In downtown areas it was not unusual for establishments to broadcast music outside, especially in Harbin and Anda.
We encountered roundabouts (traffic circles) in Harbin and Beijing, but not elsewhere.
Beijing and Shanghai had subways. Didn't notice them elsewhere.
I noticed one light rail line (on the surface) in Beijing, but not in the other cities.
Buses were common in every city we visited.
From Daqing to Anda we traveled on a country road, the only time we did so. The quality of the road was good. Horse-drawn carts were common on the road, in addition to cars. One saw a horse-drawn cart in the cities only occasionally.
In the fields one saw horse-drawn carts, small trucks and motorcycles. Once I saw a 4-wheeler.
Corn was dried by laying out the husked ears on the ground or on rooftops.
The Chinese often answered cell phones in meetings.
Public spaces were often warmer than optimum (e.g., Beijing airport on 10/20, mall and restaurant on 10/19).
The refrigerated cases in stores for soft drinks and bottled water were not as cold as we are used to.
Coke cans had the old style tab which separates from the can.
In bookstores it was common for titles on books to be shown in English on the cover, but for nothing else to be in English. Same for magazines on the domestic airlines.
Cabin crews on the Chinese airlines were uniformly female, young and thin. Cabin crews on United Airlines were more diverse.
When flying internationally, keep a pen handy. There are numerous forms to fill out at various stages of the journey.
The best book I found to read in preparation for this trip was "Culture Smart! China: a quick guide to customs and etiquette," by Kathy Flower. This small book is easy to read and covers a lot of ground. (Actually, Nancy found this book for me. Thanks, Nancy!)
