Why China?

It looks in many places like home, but on the second closer look it reveals itself as a totally different planet.
We were courious! The worlds biggest economy, the most populated country, the last resort of communism – we wanted to see it for ourselves!

Places we visited during our first trip in 2012
Peking, Datong, Wutai Shan, Pingyao, Xian, Huang Shan, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong

You find a description of our journey here

We visited China for the second time in June/July 2015
It was the only country on our trip round the world, that we have been before.

Why China again in 2015?
China still fascinates us.
It is easy to travel.
It is safe.
The food is excellent!
Everyday throws you back on your socialization.

We split the travel posts for our China 2015 visit into province chunks.

1. Beijing
2. Sizuhan
3. Yunann
4. Guangxi
5. Guangdong
6. Hong Kong

Generally speaking
What had changed, what was still the same, what was new?

The same

The people
We experienced Chinese people in general as friendly and trying to be helpful. If sometimes they seemed rude to us it was just that moment were the differences between our cultures came to light.

Their addictions
Nearly everybody had a smartphone and used it excessively. You could say that this is something that Chinese have in common with many other nations, but we think they play in the big league. The t-shirt of a girl said it best: “I don’t need you – I got internet”.
People love to play Mahjong – at lest in the southern provinces that we came through. During midday until late in the evening we heard the click of the tiles. Cards and sometimes Chinese chess were also common.

How close is too close?
In Germany (and most western countries) we have like an invisible sphere around us. It has approx. the radius of an outstretched arm. We take care to keep it intact. Nobody is allowed to enter this sphere without expressed permission. In China this concept is unknown, so it seemed to us. The sphere was invaded several times during a normal day – or as Claudia described it: “In China people long for physical closeness.”

AAAAA rated food
After a high voltage dose of culture shock during the day, dinner recharged our batteries and we were again in equilibrium with this country The local food of food stalls and restaurants in its entire variety, freshness and the low prices is one of the best that you can get on this planet!

Take a photo?
Still we encountered many Chinese who wanted to take a photo(s) with us and we smiled and waved
More often they take selfies. We saw it on many occasions that they spend a lot of time posing until they are finally satisfied with the result.

Building a new China
Construction sights everywhere – especially apartment buildings. Some say that this a bubble – we will see. Under construction were as well unbelievable huge tourist resorts especially aiming at Chinese tourists.

“We had the car, before we had the rules!”*
Traffic seemed organized, but not as we are used to. The honk was still the traffic signal no. 1. Red lights and crosswalks don’t had the significance that they have in the North European traffic. To drive against the driving direction for example was common.
Even the police didn’t care about the rules themselves and got honked at by the driving public.
*Quote of a Chinese that we had the pleasure of talking to in Dali.

Oh no, this costs extra
One of the downparts of our China experience. Many entrance fees didn’t cover everything that was to see – although they were not cheap. Tickets granted more like a general admission and than we had to pay extra e.g. a temple, an artwork, etc.
We had to pay nearly everywhere an entrance fee when we wanted to see some beautiful nature spot. Which would have been ok, if we would have entered a well maintained and protected area, but sadly this was never the case.

Changed

Lost in translation
More people spoke English these days. Even at local bus stations. More and more signs were bilingual – at least in the places we visited.
Still outside the big cities or in 3rd class trains it was hard to find someone with English skills. Maybe not because they haven’t learned English but it seemed to us that they don’t dared to try and maybe make a mistake. We asked a girl in a hostel for the check out time. She took her mobile and we read: “According to the regulations of the hostel, check out time is at noon.” Ok, if a sentence must be that formal, it is understandable why they don’t try. Not forgetting that most of our tries to speak some Chinese were wrong pronounced and therefore mis- or not understood at all. Pointing at something, drawing or simple & clear gestures helped a lot more.

Security
It seemed to us that security has tightened. In 2011 it was as well normal that you had your baggage scanned each time you entered a metro-, bus-, or train station.
In 2015 we saw the numbers of policemen and security staff at public places tripled. Not to mention the many surveillance cameras. There was no exception of that in the places we visited.

New

Ctrip
We booked train tickets ourselves via ctrip. That basically went well, but in an overnight train Claudia and me got different coaches. Why? We don’t know. We couldn’t change it.
In the next train we had the lower and the upper bed on the same side with the middle bed occupied by someone else. We couldn’t figure out how they did it when we booked via an agency or hostel, because than our beds were always together!?

Tip
Check your (train-) tickets immediately at the ticket window. A later complaint may not be successful! The info about which bed you have is only in Chinese, so it is helpful to know these signs.

Lower = 冄 上 班
Middle = 号下 班
Upper = 号 上 班

Couchsurfing
We made Couchsurfing in Beijing and Guangzhou – it got us interesting insides.

30 days more please
The visa extension in Lijiang at the PSB (Public Security Bureau) was quiet easy. We had to register at the local police station, provide a paper photo and an electronic one, show our passports, fill out a form and finally after two days pick up our extension and pay 160 RMB each. Everybody spoke English and was friendly!

Tip
For a first time visit a 30 day visa seems sufficient. China can be – because of the cultural differences – quiet demanding. You can extend your visa once in China easily as described above.

We met a Suisse man, convinced he had a 90 days visa, but had not. He had to pay a 10.000 RMB fine for overextending his visa and was imposed strict conditions.

Please keep in mind that these are only our personal thoughts and observations based on a 24/60 days visit in 2011/2015.

Thank you for reading!
Safe travels!
Zài jiàn!
Claudia & Tom