Not just Beijing,
First off, I'd like to mention that China messes with your body. Especially when you first get here. Everyone appears to catch a cold!
There are some seriously rank odors out there on the street Rotting organic matter, urine, feces, stinky tofu.... But don't worry, soon you'll be gleefully playing "name that odor" with your Chinese friends!
About that food thing again... Inconveniences include little rocks in your rice, tons of tiny, tiny little bones in the fish, pieces of chopped up bone inside meat. Then there's also the food that's just plain not good, or hazardous to your intestinal tract. But be adventurous anyway! You'll learn soon enough what not to eat.Your body will let you know.
You will find yourself being stared at by the locals where ever you go. I expect you really won't mind being stared at by the Chinese girls. Even if 10 seconds after you pass her, you turn and see she is still looking at you. Imagining that she is exuding her "that-is-what-I-have-been-waiting-for-all-my-life "look. but unfortunately you won't be able to distinguish this from the Jeez-what-a-freak! look.
Sometimes the pollution is pretty bad. It might even make your eyes water some days, especially if you come from some wussy place with really clean air. So environmental protection has not exactly "caught on" yet in China. But it is gaining ground.. You might find this disturbing at first, and think about it a lot. Don't worry, soon you'll be wallowing in toxic apathy with the rest of us!
Another surprise in China is dealing with the omni-present problem of squat-toilets and lack of plumbing. It is not uncommon in public places such as schools, restaurants and shopping centres for the flushing mechanism to consist of a tap and a bucket. A tap and a bucket may sound fairly primitive, but this is often the classier end of the spectrum.
If you're coming to China, I hope you're not too tall. That can be inconvenient sometimes.
It also helps if you're pretty healthy. Sure, they have modern medical facilities here, but the standards may not quite be up to what you have come to expect in the West. Solution? Look after yourself or better still let your lady do that for you.
Don't get too attached to elevators. According to Chinese building codes, elevators are only required in buildings taller than 7 stories. Hey, it's cool. Elevators are for capitalist wusses!
Virtually everyone you encounter will not be able to communicate with you in English. What this means is that until you acquire some minimal language survival skills you won't be able to do anything that you took for granted back home, without first imposing on someone else with Chinese communication skills to accompany you. If you do have to take a taxi anywhere or are returning to your hotel you will need to carry on your person several scrapes of paper with the destinations written in Chinese and remember not all taxi drivers are literate.
You might be impressed by the amount of computers in use in China. Internet cafes are everywhere. You won't be impressed by the buildings though, because building code standards are so low that buildings everywhere are already falling apart scant years after they're completed. Preventative maintenance , Whats that?
The good news is that stuff in China is really cheap! Sure, the quality might not be quite up to the standards you're used to, but you'll get over that. When stuff is this cheap, you can just keep rebuying it every time it falls apart! Neat!
There's lots more surprises waiting for you in China, so come on over! Before long you'll be familiar with the slew of inconveniences inherent to life here. Then you won't be annoyed -- rather, you'll accept them with a smile and a "Well that's China for you!" :dodgy:
