Really China?

While being in China, I have noticed a couple of things worth mentioning or even saying out loud. They either make me laugh, think or wonder. Some are quite simply boring but most of them are really interesting! 

I would love to know your thoughts on these once you finish reading them. 

I'm still in China so may even have more notes to put down - I just hope I don't get in trouble saying these, I mean no disrespect!!! 

- In the village it's nice because nobody has phones to take pictures so no body asks for one. They just stare blankly until I wave and they would too. 

- The Chinese women walk free with very, in fact, extremely hairy armpits! I just don't understand why? It's not a bad thing but it's just not nice :/ They are long enough to comb and braid I swear. They're not even afraid to show it either - should I start growing my leg hair and strut around? (Silly question?)

- There are no such thing as nappies, diapers or pampers (they're all the same thing right?) in China. Children are so well disciplined that they wear trousers with (literally) ass holes for them to pee or poo in the streets right when they need to! I held a baby at a village wasn't wearing any nappies (I so feared for warm runny water flowing down my arm) - And when she needed to go, she would make a signal to her mother and her mother would squat her down to the ground to urinate. THIS BABY WAS LIKE 5 MONTHS OLD. This was too ghetto.

- Most men in the country when it is hot like to wear their top rolled up above their belly - to the point where there is an extreme belly flop or food belly hanging out. It's everywhere I go, a man with an instant made crop top on his mobile or casually walking around like its the style. It's obviously very hot but mate, please keep your belly to yourself!

- Many visually impaired people are trained to become masseurs! The Chinese believe that if you lose one sense, sight for example, your other senses improve, e.g. touch. They know where to go and focus on but when I did it, I was screaming in pain. I recommend it :)

- When its sunny, I swear every Chinese would hide under their Umbrellas to avoid getting a tan. This is a sad issue in China that the majority of the population has a problem with. The media is full of 'white' looking Chinese and adverts are filled with whitening cream and powders. This is especially for the girls, the middles age and the young. Most of the elders are dark skinned and the even younger ones are mostly made to wear hats or tan-proof jackets. The Chinese have some sort of obsession with being very light skinned. 

- China likes to charge more for drinks in the fridge despite believing that warm drinks are good for you. 

- Foreign people are charged twice as much as local prices that has already been set. Most shops have no price tags so get really excited when charging western customers more than they would use ever make in one day. The shame. 

- Some westerners in China, especially those from the US always strut around with the attitude that they are more western than the westerns in China!

- China tv plays no western shows! Only Japanese programs and CNN where London MAY pop up (if there was a flood). I may have said this before but people look at me as though I am from another planet so you can imagine the look I get once I speak. They get even more baffled. Now I see why they get so surprised to see such as person like me (dark skinned) - NO MEDIA HERE SHOWS US. 

- North China grow, make and eat lots of noodles. The South grow, make and eat lots of rice.

- There are many people here who I feel, feel under the pressure of getting married and having kids before a certain age and so you would see a couple a minute everywhere you go clinging onto each others with His and Hers across their foreheads! I have seen far more formations of 'holding hands' than I could ever imagine. 

- China is almost obsessed with keeping the Pandas alive and surviving, spending lots of money and time on research, investigations and products. Pandas according to the evolution theory are not made to survive this long (they were due to be extinct years ago) as they are born so tiny. 

I'll be back tomorrow for my Day 8 to 15 itinerary of China! 

Be back too xx

Worry is a misuse of imagination they say'

It's day 12 of my travels in China and I'm currently on the night train heading to Chengdu from Guilian. We boarded at 13:25pm and it's now 23:33pm - we still have 13 hours to go until we arrive and so far it has been okay! 

Below is my itinerary described up to 14 days - You may wish to follow it once you decide to travel China! The plan was to leave Beijing and head south east then west then back up to Beijing for a Great Wall finish off. 

To continue where I left off from - arriving Morganshan in Day 2 was a relief! We were finally there after a day of journeying for some hiking and a dip in a lake. 

We hiked for over an hour (to be honey which doesn't really class as a hike) through the bamboo forest and we didn't even mind the rain! We found the mountain lagoon which was a vast lake coloured blue despite everything else around it - it was crystal clear and so beautifully displayed. 

That evening we had shared dinner with the others who were also staying at the same hostel - it's often cheaper this way although you wouldn't get much of a say in your choices of dishes. But trust theirs. 

I then took a local walk in the rain to see where I was staying but I was also looking for a shop that I was never going to find! 

Sophie had an article to write, about the Scottish educational system so she stayed behind and caught on with it. 

It was movie night at the guest house and we stayed to watch for a bit before we were knocking our heads for sleep. 

I was on the top bunk next to the window of the Mosquitos Territory - I was disturbing them apparently. 

Day 3 

It was evidenced the next day when I woke up spazzy slapping my arms and legs from all the bites. I began reading all my tearful messages from home and it was the first time in years I had felt homesick - it didn't last long. 

Today was slow spent hiking the bamboo forest and stopping by at the lagoon up the mountains. Today was also my birthday! 20 in China woo'! 

The hike was sadly too short under an hour but the lagoon was very pretty! A vast lake opening to an even bigger one - bamboo trees surrounded it and the rain just made it so beautiful. Nature was calling my name. 

After lunch we began making a move - first taking a bus to Deqing station at 4pm then the bullet train to Shanghai after 6 and arriving Shanghai at 8.36pm.

