Hotel Staff in Guangzhou; Chinese Doctor in Nanning; Kofi Annan in Niger.

One noticeable feature of this hotel was that all the staff seemed to deal with you as 'family visitors' rather than 'hotel guests'. Wherever you went, lobby, restaurant, shop, the staff would smile and greet you, as if they had known you for years! Our room was near the top of the hotel so we had good views of nearby tower blocks and surrounding cityscape. The photo on the right was taken through the hotel window, so is not particularly clear, but at the top of the building there was a sign written in CHINESE CHARACTERS, so it was reasonable to assume that we were in fact, in China! Whenever we left our room to take the lift downwards, the floor attendant whose name was Dong, would be waiting at the end of the passage, ready to escort us to the lift. He always had a smile on his face and spoke good English, and undoubtedly enjoyed his work. His ambition is to be a Hotel Manager, and I rather think that one day, that is what he will be.

The next journey was from Guangzhou to Nanning by train, the first of six train journeys, the total travel time being about 120 hours!!!!! Some think it slightly crazy, but for meeting people and seeing more of the country through which you travel, it must surely be considered more interesting than the up and down air flights from airport to airport. Ri Sheng met us at the railway station in Nanning and took us to his new apartment where we stayed for six nights. The apartment was on the six floor, with no lift, it was a case of climbing up 120 steps to get to the top. It was a new development, and many of the apartments were occupied by other doctors from the hospital, where Ri Sheng works.

He had many stories to tell us about the two years he had spent in Niger with other Chinese doctors, and it is there that he was introduced to Kofi Annan who was surprised when Ri Sheng started talking to him in French! The meeting with Kofi Annan was a memorable event for all concerned and it was felt that the visit by Kofi Annan to the hospital area, would give the local people some hope that more help and support would be forthcoming, from the outside world. I have known Ri Sheng for 17 years and we have visited many different places in China during the years, but from what he told me on this visit, nothing can really compare with his experiences in Niger, particularly with his meeting with Kofi Annan. He got married before he went to Niger, but the traditional ''wedding banquet'' was not held until last year, when about 250 guests attended. There have been many changes in Ri Sheng's life since I first met him in 1990.