@@chopsticksandtrains Hi. Like your video but have to disagree with you on one point. @2:42. No, it's NOT encouraged in the West!! For example, if you are a university student in the US, and you say the wrong thing in your university such as complain about the dire situation in the middle east, you go to jail.
@@chopsticksandtrains But it was reported by most western news sites. (From memory, it was either end of last year or beginning of this year) US police forcefully removed students in universities and then banned all later protests. And then the US govt changed the laws so that there are certain things you can't EVEN SAY without breaking the law regarding the dire situation in the Middle East.
Fun fact: if you know how to use them, squat toilets are actually much more sanitary than sitting ones, and the reason should be obvious - no physical contact with any surfaces. This is why there are still many Chinese who prefer to use the squat toilet in public places. Plus, squatting is actually the natural way the human body is designed to defecate (it has to do with how the intestine gets stretched in a squat position, whereas sitting is more restrictive).
Squatting is the natural and correct way/hygiene. That is why the Japanese and Koreans older generation still prefer to squat unless too weak or health related problem
Harder to for sitting toilets I imagine? There are so many times I ran into disgusting public sitting toilets here in North America, I wish they were squatting instead. Least then I don't have to make any physical contact.
I have been married to a Chinese woman for 30 years. Guys will ask me how to land a Chinese woman and I always tell them 'don't be woke' and be honest and traditional in your mindset and you will be fine.
I've been recently in China and I will add that if you are in a wheel chair or disable, you are going to find a hard time there. Not only many places are only accessible by stairs and public transport is not ready for it, but many times, cars parking in the pedestrian way will make your live miserable... I saw minor improvements but there is still too much to catch up...
There was a topic about it few weeks ago link to this problem, like toilet for them too. Its very old known issue in China, unfortunately even in big cities, its is still quite a problem.
It’s so good of you to mention “such matters” to us in the US…it is important enough for us to be aware of. BTW wont you please in the future talk about the recent news on the problem of contamination of cooking oil ? Thank you much.
Great to see you here! Yeah - that cooking oil scandal is a big deal. You know the crazy thing is, the story, while not totally censored, has be suppressed in China and many people I have spoken with don't even know it happened. (Same old story, right?) 🤦♂ But yeah, at some point I'll definitely touch on it! Thanks for the support!
I tried a squat toilet at a remote highway rest stop in Taiwan, and one particular problem was not knowing what to do with my trousers to, ah... keep them out of the way, so to speak. I also really could have used something to hold on to to steady myself, but there was nothing nearby, so all I could do was put my hands on the floor, which felt really icky - particularly since there was no soap at the hand-washing sink outside. There was also a sign that said, "Please don't throw paper in the toilet", so everything had to go into a trash can, which was extremely gross. Thankfully, there was a 7-11 nearby that sold baby wipes and hand sanitizer.
I take one leg out of my pants and swing my pants out in front of me when I have to squat in the woods (never used a squat toilet), and the toilet paper thing makes sense. We do that on our big offshore boats that discharge directly into the water. The boats and motorhomes with holding tanks have a no solid waste rule, you have to use a bucket for that or dig a whole.
