Shanghai
Shanghai is not love at second sight. The claustrophobic impression I got from this city in August remains. The buildings are just too tall, too big, too many, there is no escape from it, I'm feeling trapped.
Me and my two friends, Mads and Johan, get more and more tired every day, no matter how much we sleep. Every day is a long, desperate search for coffee, none of us function properly without caffeine. Life is hard and difficult and cold until I have my first cup of coffe for the day in my hand. Then I keep allert for some hours, and either fall asleep early or need another coffee later in the evening.
The three of us is a sad bunch. Mads suffer from constant migraines, Johan suffer from numerous allergies, and me, I just need my coffee. There are a lot of needs to satisfy and a lot of circumstances to avoid. If we don't manage to satisfy all these needs, someone or all of us get tired, cranky, silent, get a head ache, get hungry, get cold, feel sick, feel anxious, feel miserable, wanna go home and hide under a blanket and sleep until the next day. However, none of us want to be the one complaining, so usually we just have to guess when it's time for lunch or coffee or a rest. Sounds more complicated than it is, honestly. And at least we're being sensitive together. Other than that it's nice to move around again, even if it sometimes feels like it's just for the sake of not standing still.
I must admit that I'm hard to impress nowadays. Shanghai, persumably a city of great interest, an endless choice of activities and a sparkling night-life, in my eyes becomes just really big and really glittery, nothing more and nothing less.
It seems like most citys in central and east China are pretty much the same. I did the tour last summer, even though I've now been in cities I've never visited before, I haven't had many surprises. I think that next time I'll just have to go west. Or further north. Or further south. This is a big country after all.
There are certain benefits with travelling during winter. Not so many bloody tourists for one. God how I hate tourists. If it weren't for the obvious problems, I would only travel to places that didn't allow any tourists. Backpackers however, who are a special kind of tourists, can be fun. Travelling with two friends as I do now result in that I don't really feel the backpacker spirit flowing through my veins. I more feel like a combined observer and tour guide. We haven't even met that many backpackers. Maybe it's also because of the winter, people just don't want to travel during winter. I kinda miss the tourists.
/Alex
Me and my two friends, Mads and Johan, get more and more tired every day, no matter how much we sleep. Every day is a long, desperate search for coffee, none of us function properly without caffeine. Life is hard and difficult and cold until I have my first cup of coffe for the day in my hand. Then I keep allert for some hours, and either fall asleep early or need another coffee later in the evening.
The three of us is a sad bunch. Mads suffer from constant migraines, Johan suffer from numerous allergies, and me, I just need my coffee. There are a lot of needs to satisfy and a lot of circumstances to avoid. If we don't manage to satisfy all these needs, someone or all of us get tired, cranky, silent, get a head ache, get hungry, get cold, feel sick, feel anxious, feel miserable, wanna go home and hide under a blanket and sleep until the next day. However, none of us want to be the one complaining, so usually we just have to guess when it's time for lunch or coffee or a rest. Sounds more complicated than it is, honestly. And at least we're being sensitive together. Other than that it's nice to move around again, even if it sometimes feels like it's just for the sake of not standing still.
I must admit that I'm hard to impress nowadays. Shanghai, persumably a city of great interest, an endless choice of activities and a sparkling night-life, in my eyes becomes just really big and really glittery, nothing more and nothing less.
It seems like most citys in central and east China are pretty much the same. I did the tour last summer, even though I've now been in cities I've never visited before, I haven't had many surprises. I think that next time I'll just have to go west. Or further north. Or further south. This is a big country after all.
There are certain benefits with travelling during winter. Not so many bloody tourists for one. God how I hate tourists. If it weren't for the obvious problems, I would only travel to places that didn't allow any tourists. Backpackers however, who are a special kind of tourists, can be fun. Travelling with two friends as I do now result in that I don't really feel the backpacker spirit flowing through my veins. I more feel like a combined observer and tour guide. We haven't even met that many backpackers. Maybe it's also because of the winter, people just don't want to travel during winter. I kinda miss the tourists.
/Alex
Xian - Chongqing
After a loong semester, I felt more like going to Hainan and lie on the beach for five weeks, rather than go through with my plans to travel around China one more with two friends of mine. But, having a happy reunion with Mads (aka. Madelene aka. Mad Dog) and Johan in Xian a couple of days ago made me change my mind.
We soon got tired of Xian. It's a city with persumably a lot of interesting historical sites, such as the teracotta warriors. If one is willing to spend some days doing long treks to these historical sites around Xian, it would probably be quite interesting. We however, decided not to, and the city Xian in itself is dead boring.
