Nathan Sudbury is a first time traveller and is currently on a 6 month round the world trip.  He’ll be posting his updates to TravMonkey as he travels. He’s currently in Hong Kong.

Less than two weeks after arriving in Beijing, I have now departed China for Hong Kong.

It has been a frantic couple of weeks as I have visited Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. In an ideal world I’d have liked to stretch this visit across a month. However with South East Asia, Australia and the USA still on the agenda in the next 6 months, it was always going to be a regimented visit of China.

Shanghai was a great city to visit. Tall skyscraper buildings, beautiful parks and the stunning view of the Bund (best visited after 8pm). While Beijing offers more in terms of historical China, Shanghai offers a suitable place for westerners to live (as many currently do).

Hangzhou offered a less intense and more relaxing stay. I stayed for two nights at the Mingtown International Youth Hostel which is situated on West Lake. This area is absolutely beautiful and well worth a visit if you can schedule it into your trip.

As I look back on my stay in China, I reflect on what I’ve learned in terms of Chinese culture and how it differs from the western world:

– spitting in public
– communism
– no tipping in restaurants or taxis
– respect for the elderly
– no handshake or body contact for greetings/farewells

These are but a few of the things I have learned about Chinese culture during my short visit here.

I will be certain to return to China at some point in my life, hopefully for a longer duration and with a greater knowledge of Chinese language.