At last, a summary of my China experience...as a list.

Things I missed most about the U.S.


1. Drinking water straight from the tap.

2. Not having to worry about eating things.

For instance, I couldn't eat ice cream in Asia. And then my parents wouldn't let me eat anything else, basically....which meant no fresh fruits, no pearl milk tea, no --

3. Bathrooms that don't smell.

Washrooms in China smell very strongly of urine and feces because some people seriously can't aim when they're doing #1 or #2.

4. Uncensored internet. Stupid Great Firewall of China.

5. Shopkeepers who don't try to goad you on to buy something. It gets rather annoying after a while because sometimes you just want peace and quiet to make a sales decision, and you'd rather not be hearing someone say, "Oooh, isn't this nice? It's really good material. Oh, you won't buy it for 100 yuan? What about 80 yuan? I'll give it to you for 80, just because I know you're a huaren [Chinese]"

6. Fixed prices. For a very similar reason. If I want to buy something, it's nice to just go by and figure out whether you want it or not for the price, without having to use up so much energy to bargain something down.

7. Eating at any time I'd like. When you're on these tours, they're very strict with the times of meals (because they have to keep on schedule). I like spontaneity and really don't like eating when I'm not hungry.

8. Good food. Why doesn't the food in China taste as great as the Chinese food in New York? One reason why is because everything we ate on the tour seemed to be fried. (I hate fried food.) The other reason is that what meat they gave us was fatty meat -- chickens in China themselves seem to be very, very lean. (Rather, bony.)

In the U.S., since the produce in general is better, the food is better. So if you're looking for good Peking duck, go to Chinatown. China and HK will ruin your expectations.

9. Free time. On these tours, you're rushed from place to place and that itself is a headache. With the lack of spontaneity and a tight schedule, one really doesn't have any free time. If I want to just sit down and chill, or think about what happened during the day, I don't have time for that.

10. Familiarity. It's cool at first to be in a different place -- it's exciting, for sure. But after a while, you still long for things that you recognize: a language, mannerism, way of life, a face.


There's no place like home.