China observations/notes/tips

(A la Sei Shōnagon.)

1. China is a veritable smokestack by virtue of all the cigarettes smoked by the general population. Smoking seems to be very vogue right now, especially amongst the men. Bah, I detest smoke and it made the trip a bit less enjoyable at times. Especially vexing is the fact that any place is fair game for smokers. There is no refuge from it! Even our hotel rooms in some places would have traces of the fumes from the previous customer. If it does not reform, China will have the largest population of lung cancer patients.

2. The Chinese enjoy people watching and they make no efforts to hide it. If you look like a foreigner, they will stare at you. The brave ones may start guessing your ethnicity aloud to see if you will respond to tell them if they are correct or not.

3. The Chinese do not wait for anything, they just go for it. So none of this polite waiting in line business, if you want something, you better fight for it. Lay aside all notions of respect for the elderly, because those grannies can be aggressive! They don't protest or accuse you of rudeness if you gently, but firmly, shove them aside. If you're not aggressive, you'll never get anywhere or anything.

4. Spitting, or more specifically, hocking a loogie, is a popular habit, right up there with smoking. I don't mind this habit as much as the other one so long as they aim away from me. The government is supposedly trying to eradicate this behavior before the 2008 Olympics. We'll see if they succeed.

5. Popsicles (called "bing'er") are only 1 kuai/yuan, less than $1 USD! Some flavors are more expensive at 1.5 or 2 kuai, but still, less than a dollar! A great treat while traveling during the hotter months in China. Especially in Xian where it's incredibly dry and hot. I'm not sure if popsicle would be the correct term since the flavor I usually got, green bean, isn't really an ice+water treat. But I'm not quite sure exactly what it is made of. Maybe it's the green bean that makes it seem more solid and less water-like.

6. The are travel agents wherever you go when you travel, so if you don't have a hotel or method of transportation, no worries, you can always get a travel agent. They can be found in airports, on trains, and near hotels. It's really convenient if you're playing things by ear. Just make sure you bargain to get a good price.

7. For any sight you want to see in China, you will have to pay an admission fee. Sometimes, as in the case of the Forbidden City, there are parts within the sight that you have to pay an additional fee to see. We didn't feel like forking over additional yuan for a sight that was under construction, but if it were another time perhaps we would have been more inclined.

8. Like many Asian countries (with Japan maybe being an exception), you cannot flush any paper products down the toilet, this includes toilet paper. Since Taiwan is like this, I'm used to it, but some of my travel mates were unaware of this and as a result, clogged their toilet, which was a weak flusher to begin with. Also, toilet paper is not available in all public restrooms, so you should come armed with your own. When toilet paper is provided, the rolls are so small so you must be conservative in your use of them, unless you brought an ample supply. (Thanks to Matt and Abe who supplied the group with our TP needs.)

9. You should not drink the tap water in China. Hotels usually provide either a water cooler or a water cooker. Check the water cooker to make sure it looks clean and in good order. Bottled water is readily available and can be as cheap as 1 or 1.5 kuai.

10. When shopping or reserving a hotel or a bus, always bargain, you will most likely get a lower price than what you were quoted. If possible, have a native Chinese person with you as they will be able to get a lower quote by virtue of their accent and then they can put their bargaining skills to use (thanks Hao!).

11. If you are a pedestrian in China you must learn to not fear death as cars will not yield to you and you are on your own when crossing the street. You will learn that cars will dodge you, but you should not abuse this fact. Just watch the natives and copy what they do.

12. Traffic laws don't exist in China. Okay, they do, but they're not really enforced. Two cars can be in the same lane at the same time, or sometimes a car will drive on the shoulder to pass the slower cars, everything seems to be fair game. Oh, and did I mention that seat belts are not worn?

13. Beijing is a clean and modern city, different from what I expected. Chengdu is also a modern city and has ample internet cafes, unlike Beijing. Xian is really hot and dry, and probably my least favorite place of all the cities we visited in terms of the weather. The terracotta soldiers were interesting though.

14. Be very careful of the food you eat in China as it can make you extremely sick. The irony for us was that it was the food in an upscale, well-known restaurant that made is incredibly ill, not the food from the shadier places at which we ate. Acidophilus pills can only do so much. If possible, carry antibiotics with you, like Cipro. And should you find yourself with gastric distress, go visit the local Chinese pharmacy as they carry effective medicine and since it is herb-based, it has no side-effects.

15. Oh, going back to traffic-related items, drivers in China use the horn quite liberally. If one is changing lanes, the horn is used. If one is passing a slower car, the horn is used. If the car in front does not move immediately when the light is green, the horn is used. For almost any reason, the horn is used, thus resulting in a cacophony of car horns 24/7 in nearly every place we visited. It's incredible how much the horn is used. Makes me appreciate the more conservative use of it in the D.C. metro area. However, there usually isn't any ire coupled with the horn usage, unlike in the States.