Depending on the Asian country where you live, you may encounter problems. Within Southeast Asia, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong are the most westernized. Thailand is in the middle, because a truly Western lifestyle is only possible in Bangkok. China was completely closed off until 25 years ago and people are starting to become more and more westernized. But in daily practice there are still dozens of problems.
- Clothes and shoes
- Supermarket
- Transport
- Hygiene
Clothes and shoes
Everyone knows that Asians are smaller than Westerners, but a logical consequence does not immediately come to mind: clothes and shoes are also smaller. So it’s unexpected when you walk into a store and they don’t sell anything in your size. And then you really don’t have to be overweight!
Clothing
The Asian clothing sizes follow the well-known pattern from XS to XXL, but do not directly correspond to their Western counterparts:
|
Asian size |
Western size |
|
XS |
children’s size 152 |
|
S |
children’s size 158 |
|
M |
children’s size 164 or XS |
|
L |
children’s size 170 or S |
|
XL |
children’s size 176 or M |
|
XXL |
L |
You need clothing whose label indicates a size that is two sizes larger than what you are used to at home. Moreover, as a Westerner you are often built wider, so the right size may still not fit. Many stores don’t sell anything above L, so even a normally built Westerner can’t get clothes. So you have to go to stores for plus sizes. However, this clothing is made for fat Asians and therefore does not really fit well.
The problem is the same for bras. The largest size is a B cup ( C cup in Asia). So if you have a larger size, it becomes very difficult. Unless you like to wear maternity bras, you will have to get enough supplies from the west.
Shoes
Small-footed Westerners find themselves in a true paradise in China. People with larger feet encounter problems. The largest size for women is 39 and for men 43 or 44. As a woman you can still go to the men’s department, but as a man you will have to search for a long time before you find something suitable. Socks are obviously problematic in the same way.
Supermarket
In preparation for a Chinese supermarket, you can visit a store. You look around and don’t recognize many products. The brands are unknown, so you don’t know if it will be any good. The smell is different, the packaging has exotic languages and the shelves are completely packed.
I have that feeling every time I enter a Chinese supermarket. There is a different smell. The products are unrecognizable and you often cannot read the ingredients. Through careful experimentation, you slowly learn which brands are good and which are not. For people with allergies, trying is not easy; you will have to ask a translator if your allergen is in the product.
Transport
Without a car you have to rely on public transport. Despite the fact that China is a third world country, public transport is reasonably well organized. The larger cities have an airport with several national destinations. Some very famous attractions, such as Wuyi Mountain, even have their own airport. The Chinese site 9588.flights.com is very suitable for cheap domestic flights.
The train network is fairly extensive. The train is the ideal means of transport for longer distances, especially in the east of the country . The bus is often faster, but on the train you can opt for a sleeper, where you, even as a Westerner, have enough space to sleep. The trains are not noisy, but your fellow passengers sometimes are. If you book a sleeper, you can choose from an upper or lower bed. The lower bunk serves as a seat before going to sleep, also for people who sleep in the upper bunk. The train is not cheap and for very long distances the plane is a better choice.
The Maglev or Magnetic Levitation train can transport you to and from Shanghai Pudong airport. Unfortunately, the route does not yet go to the city center and you have to change to the metro, but the Maglev is more about the experience than about convenience. The train runs at a top speed of 430 km/h during the day, and 300 km/h in the early morning and late evening. With a flight ticket for that day, you get a 20% discount on the ticket price.
The bus is the number 1 means of transport, both for long distances, in the city and in the countryside. For medium distances, the bus is the fastest and cheapest. There are sleeping buses, but they are not suitable for people over 1m70. The beds are also extremely narrow and that makes the journey uncomfortable unless you subdue yourself with a sleeping pill. The major disadvantage of the buses within the city is that you can hardly get information in pinyin or English anywhere. There are bus numbers, but you cannot read the destination. Tourist maps often leave out routes and the routes they indicate are particularly unclear. Basic Chinese is absolutely necessary in less touristy cities.
Metros can only be found in the largest cities, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. The network is often still growing. Fortunately, the ticket machines can also be set to English. In Xiamen there is a bus network on elevated roads.
Hygiene
The most important points in terms of hygiene are the following:
- Most toilets have bad plumbing. Result: stench.
- Most toilets are squat toilets.
- There is rarely any toilet paper, so bring tissues.
- There is rarely any soap, so have disinfectant baby wipes or other supplies with you.
- For unknown reasons, women do not shave their armpit hair.
- Many Chinese people have bad teeth because they don’t brush enough, don’t floss and don’t go to the dentist. With the bad reputation of Chinese dentists, I can’t entirely blame them for that.
- If you unexpectedly have to go to a hospital, please pay attention to the most basic hygiene rules such as new needles and sterile bandages.
- Many children walk around with an open seam at the buttocks so that they can relieve themselves anywhere when nature requires it.
- Many men and a few women spit on the street after a loud snore.
read more
- The truth about Chinese hygiene