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Q: What was your first "Big Surprise" after you arrived in China?
Mine was a double... First discovering the weird squatter toilet, and then a few minutes later discovering that no toilet paper is provided in public toilets! Bummer. Thank God I had bought a newspaper at the airport.
poor table manners. I was having a dinner 15 minutes after I got off the boat, everyone making all sorts of loud sounds. ... a bit after that I had my first ever encounter with the squatter
I'm surprised that people didn't know about squatter toilets,and that people don't speak English in China.
The dangerous driving. I took a taxi from the airport. Got in the taxi, no seatbelts thats weird. Then we were off, i was scared shitless.
Stiggs:
Actually, me too with the seatbelts. That and the honking of horns for what seemed like no reason.
The first time I arrived in China, I had to take a taxi, as I was late and I had to meet my gf. I had no phone. After a few kilometers, in the middle of nowhere. the taxi stopped on the emergency lane and asked me an outrageous amount of money. Being polite about it just did not work. I had really no choice, and had to be a bit more assertive and a bit less polite. Yay, first contact !
For me it was the driving too... I asked about the seatbelt in my taxi from the airport, first time i was here, and the guy laughed and said 'haha i'm a good driver, don't worry'... literally a minute later he had to suddenly brake because he wasn't looking where he's going and my head smacked into the headrest in front of me...
my 1st big surprise was its nothing like Taiwan.I enjoyed my time in Taiwan so much fun.
Split wide open pants of kids from back..
DrMonkey:
The first time I took the bus in Suzhou, I had the combo slit-wide pant & making little paopao shit... in the garbage can of the bus. Nobody said anything... To be fair and honest, I only saw that once. But still, I traveled to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, never saw this ever.
First walking out of the airport it was the smell, I was like what the hell is that? Then after having a speeding taxi take me to my university a couple hours outside of shanghai I was dropped off at my dorm then I was strong armed into going out to dinner right away with the head of the foreign teacher department. At the restaurant I didnt know how to use chop sticks so I asked the waiter for a fork. He brought me out a fork about 3 inches long, everyone had a big laugh and I made a more concerned effort to learn to use chop sticks after that.
How impolite and rude the police are in this country, the first time I came here I can't speak Chinese and carrying dictionaries everywhere and whenever I ask guys in blue shirt and black pants (I assume they were taxi driver because the one in my hometown wear similar unfiorm) they just rudely repel you and just telling you to ask someone else.
After a few days I had it and just give them the finger everytime they do that, one day I went with a local guy, we were lost and I ask another blue guy, and I flip him off because he was rude, my Chinese friend was so horrified when I do that, turns out they are the police lawl.
That not all Chinese people look the same. That Chinese women are really attractive. That they're not all short. That they're happy to drink warm beer.
Women with unshaved armpits! 
liantohusin:
lol at 3 post, those hairy armpits really spook you eh mate 
TedDBayer:
Many NA girls don't (femin****), French may not, it's not like Asian are hairy, some have no body hair any where. Very hairy western women have only been shaving for about 100 years and they wore long dresses before. Imagine being turned on by ankles.
My first shocker was that I couldn't tell which was male and female toilets in the absence of colored writing or man/woman symbol.
A couple of days after arriving, I had a serious case of Guangdong Belly and rushed to a public toilet (the horror) in which no stalls had doors. I deliberated for 10 vital seconds as both toilets were empty ......and unbeknown to me at the time, chose wrong and rushed in. So, while I am on the squatter, squirting, a bunch of hot young girls come in and begin screaming at the horrible sight.
Fortunately the security guard could see the funny side and I escaped with my dignity barely in tact.
P.S. I can now recognize the words
A zebra crossing, a green man, me walking, a bus thundering towards me honking as if I had no right to be there at all.
Growing up I had a friend from HK, she was really soft spoken, polite, courteous, sort of like a Japanese social caricature almost. I based my expectations on her...
this inability to think logically and for-see consequences.
playing "dodge the vomit pile" in the morning. It was like i was back on Frat Row.
Back in 1997, I came on a business trip for the first time. I remember one banquet when the local police joined us and drank themselves mindless before giving us a police escort home in their little Santana cop car. Another incident happened at Beijing South railway station. It was much different than it is now. The police put up a barrier to stop cars entering but our driver was having none of it. He got out of the car and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of these cops/security personnel. Then waiting for the train and seeing a woman walking along the platform completely naked from the waist down.
I knew about the toilets, but had no idea how “f-ing” bad they could actually smell. Between the smell and the obvious lack of hand soap I really wanted to vomit.
Other than that I am amazed at how tall the younger generation is, eating well has a major impact on one’s height.
Scandinavian:
Actually height is partly determined by how well the grandmother was eating when she was pregnant with the mother, if you had your ears open in biology class you'd know that the ovaries and eggs are formed in-utero (hmmmm, gotta find that CD somewhere), so the basis for healthy grandchildren is partly in the hands of the pregnant woman. It is not just height but general health that is affected.
LOL.... my first big surprise was before I even got off the plane....
It was a cloudy day... (I think it was the clouds) and the plane flew over a beautiful part of Beijing that looked like a bombed ghetto. I guess it was just part of Beijing....
Anyway, my first thought was... OMG this is China? What have I done?
A boy peeing on the hospital lobby floor with the parents help.
seeing a child (guess 11 or 12 yrs of age) who appeared all-but feral walking some back-street of small city in Zhejiang. 1996.
Feral may be too hard to describe (for me), but when u see it, u know it.
