Out of curiosity, have you spent much time in China? More important, do you speak Chinese? I've spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia, but only a couple months

Out of curiosity, have you spent much time in China? More important, do you speak Chinese? I've spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia, but only a couple months in China. One thing that struck me there was that it's one of the few places where you really can't get by in English alone. I mean sure, you can feed yourself and find places to sleep, but it's really tough to get to know the people because pretty much nobody speaks any English at all. I met some Chinese-speaking Americans along the way, and it was simply amazing to see what I'd been missing out on. Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. are much easier places to get by as an English speaker. They figured out long ago that nobody is going to learn Laotian, so they'd better start labeling things in English. China never had that problem, so it's still a bit painful to travel in unless you know the language. So yeah, if you know what you're getting into, then I bet you're going to have a great time. If not, I might recommend looking south a ways. Hanoi is quite livable for a SE Asian city, for instance. Regardless, you're on the right track!