Overview of China

Sean and I had such a great time in China.  We are so fortunate that we were given this opportunity to travel abroad!  The site seeing was incredible as were all of the friends we made and met up with along the way. 


I have not spent much (really any) time abroad and there were some things I found to be so different that I thought I would make a list of them as I feel they deserve their own post.

1) The bathrooms:  I must admit, I was actually forewarned about these but no amount of warning could really prepare me. All of the toilets were located in the grounds (squatty potties if you will) and most of the toilets were flush able, you just couldn't flush anything down them (toilet paper included). Due to the lack of toilet paper flushing, the bathrooms smelled pretty bad.  Often there was someone who was employed to clean the bathrooms all day so the toilets and stalls were clean but no amount of cleaning could make up for the smell of used toilet paper piled up in garbage cans next to the toilets.


2) This brings me to the next point.  There was NO lack of FREE public toilets available for use yet we still saw several people who would randomly "go" on the side walk or the street. (adults included)


3) AND to go along with point 1 &2, children did not wear diapers.  Instead they wore "crotchless pants" and would go to the bathroom where ever.  I actually saw a child "go" inside the subway station.


4) Hand Hygiene: Very few people use Kleenex.  Instead people would blow their nose in the hands and then wipe it on themselves.  I was a little (a lot) grossed out when I saw someone do this at the Forbidden City and after that made a point to avoid bumping into random people's hands.

Sean took this picture right after the "nose blowing" incident

I tried to walk around and avoid touching anyone or anything

5) Food: The food was incredible and incredibly inexpensive!  Sean and I would have a HUGE, delicious meal for only a few dollars! 


6) Bikes:  People rode their bikes EVERYWHERE.  We even saw someone ride their bike through the grocery store.  When she was yelled at and instructed to "dismount" the woman looked genuinely shocked.


7) Cars: People treated these like bikes.  No one followed the rules, the cab drivers were the CRAZIEST drives I have ever ridden with.  People would drive the wrong way down a one way street.  We also saw people driving down the side walks.  AND if you were a pedestrian beware.  Cars do not stop for you or yield to you.


8) It was about 90 degrees throughout our trip and I would have given ALMOST anything to have an iced beverage.  I ended up drinking hot tea almost all day everyday.  We purchased water bottles from the grocery store and by the time you would drink them they tasted like they were almost boiling.

9) Starbucks:  There were Starbucks' EVERYWHERE in Shanghai but we had the hardest time finding one in Beijing.  I am thinking about writing to Howard Schultz about this.

10) The People:  There were people everywhere all of the time.  I don't think we managed to take a single picture without 20 other people in it, especially when we were site-seeing. I also know we were in a lot of pictures taken by others.  This is because Sean was a huge hit in China.  Everyone wanted their picture taken with him.  Some would run up and ask to have their picture taken.  Most people though would attempt to take a picture discreetly from "a far".  The best part was though the # of people who would laugh and point at Sean when they saw him.  I almost wanted to join in!

All of that being said I would highly recommend a trip to China at some point in your lifetime.  It was fun to experience another culture and like I said before the site-seeing was incredible!