I am surprised too that some rural Chinese do speak English albeit poorly but it doesn't matter, they tried, and I appreciated it a lot. Not so with Taiwanese, at least that was my experience. I hardly find anyone even those working in service line, speak English and this was in Taipei. Anyhow, not saying that as a bad thing just a little bit annoying.

Toilet on the streets? Hehehe...not too surprising. Coming from a third world country that is a common sight but the no door toilets? That was odd LOL.