Colorful Dragon Ferry on Lake Kunming at the Summer Palace, Beijing.
We left China a week ago for a brief visit to NYC before returning home. It’s been time enough to recover from some jet lag and a bit of a cold that hit the last day of the trip. And time for a little reflection about our incredible experience.
China is an amazing country – it’s huge, with so many people, and there are so many contrasts it’s hard to reconcile them all.
There are two distinct, and very unequal, lifestyles in China: the urban and the rural. We didn’t get to see much of the rural on this trip because even small “towns” have millions and “villages” have a hundred thousand residents. What little we did see in rural areas offered a glimpse into a China that seems to be quickly evaporating.
The new buildings and obvious excessive capitalism are pervasive and hard to fathom in a communist country. But then, of course, they don’t let human rights, labor issues, historic preservation, OSHA or zoning stand in their way . . . .
Car licenses are restricted and by lottery, and millions of rural migrant workers venture into the cities to provide manual labor. People live in small apartments (think NY studio-size) in massive multi-story, vertical neighborhoods; single family homes don’t really exist in the cities. Air quality is awful and air pollution is rampant in the cities; it’s a rare day with blue sky, can you imagine day in and day out living that way?
But in the cities, people are beginning to find their voice. They are stepping up to try and preserve what’s left of ancient neighborhoods, standing up to the one-child rule, and calling on the government to solve environmental issues such as thousands of dead pigs in Shanghai’s Huangpu River. There are more and more news stories about air quality. Education is of utmost importance, and high school kids are in school from 7 am til 10:30 pm – home for sleep and back; so, today families can alter their destiny through education. Your family doesn’t have to be peasants for generations, although for millions that is still reality.
For me, the most significant difference in China and our Western world was the lack of freedom of information. From my perspective, the right to free, uncensored speech is our most important right in the U.S. and the root of everything we are (good and bad). China does have internal social media and there is a news media, but there is no access to outside social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn or WordPress, and media they are not happy with, such as the New York Times, are blocked. Don’t get me wrong – you do get news, and lots of it, but it is what you can’t access, including individual opinion, that concerns me.
China thrives on a history of corruption (hmmmm, maybe not just China), and their new leader has vowed to reduce government corruption. So far he is cutting back on the use of expensive German luxury cars, five-star hotels and lavish meals. The result at the moment is it is now possible to get into any really great top restaurant in China; they are hurting for business.
Like any large country, the feeling and spirit of the regions we visited were quite different, but one thing never varied – the hospitality of the Chinese people. The only time we weren’t welcomed was when I tried to observe a Mah Jongg parlor – but other than that, we were greeted with smiles and courtesy everywhere we went.
Even when we stopped to take pictures of their darling babies with their split-back clothes (sans diapers) they were delightful. But, as unusual as we find their system, their kids are toilet trained by 1! We may find their toilet’s primitive (and, BTW some of their floor toilets now have the automatic flush feature), but they find our sit-down versions unsanitary. Embracing and understanding the differences is part of the fun of exploring another culture.
If you want to know more about China – read the Wall Street Journal as an increasing portion of their excellent coverage is devoted to the politics, business, culture, housing and travel of the region.
To sum it up for us: we absorbed as much as possible about a fascinating culture, experienced great adventures and met new friends. My husband ate with chopsticks, enjoyed noodles for breakfast, showed promise at Taiji Bailong Ball, and in the country where watermelon seems to be the most popular fruit and ice cream was invented, we found all the (New Jersey-based) Haagen Daz ice cream shops. It was a fabulous trip.
Ganbei!*
*Cheers!
PS: Together we took about 5,000 pictures; and as soon as I sort and select I will eventually post a few to the Exotic Locales page on this site as well as my flicker account, which can be accessed by the link on the right.
The iconic Chinese “Junk” now just for Hong Kong tourists.
We are closing in on the end of our fabulous trip. Today we beat the rain one last time as we headed for the top of Victoria Peak – it was a very cloudy view of the Harbour, but beautiful nonetheless.
We saw the many monuments to success that drive the thriving Hong Kong financial community located on Hong Kong Island, as well as a few other famous streets and landmarks.
Port workers are still on strike here, and are visibly protesting for increased wages – another key difference between the mainland and this unusual hybrid enclave. When you leave mainland China, it’s just like going to another country; not at all like normal domestic travel within China. Two flags are flown, the Chinese and Hong Kong and they use their own currency – the Hong Kong dollar. British influence is still quite evident,but for now Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) and it will be interesting to see what happens when the complete transition to China does occur.
Another difference in HK – I’m posting this directly – for the first time since I left, we can access social media! We even got a USA today this morning with our breakfast.
