Ni and hao to you all!
I am currently in Shanghai with the lovely Isabel, and suddenly remembered that I had left my beloved blog unwritten for over a week... no! As not much has been happening (got drunk New Years Eve, ate lots of delicious food, haven't see Mr. Huge), I thought I'd copy the world in on my email to my mother and sister. They are coming to China in January and I have prepared them a beginners guide to China so they aren't too shocked by this crazy place!
1. The population. Something I overlooked, everyone here is Chinese... This is a little shocking when you come through the arrivals gate and come face to face with thousands of little Chinamen and women. You are the ethnic minority, which takes a little getting used to.
2. The driving. After the airport comes the taxi or bus, and your first experience of Chinese driving. You will be scared. The indicating is minimal, the honking and light-flashing not so, and you will think death is immanent every 5 seconds or so. However, they never seems to crash (despite all the near-misses), and it gets better slowly - I only wince for half the journey now.
3. The service. After the drive comes the hotel, and with it the service. Chinese service varies wildly. On one hand you have the western-orientated hotels, restaurants and bars, where sycophantic waiters harass you every second of the experience in pigeon-English (I'm informed that this doesn't change even if you speak fluent Mandarin to them). The harassment is something you have to get used to I'm afraid, as being being Western automatically means that a) you are loaded and b) you have no idea of the real value of money. If someone touches your arm or jostles you, push them back, they'll be used to it.
On the other hand you have the normal Chinese shops, where the staff are usually extremely irratated that you have disrupted their phone conversation/sleep/video in order to make them do anything as menial as work. This is much more fun though, and sometimes you get to haggle. A good rule of thumb is take the first price they give you, divide it by say, 5 or 6, and keep repeating that number. They'll either realise you're not for breaking and walk off, or come down, eventually!
4. The weather. It's January, it's Beijing, it's cold. Please bring lots of layers, and a thick coat to top it off. The cold itself isn't so much the problem, but the wind really cuts through you.
5. First steps. So you've made it from the airport and dropped off your bags, now it's time for a wander. Crossing the road is certainly one of the most hazardous parts of your day in China. Think you've followed the green cross code and looked left and right? Look again! Not only do you have to watch out for cars, but also bikes, rickshaws, buggies, push-bikes, carts, motorcycles and donkeys (only joking about the donkeys). They come at you from all directions at break-neck speed, so you have to kind of rotate your neck around like an owl. My golden rule for road-crossing in China is "always cross behind a Chinese person". They seem to have an innate ability to negotiate the roads safely.
6. Fast food. There are lots of KFCs and McDonalds everywhere. Yes, this is unfortunate and unhealthy, but would you all rather live in tower-blocks and work for autonomous collectives??
7. The language. It is very different. After 1 month in Moldova I was kind of understanding what most of the conversations were about. Here after 4 months I am only just picking up very basic stuff. Some useful phrases include: "Ni hao! = hello", "xie xie = thank you", "bu yao! = don't want" (useful for peddlars), "mei you = have none/don't have" (useful for beggars) and "zai jian = goodbye/see you again". Don't worry too much about the tones, say it quite fast and put on your best silly Chinese accent and they nearly always understand.
Righty ho! You should be equipped with some basic knowledges to make your trip go a little more smoothly.
With that I shall go on my merry way (what, you stopped reading ages ago?!). Keep it real, and I shall update the blog with tales of my travels around China in the next few weeks - adventures!
Thomas
WHAT IF YOU DIDN'T PUT ANY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS UP?
