After waiting, the airport in Thailand opened again (after the protesters won and the prime minister has been banned from politics for 5 years). AirAsia’s phone lines were quite busy and it took be a lot of trying before I could get through to reschedule my flights. But I finally did it without any charges.
I took a day trip to Tianjin on the world’s fastest intercity rail line. The fast “C” train opened this August. The speed display peaked out at 333kph (207mph). After 30 minutes, I arrived. I visited the Nanjing Museum and some of the historical streets filled with buildings made by various countries.
I visited a dentist for a cleaning here, since I have been going on 2 years without one since I’ve had no insurance. I showed up at a smaller office and there was no wait. There was only a receptionist and a dentist there (seems like no hygienists) and I got a cleaning right away which was fairly similar to what I got in the US. Instead of using the tools to scrape off any plaque, they used some vibrating tool. I didn’t get any inspection of each tooth and no x-rays. But final cost was $16.
I bought some new shoes since my Nike Air shoes have some small holes in them. Some people commented I look like a poor person in these shoes. I visited a sporting goods store and got a $36 pair of shoes which seem alright. The cheapest ones they were selling were $14, so I didn’t get the worst or the best there.
Finally, I got a hair cut in preparation of the next part of my trip. I visited a hair salon in the business district which seemed pretty fancy. It takes two people in China to cut your hair. One is the assistant who washes the hair and leads me around and the other who cuts the hair. And after the haircut was another wash. Total price was $4.