We had arrived and it was so dark outside! We caught a subway to Dashijie where our next hostel was and checked in 'Shanghai Phoenix Hostel'. After being placed in a dorm of 8, I was ready for my birthday night out with my Scottish babe!. 

A bit about Shanghai ; 

Shanghai is located in the central-eastern China. Shanghai is split into two parts: Pudong ( to the east of the Huangpu River ) and Puxi ( to the west of the Huangpu River ). Most of the historical and scenic sites in shanghai are in Puxi while Pudong is the new development area blooming with plentiful futuristic high-rise constructions. 

The night was spent visting the Bund 1 by the river huangpu holding our vast umbrellas covering us from the pouring rain. We saw the buildings on the other side of the river filled with colours of the rainbow - it was BEAUTiFUL! 

We enjoyed the rest of our night in world's finest 'Bar Rouge' where we enjoyed free drinks and a fab view of the city at the rooftop dancing the night away to all types of western music. 

Tumbled into bed at 5am excited for the next 3 days. 

Day 4

We had arrived in Shanghai the night before and felt ready for our first full day in the city. 

We visited the propaganda art centre that was exhibited  in a basement.

Shanghai propaganda poster art centre showed the historical journey of how Chairman Mao and Communist party of China informed and restored collective minds of people. It was the only art centre in China to offer collection of over 6000 original posters between '49 to '79 as part of their cultural heritage.  It was only CNY20 to enter and From what I remember from my visit; 

Alot was shown about Mao Zedong thought - Marxism / Leninism. The propaganda posters of the Chinese were mostly against the Americans, English and the Japanese. 

A bit about the Cold War, Vietnam war, US imperialism (invading Vietnam - black racism), Russian revisionism. 

In 1950 - marriage was no longer arranged as Mao had a bad experience with 'his' arranged marriage. 

In 1960, there was the horrible famine cause by natural disasters and the mistake of Great Leap Forward.

1966 was the cultural revolution 

In 1976, Mao had died and rest of gang (3 including his wife) were arrested. 

This visit was deep! So glad we went and saw - learnt far more than I imagined so this is a recommended visit when in Shanghai! 

We then went to the central part of Shanghai near Nanjing street where the Jiing'an Temple was located and viewed the sights surrounding us. 

We ate lunch at Reel where I ate 3 really hard fried chicken wings which had too much pepper to choke on. 

From the subway (jing'an temple) at 5.24pm we changed to line 9 - Zhaojiabang. Transferred to dapuqiao (exit 1) for the old residential street shops/bars - Tianzifang street. It was very pretty and I had some awesome buys! 

In the evening, i strolled locally before I hit bed. 

From 2am to 5am I was opening doors for those in my room coming back from a bar crawl - I felt so old then. 

Day 5

We had the day planned to visit some of the top 10 places in the city. 

People square: People park

Strolling around the park we found a 'Find yourself a partner' street (this is a traditional Chinese method of finding a partner for marriage)

We asked a nearby pedestrian who happened to speak a bit of English and he told all. 

Our next stop was Nanjing road, starting from west to east. They have markets, restaurants, shops and entertainment! 

The Korean food fair was a public event which occur every year promoting food and kitchen ware for homes - we watched the performance and the lead singer had such a beautiful voice despite not understanding a word she was saying. 

We had lunch at Yashinoya which is a chinese fast food chain - my chicken rice curry costed me cny 24 - £2.35!

We spent over 2 hours in Forever21 as Sophie has never been haha! That was insane! We then took a subway to Lujiazui - Located in the Pudong New Area on the eastern bank of Huangpu River just across the Bund. Lujiazui is one of the four economic districts in Pudong New Area. The other three economic districts are Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, the Jinqiao Export Processing Zone and Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park is a special area for technology-oriented businesses. Lujiazui is the place with the futuristic, avant-garde buildings Get there for 6pm and stay until 11pm to watch the lights and stroll the area! Music, people and sightseeing - we were spotting skyscrapers and guessing which was which. Taxi is very cheap in China and you can pay with your travel card. It costed us £1.80 to get home which was 20 minutes away!  

Day 6

The day began at 9.33am and we had sweet bread for breakfast. 

We had another day planned justke yesterday. As soon as we left we had a theatre ticket scare!

We wanted to go to the theatre and watch a colourful changing mask opera show. We immediately bought tickets at a theatre nearby assuming it was what we thought it was. As soon as we were wrong we requested for our money back but it was very unlikely at the start! I kept my calm and stayed until I was CNY180 richer. The show was a medieval opera show full of men in black and involved a dagger - I was nearly going to cry. 

We happily went to Yu garden afterwards for a stroll and the entrance cny40, 20 if you have your student card!

We walked around the Old shanghai street where karate kid was filmed. It was so so so vintage! Beaut!

Our next place was Xintiandi where i saw twins! 

Here was expensive bars and shops and the posh.

At 8.45pm we went on a Huangpu river cruise! It was such a good moment - cruising pass the buildings glowing! It lasted for an hour and we were ready to head home - as soon as I found my hearing aids that I left on the boat! So lucky I found it after an hour waiting for the boat to come backkkk - Sophie insisted that we stay and wait while i was like 'goodness It's gone'. 

I'm happy I listened!

I slept happy.

Day 7

We slept in and left the hostel at 2.30pm to get the subway.

We departed Shanghai station at 4.25pm for Guilian 

Duration: 18.45 hours 

I was on the middle bunk for the journey. Night trains are my opportunities to work out, read and write. 

I'll be back for the next 7 days tomorrow!! Be back too - I'll be adding interesting observations made in China! xxx