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Published: July 18th 2011
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I had given up on the idea of going to china this trip for similar reasons as India, such complex countries need a big chunk of time to even get an idea of what the place and people are about..
However on looking at how to go from Nepal to Mongolia, it was well over $1000 cheaper to go to Beijing first, and if I'm going to Beijing I need to spend at least a small amount of time looking around..
During my everest trek, I met an older guy that gave me the name of a hostel he really recommended in Beijing.. The happy dragon hostel.. And this small tip effected the ten days I spend in Beijing in a way I couldn't have expected.
When you arrive in china you quickly learn what is and is not acceptable, in an English speaking country, if someone on the street came upto you and spoke a different language at you I'm sure they would not be met with high levels of helpfulness and enthusiasm, in fact I'm sure it would be quite the opposite.. So why would it be any different in china if you walk upto someone
on the street and talk English at them? There is a very high chance they do not speak English and there is an equally high chance you will be met with hostility..
To be honest, at first I was surprised at the seemingly low percentage of people who can speak a language other than mandarin, but again this proved to be the ignorance of a native English speaker, I'm sure the percent of Australians who speak anything other than English would be much much lower..
Being a white guy with dreadlocks in Beijing awards you some sort of strange celebrity status.. It is quite weird and unexpected at first to be able to look around and meet many eyes staring back at you, to catch people taking sneaky photos of you on the subway or a video of you as you walk past.. my main question with this is only, who do you even show photos or videos like that too?
Now in china the tourists are Chinese, there are very very few non-asian people anywhere to be seen.. So walking around a site like Tia amen square, or the forbidden city will see you stopped every few minutes
by someone who wants to have their photo taken with you.. And while this is mostly groups of giggling teenage girls, there was also middle age men and women, as well as quite elderly people that all want to get their photo taken with the white guy with "interesting" hair..
China it's self is seems to be a very isolated country, there is never news of events outside of china, the internet is HEAVILY censored to the extent of Facebook, gmail, hotmail and especially international news websites being inaccessible..
Concerning the happy dragon hostel, this is a seriously cool place to stay as far as hostels go.. the general age of the people staying there was between 22 and 30, and mostly single travelers.. the staff were unbelievably helpful and friendly and they were always excited to talk in English so they can practice their skills..
I stayed 10nights at the hostel, and during this time I didn't eat a meal alone, I didn't see a site alone, and I didn't spend an evening alone.. There were constantly people coming and going and always someone wanting to have a conversation over a pint of terrible Chinese beer, or
someone wanting to see a tourist site but looking for people to go with, or someone that had spotted a nice looking restaurant that they wanted some company to check out..
my time in beijing turned into a lesson in socialising..
a rumor started circulating that i actually worked for the hostel and my job was to sit around talking to people under the guise of a foreign traveler, making people aware of promotions that were happening in the hostel, like free duck or dumpling nights, recommending meals from the hostel kitchen and encouraging people to drink at the hostel bar..
i must say if i was offered this job i would probably have accepted it!
when you are in a western country buying eastern food, you cant help but think that the food has been bastardised to be more suited to the western palate.. as far as chinese cuisine goes i was quite surprised how similar a lot of the dishes available in australia are to their chinese roots.. one thing which is definitely censored in western adaptations is the ingredients used in the cooking.. one particular night myself and some fellow travellers made our way to the
beijing night market.. in a 200m strip of market food stalls, i saw a greater variety of food than i have seen anywhere before.. things like insects such as scorpions, crickets and silk worms, to seafood like seahorses and starfish, reptiles like snakes and lizards, cat, dog, donkey, crocodile and the list goes on..
its an amusing moment when you look at a man in a stall and he is holding up a skewer with a piece of meat twisted around it pointing at you and yelling "PENIS? PENIS? YOU LIKE PENIS? DONKEY PENIS! it make you STONG! YOU WANT PENIS?!" ..i mean seriously ..how do you even answer that?
so when surrounded with such variety you have to try certain things.. this night i partook in trying some scorpions, dog, and snake (however im still not sure if it was snake or donkey penis that we ate as they both looked the same).. the scorpions were very tasty, sort of tasted like chips, nice crunchy snack, the dog also quite tasty and surprisingly tender although heavily seasoned.. the snake/penis however was not so nice, i think that it may have been overcooked and therefore quite chewy..
i did however
choose not to taste the bowls of cold shredded stomach that many chinese seemed to be really enjoying..
an interesting night..
having only visited beijing i feel i cannot say i have visited china, but i have had a taste test of a complex, interesting country that i will have to make an effort in the future to explore..
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