Getting use to Chinese costs and currency

From a London perspective, everything is cheaper here. Well, the necessities at least. (Even though Apple products are actually manufactured here, they come at a premium!)

My 15 minute cab to work, about 5km, is equivalent to £1.60. I can buy lunch for less than a £1 if I wanted to. But typically it averages about £2-£3. And this is a full meal - a big bowl of soup, or a main dish with rice. A train ride into downtown is as little as a £1.20. Sure beats the Oyster card.

I'm still getting use to the currency and what each of the bills mean. They have paper bills for 0.50CNY and 0.10CNY! I didn't impress a cab driver when the fare was 15CNY, and I tried to pay him 10.50CNY! I didn't know that the small 5 CNY bill was equivalent to 0.50CNY! I do notice that I don't really carry a lot of change. I guess that's what happens when your smaller denominations of currency are actually paper bills.

Using Chopsticks

The first day I arrived at work we went out for a team dinner. We went for dumplings and this was going to be the first time I was going to "showoff" my chopstick skills.

To be honest, I was quite nervous eating with chopsticks and I wanted to show my Chinese colleagues that I can assimilate easily by eating the same way they do. Sure enough, it all started off really well when the dishes that were served proved to be very easy to pick up as they didn't carry much weight. I seemed to have made a good first impression because of this.

But then as the night went on, my chopstick muscles started to fatigue and I started to fail. There were points where I felt everyone was looking at me, watching me struggle. As they couldn't continue to bare watching me failing to pick up my food each time, they eventually handed me a fork. :-)

My adventure begins

Today I leave for China.

My adventure begins today. After planning for over 3 months its finally going to happen. I can only thank my partner in life for really pushing me to grab this opportunity. I always thought it was a good idea, but I was always afraid to take the big leap.

As with London, my 3 month stay is driven by my career. I've been presented with the opportunity to train, mentor, and help build the team in China.

I've never lived in a country where I don't know the language. Of course I've taken long holidays in foreign countries, but living in a place for 3 months is something completely different.

In the next few decades, China will be leading the world in many aspects and I want to get a feel of why this country is creating so much buzz. I know 3 months isn't a long time, but it will at least open my mind to so many new experiences.

With all that said, I'd like to add this disclaimer:


This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employer/client. It is solely based on my own thoughts and experiences. Additionally,

Feel free to add your own comments section of each blog entry, but I reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason whatsoever.


And finally, hopefully you'll be able to enjoy each post as much as I enjoyed experiencing it first hand.