So much — China
January/February ‘16
We stayed in a hostel in a little side street in the big city of Beijing. The start point for uncountable little alleys, arranged like in a labyrinth, perfect to get lost and explore the urban life.
Many street markets with all kinds of souvenirs, from Eiffel Tower key holders, Russian Matryoshka dolls to different clothes and costumes imaginable and of course street food.
Once we exited the labyrinth we found ourselves in a well-organised city. Huge squares, loads of people, fences along the road with many armed police guards who checked our luggage at nearly every corner.
The must-do day-trip to the Great Wall of China was amazing. Us, a group of travellers from the hostel, made our way to a completely unrestored part of the wall. No one else was there and the hike along was really adventurous and even included climbing.
Our journey took us from Beijing all the way to South China. The north was still freezing cold and we could not handle it anymore travelling through such coldness.
The train took 30 hours and was a tuff experience including getting used to different hygiene and noise standards.
We decided to enjoy the beautiful nature of the Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces where we did some hiking trips.
In the Yunnan Province, we hiked 2 days along the Tiger Leaping George of the scenic canyon of the Jinsha River. For an exception; here you will find clear water, untouched mountains and a 25km hiking path with breathtaking views and passages. For us,this hike was the nature highlight of our three weeks in China. We spent the night in a cosy guesthouse with stunning views overlooking the mountains emerging steep from the bottom of the canyon.
We spent our last week in the Peoples Republic in Xingping. A rather little town in the Shaanxi Province in southern China. The town which is well known for its 20¥ note scenery and still less well known for its 大山面 or Big Noodle Mountain. A peak in the middle of the scenery which (when we were there) only had an unfinished concrete track and viewing platform. In other words; we, Andrea from Italy, who knew about the existence of the peak, and us, had the track and viewing platform all for ourselves and were probably one of the very first ones, enjoying the view from this peak. In order to get there, we had to follow the detailed instructions given by a Chinese friend of Andrea:
Just cross the river and ask the locals where 大山面 is, they will know.
You can always understand bits of the content of a sentence without knowing the language because sign language is more of less the same.
NOPE, not in China. The counting with fingers is different, giving directions with hands is different,…
But after half a day of asking around and hiking through little fruit farms and villages, we finally found the empty entrance and the start of the path going up the hill. The way up was completely finished, just the handrails and some beautification were still missing. On top was a platform with a really remarkable view.
We more or less chose to travel this country whilst the most important national holiday of the year; Chinese New Year. Due to this holiday and its celebrations was all public transport even more crowded than it normally is. But therefore we got the chance to get an even better glimpse of traditional Chinese culture and traditions.
Our last day in China was a special day, called Lantern Festival, in other words, the last day of the two weeks long Chinese New Year. We stayed in a village and the evening was crazy. A huge parade of people doing the Dragon Dance walked through the roads. They traipsed to each and every single house of the whole village followed by a mass of people. In front of each house which had a firework going on the dragon(s) stayed for the fireworks and danced. The dancing dragons did not get tried until 4AM.
Thus that Chinese sights often seem fake, they can be enjoyed when you wink about the irony of newly built ancient, scenic and cosy looking old towns, tacky concrete animals in parks or fake plastic bamboo rafts.
Being aware of the different Chinese lifestyle, culture and attitude to tourists is a must, in order to get along well and to have a good time travelling around.
On the upside:
If you like Asian food; then China is amazing! We tried so many new dishes and enjoyed the delicious ingredients and always freshly cooked meals.
Plus, there is just so much, more than you can try. So many people, incredibly busy cities and public transport, the origin of Made in China products, stuff and clutter, it just has so much to offer.
Thanks for reading we hope you enjoyed it.
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