One of the most challenging countries I recently visited was China. The reason why I had travelled to China is because I was visiting the city of Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley Asia for research into a project that is currently in the works. It was interesting to see what China had become the last few years with its booming economy. I felt like Shenzhen was a futuristic city in a science fiction movie with its architecture and skyscrapers all around the city. Guangzhou was like exactly Melbourne with its gardens and parks but slower pace of lifestyle.
The biggest barrier I had visiting the cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou was that English was not widely spoken, due to less tourists visiting. The biggest struggle I had was deciding what to eat for lunch and dinner as I would walk out of restaurants if I couldn’t understand what was on the menu or if the picture of the food wasn’t appealing.
Catching public transport to get around in the city was no problem as they had English signs but the hardest thing on my trip was catching a train to another city. The day I was travelling from Shenzhen to Guangzhou by train, was a day that literally tested me to the limits and pushed me out of my comfort zone. This is because when I arrived at the train station, nothing was in English and there was no staff who spoke English to help direct me. The station felt like I was in North Korea, with its cold and dark atmosphere with thousands of people lining up to purchase train tickets.
When it was my turn to purchase the ticket, the ticket lady was shouting at me in Chinese asking me for something which I couldn’t understand. Someone behind me was able to translate what she was shouting to me as it was my passport she wanted. Everybody in China is monitored, citizens and foreigners due to the communist nature of the country.
When I arrived in Guangzhou, there would be more chaos waiting. I had entered in the wrong address of my hotel on my phone and I was starting to get angry at myself for making dumb mistakes which was causing me to waste time and energy on recovering from getting lost. Eventually I had found the hotel I booked online which ended up being turned into a noodle shop.
I then had to walk around the city for an hour to find a hotel with available rooms. The one I found ended up costing me more than the return ticket with Air Asia back to Melbourne which was annoying but after having a day filled with misfortune, I needed to call it a day and rest up.
Experiencing chaos and misadventure when travelling overseas can be stressful during the time it happens, but when you come home to your family and friends, it gives you a funny story to tell about your adventures and grows you out of your comfort zone.