There are probably close to 40 channels on free-to-air TV here. Yet some times, many times, its still very difficult to find something to watch. Perhaps its because of the amount of choice that I’m at a lost. I find myself spending more time channel flicking than watching.

With the increased number of channels comes an increased number of… err… crap. TV ads here are completely over the top, with products promising anything from increasing brain power/height/hair/longevity to curing all ailments. My favourites are the miracle weight loss products, and boy are there many! I’ve seen no ads for gyms, weight watchers or exercise machines, but plenty offering dramatic weight loss without exercise or diets. Examples include a cream that’s rubbed on to the fatty areas and will magically dissolve the fat, another cream that only needs to be rubbed 1cm behind the ear and 2cm under the belly button (errrr wtf?), a slimming shoe that will burn the same calories as running when you’re merely walking, a belt that vibrates away your fat when you wear it around your tubby areas, an apple flavoured candy that dissolves the fat inside your body when consumed, and the list goes on and on…. pills, drinks, magical tiaras (I haven’t seen one yet but I’m sure one is in the making). On all these ads they show images of an overweight person who (through the magic of computer graphics) slims down to a stick before our very eyes. They then show images of random skinny girls on the streets, who we’re suppose to assume achieved their fat-less figure through what ever product that’s being promoted. And my favourite part - a Western doctor/expert-looking person talking, who’s voice is dubbed in Chinese promoting the product. Throw in some scientific looking graphics, a computer generated diagram of the fat particles falling apart inside the body and you’re sold!

Its a wonder why the Western world hasn’t caught up with such miraculous progress.

With only 2 days left in China my body decided that being fit and healthy is no longer fun, and it would be oh-so-much more exciting to fall very very ill. So yesterday I woke to the world spinning in all directions, my stomach and my head competing to see which can induce the most agony. 2hrs of lying around and feeling like the life’s been drained out of me later, I was carried out of the house in my pajamas and to the hospital, which luckily is located just across the street.

It was the general assumption that I had suffered heat stroke from the day before when I went out shopping in the 39 degree heat, and the accumulated exhaustion from the non-stop 2 weeks I’ve had in China. The first and most common treatment for any illness in China is to put you on a glucose drip, which was exactly what I was prescribe - 2 bags of the stuff actually, at a hefty 500mLs a bag. Needles are not my favourite things, I find that as I grow older I become more and more terrified of them. Needles in a Chinese hospital, attached to a tube, attached to a big bag of liquid, can probably top my list of least favourite needle experiences. I was taken to the glucose injections room, which is a big hall filled with rows of chairs lined back to back, and a row of about a dozen beds against one wall. Rows of hooks hang from the ceiling in front of the chairs and beds, from them hang the bags of fluids which drip slowly down thing plastic tubes, which are attached to the needles, which are inserted into the back of the patients hands. All in all, not a good look.

When we arrived the place was busy with people, and I was still like a rag doll being supported by two people. Thanks to a good search by my grandma we were able to find me a bed, which was just as well because I ended up being on that bed for the next 6 hours.

I do feel a lot better now. My body still lacks energy and I get a little dizzy if move too much or too fast, but its a far cry from not even being able to open my eyes yesterday morning. I’d like to sit in peace and quiet and not have to talk to or listen to anyone, but the Chinese show they care by being like a broken record with the volume turn to MAX.

I head back to Aussie land tomorrow. My flight is 6:20pm departing from Shanghai. I’ll be leaving Ningbo around midday for a 3-4hr drive to Shanghai, a 2hr or more of check in and waiting at the airport, then the 11hr flight back to Melbourne.

Looking forward to getting back home and having a rest.