Hair salvation!!

I should be wary of getting too excited.

It's pretty much an invariable 'rule of life' here that whenever you find a really good shop/bar/restaurant/service provider, it will get closed down within a few months.

Either that, or it will inexplicably turn crap overnight - even if it appears to have the same owners, same staff.

So, yes, it might just have been a fluke, a one-off. I brace myself for likely disappointment not too far in the future.

But..... I just got my haircut!! In the first place I tried (I had been anticipating that I would have to try out at least 3 or 4 different establishments before I found one that was willing to deal with a crotchety laowai who didn't want the 'full service'!). Less than a 10-minute walk from my apartment. A pretty good cut, too. And, although it did take slightly longer than I really like, it was - by Chinese standards - super-brisk. And they didn't try any of the usual time-wasting monkey-business on me. And I was able to make myself understood without having to resort to using Chinese (one of the girls there even spoke a little bit of English). And it only cost me 10 kuai. (My previous regular spot had upped its rate to 15 kuai sometime last year.) This is pretty much as good as it gets for the China haircut experience.

Oh, frabjous day!!! I don't know what I've done to deserve this unexpected good fortune..... but I hope it doesn't wear off too soon.