the website, and my Mom's recomendation. Since I don't have insurance I have avoided the dentist for the last few years even though I know it wasn't the smartest idea.

Like I said I was impressed. The place looks like a hotel not a hospital. They have shopping, internet and McDonalds and Starbucks as well as doctors. The dentist was very quick and effecient and the best part.......$125 for cleaning, x-rays and a big filling. Try getting that in America.

I have been following a routine: eating breakfast at the free hotel buffet (it is free and I can eat bacon...something that doesn't quite exist in my part of China), thai food for lunch, and venturing out to a nice restaurant for dinner. Yesterday I had some pad thai noodles and chickenand then went hunting for this shi shi sushi restaurant that was on the better side of mediocre. Personally I blame the excellent sushi restaurants in Studio City for making me accustomed to great sushi.

Anyway after the novacaine wears off I'll get some more thai food, and try to find this italian spot for dinner. And if I don't go back to Senor Picos before I leave I am crazy.

It's funny the differences between this city and China. I get excited about a lot of things that wouldn't be exciting if I was living in the US or travelling in a more developed part of the world...but that's just not the case for me. Joan said she was grateful when the car starts...I get jazzed over Hagen Dazs, American food, and movies in english.

Overall this city is great. It has it's downsides like horrible traffic (and this is coming from someone who has lived in L.A. for most of his life!!) but the flipside to that is the mass transit is AWESOME. I mean I've been here 3 days and I'm already using it with ease. There is a sky train and a subway which are both cheap and clean as well as buses and taxis. I'll probably take the sky train to dinner again tonight, and my hotel is 2 blocks from one of the subway exits. Pretty good for picking a place to sleep randomly!

But it's not all gravy...I am the type of person who believes in conspiracies, like if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. For instance there are these taxis called duk duks which is basically a motorcycle with a cab attached. Not that these are the best form of transportation because of you are sitting unexposed to the street, but this weekend these stores ran promotions where if the drivers brought you to shop there they would get free gas. So the drivers were offering really cheap prices as long as they could take you to these stores. The good thing is you can only get duped once by this, and as a local pointed out to me, even if you don't buy anything you are still helping the guy out because the drivers are really poor.

The problem is the package deal they are selling you includes a trip to several jewelry stores and high end custom suits...basically stuff I'm never going to buy. When I walked into the suit place the salesman just started laughing. I mean I look just like who I am...someone travelling for a few years.

Besides from that the drivers don't hear you very well...I've had problems with a couple so far and one tricked me on the price and I decided (much to my annoyance) to just walk away from it rather than get into an altercation in a foreign country where I don't speak the language (even though I knew I was 100% right). Coming back from the restaurant the driver told me my hotel wasn't where I said it was, then stopped 3 times to ask for directions.

Anyway that's enough of my bitching, I'm about to go see the Chronicles of Narnia VIP seating for less than an american matinee.

Still taking pictures, probably hit up some more "temples" tomorrow after the doctors. And then I have another 3 days to play around.