Wudaokou Watch: "Beijing Picked up My Pace of Life"

In this Wudaokou Watch column, we'll profile a different Beijing-based student from abroad each week to hear about their life in China's capital. This week, we speak with Aston Hooi, a Malaysian student at Beijing Institute of Technology.

What is your name and where do you come from?
My name is Aston Hooi, and I come from the beautiful land of Malaysia.

When and why did you come to Beijing?
I arrived in Beijing this past August to study at Beijing Institute of Technology. I'm majoring in mechatronics engineering.

How is life in Beijing different from your home country?
Well for me the differences are relatively minor. Malaysia’s culture does reflect some of China’s, so there wasn’t a massive culture shock.

However, traffic here is orders of magnitudes more chaotic. Don’t get me wrong though, Malaysia is well known for awful traffic, but Beijing takes it to a whole new level!

What are the biggest challenges for you here?
The lack of nightlife. After 10pm, the whole city seems to fall quiet, at least in the area that I live in. The subway stops, and too many food outlets close.

Really? My neighborhood can be lively until quite late.
Yes, what I mean is: most major outlets like shopping malls close at 11pm ish, whereas smaller businesses tend to close as they please. But back home, food is more readily available 24/7.

Did you have any other problems settling in?
Well, language isn’t nearly as bad as a problem for me, as I, like most other Malaysians, am multilingual. Chinese wasn’t too much of an issue. The food, meanwhile, is both similar to home, yet completely different. Much of what I've tried here tends to be heavier on mala peppers and oil than what I'm used to, and it can occasionally be quite bland other than the numbing taste of mala peppers.

The cacophonous harmony of the old China and the new China does make for some confusing moments, where relatively straightforward tasks become more complicated than necessary.

What are your three favorite hangouts here?
I’d be lying through my teeth if I did not mention Sanlitun! It’s a great place for nightlife and shopping. Wangfujing is another frequent on my list for shopping high-street brands. Guomao is a great place, as there is a great Malaysian restaurant there called Nyonya Kitchen.

Read: Nyonya Kitchen Founders Talk Surviving Beijing’s Tumultuous F&B Scene for 25 Years

What do you do when you are feeling homesick?
I suppose the cultural similarities reduced my homesickness to an extent, but in general Malaysian students here are a tight-knit group. There are excellent Malaysian restaurants scattered across the city for me to grab a taste of home.

What do you love most about Beijing?
The pace of it. Development happens so quickly, it's as if everyday something has changed. The rich cultural heritage of Beijing, being the capital of China, is amazing.

What are your most memorable Beijing experiences?
Experiencing first-hand the madness of 11.11 sales and the amazing displays on show at Tiananmen Square on National Day. Oh, and of course, the famous and delicious Lao Beijing delicacies.

How has life in China impacted you generally?
For starters, I have definitely picked up my pace of life, as everything here happens at warp speed. That also got me to improve my time management, too, as two minutes is all it takes for the metro to go from empty to sardine can full. Also: I think I might have gotten fatter from the excessively greasy and carb-rich foods here!

What inspires you and what are your future plans?
What inspires me is the chase to be a better person, to actually achieve something in life, be it in my triathlon career as a national athlete, or as a student.

I plan to find a job here in China. As this country opens up more, the need for foreign expertise and exposure to the outside world will increase. Plus, China is on its way to becoming a global economic superpower, and there couldn’t be a better time to be in China right as it happens.

Photos: Courtesy of Aston Hooi