Horking, Squatting, & Shoving - Now that's China!

After a 13 hr flight from Joburg, South Africa we landed in Hong Kong ready to hit the pavement. Surprisingly enough, the hostel we booked for (3) nights (The Kowloon New Hostel) turned out to be more than adequate - great location and cheap. It is was not our first nor will it be our last visit to HK. HK rocks and across the harbour Kowloon provides great food and the chance to hackle as much as you like, especially in the Temple Street Market. Oh yes, can't go without mentioning the annoying men from India pestering you for a custom made suit as you make your way along Nathan St - yes they are goods to be had, but we are not planning to wear anything that resembles a monkey suit for at least the next (6) months.

After a few days of hossing down as many dumplings as we could, we headed north to Beijing to begin our "China Discovery Tours". What a fiasco the tour has turned out to be, firstly they send our airline tickets to Bermuda instead of having them delivered to our hotel, hence we had no airline tickets for our (5) flights within China - oops. But it gets better and better as we make our way through China. Beijing is the capital of China and there is no denying the fact that the government presence here is much more heavy handed here than in other parts of mainland China. The city is massive, traffic is a nightmare, there are thousands of bicycles and pedestrians which makes for a very interesting ride on the road and of course there is tremedous amounts of pollution. During our stay in Beijing the biggest Summit in Chinese history was underway, the China-Africa Summit. Some (48) of the (53) African heads of state were in Beijing and one could not be unaware of it. Everywhere you went there were signs and posters and along the highway there were hugh billboards full of African animals, giving you a feeling that you were witnessing a safari as you drove 100km/hr down the highway.

The basic rule of survival is that cars have the right of way even when they shouldn't. Cars always have the right of way, even when you have a green light, so look both ways and always be prepared to yield. We booked a 19 day tour of China based on several discussions with people that had found it difficult to travel in China independently, for no other reason that there is a huge language barrier. However, our experience is of the contrary. Don't book a tour, independent travelling is the only way to see China. Our experience so far has gone like this.......we get booked into government run hotels, get taken for lunch and dinner to government run restaurants, and no tourist site is seen without a few stops along the way to government run factories (silk, embordiery, jade etc..) that charge inflated tourist prices. After our first day in Beijing it was obvious how the racket worked - the government wants a piece of every tourist even though it leaves an extremely bad image of how China Tourism is run. Our tour kicked off with a bang was there were only (4) of us on the tour, we were joined by an American couple who did not like Chinese food, pepper, rice, spicy food, chicken, and to top it all off needed mounds of ice with every drink! Oh - gotta love travelling. For the next (19) days we would constantly hear "Where's the Bing (ice)?, and "In the USA we do it this way, we serve food this way" - Oh gotta love the Americanization of the World!

Okay Beijing, the first thing that comes to mind is the Great Wall - but if your on a Tour, which a lot of tourists, including ourselves were, you are taken to the Disneyland of the Great Wall. Unfortunately the area tourists are driven to is a tiny loop full of thousands of tourists. Should you travel independently you can choose to drive another 40-50km and see the Great Wall as you see it in postcards and tourist brochures. Our guide made it very clear that Beijing is where the government is located and hence would not deviate from "her" itinerary. She was as flexible as a steel pole, unwillingly to take us to the "off the beaten path" markets, restaurants and alleyways. To boot we were served the worst chinese food there is, while in the back of the restaurant she hossed down fresh seafood - I know this because I actually went back to see what she was eating, not a move she particularly cared for. The other funny thing about Chinese government restaurants is they have a "One Glass Rule" - you are only allowed one glass of water, beer, soda etc... regardless if they had to open a fresh can to poor your beverage - "You want more - you Pay"! Wow - the Commi attitude is still alive and well throughout mainland China in certain aspects. We enjoyed the sights of Beijing but really urge those travelling to any part of mainland China to do it independently - language is not an issue and local guides are easily found to show you the way.

Besides seeing Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, Forbidden Palace and the Temple of Heaven we took in a Kung Fu show and a Tang Dynasty Show. The Kung Fu show was really entertaining and well worth it. In addition to the touristy sites we spent some time in the local internet cafes - wow they are alive and well, but most are used for games. At several of the cafes, google and/or yahoo was blocked.

Moving on from Beijing, we had a short flight to Xian to visit the Terracotta Soldiers. These are impressive, but the lighting makes taking photos most difficult. In addition, there are a large number of soldiers that still have not been excavated, so given 10 years time, the place we really be neat to see. A theme throughout our trip was the further you got from Beijing the better the food and the more honest the guides became. Certaintly outside of Beijing we were told quite abruptly that officials are almost universally deemed corrupt.

After a brief stay in Xian we flew to Shanghai. It is China's biggest, most densely packed city, where past and future, East and West. Shanghai has a great buzz about it and the bund is a great place to just hang out. Shanghai is definetely the New York of mainland China and it is easy to forget that you are in mainland China when you are in this great city. The place is booming with construction, BMW's, and the like that is proof that this Country and City is growing at lightning speed. Shanghai is definetly a must for any visit to mainland China.

On our way to Yichang to cruise down the Yangtze River.

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