Compared to Mongolia from which I leave for China, the latter looks ultra-developed with all those tall buildings and wide blacktop roads. Being in a busy place, at the same time you find yourself surrounded by a kind of quietness. I had to give a second look to realize that most of the mopeds on the roads are electrical. People walking on streets are dressed with style, women like wearing umbrellas to block the sun, while windows of Rolex stores shine with their luxury. It is only later when we leave Beijing we understand that the capital does not represent the image of the whole country. Most of China is in fact dirty and poor.
It doesn't take us much time to find out the easiest and cheapest traveling options around Beijing. Ticket prices for metro (1CNY = 0.10 pence) and long distance buses save us from tiring our feet. Although after a little study of the city map we decide to reach certain places on foot, which we later regret. It turns out that distances in the map sometimes decrease twice.
We find the Great Wall of China truly impressive, making us think of all those construction workers who toiled away at this amazing construction, while some of them did find their eternal rest there during the process.
While we wandering around the center of the capital completely unexpectedly we come across the delicacies street, offering ready-to-eat octopus, frogs, scorpions and other creatures. We decide that it would be a sin to miss this kind of opportunity and we must try at least one of those delicacies. However, it takes some walks back and forth while pondering on what to choose because we are looking for something special… the kind of special that at least looks okay if the taste fails us. Finally we pick a stick with tiny scorpions on it. We watch how the street vendor dips the stick in boiling oil, which in some 30 seconds turns into our meal. The situation calls forgetting the ladies first rule and I urge Darius to try the food first. The expression on his face is not very promising. Then comes my turn. But I am nicely surprised at the taste. I get a feeling that I have had something like that before.
We visit a couple more famous sites such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven and decide to spend more time outside the capital. Our next destination is the famous Terracotta Army in the city of Xi'an.
We visit a couple more famous sites such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven and decide to spend more time outside the capital. Our next destination is the famous Terracotta Army in the city of Xi'an.
We also don’t miss a chance to visit the Muslim Quarter, another popular tourist destination. We like the place as well, as streets vendors offer tons of souvenirs and snacks. We refresh ourselves with fresh sugarcane juice and unexpectedly find a vendor selling our favorite bread which brings back a wonderful memories about our vacation to Iran.
Then we leave for Chengdu. Our destination this time is a giant statue of Buddha which is located 136 kilometers off the city. Other travelers kindly advise us going on a one-day tour to visit the statue and return to the city by night. After a little study of the map, we decide to do it on our own. It takes a couple of hours on a train to get to the destination, or at least we believe so. It turns out that the Buddha statue is much more far away, so we spend the night in a village hotel and go to the site next morning. Since the English language is non-existent outside the major cities we find it difficult to turn ourselves to the correct path which leads to our destination. So after some troubled communication we finally manage to get on the right bus. It stops in town Leshan and the driver tells us to get out.
After leaving the bus we are checking the map again. The destination is still too far away. Then we unsuccessfully search for a cheap hotel. Perhaps we should have listened to our fellow travelers after all ?
After a lunch in a local park we finally decide to walk towards the statue. Then on our way we come across an abandoned park where we decide to stay since the sun is setting fast in the east. Our first camping of the trip turns out to be smooth, well, to be more precise, almost smooth. Since the sun was already setting and the dusk approached, Darius did not notice a small pile of poop and put his backpack right on it. We spend the evening at the river :)
Then we leave for Chengdu. Our destination this time is a giant statue of Buddha which is located 136 kilometers off the city. Other travelers kindly advise us going on a one-day tour to visit the statue and return to the city by night. After a little study of the map, we decide to do it on our own. It takes a couple of hours on a train to get to the destination, or at least we believe so. It turns out that the Buddha statue is much more far away, so we spend the night in a village hotel and go to the site next morning. Since the English language is non-existent outside the major cities we find it difficult to turn ourselves to the correct path which leads to our destination. So after some troubled communication we finally manage to get on the right bus. It stops in town Leshan and the driver tells us to get out.
After leaving the bus we are checking the map again. The destination is still too far away. Then we unsuccessfully search for a cheap hotel. Perhaps we should have listened to our fellow travelers after all ?
After a lunch in a local park we finally decide to walk towards the statue. Then on our way we come across an abandoned park where we decide to stay since the sun is setting fast in the east. Our first camping of the trip turns out to be smooth, well, to be more precise, almost smooth. Since the sun was already setting and the dusk approached, Darius did not notice a small pile of poop and put his backpack right on it. We spend the evening at the river :)
Since our next country to go to is Vietnam, we are moving towards it and arrive to the city of Kunming. Oh, again comes this longing for more nature. As we do not want to pay for parks entrances no more we just take a map and point to a nearby village surrounded by a green area. The decision is made.
We leave the hotel with smiles on our faces as we find the buses with the right numbers on them. After changing several buses and making a third of the whole distance, the driver puts us into another bus with the same number (?) on it, which later makes a big loop and returns to the suburbs just to kick us out at the bus station. All confused, we ask the bus station staff for a bus going to the direction we need. As we do not get a positive answer we decide to go on foot and just stop the bus on our way. After a couple of hours going up the hill we come to a conclusion that buses here either do not run or run very, very rarely. It takes us a couple of attempts to hitchhike a local jeep. The beauty of nature after reaching the destination completely kills our tiredness. We return to the city satisfied :)
We drop off documentation for the visas at the Vietnamese Embassy . As we happen to be there on the vacation season it takes a week to get our visas issued. So we make a decision to leave the city and go to another travelers destination, a small town called Dali. I probably should say that it is one the most fascinating places we are visiting here in China. The town is surrounded by spectacular mountains with dense forests, located over a blue lake. The old town streets are full of nice little shops and cafes. We don't want to leave this beauty but we must go on. We return to the city for our visas and take a night bus to the border between China and Vietnam. While our time in China is over, there is still so much to see and experience. A month in this country passed in a flash.
We leave the hotel with smiles on our faces as we find the buses with the right numbers on them. After changing several buses and making a third of the whole distance, the driver puts us into another bus with the same number (?) on it, which later makes a big loop and returns to the suburbs just to kick us out at the bus station. All confused, we ask the bus station staff for a bus going to the direction we need. As we do not get a positive answer we decide to go on foot and just stop the bus on our way. After a couple of hours going up the hill we come to a conclusion that buses here either do not run or run very, very rarely. It takes us a couple of attempts to hitchhike a local jeep. The beauty of nature after reaching the destination completely kills our tiredness. We return to the city satisfied :)
We drop off documentation for the visas at the Vietnamese Embassy . As we happen to be there on the vacation season it takes a week to get our visas issued. So we make a decision to leave the city and go to another travelers destination, a small town called Dali. I probably should say that it is one the most fascinating places we are visiting here in China. The town is surrounded by spectacular mountains with dense forests, located over a blue lake. The old town streets are full of nice little shops and cafes. We don't want to leave this beauty but we must go on. We return to the city for our visas and take a night bus to the border between China and Vietnam. While our time in China is over, there is still so much to see and experience. A month in this country passed in a flash.