Tag Archives: China

Zai Jian China!

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Goodbye China

Goodbye China

China is not a developing nation, it’s developed. And we all might understand soon just how developed they are. I’ve never met a people who are more determined to make an impression on the world than these folks. Today China, tomorrow – well, probably Taiwan – but then …the World!

Hostels in China are terrific. The number and quality of them surprised us, lots of YHA options these days too, so get your membership before you arrive. Generally, they are cheap and most are either new or only 4 or 5 years old, so everything is shiny and new. Transportation in China also really surprised and impressed us. We were blown away by how modern the road network was and the buses were very comfortable. Now, bear in mind were were coming from India where the transportation system leaves something to be desired, so in comparison China ruled.

In terms of sights and things to do, the culture and natural beauty of the Southwest trumped the monuments and architecture of the North and East. Go to Tiger Leaping Gorge before the Dam is completed, see the South-West if at all possible, you will be greatly rewarded. Make time for it, shaving a few days off your time in Beijing or Shanghai will pay off.

China is the place I most wanted to visit before this trip an so far it’s the place I most want to come back to. Thanks China, have a great time ruling the World, I’m sure you’ll do a great job.

Things We Love(d) About China

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Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge

There’s no denying it. We’ve enjoyed China. We didn’t fall in love with the big cities of the east coast, but the western and southwestern provinces are spectacular – filled with stunning scenery and diverse people. In summary, here are a few of our favorites:

  • mountains – The mountains of the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces provided some of the most beautiful and dramatic scenery of our trip. Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge was a definite highlight for us.
  • point and fry – Finding veg food in China has been a source of endless frustration. It certainly exists and when we do find it, it’s been pretty tasty. By far some of the best and cheapest food has been at bus stops on our long distance journeys. There are usually a number of stalls with numerous bowls of fresh ingredients. You just walk up and point to the ingredients you like and they fry it up for you. Fast, fresh and cheap!
  • air conditioning – Sitting there in your overly cooled office, you are probably taking for granted that you are chilled to the bone right now. Well, after two months of very little AC in India, we were most pleased to find out the AC is the norm on most buses, trains and in hostel rooms. Ah…refreshing.
  • Sun Jie Hai commercial – Sun Jie Hai is Chinese and plays professional soccer in England. With great regularity, CCTV 9 (the English language propaganda channel) plays a commercial for London based Jade Travel featuring Sun Jie Jai and another guy we suspect if just a regular old footy fan. It’s not entirely clear to me why we laugh every single time the commercial is on and continue to quote it randomly throughout the day, but I think it may have to do with the way the footy fan asks Jie Hai, “Oh, why” as if he were Garth from Wayne’s World. He even kind of distorts his mouth like him and looks uncomfortable. Sadly there’s no Jie Hai commercial on YouTube and we didn’t manage to video it ourselves. I haven’t done it justice, but I tell you it’s hilarious.
  • peoples’ parks – A highlight of China’s cities is it’s parks. They are pleasant places to stroll around and observe an older generation of Chinese men and women performing impromptu concerts, playing traditional musical instruments, practicing tai chi or flying elaborate kites. This is the China you probably won’t see in 20 years.
  • Chinese kids – We’re not sure what it is, but they are incredibly cute – especially the boys. Maybe it’s the buzz cut or maybe it’s all the doting they get as the only child in the family. Who knows, but they sure made more than one bus ride entertaining.
  • bicycles – This is THE bike nation. There are special lanes for cyclists, monitored bike parking lots and portable bike repair shops all around town. Though it seems the personal auto is one the rise, hopefully the tradition of pedaling to and fro won’t go away.

Olympic Fever – Beijing

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Thats A Big Wall

Thats A Big Wall

The truth about Beijing, if you’ve been in China a while, is you only need a few days to see the sights, then get out …unless you want to go shopping. Then you could be there a month.

Beijing is like many other major Chinese cites: big, crowded, noisy and polluted. After you’ve seen sights I’d advise you to get out or get shopping. The two biggest advantages Beijing has over other cities is it’s connected-ness to the rest of China by plane bus and rail, and it’s abundance of bargain shopping outlets. Also, I understand they are having the Olympics here next year.

After a day in Beijing it’s impossible to not know where the 2008 Olympics are being held. The whole city is working 24/7 on the preparations and “One World, One Dream” is pasted everywhere. It’s even pasted up on the Great Wall. After the Olympics are over everyone in Beijing should be entitled to a good sleep, it will be well deserved.

As for the sights and shopping, they will be here forever. We went to the “Big Four” – The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall and IKEA.

But the first sight we took in was the smog, it was remarkable. We’d heard a lot about the pollution in China, but hadn’t really seen anything that bad in our first month and a half here. But on the train back from Mongolia we had a chance to check it out, and live in it for our first two days in Beijing. Now I understand – it’s very impressive. We were at one end of Tiananmen Square and could hardly see the opposite end.

Luckily for us a storm rolled through and cleared all the muck out of the air for us after a couple of days, leaving us with breathable air. Rumor has it the government is going to restrict personal automobile traffic in Beijing for a month next year to try and limit the smog during the games. Hope it helps.

So our visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City really was like a walk through the clouds – “Can you see it over there?” “What?” “Nevermind.” And sadly, we must report that the Starbucks in the Forbidden City has closed. We got there a week late.

More interesting was our visit to Beijings other “City”, it’s “Underground City“, constructed at the height of the Cold War when Mao was anticipating a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union any day. It’s pretty crazy (and much cooler than top-side Beijing in July). They tunneled out many miles and built factories, theaters, etc all underground. Now, you can pay 20 Yuan and get a tour of it.

Making up for a somewhat lackluster visit to the downtown sites we headed up to the Great Wall the following day. The Wall is pretty amazing and if you get there early enough you’ll miss the mad crowds. Also, did you know there is a slide from the top to the bottom? I had no idea! It’s a few hundred feet long and and looks like a lot of fun.

Our last stop was IKEA. We have no furniture needs, we just went to see one of the biggest IKEA’s in the world and eat cheap ice cream. Note – Alcohol is not regulated in China the same way it is in the States, so at the IKEA Cafe you can order a beer, wine (like LeeAnne did) or hard liquor. Sometimes you need that to shop here I guess.

IKEA was actually only the first stop on what was suppose to be a tour of the Beijing Olympic Stadium and Olympic Park. But we never got there – it had nothing to do with the wine. After our ice cream we determined the only way to get out to the park was by taxi – the Metro line there isn’t open yet – and we didn’t want to pay $30 in cab fare that day. It’s a decision I kind of regret as the stadium design is very impressive. It’s ultra-modern – the whole thing looks like a seven story high birds nest. But, it’s okay, I have a feeling it will be on TV some next summer.