China
First thing when
traveling to China, fix your visa in time! I guess that’s good advice for any
kinds of trip where you need visa, but in this case it’s not as easy as you
might think…or as I thought it will be. Anyway in the end I got mine in time,
but as usual there was some panicking and some serious fights with myself.
It was a great experience to visit the Great Wall of China. The first trick is to not fall for a “cheap”
offers that you get on the street. Since you can get a bus ride from Beijing to the Great Wall for app. 2€, depending where you are staying. Talking about the
money…it costs app. 2,5€ for the ticket to the Great Wall and that another 8€
for the “Beijing badaling biconvex pulley” which is basically a lift to one
point on the wall where you can continue walking. It’s an amazing feeling to
walk on the Chinese wall.
The next tourist attraction that is
a must see in Beijing is Summer palace.
So many colours and fine nature that you envy those emperors that owned it and
had a pleasure to spend their vacations there. I would say it's a real oasis
of peace in Beijing and I really needed it at that point.
Even though there is a lot more to see in Beijing our busy schedule
forced us to take off with one of fastest trains in the world and continue our journey
in Shanghai. So 15 hours ride with a car was replaced with app. 5 hours of a
comfortable train ride.
Food in China was great, with a few exceptions. Maybe I’m not
a reliable source since I’m a big fan of Chinese food even when I’m not in
China. I ate the best Beijing
duck ever in Beijing (where else) and for me thinking about visiting China again has to be connected
with their tasty food.
On the other hand I also had the worse Chinese food in my life in China. It was a restaurant with “exotic” aquariums where you could choose half dead fish or frog to eat. So the first impression of that restaurant was awful…but somehow that didn’t stop us. I wanted to go for the safe option which was vegetarian noodles. Even though it was the safest of them all I was a bad winner. I’m absolutely sure that those noodles were somebody else’s dinner before and they just freshen them up with a little oil.
Our trip started in Beijing (Peking as some might call it).
My first impression about Beijing wasn’t really good. As I mentioned before I
like new smells coming to a new and unknown country but in this case I almost
didn’t want to breathe. Beijing is really polluted and coming from a small
country in Europe it really shocked me how bad it is. After spending couple of days in Beijing you
get used to the air and the smog. So you can start enjoying China.
It’s really handy to use a term TIC. It means This Is China and
a lot of times when you don’t find a reasonable explanation for some occurrence,
TIC explains it all.
- Chinese people drink warm water. When you ask for a glass of water it is most certain that you will get a glass of warm water.
- I was surprised to see little kids with a big hole on their bottom, which is apparently Chinese alternative for dippers. I must say it’s pretty environment friendly if parents are nice enough to clean after their kids.
- Of course you have to do Karaoke in China…but we later find out that the Karaoke place was a mini brothel.
- Ice-cream with a taste of peas.
- Crazy taxi drivers.
- Scorpions on a stick.
It was a great experience to visit the Great Wall of China. The first trick is to not fall for a “cheap”
offers that you get on the street. Since you can get a bus ride from Beijing to the Great Wall for app. 2€, depending where you are staying. Talking about the
money…it costs app. 2,5€ for the ticket to the Great Wall and that another 8€
for the “Beijing badaling biconvex pulley” which is basically a lift to one
point on the wall where you can continue walking. It’s an amazing feeling to
walk on the Chinese wall. 
I felt really small when I was admiring the view. Looking at the bigger
picture, there I was among thousands of Chinese and other tourist at this major
construction which is visible from the Moon. Yes, this must make you feel small
and not as important as you might think you are. Even though being European
is a big attraction in China. It is possible that they saw a cameras flash from the Moon which was produced by Chinese tourists around our group or at least
some bird got distracted flying by.
The next tourist attraction that is
a must see in Beijing is Summer palace.
So many colours and fine nature that you envy those emperors that owned it and
had a pleasure to spend their vacations there. I would say it's a real oasis
of peace in Beijing and I really needed it at that point.
 |
| Map of Summer Palace |
Apart from the beauty of the nature
we had a chance to meet Mr. Nice Chinese Guy in some kind of national
costume.
It is also worth seeing Tiananmen Tower or the Gate of Heavenly Peace and be a part
of the flag raising close by Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
 |
| Tiananmen Tower |
Even though there is a lot more to see in Beijing our busy schedule
forced us to take off with one of fastest trains in the world and continue our journey
in Shanghai. So 15 hours ride with a car was replaced with app. 5 hours of a
comfortable train ride.
On the way from Beijing to Shanghai you can also see a different face of China.
Shanghai. The place you want to work
and fulfil your ambitions. It makes you feel like you can do anything, you can
work with all the other entrepreneurs and be on the top of the world. As
much as Great Wall of China makes
you feel unimportant, Shanghai makes you feel significant to this world and like
you can do something big with your life.
 |
| People Square area |
Big skyscrapers, fancy pubs and restaurant, all the elite
brand of the fashion world and more gives you the idea of what life "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" look like.
My long time dream is to visit New York so being in Shanghai
and looking at Pudong made me think about Manhattan and the visual similarities
of those two.
 |
| Pudong |
Yes, you can get a copy of almost anything in China; shoes,
purses, clothes, electronics…even Lower Manhattan.
 |
| Pudong at night |
There wasn’t so much of a typical sightseeing in Shanghai as before. But one think worth mentioning is Jing'an
Temple. It is hidden in
the middle of modern architecture but it outshines them all.
Food in China was great, with a few exceptions. Maybe I’m not
a reliable source since I’m a big fan of Chinese food even when I’m not in
China. I ate the best Beijing
duck ever in Beijing (where else) and for me thinking about visiting China again has to be connected
with their tasty food.
Other reason might be the delicious dumplings or attractive boiling pot and scorpions on a stick.
 |
| Dumpling |
 |
| Boiling pot |
On the other hand I also had the worse Chinese food in my life in China. It was a restaurant with “exotic” aquariums where you could choose half dead fish or frog to eat. So the first impression of that restaurant was awful…but somehow that didn’t stop us. I wanted to go for the safe option which was vegetarian noodles. Even though it was the safest of them all I was a bad winner. I’m absolutely sure that those noodles were somebody else’s dinner before and they just freshen them up with a little oil.
Against the odds only one person got food poisoning that
day…so that was a success in the end.