Funny squat story. I was stationed in South Korea in the late 70s and learned straight away about squat toilets. Only most of the time they were just a rectangle hole in the floor. One time me and some friends were out partying in Seoul in this nightclub when we had to use the bathroom. We go in and they had two stalls and some urinals to the side. So we are using the urinals when we hear a group of women laughing and getting in line to use the stalls! They are only about three feet away. Turns out it’s a unisex bathroom and as backed up as I was I couldn’t go until they left so I could use a stall squat toilet instead.😂
Stationed in Korea in the late 70's! Wow - I bet you've got a boatload of interesting stories! Very happy to have you hear! I'm still using the squatters on a regular basis, several times a week at the very least. 🤪
Was at the airport toilet in Kweilin ( 桂林)1998, unforgetable experience….yes they were all squat toilets , two rows facing each other with a walk way in the middle, ALL WITHOUT DOORS…until today no one could tell me which side one should face while doing business😅😂
I lived for years in Taiwan and then later on I lived for years in Mainland China. For a myriad of reasons, I never used the term Expat. Especially in Taiwan there was a community of people who referred to themselves as Expat, they lived in Taiwan longer than I did yet they could not speak even the most rudimentary level of Chinese or Taiwanese. After a year of living in Taiwan, I was able to speak fluent, Chinese and passable Taiwanese, the reason for this is that I was a student and I also did many language exchange with local people. So I guess subjectively the term expert never settled well with me. As for my time in Mainland China, I lived in a very remote hard to find village with my wife in the Shandong province. The good news is that I did not see any other westerners, and I was able to learn even more Chinese. My reasons for going to Taiwan and China, was to learn the language and to learn martial arts. I was able to do that now I hope someday maybe to visit again especially after I retire from my present job on a sidenote I was glad that I could travel through Europe on vacation that’s very different from the United States and China as well.
Good video and good ideas. I’d add that, unless you are only going to major cities, don’t go if you don’t like being stared at. 😂 I just spent a month in Liaoning (city of about a million) and I didn’t see another foreigner the whole time. I met more than one person who told me they had never met a westerner, and these were not young people. Oh, and for food, I did try what’s translated as “black pudding “. Look it up. 😱
Ohhh, blood sausage! Haha, I'm not a fan of it at all! Did you enjoy it? I'm very familiar with Liaoning - which cities did you visit? And yeah - great points! The staring is real!
@@JIMMY-nz1ld Actually, again you'd be surprised to know that the variety of vegetables in, the US for example, is MUCH wider and more diverse than in China. I'll do a video comparison in the future to show you. This is a common misconception that many Chinese folks have.
You have some valid points but those are minor. To make it easier, westerners may consider to join the tour for the first trip to China as everything can be well taken care of which may make they are not too much beyond their comfort zone. If you like it, then you may further explore this massive country with diverse culture by another trip. For those experienced travellers as well as the backpackers, I believe they all prepare to adopt the enviroments and cultures of the country they visit as this is the way of truly travelling.
They are minor? Maybe to you, but to those whom they’d affect they’d be major. Sometimes you have to stop thinking about yourself and put yourself in another’s shoes. Anyway, thanks for watching and commenting.
You might still want to bring some toilet paper just in case! I think most public restrooms now supply toilet paper but it was the case even 10 years ago
I live in a western and a dermocratic country. I learned to keep my opinions private in most sensitive cases. The scencorship on maistream media is not better than a dictatorship country.
It's wise to keep political opinions to yourself much of the time. Even in the West there's the old saying, "Never talk about religion and politics" (and you'll get along fine). But it's part of our system to talk about it... so sometimes it's required. In China, it's just a different system and you are NOT entitled to discuss sensitive political matters, especially if you disagree with the authorities. So it's VERY different in China. Censorship in Western media is bad, but nowhere nearly as extreme as in China. In China, the news is State run and the internet is totally blocked and you can only get your information from government-approved sources. No Google, no FB, no Twitter, no wikipedia, etc. The list goes on. So while I agree that Western media is pretty bad and even very dishonest at times, in the West we have many alternative outlets to access news, whereas in China, they simply don't. In terms of media and press freedom, China ranks as one of the lowest in the ENTIRE WORLD. Hope that explanation helps.
@@chopsticksandtrains I know where you are from before I stopped finishing your video. I know both China and the western countries better than your brainwashed mind can imagine. The more lies people try to propagate about China, the worse their reputation will suffer when the truth is finally in front of public eyes. Nobody will believe anything the western media say in a short future.
