My experience of China

Before I came to China, I had heard so many things about it. Some of them good and some of them not so good.
Often when we travel to a new country with all the expectations of it we then automatically look for those aspects. And when we look for them and concentrate on them we're bound to see more of it.
But when you don't really look for them you actually don't notice some of them at all.

For example I've heard that people are not very helpful to foreigners here and if I really keep looking for evidence for it, I will of course find some. It's when you go with those expections and you meet a person who's not that friendly and you think, I knew it, this is exactly what I've heard before.
And voilà you have the evidence you were looking for!
There's no country existing where every single person is helpful, friendly etc. But it's the whole experience which actually matter.

After almost 2 months spend here, I'll share my own experience about all the things I heard about China before coming.

It's a big country full of beautiful landscapes and villages

100% true

Nobody speaks English 

True. Only in the biggest cities they speak little bit of English, other than that, you better work on your Chinese or download a good translator.

It's a vegetarians nightmare 

Partly true. I've certainly struggled a lot to find a vegetarian food, but I think the problem is not that there isn't any, but more about the fact of not knowing where to look. Added the language barrier I find this claim to be quite true! Even when you learn to say "I don't eat meat" in Chinese, people won't necessary understand you/ they'll have different understanding about what's meat and what's not + when you travel anywhere outside the big cities all the menu's are written in Chinese. Here you definitely start to appreciate some small things; I don't mind if the waiter doesn't speak English, but if I find a restaurant that has a menu in English; I'm in heaven ;)

One of my favorite dishes here: Rice with tomatoes and eggs. This is what I occasionally get, because most of the times I have no clue of what I'm getting before the plate is infront of me!

It's super hard to navigate without knowing any Chinese

False. Even in the smaller cities and towns almost all the signs are also written in English + an app like mapsme has been super helpful and accurate.

This is one of the only signs I've seen that hasn't been written in english. I was so suprised to see it that I even had to take a picture :D

Ok, this is also only in Chinese, but I think the picture helps to understand it :D

Chinese spit all the time and everywhere

False. I've heard this a lot and was really expecting too see it a lot in here, but to be honest I haven't seen it that much. If occasionally I've seen someone spitting it has been really subtle. Before coming to here I was prepared to watch my feet's while walking down the street, so that no one would accidentally spit on them, but after a little while I noticed that it's not a problem at all.

Travelling China alone, can be really lonely 

Partly true. Depending completely on two things; where you travel and do you speak Chinese. If you travel to smaller cities and don't speak Chinese it can definitely feel a bit lonely. I for examble left Shanghai 2 weeks ago and during that 2 weeks I've met about three people who spoke English.

People stare at you and want to take selfies all the time  

Partly true. People do look at you a lot. Sometimes it might feel uncomfortable since in the western culture we're taught that staring is rude, but it's good to remember that in here it doesn't mean the same. They simple look at you out of curiosity and they don't consider it to be rude. Usually they even do it with a smile on they're face! About the selfies on the other hand, in big cities there was always someone who wanted to take a selfie with you, but again when you go to the smaller cities it's not that common anymore.
Some people try to take a sneak picture of you as well, but I try to remind myself that if that picture of me eating or carrying a backpack down the street is going to make them happy, then I'm willing to sacrifice ;D

It's messy everywhere  

Partly true. Sure the waste system is not as functional as in Europe, but on the other hand I've never seen as many street cleaners anywhere than here. You can definitely find piles of garbage on some ditch in the side of the road etc. But the city areas and the streets are fairly clean.

I love the brooms they use

The air is so bad, you can barely breath 

Partly true. Unfortunately the air quality in here is a lot worse then in Europe for example, but you notice it most in the big cities. In Beijing the sky seemed to have the pollution cloud on all the time, but when you get to the smaller places it is not really that noticeable (at least not for me) and you can actually see the blues sky. Could be as well that I've gotten used to it a bit during the two months here.

Beijing

Lishui

Chinese people are not helpful to foreigners 

FALSE! This was one of the things I was worried before coming to here. I even heard that when a person doesn't speak Chinese, they will really want to get ride of you and will just point you to any direction without actually knowing where it is. I'm glad to say that this has not been the case! Even without the common language, people have guided me to the right places countless of times.
I've been thinking how often when you're travelling without a guide and any knowledge of the place, you really are in the mercy of the locals if you get lost and I can definitely say that China has not let me down!
It really melts my heart to see people who are genuine and friendly will go over and beyond an helping some stranger! In the end helping doesn't cost anything but our time, but people these days are often very busy in their lives that the time is actually most valuable thing you can give!

People will just nod and smile, even though they don't understand a single word 

False. At least here in China, I haven't seen it even once! Usually when they don't understand they start speaking Chinese and in the end I think it's me who keeps nodding my head like a weirdo :D

                                     ... 

So far that's all that comes to my mind!
Altogether I've really enjoyed my time here even thought I occasionally miss the restaurants where I can read the menu, understanding people around me and goat cheese, oh how I miss goat cheese :D