China

China was a new world for a country kid. Over the 3 weeks my understanding of the importance language, education, and government would be reinvented as I traveled through the country that was said to be the next super power.  The month allowed me to explore the three major cities, see two of the world wonders, and travel over 5500 miles.

My trip into China proper started with a 24 hour train ride from Hong Hom Station, Hong Kong to Shanghai where I would spend the next three days exploring the extremely modern city. I meandered around the Bund, an old British section of the city by the river beautifully lit at night, took a tunnel under the river which doubled as a mind-blowing light show, and went up one of the highest towers in the city. As in all of China, Shanghai was fogy with pollution, full of bicycles, and busy as hell. With the hours I wasn’t getting sucked into tourist traps I lost my self in the diversity of the city exploring the vastly different neighborhoods and sampling the equally diverse food. It didn’t hit me as hard coming from Hong Kong, but when I stepped into this city coming from boonies of Tibet on my way back, Shanghai made me realize how China is surging into the new century. It’s trying to hard take its huge foot and step out of the third world, and it’s going to make a big footprint when it does. It is said that China is putting 1000 new cars on the road a day and Shanghai is finishing a 30 story building every 12 days. With the entire country already cloudy with pollution it’s hard to imagine what’s coming. After feeling I had dabbled enough in what Shanghai had to offer I jumped on a train headed up to the more historic Beijing.

Beijing started off with the two mandatory tourist attractions of the Great Wall and the Forbidden Palace. The day after I arrived I headed to a dilapidated part of the great wall where all five of us on the trip were allowed to run along the endless barricade for as long as we wanted. Running up and over the crumbling wall against a 30mph wind, I felt as free as I ever had. 18, on the opposite side of the world, high up in the mountains, and alone running along a world wonder.  The humbling part of the Great wall was not its height or thickness, but its sheer length. The day was clear and you could see it roll over the  hills for what may have been a hundred miles and to imagine the other 5400 miles it covered quickly  put things into perspective.

The next day I visited the Forbidden Palace and was humbled by its intricacy, but after about 2 hours I started to question if I was walking in circles as it all started to blend together. For another pair of days I saw the flag at Tiananmen Square be raised, biked around, laughed at miserably translated billboards in English, and ate delicious traditional food. From Beijing I took an overnight 12 hour train southwest to Xi’an, the land of the Terracotta warriors.

In Xi’an I stayed with a family with thee intention of teaching English to their 20 year old daughter. However it turned out she wasn’t interested in the study and spent most of her time watching TV. The meals with the family were by far the best part. Dinners consisted of all kinds of fried and steamed foods and the father continually pouring me 100 proof rice wine, which I struggled to get down. Not only was the food good, but it was entertaining eating it. The family slurped, talked with their mouth full, chewed with their mouth open, fed the dog, anything went. I know slurping is polite in some parts of China but I didn’t expect it to this extent. I’ve never been shy and jumped right in as not to offend my hosts. As with all the history of China I had witnessed the Terracotta Warriors quieted everyone as they first set eyes on them. The extent of precision and time put into these thousands of unique clay sculptures makes you both believe in the potential of humanity while also questioning our motives.

Anywhere in China and most of the third world when you ask for a price in a market and have a western face like mine the prices you receive are almost humorously high. At first it is entertaining to try and bargain down to the price you feel is reasonable, but after a while, however, you get sick of it, and bartering for a damn bar of soap becomes a chore. In a market in Xi’an they were selling old Chinese coins, but had mixed in some recent ones for reasons that became obvious. I picked up a 1-Yuan coin and using sign language asked how much. The woman got out here calculator and typed 10 Yuan! Trying to sell me a dime for a dollar. All in all, my days in the main part of China were filled with wide-eyed fascination. It had been wild 3 weeks, but as I left Xi’an I had no idea I was headed for to a place that would make China seem bland.

Shanghai From Above

Great Wall

Humorous Billboard

I ONLY Shit in 4 Star Toilets

Xian Bell Tower

Boil Your Own Noodles