Leave your house slippers outside and don bathroom slippers while using the facilities. When using the bathroom, there will be slippers in a different colour waiting by the door. They may not be the comfiest things in the world, but it’s more polite to slip a pair on than walk around in socks. It is polite to remove your shoes as soon as you arrive at someone’s home most people keep a stash of ‘visitors slippers’ (typically brightly coloured plastic sliders that will be several sizes too small) by the door.
GET A TASTE FOR LOCAL LIFE ON OUR 19-DAY CHINA EXPERIENCE TOUR – FULL DETAILS HERE However, we hadn’t done our homework on shoe etiquette and ended up putting our trainer-clad foot in it on several occasions.
On our visit, we stayed with the daughter of a government official who taught us how to make dumplings and lily root salad. Hotels in Beijing are expensive, however homestays can provide the chance to have meaningful encounters with locals. Brush up on your manners before entering someone’s home While the cultural differences are so vast they can be a little bewildering, Beijing belongs on everyone’s bucket list. INTREPID HAS A RANGE OF SMALL GROUP ADVENTURES THROUGH CHINA – CHECK THEM OUT HEREįrom getting lost in the warren of winding hutongs (alleyways that have changed little from when they were built in the 13th century) to watching an elderly man train his pet crickets, a cultural experience that baffles, awes and amuses never fails to emerge every time you leave your hotel room.
Political figures such as Chairman Mao are still adored, as proven by the hundreds of people who travel from all over the country to pay their respects at his tomb every day. These differences are all the more obvious, given that it’s still a Communist country. Since it developed free of Western influence for more than 5,000 years, it should come as no surprise that Chinese society is governed by a mysterious web of laws and etiquette that are very different from what you may be used to back home. Of all the places I’ve visited, from Mexico to Mongolia, Beijing is where I feel the most out of place.
As a travel writer I am lucky enough to have explored more than 40 countries, but there’s something about Beijing that gets under my skin every time.