Quirky little things about China stand out:

• Smoking areas in parks – yes, in the great outdoors. You are required to stand in an unenclosed shelter to smoke.

• Condoms provided in hotel bathrooms either free or for sale

• Usurped logos like the elderly bearded, obviously Asian version of the KFC's colonel

• Often hilarious use of the English language

Not many people other than occasional 20-somethings speak English, and when they do it often loses something in translation. Our tour group put their cumulative heads together and decided the sign on the left meant "Be respectful when taking pictures."

A translation app on my iPad bailed me out of several impossible situations. I also found that carrying both a map in Chinese and in English was effective. I could find my destination on the English one, then point to it on the Chinese map, so even non English speaking people could get the idea of where I wanted to go.

This stood out also.