Stock feeding
An old man sitting on his little stool on the footpath in the main street of Dunhuang, with his three goats tethered to a street tree and munching on the weeds growing round its base.

Locking up
Staff at the Dunhuang railway station were busy preparing the train for the return journey. Passengers in the waiting room were watching the scurrying about on the platform through big plate glass doors. A disabled passenger was ushered through to board the train ahead of everyone else and the returning staff member fastened the doors with a chain and padlock, putting the key on a small shelf nearby. A few minutes later someone else wanted to come off the platform. He tapped on the glass and signaled to a waiting passenger to retrieve the key and unlock the padlock to let him through. He relocked the doors and replaced the key. This was repeated a few times until when the shift ended the trickle of people became a stream and eventually the key and padlock were both left on the shelf and the chain dropped on the floor.

Buses
Some of the buses in Lanzhou were brand new and air-conditioned, but not many on our local routes. (Our number 33 did get some new ones a few weeks before we left and they drove round with big red ribbons tied to the front for several days.)
One day on our way home the bus stalled at some traffic lights that were half way up a hill. Half the passengers got out and push-started the bus.

Toilet training
Chinese kids wear the famous split pants, which dispense with the need for nappies. (I do wonder if they have accidents though - surely they must). This means they squat suddenly on footpaths, gardens, etc. - sometimes on squares of paper which parents pull out of their bags. I also think it must get a bit it cold in the winter.

Helpfulness
We were travelling to a guesthouse in a tiny village in the rice paddy region of southern Yunnan. At the bus station we showed our piece of paper with the address written in characters around and a driver ushered us into a tiny bus nodding vigorously that he was going that way. After passing through several villages we were beginning to think we should start trying to decipher signs ourselves when suddenly the bus pulled over and the driver motioned to us to get off. He got off too, and signalled for Owen to hand over the piece of paper, then his phone. The driver promptly rang the guesthouse, pointed to a nearby path we should take and indicated that the owner was on his way up to meet us. He then hopped back on his bus and drove off. Sure enough we set off down the hill and soon were greeted by the cheerful owner, Jimmy, coming towards us.