Hello Loyal Bloggers,
After about a month of frustrating censorship under the Chinese government, we're back in the good old U.S. of A. After several fruitless attempts to update the blog within China, we eventually gave up and waited until now. Censorship is one of several big problems for this rising power, but we can talk about that in due time.
We flew from Hong Kong to Xiamen for three nights, an up and coming, prosperous city about 500 kilometers to the northeast. We opted for a nice hotel in order to get our feet wet on the mainland since it's so different from SE Asia and HK. This turned out to be a great decision since we were given a laptop in the room and were able to plan most of our last month in Asia. Beyond that, the room was a place of comfort in an otherwise completely foreign world. Almost no one in China speaks English, and certainly not in a place like Xiamen, which most foreign tourists skip. This was an obvious struggle. The struggle was immediate as we found out during dinner our first night. When the waitress could not understand "water" or "two" we knew we were in for a trying month. Pat ended up with a beer and a plate of cold chicken with the raw skin still attached. Gross. Shauna didn't eat. It was rough for the first few days, but it got much better as we went to more visited places and learned just enough Chinese to get by. Beyond the language barrier the Chinese are different in so many ways. We'll get into some of this throughout the next few blogs. Xiamen itself is a pleasant city in many ways. There are many large green parks, and a beautiful university that looks like a nice American campus. It was started with money from rich Chinese-Americans giving back to their homeland. It's a very clean city as well. Much cleaner than most American cities. It's also home to a scenic island called Gulangyu, where no cars are permitted. We spent the day strolling around the charming ancient alleyways along with thousands of screaming Chinese tourists. They are comparable to a large group of Japanese tourists, taking slightly less photos but screaming louder. Xiamen was pleasant and as good a place as any to start off our month in China.
We took a 6 hour bullet train up to Hangzhou. This was our favorite city in China. Its gorgeous West Lake is surrounded by perfect parks which are great for wandering. We stayed at one of the international youth hostels (which we stayed in during the rest of our time in China and in general were fantastic) in a great location right on the lake. Hangzhou is another prosperous city, and the growing wealth is easy to see. Ferrari and Rolls Royce dealerships line tree lined boulevards, next to Starbuck's and Haagen-Dazs. They have all the "exclusive" designer labels like Emiglio Zegna and Hermes. China's weather on the east coast is similar to America's east coast. It being May, all the flowers were in bloom and the days were amazing for walking around the lakeside green spaces. People were out every night singing and dancing traditional Chinese songs and dances. The whole place seemed to have a happy glow/aura around it. It felt good to be there. There are several interesting places around the lake other than parks as well. The National Tea Museum was a lot of fun and is also gorgeous. It was interesting to learn about the history of tea and then have our own private (and free) tasting. One of the more important Buddhist sites in all of China calls Hangzhou's West Lake home. We found this 100 year old dumpling restaurant and gorged two nights in a row for less than USD5 total. We drank at the premier expat bar in the city, which is owned by an American and just happens to be located right next to the hostel. Of course good conversations were had. We were also celebrities again. More so Pat than Shauna because of his blond hair, but both of us were asked to join a photo op about 50 times during our three days here. It was like this all over China except for the two major cities of Shanghai and Beijing. They see white people every day.
Our first week in China was all in all successful, and it thankfully continued for the remainder of our Asian trip. Next up is the absolutely breathtaking Yellow Mountain and the financial hub of China, Shanghai.
Much love and appreciation,
S&P
After about a month of frustrating censorship under the Chinese government, we're back in the good old U.S. of A. After several fruitless attempts to update the blog within China, we eventually gave up and waited until now. Censorship is one of several big problems for this rising power, but we can talk about that in due time.
We flew from Hong Kong to Xiamen for three nights, an up and coming, prosperous city about 500 kilometers to the northeast. We opted for a nice hotel in order to get our feet wet on the mainland since it's so different from SE Asia and HK. This turned out to be a great decision since we were given a laptop in the room and were able to plan most of our last month in Asia. Beyond that, the room was a place of comfort in an otherwise completely foreign world. Almost no one in China speaks English, and certainly not in a place like Xiamen, which most foreign tourists skip. This was an obvious struggle. The struggle was immediate as we found out during dinner our first night. When the waitress could not understand "water" or "two" we knew we were in for a trying month. Pat ended up with a beer and a plate of cold chicken with the raw skin still attached. Gross. Shauna didn't eat. It was rough for the first few days, but it got much better as we went to more visited places and learned just enough Chinese to get by. Beyond the language barrier the Chinese are different in so many ways. We'll get into some of this throughout the next few blogs. Xiamen itself is a pleasant city in many ways. There are many large green parks, and a beautiful university that looks like a nice American campus. It was started with money from rich Chinese-Americans giving back to their homeland. It's a very clean city as well. Much cleaner than most American cities. It's also home to a scenic island called Gulangyu, where no cars are permitted. We spent the day strolling around the charming ancient alleyways along with thousands of screaming Chinese tourists. They are comparable to a large group of Japanese tourists, taking slightly less photos but screaming louder. Xiamen was pleasant and as good a place as any to start off our month in China.
We took a 6 hour bullet train up to Hangzhou. This was our favorite city in China. Its gorgeous West Lake is surrounded by perfect parks which are great for wandering. We stayed at one of the international youth hostels (which we stayed in during the rest of our time in China and in general were fantastic) in a great location right on the lake. Hangzhou is another prosperous city, and the growing wealth is easy to see. Ferrari and Rolls Royce dealerships line tree lined boulevards, next to Starbuck's and Haagen-Dazs. They have all the "exclusive" designer labels like Emiglio Zegna and Hermes. China's weather on the east coast is similar to America's east coast. It being May, all the flowers were in bloom and the days were amazing for walking around the lakeside green spaces. People were out every night singing and dancing traditional Chinese songs and dances. The whole place seemed to have a happy glow/aura around it. It felt good to be there. There are several interesting places around the lake other than parks as well. The National Tea Museum was a lot of fun and is also gorgeous. It was interesting to learn about the history of tea and then have our own private (and free) tasting. One of the more important Buddhist sites in all of China calls Hangzhou's West Lake home. We found this 100 year old dumpling restaurant and gorged two nights in a row for less than USD5 total. We drank at the premier expat bar in the city, which is owned by an American and just happens to be located right next to the hostel. Of course good conversations were had. We were also celebrities again. More so Pat than Shauna because of his blond hair, but both of us were asked to join a photo op about 50 times during our three days here. It was like this all over China except for the two major cities of Shanghai and Beijing. They see white people every day.
Our first week in China was all in all successful, and it thankfully continued for the remainder of our Asian trip. Next up is the absolutely breathtaking Yellow Mountain and the financial hub of China, Shanghai.
Much love and appreciation,
S&P
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