You're the one who is walking backwards. Haha! Nice optical illusion bro. I really thought at first you somehow connived with those pedestrians to walk backwards but when I observed carefully it was actually you! Haha!
I think this is the best advice for foreigners visiting China I have seen. My first trip, I improvised a workaround to access my computer back in America instead of using a VPN. Bad mistake! Having a VPN is essential, especially for long stays. In my opinion, many foreigners exaggerate the amount of bad public behavior, like spitting, smoking, littering, rudeness, etc. in their criticisms. I actually saw very little of that in my almost three years in China. But the crowds...and noise...can be quite a shock. Being an object of curiosity never bothered me like it does many foreigners. People who came up to me to say hello were always friendly. My wife never allowed me to pay for anything if the price was negotiable! Always carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer as well as toilet paper. I loved the high speed trains, and the subways in major cities are very good, if sometimes very crowded. Take a taxi instead of the bus...but if you're over six feet tall, getting in and out may be hard! And in older buildings, if you're tall, when you enter a doorway, duck! I always carried a fork. Pizza Hut gives you silverware without having to ask for it, but they're expensive! And after one experience, I tried to avoid fish. I was always afraid I'd swallow a bone no matter how careful I was. Paranoid, I guess!
Very informative, going to China on a tour soon, useful info especially from the viewpoint of a Chinese person. Virtually all other youtube advice on China from non-Chinese people.
The way you explained the cheap Chinese budget hotels makes a lot of sense. There are certainly hotels in the US that cater to locals that I would not recommend to tourists.
All very good information. I had good luck finding western toilets in the lobby of modern office buildings and in the "handicapped" rest room at museums, zoos, etc. The thing I would do differently is learn the Mandarin for the numbers 1 through 10. And I would find a you tube video on how to show numbers on your fingers (amazingly, every country has its own way of doing this.)
Good tips! Another suggestion, bring ear plugs if you're going to visit very touristy spots (even if they're "in the wilderness"). There are always a LOT of visitors and traffic from long-distance buses, so it can get very loud and hectic, but ear plugs help me get through it (mostly).
Super good videos and I recognise many of the points and tips from my own stays in big Chinese cities. Chinese people are very friendly and mostly tourists from smaller places are very curious about tourists with a non-classical appearence.
1) The footage in the beginning and end is my kind of playfulness. 😁👍 (Imagining people who stare: "Look at that weirdo. Why is he walking forward?" 😄) As a downside, you are giving the impression that China is totally backwards. 😜 2) Very considerate with the grayscale footage of the bathroom. (I looked away completely, since I was eating.) 3) When you said people should use taxi, you should have briefly mentioned taxi scams; to only use legit ones and how to tell them apart.
New subscriber in Tokyo, I really like the commentary you provide and I sort of worry about the CCP taking more aggressive actions in controlling what they may see as seditious comments and hope the government does not take more serious actions than just cancelling your SNS account. If you are ever in Japan again please drop me a note.
The only thing I'm afraid of is my VPN not working because it's blocked and with everything else being blocked I can't access tech support and now I'm holding this expensive phone which is basically just a dumb 90ies phone who can't even make phone calls because I'm in China! This is my first nightmare but I do hope to visit China eventually...