What To Expect When Visiting China For The First Time

Hey Earthlings…

Hope Y’all are doing great, I know I have been MIA of late but being laptop-less is hindering my progress, although I am still in the process of fleshing out some posts in my journal, so that is something.

I have been meaning to share this post with you guys, so has to give insight on living in China and what to expect, there is another post that I have written one to help anyone who would need it, read it here

So I have been living in China for the past two and half years( but I am back home now), for a girl who hadn’t traveled outside her home country, I think I did pretty well in surviving, Lords know I had many doubters, because being an only child and parents who tend to spoil and bail you out of trouble, people thought I wouldn’t survive to live alone and being able to stand on my own two feet.

I Lived in the south of China in a city called Guangzhou in the Guangdong Province. It is an up and coming city because everyone knows about Shanghai and Beijing.

What To Expect

• First things first, it is true that you can’t see the sky in China cause of the fog and it is hard to breathe. The air is different than the one back one, I am not saying I found it hard to breathe but I did notice, it smells different and most Chinese wear masks to help with the air.
• Chinese tend to spit everywhere don’t be appalled or shocked when you noticed.
• The weather, I come from a tropical place, plus I know a bit of torrential rain but this was on a new level, the rainstorms which are usually hurricane-related, the ones I have experienced were not a joke, plus the thunderstorms that scared me to death. Although where I lived was in the south and almost close the ocean, it was not hot, meaning I didn’t get a tan when the sun was shining, it was just humid and dry heat. Plus it was unpredictable, I never left the house without an umbrella. It doesn’t snow in the south during winter but it does get cold and super windy.
• They have great transport systems, for a person who comes from the country that glorifies the matatu culture, using a subway, buses and taxis has public transport, that has fixed prices that don’t rise up because it started raining or the price of petrol has gone up. The downside is being packed in like a can of sardines, in the subways and buses.
• Awesome shopping experience because there is a market for almost everything you could ever need, and they are cheap and discounted. Of course, they are shopping malls with high-end stores and fast fashion stores of famous brands around the world but this is China there is always a cheaper version of that pair shoes you saw in a magazine.
• Chinese people tend to stare at foreigners and are also a little racist depending on the age of the person the older generation stare and take unauthorized pictures of foreigners. The children are fascinated by you, the generation in their 20’s, want to be your friends and party with you.
• The language barrier exists, cause most Chinese don’t speak English, so that is usually a problem a foreigner might face if you chose not to learn the language. Learn some simple words, to help you along the way.
• Be prepared to have your hair thinned out because of the water, I speak from experience my Locs have thinned, although grown longer but thinner.
• There are gated communities, I lived in one, and it wasn’t that bad, far from the city center but quiet and peaceful. They had a bus that had would drop the residents to the city center if you didn’t have a car.

Hope this post is helpful.

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