This is a "half way through China" blog. It marks the part of my trip where I change from being a tourist to being a traveler. Expect tails of heroic buss journeys, desert and dust storms in the next instalment.
The first part of my trip through China has been a bit of a tourist fest. I started in Shanghai (the Bund) then moved on to Beijing (Forbidden city, great wall, summer palace, Tienanmen Sq) and after that Xian (Terracotta warriors). All very very impressive places to visit. Many of the great sights in China have been created by emperors lavishing the countries wealth on themselves so it seems fitting that the sights now provide a flow of tourist dollars. I should say tourist Yuan as the majority of tourists seem to be from within China. Just like Japan British people seem to be few and far between. Lots of French though.
China itself is fascinating especially in the run up to the Olympics. First impressions are that there are lots of people - everywhere! Good food, both in restaurants and on the street. The trains work well and the buses are impossible to work out. The Olympic facilities
are there but you cant get close because the access roads / new subway lines etc are not open yet. I am sure it will all be done because the whole might of the government is behind it and they are determined that the games will be a triumph for China. I am sure they will be and the sporting facilities look top notch. Pollution may be a problem if my itching eyes, runny nose and sore throat are anything to go by. The politics is of course another matter - the Chinese would rather not talk politics and sport in the same conversation. They are quite upset that much of the rest of the world would like to.
People are not as outwardly friendly and helpful as they were in Japan. As a tourist here you are rich and people want some of those dollars. Bargaining is needed for lots of things and that means bargaining hard which can verge on the physical as rival hawkers try and pull you towards their stall. Taxis are fantastic though, they are always on the meter and don't expect any tip - they even have change! As in other places in
Asia moving away from the main tourist places brings a nicer experience of interacting with the people (and prices are about 10 times cheaper).
Getting on the Internet means handing over my passport at the desk. There are a surprising number of pages that come up "page not found", anything from the western media about Tibet for instance. As far as I can tell from the press coverage of the Olympic torch relay everything went very well with smiles all round. There is a footnote mention - it is unfortunate that some anti Chinese groups and western media have tried to cause trouble.
Crossing the road is also an experience. The red and green men have different meanings. Red means "cars don't run over pedestrians now" and is when most locals seem to cross the road. As soon as the man goes green lots of cars start going over the crossing, I think the green man means "its now OK to run over pedestrians".
I am writing this in Xian, the traditional start / end of the silk road. Heading off tonight on the sleeper train aiming to follow the southern silk road for a few thousand
km until it runs into Afghanistan. Next update in a week or two.
Happy traveling
Matt
China's Flag
Map of China