IF YOU JUST WANT TO SEE PHOTOS – GO HERE – NOT ALL PHOTOS ARE UPLOADED – MISSING BEIJING AND SOME OTHER AREAS (CHECK BACK IN OCTOBER)
I am back from the Motherland! I must say, I was quite nervous going after many people warned be about hygiene, thieves, food, health, etc.. Tried my best to keep open minded and felt that I did a good job. All the hotels I stayed at were all 5 stars. Things were relatively inexpensive, but good thing I didn’t really need to buy anything!
Quick Itinerary:
Toronto – Shanghai
Shanghai – Hangzhou
Hangzhou – Suzhou
Suzhou – Nanjing
Nanjing – Wuxi
Wuxi – Shanghai
Shanghai – Beijing
Beijing – Toronto
Anyway, the plane ride is brutal! 14+ hours there is horrible! There are only so many movies you can watch before your eyes give out and the food on Air Canada is nasty. Aside for my 5 hour wait coming back to Toronto, it wasn’t that bad at all once I was on the plane (only 12.5 hours), took a nap and spent a lot of time going through all the photos.
First impression on China – a lot more modern than what many westerners think! Shanghai and Beijing International airports were a lot more modern than Pearson, Beijing even has a light train that takes you to your terminal. Beijing airport has practically a mall inside too! It’s amazing!
On the other hand, the local airport in Shanghai to Beijing wasn’t too great. My first plane had mechanical problems so we had to relocate to another gate, then my second plane had mechanical problems, so we had to move again to another gate… luckily the third plane worked! I was kind of nervous. But I’m alive!
Shanghai is massively under construction – buildings are being built everywhere. Each building is very elegant in its own way, puts Toronto to shame. The highways aren’t too bad, but since all of Shanghai is under construction, some parts of the highway are quite dangerous – you almost have to do a 90degree turn while on the highway! Driving in China is a lot WORSE than in Canada, but I didn’t see any accidents at all! Traffic is 1000x more worse than our rush hour.
Picture of an apartment in Hanzhou
Beijing is quite nice – more of the locals speak enough English (due to the Olympics I guess). For those who do not know, Beijing is the political centre (like Ottawa and Washington), and Shanghai is the financial centre (like Toronto and New York City).
Safety standards aren’t really up to par compared to Canada, many people don’t wear seat belts. Mopeds are still popular in China, sometimes you would see a family of 3 or 4 on a single moped. Even the children don’t wear a helmet! Some construction workers wear sandals while working. But the great thing is, they are very efficient and build things quickly (and properly).
The food is not that good. I was quite disappointed actually. Maybe because they took me to the tourists restaurants. In Shanghai, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Nanjing – the food was very salty and was filled with MSG. But the food was very cheap, probably no more than $3 CDN for each meal (and that was the better dishes). In Beijing, the food was better, less salty and more similar to Toronto (Toronto Chinese food is actually really good). KFC is really popular in China too! They have a lot more variety and the taste is better than in Canada – it was really really good!!!!! BK, Starbucks and McDonalds are also around China as well – although I didn’t try.
Burger King in Suzhou
The people – very friendly. The younger generation are quite welcoming, but they always laugh at me because I don’t speak Chinese. The older generation are friendly as well, very hardworking, and spit everywhere – but not as much as before. One thing I noticed, many of the locals gave me interesting stares, they know I’m not from there, but they know I’m Chinese – seemed puzzled (or attracted to my handsome good looks). Something I found interesting, I am a Large in China, and I am actually more built than most people around my age there (maybe because I go to the gym now..lol).
Highlights of the Trip
Climbed the great wall! - Took me about 40-45 minutes – it’s not as easy as you may think it is – the steps are very very steep, uneven, and narrow! But once you are at the top, it is very rewarding!
Beijing Night Market – they got some f*cked up food there. Deep fried scorpion, beetles, shark, starfish, animal testicles, silkworms etc. But really, this is for the tourists, the locals don’t really eat that food *sorry not all pictures are posted yet – i do not have sufficient space to upload on my Flickr account until October – so check back again*
Jose Calderon in Beijing! – Jose is sponsored by one of the bigger Chinese National Brands – Li-Ning… same with Baron Davis and Shaq!
Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, General Mao Memorial – Definitely a place filled with history – security is VERY HIGH here. Had a chance to see the body of General Mao (he is actually embalmed and you can see his body briefly – no pictures allowed and security is very tight there.
Hangzhou West Lake – if I ever have a chance to work or retire in China, the place to live is in Hangzhou, has a good mix of beautiful scenery (on the West Lake with all the Pagodas – towers), nightlife and some nice ladies 
.
Shanghai Ferry Cruise – the Shanghai skyline is beautiful. Definitely the best skyline I have ever seen. A lot better than NYC and TO. My pictures do not do the justice of how beautiful the skyline really is.
old shanghai
China Hollywood – it was kinda boring, but I thought it was interesting that the movie HERO ft. Jet Li and other popular stars was partly filmed here –> CLIP <–
Wutong – an old area where a lot of seniors live – it is kinda like Venice, Italy, but from what other people said, the water is less stinky.
Nanjing – this city has a lot of history (check flickr for more pictures).
Yangzhe Bridge
interesting looking tree!
All in all, China is a lot more developed than what many of you may think – in the metropolitan areas, it is more developed and technologically advanced (subways and buses are quite amazing) than Toronto – on the other-hand, some areas are quite primitive (some villages and suburbs). The people are very proud and most seem quite happy. Traffic and driving is quite crazy and I don’t think I would ever want to drive in the city areas of China – it really is that bad (for me that is). China is growing tremendously – Shanghai holds 22million people and every corner, buildings, highways and bridges are being built EVERYWHERE!!!!! It is crazy how fast Shanghai is growing!!!
In the end, I think China is a great place to visit or work for a couple of months/years, but for living, Toronto is an amazing place. We have great diversity of cultures, food and people. Their living standards isn’t as bad as what many think, but still many years away from Canada. Be happy for FRESH WATER, REASONABLY CLEAN TOILETS and relatively LARGER LIVING SPACES. All in all, China was an amazing experience, but I am happy to be back home.
If you are more interested in my trip, definitely check out more photographs with captions at Fabutan8@Flickr
NOT ALL PHOTOS ARE UPDATED YET BECAUSE I RAN OUT OF SPACE ON MY FLICKR ACCOUNT FOR THIS MONTH – SO IN OCTOBER I WILL UPLOAD THE BEIJING PICTURES AND SOME OTHER PICTURES THROUGHOUT THE TRIP. THANKS AGAIN FOR LOOKING!!
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