@@chopsticksandtrains Despite the fact that you have lived in China for many years, you are still very narrow-minded and paranoid. I am not sure if you really know Chinese as well as you claim. If you know Chinese, you should be able to see that on some Chinese platforms in China, almost everyone is discussing politics, and if a local government makes a mistake, it will often be scolded by the public and named in the news headlines. In addition, the mainstream public opinion in China is manipulated by douyin, Weibo, WeChat, Alipay, Zhihu and other folk media. Each platform has a different user base; for example, Weibo is basically a gathering place for leftists, while Zhihu is a gathering place for Chinese liberals. Xiaohongshu and Douban, on the other hand, are gathering places for consumerists. Lastly, US internet media doesn't mean everything, China just restricts some internet companies, and Chinese people still have access to 99.99% of the world's internet media. I sincerely ask you again, are you more afraid of the Chinese police or the American police?
I knew a Canadian girl who wouldn't eat any Chinese dish except 热干面 for the entire 2 years she lived in China, she'd also eat at McD and other US fast food places but refused to eat any other Chinese food claiming it was all gross and disgusting, given her diet I saw her get bigger and bigger over those 2 years to the point where Chinese people in their very usual selves would constantly comment on her weight, China is definitely not a place for picky eaters 😂😂😂
I am actually not surprised by that story. Would be wild to see someone do that though, and get progressively 'bigger'. Kinda sad. I have seen people come to China and love the food, then again I've seen people come to China and leave BECAUSE OF the food. Thanks for watching/commenting!
哈哈哈哈哈哈！Having lived there close to 10 years, I can say that i've known, and met as many, if not more, obtuse and closed minded mainlanders when it comes to food. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great food there and it's one of the thing I often miss since I left the country, but the mental jail, and solid brainwash over there is deep and gets really heavy at time... I mean it's freakin' 40C outside and you try to get some food that is NOT fried, NOT soaked in oil, NOT buried under chili peppers (I love extremely spicy food btw), or just something that is just cool and fresh... It's almost impossible, unless you go in these overpriced 差不多 "foreign" places, but then you get all these outlandish pseudo cultural face saving excuses to justify that non sense while it's obviously only a way to hide the dubious quality of the ingredients they use. How many times i've witnessed solid mental breakdowns, in real time, when trying to make them try some good "European" cuisine, cheese, barely grilled steaks, fresh vegetables, desserts that actually taste like desserts, etc. The mental block on raw stuff because of the general bad quality of food, added to that constant repetition of self-claimed best food in the world, create that little box in their head... And don't get me started on that whole judgemental attitude of "us (chinese) vs simple 老外s because they just can't take "no" for an answer when offering food, or watching someone else eating... I'm a heavy sweating person (which is also foreign to many over there), do I need to explain that at 35C outside, i'm not gonna have a spicy AND BURNING HOT noodle soup for lunch because I don't have extra clothes and I don't feel like being drenched in sweat for the whole day... And we all know how they can't use AC like the rest of the civilized world... i'm not gonna speak about hot water cuz i'll throw my laptop by the window! I've seen people being put in very uncomfortable positions when being asked publicly why they don't eat this or that, why they don't want to drink alchool, etc dozens of times! These people know better and didn't make a scene or "publicized themselves", but the locals always come with the condescending comments and questions to put them in the spotlight instead of just minding their damn business and respecting their choices! So yeah, people always point out when some foreigners don't want to eat smth, but they never speak out about how mainlanders are equally narrow minded, often very ignorant, and quite proud of it in the exact same manner...
Good video and good advice. I would say number 2(vocally political) and number 5 maybe the worst to overcome for ppl. Number 2 are usual link to one's personality, that usually cant be so easy controlled. But personally I think western media painted a picture of crazy police state, which it is(if you are very vocal), but also not for REGULAR ppl, the difference between western nation and china is quite minor(except like other east asian nation, is quite safe). Number 5 is physical thing, so its less a issue if one just stay in big chinese citys near the coastline, usually you can find western style toilet(find 5-start hotel if you cant find them otherwise).
