Moving from Cambodia to China: 10 differences

I realize this is a little late...um I moved here months ago...but thank goodness for my borderline obsessive nature to write everything down. Moving from Cambodia to China resulted in some culture shock. Spending half a year in a 3rd world country will make moving anywhere much different. I realized many different things upon my arrival in China than I ever would have if I'd come straight from America. Here are 10 things (in no order) that I noticed immediately after arriving in China.

1) PEOPLE FOLLOW TRAFFIC LAWS? Well kind of. By this I mean they usually drive on the right side of the road. Traffic in Cambodia was like nothing I've ever seen. I honestly can't believe I biked my butt around in the middle it for months and made it out with all my limbs intact. If you've seen traffic in China, you might think I'm nuts for using the adjective "organized"....but the fact that a red light receives a usually stop response, rather than a plow-straight-through-but-honk-your-horn-to-make-it-legitimate response is just mind blowing.

2) So. Many. Old. People. China's population is about 15% elderly, while Cambodia's elderly population is under 4%. Old people in China are so active, they are always out walking in the parks, playing mahjong or exercising. In Cambodia it was very rare to see an elderly person. That is partly due to poor healthcare and also a very obvious result of the Khmer Rouge where about 2 million people died. My very first day in China I realized that I could count on one hand the number of elderly people I had seen in the previous 6 months.

3) Sidewalks. What are these? We can (usually) walk here without being run over?

4) Oh my gosh I can understand what people are saying. My Khmer is...nonexistent.

5) Oh lawwwwwd it's cold. When I left Cambodia it was in the high 90s daily with painful humidity, where AC was a HUGE luxury.When I arrived in China it dropped to the 20s at night. The heat was shut off by the government a week later.

6) A car? When was the last time I rode in a car? Oh. My sister's VW bug on the way to LAX in September.

7) WHOOP I blend in. Kind of. Sometimes.

8) Walking. Why aren't people yelling at me while I walk? What if I want a ride? A tuk tuk? A moto? Oh right, no one walks anywhere in Cambodia.

9) Wow there are literally no Westerners here. Where are the white people? Cambodia was crawling with tourists and NGOs working to save everything. After a few months here I can count on my two hands the number of foreigners I've seen here who aren't my coworkers.

10) PEOPLE ARE HUGE. No they're not. Chinese people are tiny. In comparison to Cambodians, Chinese people are monsters. Me in comparison to both..I'm Shrek.