Top 10 GROSS Things in Beijing, China

1) Everyone ~EVERYONE~ spits on the streets and sidewalks. (While walking you will learn to sidestep the loogies that are everywhere - The Beijing Gait I say. You will have people hock one up two millimetres from your latte, let one fly right near your picnic spot, and you’ll also slip on your fair share.)

2) You will see babies tooshes and privates out in the open, doing their business whereever they are (most Beijingers can not afford diapers - the baby pants are split open, no snaps at all) (YES people, the children piss and shit on the sidewalks, the streets, at the park, everywhere and anywhere)

3) EVERYONE SMOKES - A LOT! (There are not any NO SMOKING sections)

4) Drinking the blood of snakes is a delicacy (I REFUSED - Husband partook as to not insult)

5) Eating steamed chicken feet (eewww)

6) Eating fried scorpians (not a chance in hell)

7) Oh, dogs and cats shit and piss everywhere as well, and no ones cleans it up and there are no fines or tickets issued. Even though there are guards on most corners!

8) People don't use deodorant (need I say more)

9) Smog, Fog, Pollution, Smoky Air with an undefinable permeating smell (It's not pleasant. It creases your skin. It leaves sooty marks on the sweet, plump and spongey walls of your bronchial sacs. It seeps into your homes and covers every open space of your home and precious things.)

10) The smell of a wet market. (this is a market that sells all produce, fruits, meat, pork, chicken etc - no refridgeration, no ice, just the open air - it is nauseating)

11) Milk pongs, Bread falls apart if you touch it, Melons are backwards, Strawberries are shaped different, Yogurt is from the 1980's, & Corn on The Cob does not taste the same!

12) If you have children, they will be photographed at point-blank range, by everyone with a phone (and that is everyone) (I learned quickly to say in Chinese that my children were not zoo animals- did it work - NO) (Wo da haizi bu dongwu dongwuyuan)

13) The public washrooms are not a standard toliet or urinal. Oh no! A hole in the ground is what you get. Ladies, just squat and go is the motto. Oh, and they usually don't have doors or toliet paper. PLUS, the bathrooms do not have changing tables - remember, children don't wear diapers.

Never, ever leave the house without the following - your mobile phone, a business card in Chinese characters to your return address, a bottle of water, a packet of tissues(for the emergency trip to the non-existant toliet), band-aids and hand sanitizer.

Oh – and one more thing. Never, ever wear anything white. Especially shoes.
13 GROSS things in Beijing, China (I lived there in 2005Moving to and Living in Beijing, China)