Thanks for watching/commenting. I have to disagree with you though. Number 2 doesn't involved a person's personality, it involves their political opinion. You know the list of sensitive topics in China. I don't need to name them here. If you share the wrong opinion on one of these in China, you could end up in a very, very bad situation. And especially now, with the rising nationalism and xenophobia in China... You say that in some ways China and the West are quite similar - yes, that's true, but in some ways they are quite different. I have videos discussing safety in China and how to travel safely and trouble-free in China (if you're interested).
Why would you go to a Country and voice any political opinion, I wouldn’t do this even in Europe or the USA even if asked. You are a guest in their Country and what your political views are is of no consequence. If you don’t like their political system then don’t go.
@@chopsticksandtrainsI think he means that some people are just more politically sensitive. They think of everything in life in a political way and have the need to let off their emotions by commenting on politics. China is definitely not for those people. However most poeple are not like that. Though everyone has their own political opinions, they can still live their own life peacefully regardless of politics.
Why you want to lie here? The plane I booked was full just like some international hotels inside the tourist areas, many foreigners like me can also be seen in places like The Great Wall, Forbidden city, The Bun etc.
The overall tourist numbers are still wayyyy down. It will be hard to recover after the things that happened during the pandemic and China's support for Russia (amongst other things). Their image has definitely taken a huge hit.
Maybe your plane was. But the China Air plane I was on was mostly filled with Chinese and the majority of westerners were catching connecting flights. So he first poster was maybe exaggerating but then maybe you were too.
Speaking on toilets in China... It's a smart idea to put a small pack of Kleenex in every coat and pair of pants you own if you're in China. Lotta times there's no TP in bathrooms or free napkins at restaurants, so be prepared.
I will probably be in Chengdu in September, I know I'll need my phone but I have an iphone 14 and can't swap out the sim card, it has esim card but I have heard that none of the carriers in China can handle esim, do you know if this is true?
My friend recently came to China and his phone also had an esim. We tried every single cell phone shop we could find, even went to the China Mobile main branch and unfortunately they couldn't help him. This was in a smaller city though. There's a higher chance that you could get it done in a big place like Chengdu, but still, I wouldn't count on it. Do you have an older, cheaper phone you could bring as a backup just in case?
I struggled with the squat toilet. If you are political and love the mainland government you will be fine although some normal Chinese would still want to avoid the topic.
Yeah, where you agree you'll typically be fine. But that will often lead them into them possibly trashing your country... and the conversation can get awkward. Almost any problems in China they'll find a way to blame the US and its allies for.
Drug is forbidden for bothn locals and foreigners alike. Keeo political ideas to yourself. Don't visit to preach and lecture.. Would westerners kiie it if foreigners do the samd ?
Yes they do, but still many small restaurants and even some other places in big cities still might only have squat toilets. They are still very common and sometimes could provide a major inconvenience especially for some older travelers.
What kind of uninformed statement to say that you would have problem finding food if you were vegetarian? You are in a country with a majority Buddhist and to say having an issue finding vegetarian dishes comparing to the West is just assinine.
Most Chinese are not actually Buddhist. Most are atheist. Did you hear what I said in the video: "I have known plenty of vegetarians in China." It is largely THROUGH them that I learned that being vegetarian is not easy. Because vegetarianism is so rare in China, they don't have cuisines that cater to them. Even a lot of 'vegetable dishes' will have little slivers of pork or something. In the Western world, vegetarians have lots of easily identifiable vegetarian options. In China, they just don't. It's definitely doable, but it will be much tougher to pull off and your dining options will be much more limited and simplistic.
@@chopsticksandtrains Fyi, Buddhist is also Atheism. The Buddhist thought has penetrated into Chinese in their everyday leaving. Even if there are Chinese who claim that they are not Buddhist but without knowing their 言行举止 has Buddhist elements in it.
@@llh5976 You’re right. There’s no god in Buddhism. There’s only the god in you instead of a god you can’t see. You have control of yourself instead of letting a so called god control you.
tbf, aside from the political opinions thing and the sparsity in vegetarian options, this just sounds like things to keep in mind when travelling to most places in Asia that aren't Japan, Korea and Singapore
