Travelling halfway across the world is a daunting experience for anyone, especially when going alone.
I had this idea a couple of months back to travel to China, a place I had never been before to experience new sights, sounds, and people. As a marketer I need to understand how things work, so I saw it as an opportunity to not only progress myself personally, but professionally.
The challenges I would face would be tough, it would be difficult just to get from ‘A’ to ‘B’, but ultimately the pay off would be one I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Ready… Set… Go!
Not the easiest of countries to enter, China requires thorough checks before you step foot on their soil. Nevertheless, with a visa, passport, and a handful of Yuan in hand, I was ready to begin my journey.
Arriving at the airport I soaked up as much western culture as I could, that being an English novel, crossword, and biscuits!
Taking more than 1 flight (a whopping 3 in total) which spanned over 12 hours flight time, I had to travel from –
- Manchester, UK – Paris, France: 1 hour
- Paris, France – Wuhan, China: 10 hours
- Wuhan, China – Guangzhou, China: 1 hour
By the time I arrived in Guangzhou, China, I was tired and ready for bed, but first I had to catch a taxi, locate the hotel I was staying at, and then go through the process of signing in to get a room. In total it had taken me another 2 hours before I could securely lay my head down and rest.
Man vs Food
Whilst there I had to try meals I wouldn’t normally eat. Being the fussy person that I am, it was a huge shock to try the different types of food they offered, like Cantonese, Korean, and even Japanese food.
Not knowing what I was ordering at times due to most writing being Chinese, I pointed at meals that looked digestible. Being the lottery that it was, I had the good, the bad, and the ugly types of food.
The Good
I started off by easing myself into the transition by trying something unusual, but essentially western. I had a coke with chocolate ice cream and whipped cream.
It was a good tipping point before I ran down the steep hill that was Chinese food.
The Bad
Not essentially bad, I tried a meal that consisted of meat wrapped in a thin pastry of rice and what appeared to be black ink (never actually found out what it was soaked in). Still transitioning from western to eastern food, I had chicken nuggets as backup in case I disliked the Chinese food.
I enjoyed the meal, although I didn’t know what the meat was, it was challenging and refreshing to taste a foreign food that turned out surprisingly well.
The Ugly
Not knowing what I had ordered, I immediately regretted it. An assortment of different elements of food smashed together in a bowl of water, I could only make out baby potatoes as recognisable. Trying to diversify my taste buds, I tried everything in that bowl, along with the noodles.
Although not the worst meal I had whilst there, it was still enjoyable as it was new and fresh that I would try again if the option presented itself in the future.
Transport
One of the major benefits about staying in China, especially in a huge city, was the transportation. It may sound bizarre, but having good transport links that run frequently and on time are rare. The only bad point is the over crowding, most of the time I would struggle to find a seat or even a place to stand without bumping into people.
Guangzhou Museum
The #1 place to start to understand the country and it’s culture is the museum! Rich with knowledge of the country’s heritage, I found myself lost for hours learning about what makes China so unique and innovative. Even the exterior of the building itself stood out as strange, but cool.
Whilst waiting in line I noticed a huge difference in western and eastern culture in the way individuals acted in groups. There was pushing (sometimes shouting) just to get further in the queue, so people weren’t exactly friendly, sometimes down right rude. I didn’t mind as I had hours to kill and enjoyed learning how everyone interacted with one another, but the experience taught me how well mannered I appeared to be in comparison and how I needed to act just to get to the front of the line quickly.
Just to give you an idea of how long the queue was, it spanned all the way around the museum like a snake.
Whilst inside I was lost and buried in all the interesting facts and displays about China; for example, different types of ink stones were popular to hold ink, from small to enormous stones. I actually found an ink stone that looked like a smart phone.
Amongst the displays I found the aquarium section beautiful with the models and lighting, unfortunately some of the attractions weren’t in English.
Breaking the Norm
Besides from the food, I found a number of (what I would consider) strange things. An example is the way services and products are advertised as they appear too forced and in your face, there’s little to no subtlety.
At night some roads are blocked off, leaving streets empty. It was a weird experience walking down a path seeing 2 people play badminton in the middle of the road.
People were even sitting in groups chatting to one another.
Cultural Shock
Eastern culture, for me, is a huge shock. The way people act and interact with one another is so much different then western culture. They tend to favour conformity, whereas places in the west like USA favour individuality.
Being a 6 foot pale person with no knowledge of China or how to speak Chinese, I stood out. I couldn’t simply observe their culture as everyone stared at me, for them I was a rarity, even having people approach me on the tram to shake my hand and take pictures.
Tourist Shots
Spending most of my time wondering around the city, I tried to get as many pictures as possible. The reason being was to interact with complete strangers, do something I wouldn’t normally do whilst at home. Challenging as it was to talk to people who didn’t understand me even at the best of times, I wanted to push myself. Nevertheless, I got a few shots whilst walking around the city and managed to, just barely, get my picture taken.
Closing Thoughts
Overall I enjoyed my time in China.
The people, food, places, and their way of life were unique to me. The culture was so vast and brilliant I barely had enough time to soak it all up. I feel I achieved a great deal from my travels, that being to expand my knowledge of other cultures and better understand myself in the process.
I set out to do things I wouldn’t normally do by going out of my comfort zone – It’s a lesson we should all take. In order to progress and go forward, not just professionally but personally, it’s important to try new things. That’s the lesson I took away and hopefully will apply to everything I do.
