China
Area: 9,640,821 km2 (96% the size of Canada, 27x Germany, 3728 x Luxembourg)
Population: 1,339,724,852 (39x Canada, 16x Germany, 2617x Luxembourg)
Capital: Beijing
Currency: Chinese Yuan (RMB)
Time travelled: 101 days
Distance travelled: 15,712 km (overland by train, bus and boat, 0 km by plane)
Highlights in chronological order:
- Hiking on the Great Wall
- Summer Palace in Beijing
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1000 Buddha Mountain in Jinan
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Tsingtao Brewery and chilling with people in Qingdao
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Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall
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The Bund in Shanghai
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Shanghai Museum
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Meeting a group of Romanians in Hangzhou
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Silk Museum in Hangzhou
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Talking to locals on 3 Gorges Cruise
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Food in Xian and Shanghai (thanks again to Lance and his parents and the Hui for their chicken wing kebabs)
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Terracotta Army
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Mogao Caves in Dunhuang
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Walking in the dunes (especially down) by Dunhuang
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Gogosi filled with date jam in Dunhuang
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Seeing Tibetans dressed in traditional clothing (especially the women – very colourful)
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Tour of Labrang Monastery in Xiahe
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Trek in Grasslands and visiting Tibetan nomads near Langmusi
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Pandas in Chengdu
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Trek in the Tiger Leaping Gorge
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Laughs in the evenings on the TLG (+ star watching)
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Cecilia’s Birthday Party in Shenzhen (thanks everyone!)
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Discovery of the 2 sides of Hong Kong (city vs nature on islands)
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Historic Macau
- Lusofonia Festival in Macau
Yangshuo was a nice closure to our trip in China and we’re excited about Vietnam. Actually, we’re a bit nostalgic, thinking that maybe it’s not going to be as safe, as clean and as easy to travel around, but look forward to it nevertheless.
One hears a lot about China: the pollution, their human rights violations, their incredible economic growth, etc, but until you’ve seen it with your own eyes, it’s hard to imagine. During the last 101 days here, we travelled over 15,000km (train, bus and boat) and have seen many diverse places. We did not only see touristic sights, but also roads less travelled and got a better understanding on the most populous country on the planet. Here is a little summary of our impressions:
The People: There are a lot of people! Although the country is as big as Europe, it is hard to escape the crowds sometimes. The Chinese love groups: they travel in groups, they eat in groups and always hang out together. For example, in parks you always see groups of people dancing or playing cards, never just 2. What was a bit weird in the beginning was that they stared at us for being foreigners, but we got used to it. Many will also take pictures of us or pictures with us. Had we asked for 1yuan ($0.15) every time someone wanted a picture of us, we’d be millionaires by now. Oh well! The Chinese are nice people and we always felt very safe, be it on the streets or on the overnight train. They are also very honest, even if you’re a foreigner. If you even give them a yuan too much at the restaurant, they will return it and do not accept tips. Bargaining for souvenirs is a different matter though, where they will first try to sell you something 4 times the price, so you have to bargain a little. The ethnic minorities (we’ve met Tibetan, Bai and Yao) are very friendly, always welcoming and smiling, not to mention their colourful traditional costumes. The Han Chinese wear Western clothes, but it’s funny to see sometimes what they wear. For example, the women often wear heels, even if the setting is inappropriate, such as climbing a mountain or walking on rocks. Men often wear dress suits, be it for working on the land, delivering something or going to the office. When we asked why that was, we were told that people will wear the clothes they like to wear, regardless of the activity they are doing. As for the kids, they have a hole in their pants until the age of 3 or 4 years. This enables them to pee quickly, but even after the 3 months, we didn’t get over the fact that you always see their bum. Sometimes it’s pretty chilly and they have a thick jacket on, but their bum is bare… Kids are actually very spoiled here, largely due to the one-child policy. The parents leave the kid with the grandparents, sometimes going to work in the city and only coming home on holidays. The child will then get the full attention of the elders and is being carried around until they are 5 years old or so, even though they can walk. When they are relatively young, the mothers and grandmothers strap the kids to their backs in a traditional way and take them along anywhere, be it to the market, on the scooter or working in the fields. Actually, the Chinese really care strongly about their friends and family, but not at all about anybody else. As a consequence, if you want to get through somewhere and say Sorry (or the Chinese equivalent), nobody will move. On the upside though, you can push and shove and nobody will say anything. It is annoying though when people step on your feet without apologizing or cut in line at the ticket office while looking you in the eye. And the police is the same way. You can jay walk or do a U-turn in an forbidden zone with the police watching, nothing will happen. Or smoking in the non-smoking zones is also very common. But nobody minds! Maybe it’s a good thing since it would get a pretty aggressive place if 1.5 billion people minded everything all the time and complained about it…
The Food: Food is important to the Chinese and to us as well. We had really delicious food here. Although we were in China for 3 months, you don’t get bored of the food because every region has specific dishes, so the food varied a lot from province to province. The main ways to prepare food is to fry or steam it, while the Muslim Chinese (Hui people) often BBQ skewers, which are delicious. We had so many dishes we liked we cannot even start a list of favourites.
Culture: The culture in China is very interesting. There are 56 ethnic minorities and they are being promoted, or so it seems. The country has a very long history with the many dynasties. Visiting the sights it’s useful to know when they were approximately, as often times you will be told what dynasty something was built in and have to calculate the date yourself. The culture is also filled with tales, legends and traditions that are still alive among the people. For how long, with all the smart phones people have?
Landscape & Climate: Since we travelled 15,000km, we came across a large variety of landscapes, from desert to jungle, from the seashore to high mountains and everything in between. The climate was also very diverse, from 0 degrees in the Tibetan mountains to tropical heat and humidity in Beijing and Hong Kong. We didn’t like the smog, but there’s not much you can do about that. In Dunhuang in the desert, we were so happy to see the blue sky every day! But even if there is no smog, most places are hazy for a large part of the day. The colours on pictures also don’t come out quite as good, unless the camera companies will design a “haze mode” for China…
Transportation: Transportation is just great in China. On our 15,000km, we took everything from train to bus to boat. In the cities we took buses and metros, avoiding taxis. Buses between cities were ok, but we preferred trains because they are faster, more punctual and definitely more comfortable. The trains are also always full, so during the summer months we had some problems getting the train we wanted on the exact day, but we managed in the end. Some train rides were very long (24 hours or so), but the trains were always clean and great. The berths were long enough even for Christoph. The high-speed trains are of course faster and even more comfy, but we only took them a few times due to the higher price and the fact that the network is only available closer to the East coast. However, the Chinese are building at a rate that is unimaginable for us, be it train tracks, highways or buildings. City buses were crowded sometimes, but still good to get around. The metro was also amazing being very new and very easy to navigate. Overall, transportation is efficient and definitely manageable on your own, no need to book tours like most Chinese people do.
Cecilia’s Mandarin Chinese was far from fluent, but it was really helpful during our trip to ask for directions, prices and to have small talk with people on the train. People are sometimes distant, but as soon as you can say Hello, Thank you and can answer the question as to where you come from, they open up a little bit and become quite friendly.
Our trip in China was great, but now it’s time to move on and head to Vietnam!