Excited we hopped in the plane to China. We knew, China would be special since we have already heard and read so much about this huge, controversial country. We were right to be excited. Travelling in China, although covering only a very small part, turned out to be one of the most interesting, exhausting and informative journeys on our trip. The 2 weeks taught us many lessons and we know, we have to come back to explore and learn more sometimes.
Lesson 1: Have a Chinese app or dictionary with you
Barley arrived in Kunming we soon learned that the majority does not speak English and worse for us, is not able to read addresses in our writing. After more than one hour of straying our main take-away was: Always have your hotel address in Chinese!
Many Chinese cities are used hosting tourists, but mainly Chinese tourists. Accordingly at many places we went, nobody spoke English. Supported by an app or sentences in our little book we mostly get what we wanted. Just do not try to speak, they will not understand you, since the pronunciation is a) quite challenging and b) varies from region to region. The solution is to point at the words or sentences. It works but still you are just never sure if you do not get screwed and/or the right food arrives. Another funny experience is that they just kept talking to you, although you clearly do not understand them.
Lesson 2: We love Chinese trains and the name hard seat is legitimate
If you want to experience the Chinese way of travelling in the lowest seating class, do not choose a 19-hours trip for it! When we bought the apparently only available tickets at the hotel and expected the worst. It was actually pretty good, the train was in a good condition, the people quiet, the temperature comfortable and every few hours the crew cleaned the floor, the toilets and the trash bins. We definitely traveled in worse Cisalpinos and TGVs. On the negative side, the seats are really hard and you can smoke in between the wagons. Problem, if 150 people smoke heavily during 19-hours your lung cancer risk increases by the minute.
Having already had the hard seat experience we bought for our next ride hard sleeper tickets. Again, great train, clean, kind of silence and this time only a little bit of smoke.
PS: Verify the hotel information, most probably there are still tickets available at the train station.
Lesson 3: The boss orders
In most of the Chinese restaurant we only go one menu. Maybe they do not have enough or only one in English? Wrong, since you do mostly share your dishes it is common that the boss orders and pays. What did also surprise us was that in the restaurants and food stalls, unlike in the other Asian countries, there are nearly no extra sauces on the table. Apparently they assume the food is good as it is, no guest has to tweak it. The only exception seemed to be dumplings where you get an extra dip.
Lesson 4: China is not for sensitive souls
Although most of the Chinese are very friendly and helpful – different from many countrymen you make business in the West – you should not be too sensitive. There is a constant spitting, farting, smacking, sniffing and laughing at ongoing. Do not bother to throw angry looks, it is normal here and they will not know why you are annoyed. Another thing is the constant staring. They just look at you and do not look away if you caught them. Sometimes they do not even smile back, they just keep staring and sometimes pointing. So far they also do not seem to be overly concerned about being politically correct. One example is the “Dwarf Empire” in Kunming. A fun park full of little people dressed in costumes with a daily show. Unfortunately we were the only one that could waive away ethical and moral thoughts and were willing to visit it, but we never found enough people to fill the car. Next to the people issues you might have animal issues. They eat everything and display it also nicely on their menus but also at the markets you see animals to buy in not PETA-approved cages. You can even buy alive turtles in the supermarket in the eatable fish department.
Lesson 5: China is green
We expected the Chinese cities to be grey, crowed, smelly and ugly. Surprised we noticed already in the plane that the Southern part of China is covered in green; forests, parks as well as crop fields. Sure, they have ugly skyscraper which apartments not bigger than a rabbit hole and many people life in shared, shabby accommodations. Nevertheless, in the visited cities, old ones like Kunming as well as new ones like Donguan, have parks, pedestrian areas and public places, all of them used as enlarged living rooms. Better late than never, they raise awareness about environmental issues. Everywhere you have trash bins with recycling compartments, ads about energy and water use and even plastic bag bans. Another unexpected thing was that most of the motorbikes are electronic bikes. We wondered how they could incentive such a switch. Well, they did it their way; with a law. Up to a certain point everybody had to switch, maybe they could also exchange. What we heard is that if you still had an old motorbike after a day x, the police just took you out, put your motorbike into a squeezer gave you back the cubicle and a fine.
For all those who wonder where we have actually been and if it is worth, below a short summary:
- Kunming: Most livable city, not much to see in the city itself, but nice starting point for trips .
- Guilin: Every attraction costs, even public park entries and caves to look from the outside. Very nice surroundings, most people speak English. Longsheng Rice Terraces are great, try to stay for a night.
- Yangshou: Yangshou city far away from being a cute little village, but in the outskirts great places to relax, hike, bike and even climb.
- Donguan: New city fresh from the drawing board, looks like a model for future Chinese city planning. It rained, so no pictures or sightseeing.
- Shenzen: Nice bars and restaurants in the OTC quarter. It rained all the time, also no pictures.
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