China baby...

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CHINA BABY...

It's been 2 months... and I am still impressed by this huge country... so different from everything I have seen so far. China is incredible. First of all, it's immense, if you are planning to go to a different city, bear in mind you need to predict at least 16 hours by train for that! Secondly, Chinese people are very nice, however they don't speak English in general, so don't even try to speak louder and slower :-) What is more, Chinese food is amazing! Tasty! Cheap! Colourful! and you get used to the chopsticks much faster than you think you would! :-) European "Chinese cuisine" has a different taste... would it be for European ingredients? I don't know... Nonetheless, nothing can be compared to the traditional Chinese dishes... and currently, I feel unhappy because it will take a while till I am back in China again.

Yes, the enormous space taken on the world's map, people and food... These are the most important factors to be taken into account when speaking of incredible China. Not to mention their culture, looong history, inventions... Did you know that the paper, gun powder, kite or compass have been discovered by Chinese people?

So we went there... Four crazy girls, eager to discover this amazing continent... for the first time in Asia... for the first time so far away from home... Our adventure began on 5th September 2009 when the plane took off and left Europe behind... My dream was about to become true... Two wonderful weeks in the country of the Great Wall and Shaolin Temple... I would have never dreamt about it to be so perfect. Everything was just perfect, and even if some things weren't going the way we had planned before, it didn't really matter... The most important was that we actually WERE there! Together, smiling, happy and curious what China would bring to our lives! And I must admit it, China has changed my life, my way of thinking and it has awaken my curiosity towards other places in the world. Now I am greedy... and I want to discover as much as possible. But I don't want to be a regular tourist, I don't want to buy travels, I don't want to stay in hotels, I don't want to search for McDonald's... I want to absorb 100% of the place I'm currently in... the smells, the tastes, the atmosphere, the people, the food... This is the best what a place may offer you - its own character. There are no places similar one to another. That is why each place is so unique and that is why some people come back to the same place several times... Will it be my case as well? Will I return to China one day?

Let's start our Chinese adventure

We landed in Shanghai... This busy atmosphere, hot air (though it was September) and Maglev, the fastest train in the world (431 km/h)... woow! I was stunned! This "city by the sea" (what literally Shanghai means in Chinese) made a huge impression on me. With over 20 million inhabitants... (almost half as much as the number of inhabitants of my whole country!) and its skyscrapers... It was taking the taxi about 20 minutes to surround the skyscrapers district in order to get to another part of the city. One thing which I regret the most is that I couldn't see the Pudong part from the other side of the river due to some construction works 😞 You know... the "postcard view" of Shanghai, the most famous one... and I didn't see that... Well, hopefully next time :-)

But Shanghai is not only modern... From the roof of a very nice Tea House in the centre of the Old Town we could admire the contact of two different worlds: the modern and the old... Old style Chinese roofs and skyscrapers in the horizont. You never forget such a view! This fishing and textile centre has become a financial centre of the world! (with all due respect to London! :-))

Shanghai doesn't consist only of modern buildings and the Old Town. It also has numerous gardens and parks. When we entered the Yuyuan Garden, we thought we were on another planet... The garden is BEAUTIFUL! With all those Bonzai trees, little ponds and magical buildings with typical Chinese roofs... We spent so much time inside - taking pictures like crazy teenagers! But it was worth it. When I see the photos now, I transfer myself there like in Star-Trek movie. Definitely worth paying the entrance which was kind of expensive when compared to other entrance fees we paid elsewhere in China.

You should have a huge wallet in China... or... a huge suitcase! Because shopping here is a must! Everything is extremely cheap in comparison to European or American prices! And... the quality is quite OK :-) (You will hear - it's the best quality! well, I would argue here but let's be honest... what do you expect for 10 euros?). So don't bring too many clothes with you because you will leave China with an overloaded suitcase - that's for sure! ;-)
Buy T-shirts, scarfs, shoes, purses, earrings... but also, don't forget to buy pearls... beautiful and cheap! Probably the nicest souvenir from China. For you and for your female friends :-)

After a couple of days, we left Shanghai, heading to Luoyang. The most impressive thing on our way was... the train and the whole system of getting on this train :-) You can't enter the railway station if you don't have a valid ticket! You have to purchase your ticket in the ticket-office which is always outside the railway station. Only then you can make a queue with hundreds of other travellers and show your ticket to the man standing at the door and keeping an eye on what is going on... (Do I have to mention that there is a huge number of those employees there? all wearing serious uniforms :-)). You have to make a queue at least two or three times untill you get on the platform. But once you are there, you can be sure - your train will definitely go to the place of your destination since so many people checked out your little ticket!
The trains are quite comfortable, though it depends on their number (when you buy a ticket, the number of the train should be stated there, usually it contains one letter and several digits; if there are only digits - well, it means you will be travelling with the worst train in terms of quality)... We've been told that depending on a letter (K or L - I don't remember now), the class of a particular train is better...
We were sleeping all night... it wasn't that difficult since the light was turned off at 10:30pm in the whole train... yess... Imagine you have to go the toilet... you would have to have your own torch! And remember where you bed was ;-) What if you oversleep the following morning? No worries, at 6:00am you will hear nice music from the speakers... and you will smell spicy noodles which the Chinese people consume for their breakfast. Believe me, such moments are unforgettable :-)

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