So we spend two nights at a nice hostel there, and then went to Chongqing. This is a city with a worse reputation than it deserves. There is not one songle straight street, and trying to find the way to anywhere is quite impossible. (This couldn't possibly have anything to do with that I'm bad at reading maps!)
The city is scattered over some hills and valleys, and it gives the architecture an interesting apearance. Even though it is quite polluted, like all Chinese cities, it has a certain character that I haven't found anywhere else in China.
However, restless as we are, we'll leave already tomorrow. We'll take a ferry down rivers on the Jiangzi, it will take us two days and three nights. On the way we will pass the three gorges, an area along the Jiangzi persumably very beautiful, and that will be flooded as they finish building their great dam project in 2009. Better do it while there is still time.
Trying to find some inspiration to write something interesting, but right now there is no inspiration to be found, so I'll settle with this general info and hope that maybe somewhere I'll manage to sqeeze in something good. And now, time to split.
/Alex
We soon got tired of Xian. It's a city with persumably a lot of interesting historical sites, such as the teracotta warriors. If one is willing to spend some days doing long treks to these historical sites around Xian, it would probably be quite interesting. We however, decided not to, and the city Xian in itself is dead boring.
So we spend two nights at a nice hostel there, and then went to Chongqing. This is a city with a worse reputation than it deserves. There is not one songle straight street, and trying to find the way to anywhere is quite impossible. (This couldn't possibly have anything to do with that I'm bad at reading maps!)
The city is scattered over some hills and valleys, and it gives the architecture an interesting apearance. Even though it is quite polluted, like all Chinese cities, it has a certain character that I haven't found anywhere else in China.
However, restless as we are, we'll leave already tomorrow. We'll take a ferry down rivers on the Jiangzi, it will take us two days and three nights. On the way we will pass the three gorges, an area along the Jiangzi persumably very beautiful, and that will be flooded as they finish building their great dam project in 2009. Better do it while there is still time.
Trying to find some inspiration to write something interesting, but right now there is no inspiration to be found, so I'll settle with this general info and hope that maybe somewhere I'll manage to sqeeze in something good. And now, time to split.
/Alex
Hong Kong
So I packed some things in my bag and fled from Wuhan for a week. Collected some more stamps in the passport as I entered Hong Kong yesterday morning.
Me and my two companions, that is: Boyscout Chris and Professional traveller Polly, felt somewhat like a bunch of framers when we walked around in the streets yesterday, just staring amazed at everything. (It even got to the point when I, without the slightest trace of sarcasm, exlaimed: "It's so... fashionable!" What do you think of that huh?) This is so different form Wuhan as it could possibly get. It's so different from China as it could possibly get. The shock to come here was greater than when I had just arrived to Beijing from Stockholm.
Everything is so clean, there is even toilet paper in the public toilets! People are better looking and better dressed, and somehow the selfesteem of the Cantonese seems bigger than that of the Chinese. There are sometimes more foreigners than Cantonese in the streets, and everywhere there are signs and information written in English. Even the old ladies working in small restaurants talk English here!
And the food! Oh my good the food! We find everything here! Food from every corner of the worl, there is even decent coffee! And there are Starbucks and 7elevens in every corner, but after four months in the undedeveloped city/overgrown village that is Wuhan, I'm actually glad to see it! I'm completely confused by all of it. And, friends, family, I love it.
I will write a more thorough report over my adventures later, but for now it's time to quit.
I hope you all had a great New Year!
/Alex
Me and my two companions, that is: Boyscout Chris and Professional traveller Polly, felt somewhat like a bunch of framers when we walked around in the streets yesterday, just staring amazed at everything. (It even got to the point when I, without the slightest trace of sarcasm, exlaimed: "It's so... fashionable!" What do you think of that huh?) This is so different form Wuhan as it could possibly get. It's so different from China as it could possibly get. The shock to come here was greater than when I had just arrived to Beijing from Stockholm.
Everything is so clean, there is even toilet paper in the public toilets! People are better looking and better dressed, and somehow the selfesteem of the Cantonese seems bigger than that of the Chinese. There are sometimes more foreigners than Cantonese in the streets, and everywhere there are signs and information written in English. Even the old ladies working in small restaurants talk English here!
And the food! Oh my good the food! We find everything here! Food from every corner of the worl, there is even decent coffee! And there are Starbucks and 7elevens in every corner, but after four months in the undedeveloped city/overgrown village that is Wuhan, I'm actually glad to see it! I'm completely confused by all of it. And, friends, family, I love it.
I will write a more thorough report over my adventures later, but for now it's time to quit.
I hope you all had a great New Year!
/Alex