I wanted to visit Hong Kong for a very long time and am probably not giving it fair time in this blog. It is a great, sophisticated, international city and I wish we had more time to explore the nearby islands and try some of the dozens of great restaurants. I also wish we had time to experience the world’s longest escalator, but I have found out it switches direction for the morning and afternoon rush, so you’d better plan well to hit it right.
A highlight for us was taking the Star Ferry back to Kowloon. It’s a very quick 7-minute ride and a terrific perspective of the area. After a Dim Sum lunch at the Jade Garden we did some shopping and walked along the waterfront enjoying the now beautiful blue skies. It’s subtropical here, green, warm, and humid ~ just like home.
Tomorrow we head back to the states.
Tip of the Day, to quote the Chinese philosopher Lin Yutang: “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”
Victoria Harbour skyline view of Hong Kong Island, just before the 8PM light show.
Dusty figurines reminiscent of the Mao-era in the Dongtai Road flea market.
I forgot to mention we finally had rain last night. But our bartender at the hotel had given his word it would not rain during the day – and fortunately his forecast was right-on. It stayed cloudy, but warmed up a bit and it was a great day for continuing our sightseeing in Shanghai.
Earlier in the trip, I talked about the smells of Beijing, but there is also a fairly pervasive, consistent smell throughout China. I’ve been trying to decide how to describe it . . . . it is definitely related to the preparation and cooking of food. After some discussion with our intrepid Tour Director Annie, I agree it is herbal with an underlying scent of ginseng. So even though they speak a different kind of Chinese here in Shanghai, they share this commonality with the rest of the country. FYI, Mandarin is the official language, and spoken in the north, but here in Shanghai the distinctive Shanghainese is used, and even other Chinese can’t understand it. However, it’s all Greek to us and remains totally incomprehensible. I’m afraid to even whisper what we have learned to say, for fear of misspeaking the tonal inflections and telling someone to urinate instead of hello.
We visited the Shanghai Urban Planning Center, which was much more interesting than I thought it would be. They have a complete scale model of the entire city, and a wonderful movie-in-the round giving you an aerial view of the city.
Afterwards, we spent time in the well-organized Shanghai Museum, the definitive repository for examples of ceramics, sculpture, furniture, calligraphy, money, art and more. I particularly enjoyed the Jade collection, and seeing how the ceramics evolved through the centuries.
For lunch we visited Xintiandi, an area of high end shops and bistros on the edge of the French Concession. This area utilized some of the former shikumen houses (Shanghai’s answer to the hutongs of Beijing). We wanted to head out for some walking, so we shared a quick sandwich at Element Fresh, and then hit the pavement.
Walking all around the French Concession, we enjoyed the sights, just being out with local crowds and the nice day. Walking in places we visit is always a favorite – you feel so much more connected to the spirit of a community. The French Concession is very green, and the streets are lined with mature Sycamore trees. Along the way, we saw the Shanghai Medical School, a huge hospital complex, former mansions, and beautiful new housing developments. The property of the Intercontinental Hotel looked particularly inviting. We passed the former residences of Zhou Enlai, lovely Fuxing Park, and the Taikang Road arts & crafts district. This area of tiny alleys crammed with small shops and restaurants encompasses a former candy factory and several lanes of old shikumen houses. The shops were full of cheap, low-quality trinkets, but the ambiance was fun.
A city transit driver kindly held back his big bus so I could finish getting my picture of some art deco-style balconies. If you look hard, you will see a few Art Deco elements here and there.
We then missed our street and stopped at an information kiosk to check our location. The sweet lady who worked there did not speak English – so the next thing we know, she is running around the nearby plaza to find someone who spoke English. She was successful very quickly; we readjusted our position and set off again.
We left the French Concession and headed back towards Old Town and the Dajing Road Market. This market bills itself as having “antiques”, but we knew it would be full of dusty, flea-market worthy “stuff”, including lots of items paying homage to Mao. It did not disappoint. There is a nearby street, Liuhekou Road, known for a market with birds, flowers and crickets. This was a bust, but we found out the government doesn’t want any birds for sale due to the current bird flu. What few flowers they had probably sold out early and cricket season is not until October. They have cricket fights here which might seem odd – but then we race wooly worms in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
It was time to grab a cab and head back to Pudong. Dinner tonight was at Jean Georges, the Shanghai hit restaurant of the TV star-chef by the same name, on the Puxi side at 3 on the Bund, across the river from Pudong. For those who know my husband, you will know this very French dinner was not the high point of his trip; but he did like his dessert.
BTW, at the Pudong Shangri-La, the River Tower rooms have the best view of the Bund and the Huangpu River; it’s great during the day and simply spectacular at night. Best rooms for the view are (02), 01, 28, 27 and (26); lines 2 and 26 may not be on every floor due to location of Bund view suites.
Tip of the day: a trip is not complete without mingling with the locals; walking does the trick.
