#independenttravel
Shanghai
First Time in China: What Europe Hadn’t Prepared Me For
Aug 18, 2026 • 24 min read
Before my first time in China, I worried about cultural differences. Instead, I found QR-code payments, a stubborn firewall, barely any English, robots using lifts — and a system that somehow became completely normal within three days.I had travelled long-haul before, but only once, to New York. So China was not my first encounter with a seriously