1. Some Things You Should Know
So you are about to come to China. Don't be surprised, some things are not the same as you have imagined. As you land on an airport, trying to find a way to your hotel you can be surprised that many people can't speak English, that much of the signs are all in Chinese. If you have never learned Chinese it may be difficult for you. At first there may be some taxi drivers offering you a ride to your hotel. But be careful, some of them may try to cheat you, take a long ride to your hotel, and then charge you more. You need to make certain that the taxi driver has a right licence and you can use a special telephone if you think that the fair was not reasonable.
You have arrived at your hotel. You find that the electrical plugs are not the same as in your country. The better way is to bring the adapter with you, since it is very difficult to find the adapters here unless you live in an expensive hotel.
2. Where to Eat
You want to find a good restaurant, a place to eat. Have you get used to chopsticks? In China people use chopsticks everywhere and only in expensive restaurants they can offer you knife and fork. It takes a lot of time to get used to eating with chopsticks. At first I used spoon to eat my meals because I have found it very difficult to use chopsticks. The other thing you need to know about the food is that sometimes it is to spicy. Chinese people like spicy food and if you don't like spicy food you just say "Bu La" which means not spicy. At every table you can see the different sauces and spices you can put on your food, but if you are not used to spicy food just don't use them. Chinese people eat a lot of rice, bread is not available everywhere. There are different kinds of Chinese noodles and dumpling and they taste nice. When you eat meat dishes or fish you should be careful about the bones. In many Chinese meat and chicken dishes there can be a lot of bones, and you just need to spit them as you eat your meal. It may appear to you like not having good manners, but everybody does it here.
3. Don't Trust Strangers
If you go to big cities, don't trust strangers, especially pretty girls who want to take you for a drink. You may find it interesting to meet new people, find new places. But these girls are working for tea shops and wine shops and they try to make you pay a large bill for just a cup of tea. You can find that people are friendly to foreigners, but the main reason is that they think that you have a lot of money and they want to use you to sell you low quality products. There are a lot of people stopping you on the street and then leading you to a shop. The shop is just filled with low quality products and you end with buying something that you can use only a short time and it gets broken.
4. Take the Road
You should come to China. There are so many interesting places, so many different experiences. This is a place with cultural and language differences. But it is a place to taste something different, have an adventure. Thank you for reading this article. If you have some questions or if you want an advice please contact me. Good Luck.
