China, what a great surprise!

China is the country I have been wanting to visit for a very long time and finally, here I am. We have reached our second last destination, China. China, only less than 2 hours by plane from my home country, South Korea but I didn't have any chance to visit there when I lived in Korea. Funny enough when I live 10,000 km away from the country, I finally put down China into our itinerary. 

I was curious. I wanted to see why the world is non stop talking about China. My curiosity led me to come here and I am now discovering the 'WHY?' 11 days of trip in China is definitely not enough to talk about the country but it is enough time to amaze me in many ways. Frankly, my observation can be very shallow as I have seen only little part of this anomous country but I can't stop forcing myself to write about my experiences in China and share my views with someone who are interested in China. I am amazed and surprised. I am amused and fascinated by China. WHY? Let me share with you. 

1. Too many people : I was completely overwhelmed by seeing so many people and being around with them permanently. I couldn't find anywhere without crowds. 23 millions of people in Shanghai and 17 millions in Beijing. I definitely saw enough people while we were in China for 11 days. Being in a queue (very long one) is unavoidable. I was told that Chinese government decided that only 50 thousands of people per day can visit the Forbidden City so you can imagine how many people would be around tourists attractions. All the trains, buses, streets, roads and even hotels are simply full of people. Whenever we come out to the square, we couldn't stop saying 'Wow!'. Too many people everywhere. There is no 'personal space' allowed. It looks like a complete chaos but everything seems to work anyhow. It was amazing.

2. Old and new together: I was often told that Shanghai and Beijing are unbelievably modernised and westernised so I had a rough imagination about the cities. High-raise buildings, luxurious shopping centres, expensive vehicles and well dressed people... Actual level of development of the cities was easily matched/exceeded my expectations. Endless high raised buildings and morden style shopping districts are everywhere. It was an absolute eye opening. However the most interesting thing to me was that the country still keeps their traditions strongly and respect it firmly. In between high-raise buildings, there are traditional markets for their own people and also tourists. Very often, I felt like walking on a street somewhere in Paris and suddenly I felt like being in an old Chinese movie. I loved the combination of old and new. I was fascinated by witnessing the people who keep their traditions sincerely and adopt new chances smoothly at the same time. I absolutely enjoyed being between new and old. 

3. Many choices but not much to eat (especially for vegetarians) : This comment can be very personal so feel free to ignore if you don't agree. There are plenty of different meals available everywhere but choosing right food was the hardest part of our trip in China. First, not many places have menu in English or picture so we didn't know what to order and how to order. Don't expect some staff will help you to order. 99.99 percentage of people will explain to you in Chinese. Especially, as we tried to limit our meat consumption, the choice of food dropped down to 10 percentage. Most of vegetables are cooked or boiled in a meat soup so we couldn't enjoy even vegetables. Quite often we got the food which was far different from our expectations/imagination. Traditional sauces are very strong that sometimes we couldn't be able to finish the food. Chinese food seems to me very meaty, greasy, sweet and overcooked. I am not telling that Chinese food is bad or not delicious. It is very special. Maybe, too much special taste for us. One good thing was that we didn't have to worry about overeating or being fatter in China. 

4. Toilets everywhere but not always what you expected : I know toilet is not a common topic to talk about but I can't help myself. I have never been anywhere that has more public toilets than China. About 1.3 billion people live in China so I guess many public toilets must be available everywhere. Toilets are absolutely everywhere so we didn't have to try hard to find one of them unlikely Amsterdam. I must admit that I was surprised that many of them (in shopping centres) are no problem to use as any develop countries. However I have to mention that public toilets on the streets have very special setups. There is no dividers or walls/doors between toilets. You are totally exposed when you are doing very personal business. When I discovered this funny truth, the person who was very shocked and embarrassed was me not a Chinese girl who was doing her own business. Chinese tradition is sometimes too strong to outsiders like us. 

