Summary China

Our appreciated, but not so much beloved powerful economic star in the far east, has far more to offer than its famous food and Shanghai.

And I would strongly recommend everybody to visit this country, cause it is one of the most bizzare places of the world:

• on one hand side, the government is still ruling in a strict way (one child policy, censorship of Internet, ...) - and we call the system which is ruling this country still communistic
  
• on the other hand side this country is one of the most capitalistic places of the world - where even the Americans could still learn something about - so in our terms good ;-)

And yes, some reports our beloved western media like Spiegel Online (which claims to be one of the best magazines in Germany) are part wise true (e.g. in air pollution), but they did not mention that China put a lot of efforts to get things better. And especially in Beijing I saw an dramatic increase of the air quality compared to my first visits 5 years ago.

I would describe China a bit as the US in the 50s or 60s last millennium. Men have an unbelievable macho behaviour, they like to show off in the public and are smoking everywhere.As well China as a state likes to show its power like the US did in the past, where they still were powerful - crazy big official buildings, big expenses in military, ...

As people are getting more and more wealthy, they also like to spend their free time at their wonderful touristic attractions (some of them are used by the government to increase the believe in the countries rulers e.g. Great Wall or Tianmen) - which basically means, that the Chinese don't wait for western tourists to spend their money, cause their domestic market is so huge! So don't wonder, if people don't care if they are speaking English or not.

Anyhow it is quite easy to travel around, as the train network is pretty good, all cities could be reached by plane and if you're asking a bit around you will always find people who are speaking English.

My recommendation is to definitely to this country and spent their some time - I would rather go five times to China, than once to the south of Thailand. People are as nice as in Thailand, but the country is much more clean, it is not so hot and there is much more to do.

Yangshuo near Guilin

Yangshuo (link) is one of the most amazing places I've been so far in China. It is a small city in Guangxi province which is beside the wonderful karst hills also famous for its food => bee larva, bamboo rats and dogs... here you can go for the real Chinese food ;-)

The city itself is especially in summer, spring and autumn pretty crowded - but even in these seasons there is much to do here: cycling, swimming in the clean rivers and of course climbing and the good side is, that when you are a bit outside of Yangshuo, it will be no crowded anymore.

In this picture you can see Yangshuo downtown early in the morning - so not crowded yet...

Two smaller rivers are flowing through the magnificent scenery, where you can also raft down on a bamboo raft.

One of the locations, we've been climbing on, is called Swiss Cheese.

Ben and Amanda at Baby Frog Buttres

Moon Hill, which made the region very famous especially in the climbing scene, there are some 8bs in the roof of the arch.

Xian

Xian is one of the most famous places in China. Beside the Terracotta Army, there is as well the famous bell and drum tower (in the first picture you see the bell tower) and a amazing cool city wall, which is around 30km long and could be dicovered by bycicle. (link)

Bell tower at night...

Drum tower at night, right behind the drum tower you can find the Muslim Street, which is also a "Must" in Xian. You can enjoy there a lot of nice different tastes of food.

One issue I was a little bit shocked about is the horrible airpolution in Xian, it is even worse than in Beijing.

In the following you can see some pictures taken from the Unesco World Heritage.
 

Beijing

Beijing (link) is amazing, not only in terms of shopping and big buildings like Shanghai, but also in cultural identity and culture in general, where Shanghai has really not too much to offer.

As I was staying one week in Beijing, I had really plenty time to discover the city. But to be honest, after staying one week here, I am glad that I could leave the city. Even the weather and pollution conditions were better, than ever before, I was in Beijing - it is still not the Black Forest... in terms of traffic and air pollution => Smoking cigarettes is still not necessary in Beijing.

Travelling in Beijing is very convenient, as the metro is unbelievable cheap, but prepare that it might be a bit crowded.

As some friends of me are staying there, I was able to stay at their place, which was really great, so I had the possibility to meet with them cool places in the evening and good discussions, which was very nice after travelling alone for such a long time.

The time for visiting Beijing was still o.k., but it was already freezing cold, to avoid the big crowds of tourists, the best time to see it is in October.

But have a look at the pictures, I took:

Tianmen & Forbidden City

The Forbidden City could be almost entered for free, only if you wanna visit the Palace Museum, you are charged high rates.

Tianmen is so far I know the largest place all over the world - the size is quite impressive.

798 Art District

Beside all the recommended places, it is definitely worth to go to 798 Art District in Chaoyang, even you are not interested in modern art, cause this places is packed with bars and clubs as well, so also interesting for night life.

What I liked most at 798, was the fact, that it is not a cheap copy of Warhole art, it shows culture and art in a modern way with a own identity.

 
One week was too little time to spent time at exhibitions, but beside the outside installations there are plenty of exhibitions you can enter.

Olympic Park from 2008 Summer Olympics

Yeah, if been also there...

...which is definitely NO must. Or you can do it, like we did, go there for half an hour take some pictures and leave again.

My friend Hu Ying and I had there discussions, if such mega events make sense or not - her impression, was, that the Olympics were just waste of energy and money, even for China.

HouHai, Beihai and Belltower

HouHai and Beihai area is probably one of the most famous hutongs in Beijing. It is located not too far away from Tianmen at a very nice lake, where Chinese go swimming, even in winter time. In the hutong you have plenty bars, live music clubs, hostels, cafes, ... and you can there also rent bicycles to ride them in the hutongs.

In walking distance of this district you can find the Drum and Bell tower, which are also very famous and popular buildings.

Temple of Heaven

Not too far away from HouHai and Tianmen you can find the Temple of Heaven. This temple is located in a huge and nice park. Even for a person like me, who is in general not too much interested in architecture, it was impressing to get an impression, how they build these temples 500 years ago.

Beijing Zoo

One morning I even went to the Beijing Zoo, just to find out, what differences there are between Chinese and European zoos. => there are not too many...

Beijing Zoo, is much bigger, than the ones I met so far in Europe, and it was pretty cheap, which wondered me a bit, cause the maintenance of such a big area must cost a lot.

If you have plenty time, go there it is worth to visit.

The pictures you can find, show only domestic animals.

Summer Palace

Not too far away from the Zoo, also located in the north west of Beijing, you can find the Summer Palace, which is also located in a huge park. In summer you can even float in small boats on the big lake - but I guess, that it will be there pretty crowded.

 

Great Wall at Mutianyu close to Beijing

There are many possibilities, where you could visit the Great Wall. As I've been already to Badalin, Hu Ying and I went to Mutianyu, which is slightly further, but less crowded.

Sports & Concerts in Beijing

People in Beijing are not only doing Tai Chi in the public, they are also playing this little soccer game - which is really fun, I joined them more than once.

In the north west of the town there is also a climbing gym, where I went twice, to make at least a little but sports (I tried once running, but the air pollution is really way too much). In this short clip, you can see some guys practicing for the Chinese Championship in Climbing, which will attend in this gym from Nov. 26th - Dec. 1st 2013.

If you wanna listen to nice live music and have a cool under ground flair, I recommend Club 13, which is also located in the north west of Beijing.