Nearly Christmas Eve and I have now spent just over two months in China - I needed time to digest all the diversities and differences this Massive country has to offer.
I first set foot in China at Beijing's Main Train station, after leaving Mongolia under the snow and 7 degrees below zero -It is was a glorious day - Far from all the heavy smog we all expected - I guess I was lucky because out of 10 days only two had been overcast ("Paddy-Helene" talking about the weather ... ;P)
Well, Beijing goes beyond the standards of moderntity and friendlyness I expected. I couldn't believe I was in CHINA, walking through its Hutongs (small paved alleys crowded with bicycles, shops of all sorts, restaurants and red lanterns) - the authentic pictures we've all imagined.
I tried to take the most out of this amazing capital in 10 days - With Audrey whom I met on the Trans-Mongolia-Beijing train, we had a blast eating, cycling, sight seeing and of course bargaining. You need to bargain for everything here - just think that you can divide the price announced by 5 or sometimes 10! True!
Cycling was fun ... after I nearly cycled myself into several ditches and ran over elderly people, taking them with me into shops. Well, as bicycles are not my cup of tea I did no risk myself to it in other cities, where pedaling just seemes suicidal. Still it took up the challenge one day to cycle around Beijing for 5 hours without damaging my skull.
So far, I've mananged to get by easily, catch the right trains, buses, boats and order meals with my very limited chinese vocabulary - One becomes somewhat resourceful when it comes to obtaining something needed; that's my daily challenges and I create easy entertainment for locals. Chinese people are easily amused with the presence of a female westerner alone in a train or a commuting bus. They stare, smile, stare (yes they keep on staring with no shame, so I decided to stare back now), greet you with loud Hellos！Some are even startled when they realise my presence beside them - as for some it is the first time they see a foreigner or "an American" as they call the caucasians.
I love trains, and that being the theme of my trip I've experimented the renouned "hard seater" for 12 hours - from Taiyuan to Kaifeng - conclusion i won't do it again. It might be the cheapest sits but not for more than 6 hours ride. As a matter of fact I had the worst trip and of course a memorable one... The coming mess was beyond our imagination, the train carriage was overbooked which meant Audrey and I had no seat numbers, which we only noticed once on the train. So first sitting in the alley on our bags was a good laugh... for an hour, and soon became a nightmare when people kept on smoking and spitting around or toddlers vomiting... oui-oui!! Thank God we were not sitting near the toilets... Anyway, it took us a good couple of days to recover.
On a much nicer note, I also meet the friendliest and helpful people who make my journey through their country so much worth it! My traveling notepad is filling up quickly with email addresses. I never get lost thanks to my good sense of orientation and thanks to the notes in chinese that my friends prepare for me. I can say I witness generosity and cheerfulness every day on my path. I've been generously invited to stay in cosy family houses in Shanghai which is priceless for a backpacker - hence a time for relaxation, cleaner bathrooms, comfy beds and quality sleep. ;D
Right, If you are still reading up til now it means that you want to know more, ok and also that you love me, hehe! ;)
So, from Beijing I have travelled for about a month with Audrey - We railed and bused through Datong fabulous Buddhist caves and suspended Temple, WutaiShan sacred Buddhist mountains and national park, Taiyuan big city, the fortified town Pingyao, the horrendous train ride to Kaifeng - that's the hard seater one; good to test your mental strenght too, the Kung Fu monks at Shaolin's temple near Luoyang and finaly Xian for the famous Terracota Warriors army and its abrubt and beautiful mountains of Huashan.
From there, I said au revoir to Audrey who was heading to Japan and chose Chengdu as my next stop for the Panda resort center - followed by Chongqing for the Three Gorges cruise on the Yangzi river - which landscape did not seem as dramatic as I was expecting due to the construction of the dam, which rose the waters so consequently that the surrounding mountains did not seem as high as they use to look.
Then Shanghai, where I started the two weeks course of Chinese Tuina Massage. This was an introduction to the Tuina method and is far from qualifying me as a competent therapist in this matter. It takes at least 2-3 years to become a Tuina masseuse and 5 to get to all the levels of this medicine... should have started earlier.
My views about Shanghai is that it contains little of the traditional china. It is flashy and full of sky scrappers such as NY - for more traditional Chinese culture you need to go to Beijing. In Shanghai you have the highest building in the world, the World Financial Center, busy commercial streets and big brands - not what i am looking for in my trip. Nonetheless Shanghai has a great young athmosphere and multicultural - a bit like Dublin in a bigger scale.
In the need of fresh air, I then headed to Xitang, a very picturesque water village, where one the Mission Impossible movie was set; and you can come accross pictures of Tom Cruise around the corner. From Xitang, another pleasant water town, Shaoxing, in Zhejiang province, on the way to the Buddhist island of Putuoshan where I spent 3 relaxing days and got nearly stranded there for longer due to bad weather on the last day. I had to pack quickly and go back to Ningbo on the mainland. Ningbo does not bring much interest to Chinese people, but I found it quite nice to stay and good open green spaces. Next, I hopped on the train to Hangzhou, famous for its lake, but the weaher was bad and not promising for the future days - besides i wanted to spend Christmas in the mountains so I left the following days for a 3 hours bus journey to one of the highlights of my trip, ie. HuangShan Mountains in Anhui province.
I was delighted with my decision! HuangShan is an absolute spectacle of mountains, cliffs and granite rock formations. There I met a lovely group pf Chinese people who welcomed me to spend the treakking ascending and descent with them. I was in the fabulous chinese moutain paintings - just breathtaking!! In Anhui province there are so many things to explore that I decided to come back at another stage as the winter was catching up quickly and my bones were asking me to be kind to them and run for the south.
There! I said to myself, skip those lovely places for another time and railed to the south coast, Xiamen it is, in Fujian Province - It's great to be free ;) Therefore I have spent New Year's eve here, in this very nice town with ancient colonial buildings - just to remind me of home. I had dinner in a seafood restaurant with a Beijinger on winter holidays (escaping the hard cold winter of Beijing) However this was followed by an indigestion... so no party for me :(
Next day, i took a ferry boat to the Island of Gulangyu (10 minutes), tourist attraction of Xiamen and fortunately found a room in a cosy hostel so that I could spend here a couple of days as the climate is so optimal. This is where I am currenly writing you from... ;)
Here we are relatively close to Canton and Hong Kong, but I still have 20 days before my visa expires so I'll head there when the time's get closer - and btw I have another train ticket on hand to Nanning, step town in order to get to Guilin and Yangshuo, in amazing Guanxi province. Can't wait to be there... voila for now. Thanks for reading this 2 months summary update - you know i had to skip soooo many things...
Merci et a Bientot! ;D
Helene, aka Leninha
PS: I am keeping all my buse and train tickets as a proof of rock and railing.
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