China Tutorial

I had the chance to go to Shanghai for 12 days, so I went. Here are some of my thoughts (please eat salt while reading ;)).

Pros:

Cons:

Dangerous roads: in 2004, the WHO reported that 600 people die every day through road accidents. I also noticed that no one wore seatbelts or helmets.
Communistic; some censorship but relatively easy to circumvent
Most of the museums/tourist attractions are of horrible quality, and seem to be there just to make money
“Tourist restaurants” serve nasty, nasty food
When Chinese cooks try to imitate ‘Western Food’ the result is simply awful
Every tourist attraction features a horde of pesky vendors/scam artists who try to sell you a Rolex or designer bag
There are no places to rent a scooter; I really would have enjoyed zipping down the streets for a few days

Tips:

Don’t ever travel in a group. It was my first time as well as my last.
Don’t go to tourist places or ‘cultural showcases’. I went to at least 10 and they were all terrible (reasons above)
Don’t try imitations of western food unless the place is a global fast food chain or very expensive
If you ask for cold water at a restaurant you will receive boiling milk, so if you want cold water ask for hot milk (this is a top secret code I came across)
Be wary of every shop; they often overcharge visitors
Be sure to laugh at the funny english everywhere (even on giant billboards)
Read a few tutorials on bargaining. They greatly overcharge, so start at 10-20% of the starting price.
Don’t get caught up with a street vendor. I did this and ended up in a 3rd floor room with 5 guys staring at me and 500 fake watches - very sketchy.
Some Romanians can be quite beautiful.