Well, we finally did it. We left Richmond Hill.

After nearly seven years of pouring our hearts into renovating a heritage property—a saga filled with its own unique challenges, worthy of a future blog post all its own—we closed that chapter. Our new one began with a leap across the world.

In a classic case of false frugality, I tried to save money on flights. Spoiler alert: it often ends up costing more in stress, if not in dollars. We ended up on a multi-airline itinerary: Air Transit from Toronto to Dublin, then Etihad from Dublin to Bangkok via a long layover in Abu Dhabi.

Dublin was a pleasant surprise. We had eight hours to give the kids a glimpse of the city before exhaustion truly set in upon reaching Abu Dhabi. There, we saw the magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque that everyone raves about—a stunning feat of architecture, though I confess, I still couldn’t find God there.

From there, it was on to Bangkok. I thought it would be a good spot to shake off the jet lag, but in hindsight, we should have flown straight to our final destination in China. Bangkok was… Bangkok. Sticky, hot, and a sensory overload for the kids, who had never experienced anything like it. We stumbled into our Airbnb around 2:00 a.m., after what felt like 36 hours of continuous travel, and basically slept through the next day. Our adventures were low-key: recovering with Thai food, checking out the Siam Mall, and taking a river boat to see the Buddha(s).

Transitioning straight from North America to Asia is a cultural earthquake. Suddenly, you’re navigating a different world—bargaining, making eye contact, and figuring out your own identity as a foreigner. (Am I from Pakistan? Am I from Canada? … it’s a lot to process.)

Four days later, we finally reached China. And China, from the moment we landed, was way beyond my pay grade. The language barrier, the digital firewall, the sheer scale of everything—it was immense.

Our arrival was punctuated by a classic traveler’s blunder: I entered the wrong hotel into DiDi (China’s ride-hailing app). Instead of taking us to Guandou, we found ourselves at the Four Points Sheraton in downtown Kunming. It was quite a shock! By the time we corrected course and reached our actual hotel, it was nearly 11 p.m. Gratefully, we collapsed into the nice, firm beds.

The next morning, things looked brighter. Breakfast was amazing, and the hotel was lovely—about $110 USD for two rooms. We had eight days booked to find an apartment and get our bearings. For the first few days, we barely left. It was raining, and the task of navigating a world where everything is in Chinese characters felt overwhelming. We learned the absolute basics of using Meituan (like the Chinese Uber Eats.. but more.. a lot more) and started our long, ongoing journey of recognizing characters.

I should give us credit—we’ve come a long way since then. The kids are now brave enough to try out a few words, but it remains a whole different ball game.

Our hotel wasn’t in a very walkable area, which was a bummer, but we did take a DiDi to Green Lake Park. It was beautiful, located in a different area near the university center, and was especially lively on the Sunday we visited.

The week culminated in success: we found an apartment! For 6,600 yuan plus a 580 yuan ?management fee, we secured a place for three months. When we moved in on Saturday, we had no beddings, but we managed to source the basics. Since then, it’s been a daily process of adding to our home and getting a grip on life here through apps like Taobao.

China is massive. It is an ancient civilization that is so much more engineered, preserved, and advanced than one might assume from the West. Yesterday, a Pakistani surgeon I met here, who speaks fluent Mandarin, showed me a local market. I was absolutely overwhelmed. The variety of food was incredible—I’d never seen anything like it in my life. I thought the fruit sped in the Kula Lumpur fruit street was good, but this was in a different league altogether. It was truly, truly awesome.

The cost of living here offers a fascinating perspective. The other day, I went looking for butter. At a fancy supermarket, I was led to the imported section where a block of German or Irish butter cost between 36 and 44 yuan. “Wow, that’s expensive!” I thought. Then I checked the price of a toaster on Taobao: 22 yuan, delivered. It really makes you think.

China is more than I had ever anticipated. It’s fascinating and humbling. To see so much, learn so much, and be so thoroughly out of my depth in such a short time—and in what’s considered a “smaller” Chinese city—is a powerful experience. I am firmly back in learning mode, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of the year exploring.