5. Good roads and excellent public transport : There was absolutely no problem to visit one of the world most famous places, the great wall by a public bus (12 Yuan = about 2 AUD). Public transport in Shanghai and Beijing is unbelievably amazing. It took us only 5 hours between Shanghai and Beijing, 1,300 km by the fast train that goes about 300 km per hour. Quality of roads between cities was far greater than anywhere else in the world. Fare for the public transport was incredibly cheap (30 cents per ride in Beijing) for the public. As I come from the country which has not provided a train line for more than 20 years after spending so much money for the numerous studies, still no promise for any better solution for the public, Chinese public transport system was a delight shock and eye opening experience. 

6. No English, Yes Chinese : Don't expect you can communicate in English in China. We hardly found anyone speak or understand English in Shanghai and Beijing, two biggest cities in China. Most of signs are written in Chinese so it was extremely hard to find our destination. People will speak to you in Chinese regardless of your appearance. My European husband was permanently told something in Chinese. However, we could manage to get very close to whatever we wanted eventually by body languages. It is a fun part of trip overseas, isn't it? Any reason we commonly expect everyone in the world will speak English and respect for foreigners. This unreasonable common sense doesn't work in China. At the end, I didn't really mind their attitudes. Why can't I speak Chinese when I am in China? 

7. Better quality goods than expected : Any reason, I have been underestimating and downgrading Chinese products. This trip has broken my foolish assumptions about the quality of Chinese goods. From simple gadgets to high technology products, from very cheap stuffs to expensive goods... China seems to be on the very top of the world markets. If someone tries to dismiss the Chinese products, I would like to tell them to come to China and see what they have achieved. "Wow!" was my constant reaction. 

8. Disconnected and constantly controlled : Some of you might wonder why I have been so lazy to upload anything in my blog or post any pictures into Facebook. China was the first and only country to me where these social media sites are blocked. No BBC or CNN news, no TV channel for foreign programmes that allow us to be connected to outside of China. Every 10 meters, several police officers and soldiers are standing and checking out people's ID. They could argue that it is for the safety of public but it seems to me more than necessary checks and control. All train station has only one entrance even though there are more gates in order to monitor who goes into the station PERFECTLY. I felt I am very lucky to live in a free country where I can do whatever I want and wherever I want to go without the constant control. Don't get me wrong that people in China would live miserable life. Unbelievably they seem to be very happy and relaxed. They may get used to live and be treated like this on daily basis. 

9. Huge development of residential and commercial buildings : Wherever we go, there are massive developments happening. Skyscrapers are at every conner to attract people's eyesights and high rise apartments are being built everywhere. The country seems to be moving. Quite often I had to assure myself that I am in China as I was surrounded by the westernised department stores and buildings. It was a delightful surprise but all the development seems to happen too fast to be adapted by traditional Chinese people. Most of the luxury department stores merely have any customers so I felt bit strange to shop around. Many apartments looked like empty while another big apartment blocks are being built. I don't want to put too much my opinion as I barely know about China and its current economic situation. However, I can tell that the developments seem too faster than necessary. 

10. Shopping pedestrian walking streets : One of the things impressed me a lot was the streets where no cars are allowed so people can walk, shop, sing and dance freely. There are many streets in Shanghai and Beijing are only for pedestrians. It was absolutely great fun to walk along the streets and enjoying being within local people. Especially in the evening, the streets become full of people. People are gathering together, making many little groups and dancing, singing and performing whatever they want. Looking at them and the ways how they enjoy their lives were delightful surprise. These streets make the cities alive and allow people to release stress from their daily life. Walking on the streets became one of my favourite things to do while I was in China. It was absolutly cool.

I didn't intend to write this long but I couldn't help myself as there are too many things to share with you about our experiences from China. I would like to return to some countries to see more in future and China is certainly one of them. I am very happy that visiting China has ended up as a great decision and eye opening experience. I am amazed by what they have achieved and astonished by how people manage/balance their live between old and new, freedom and being under control. Before heading to our last destination, India, I would like to recommend you to visit China. I am sure that it will open your eyes and change your ideas about China as it did it to us.

The Forbidden City

The Great Wall

View from The Great Wall

Confucious Temple

Heaven Temple

Tian An Men Square

The Bund

 Square Pagoda