Day 363: An Observation

Beijing, China

Beijing’s public transportation is cheap and convenient. Yet, it still does take an hour+ of commute time to get to any major tourist sites. Reason being that Beijing is ginormous and there are way too many people.

I went to the Summer Palace at the edge of Beijing. Like in the Forbidden City, one can easily spend an entire day roaming the palace ground.

After a whole day of walking and 4 hours of commuting on public transports, I opted to just hail a cab in the evening to relocate to my new host’s apartment. Taxi in China is quite affordable. For my 25 mins ride, I paid RMB 30 (USD 5). Had I chosen to go with the bus and the subway and the walk, it’d have taken me close to two hours, costing RMB 4 (USD 0.60). I was not going to kill myself over 4 bucks.

My new host Ruoz, is a Singaporean expat who happened to be in Beijing for a month. It was surprising how I found it a lot easier to get along with her. (Probably because Singapore and Indonesia are neighbors and we share a more similar way of life.) It’s then that it occurred to me I never really did feel entirely like I belong among the Chinese.

I wouldn’t have expected to get culture shock in China. But so far, being of Chinese descent and being brought up and taught of Chinese values, I still found myself at lost in China.

It’s confusing to me that a culture that emphasizes so much on politeness and values and has rules on so many facets of life, would have most of its people lacking in manners.

Although rather disturbing and unhygienic, spitting on the ground is acceptable I suppose, as it is a local habit and norm. What surprised me was that in many occasions, I had seen those who work in hospitality field (waitresses, store attendants, hotel cleaners, stewardesses etc.) yelling at their customers. The word “please” also seems to lack from their vocabulary. In China, those who push their way through and yell the loudest win. Simple as that.

And here’s something totally random: (me in a graffiti)