My first taste of China

Written November 14th, 2009

Wow I have been in China for less than twenty four hours and it is so overwhelming. When I told people I was going to India they talked about how it was going to be such a shock to my senses, so completely far off from the world I am used too, in a lot of ways India does not even remotely compare to China in that regard. It is wild here! I am in a city in the east called Hangzhou and it is packed with people. I went to the mall today and you literally could not walk at even slow pace, we were foot shuffling through the whole place. The apartment buildings are huge skyscrapers that go on for endless miles, piling as many people as they can house into the smallest piece of land possible. And for so many people you would think it would be a little easier to find someone who can speak English, but no it is nearly impossible. It is places like this that remind me how small and insignificant I am in this big world. Since arriving I have been so excited to be here, this is exactly the kind of thing I think about when I dream of adventures. But I also have this huge “what the heck am I doing” question lingering around in my head. I mean its only been a day but right now it feels like traveling around on my own is nearly going to be an impossible feat. I really have no idea how I am going to get from one place to another, I’m not kidding, its like winning the lottery when you find someone that speaks English well enough to understand more than just the basic questions, so how am I going to get from one place to another on my own? Mind you I am in a smaller place and the majority of places I am going are big cities so I am sure it will be easier once I get there, once being the operative word.

The weather is crazy cold here too. Today was +10 but it felt like what it would at home around -15-20. I don’t get why and it probably doesn’t help that I came from +35 or more but I really wasn’t expecting this kind of cold. People said that it would be cold but when I would look at the weather and see +10, +15 I thought they were all crazy for thinking it was “sooo cold” but nope, they were indeed very right. I am completely unprepared in the wardrobe department and I cannot get enough of layering my clothes. Most buildings are not heated (even the malls and restaurants) so I have a chill all day long, every time I get in from a day out I race to the shower and soak myself in the warmest water possible, its my favorite part of the day.

Another thing that is different to get used to again is the smoking. Many people smoke here (although not as many as I expected) but they smoke everywhere. Right now I am staying in the university dorms and you see students walking down the hallways smoking cigarettes. Every restaurant table has smoking which is so weird to me; I don’t know how considering its only been a few years since they stopped that at home but it already seems so foreign to me. With cigarettes being so cheap in Asia I am smoking a ton right now, I don’t think being allowed to smoke everywhere is going to help my cause. Uggg-must-quit-smoking!

And manners, wow, so much of what my parents taught me at home does not apply here. It’s not that Chinese are rude necessarily, its more that they have grown up with a completely different set of guidelines to what is and what’s not considered rude. Spitting (even inside buildings), screaming at the top of your lungs to a complete stranger, jumping ahead in line, pushing yourself through a crowd of people, laughing in someone’s face, down to drinking your soup from the bowl, all of it is completely normal here and no one thinks twice about whether or not it is rude. It is most definitely a different set of rules here.

Hangzhou itself is a beautiful city, no matter how congested some of the buildings get they have made sure to leave lots of room for parks and streets lined with beautiful greens. I am excited to go and see some of the scenic parts of the city in the next few days. Go on google images and look up the city, it is so charming and they apparently have one of the prettiest lakes in China. I leave Hangzhou to travel around China on my own for a few weeks. Im not too sure where yet or how I will get home but I am sure it will be very interesting. I will try and update everyone as much as I can along my journey, wish me luck!