China
Written by Bruno
After saying goodbye to our friends in Vietnam, Sofia and I made our way to Shanghai. China was the country I was the most excited for during this trip, because of its depth of culture, beautiful natural landscapes and sense of unfamiliarity. We slightly modified our way of travel while in China by moving from city to city more rapidly, since our Visa was only valid for 30 days and we wanted to make the most of it!
Shanghai
We started our trip in the immense city of Shanghai (25+ million people!). We stayed there for about three days in order to settle in this new country. Before coming to Shanghai, I expected to feel cramped and suffocated by the city; however to my surprise the city felt very airy and green. Being near the water with a lot of parks felt amazing, there was a breeze flowing through the streets. The large population was only felt when visiting the tourist attractions. We also visited Shanghai during a national holiday, so I think there were even more people than usual. The city was extremely walkable, with large side walks and good pedestrian light signaling (which was a change from some of the other countries we travelled to).
Here are some of the Shanghai highlights in pictures.
The Bund, a waterfront area looking at the Shanghai skyline; maybe the most famous sight in Shanghai:
Here are cool buildings and streets:
From Shanghai we did a day trip to the city of Zhujiajiao, an ancient water town on the outskirts of the city. We went there using the subway/train system and it went so well, probably the best subway system I have ever used.
Zhangjiajie
It was time for us to say goodbye to Shanghai and make our way inland to Zhangjiajie. Zhangjiajie is a city in Hunan province, famous for its natural beauty. While there, we visited two national parks: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and Tianmen Mountain. Visiting those national parks made me appreciate how beautiful and diverse China’s landscapes are.
Getting to Zhangjiajie from Shanghai was so easy, we took a high speed train (300+ km/h) for 9 hours. The train was spacious and very comfortable (interesting fact - there are no train tickets, you use your passport to enter and exit).
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, known for its stone pillars (which inspired the floating islands in Avatar):
Tianmen Mountain
Guilin / Yangshuo
We left Zhangjiajie and headed to Guilin / Yangshuo using both a high speed train and ferry boat. Yangshuo is a small city known for its natural beauty. It’s full of tiny mountains and rivers. We did some boating and walking around; it was beautiful!
Crack
Since drugs are frowned upon in China, we opted for a different type of crack:
Sadly, I tripped and cracked a bone in my foot (5th metatarsal)… this happened while walking in a crowded area of Yangshuo. Since the pain was high, we decided to go to the ER that same evening. The ER was clean and doctors were able to see us quickly. The language barrier was the main obstacle at the hospital, none of the staff spoke english, so we had to use translation apps which made things very difficult.
The Chinese doctor recommended that we head back home to do a second x-ray to determine if surgery is needed. Thus, we made the very difficult decision to head back to Seattle. This was heartbreaking… we had a lot more travel planned ahead and this abrupt interruption was hard to digest…
Here are some photos of me going through the ER:
Thoughts and observations
China was amazing! Sofia and I really want to go back and continue our trip!
Here are some of our thoughts and observations:
- Great Firewall: The Chinese government has put regulations in place in order to censor some websites when accessed domestically. For instance, Google (search, gmail, YouTube, etc.), Facebook (messenger, WhatsApp, etc), Wikipedia are all unreachable while in China. This can make navigating the countries a bit difficult, and a VPN is pretty much required for us tourists.
- Cashless country: In China you pay using an app on your phone (either AliPay or WePay). In the 15 days we were there we used cash only once. And I have to say, AliPay is so convenient and easy to use, it’s connected to all your other Chinese apps and can be used for purchases both in big stores and with street vendors.
- Food: The food in China was really good, however sometimes intimidating and very foreign to Sofia and I’s palate. For example, a few of our dishes had chunks of duck blood, we also tried a dish that translates to “beef hoofs”, which was basically a pile of bones and fat with hardly any meat.
- Language: The language barrier was definitely interesting, China is the country we’ve travelled to with the least amount of English. I personally liked this, it makes it easier to fully immerse in the country.
What’s next?
We might write a dedicated post about what’s next for Sofia and I. But for now, no traveling for me (Bruno), until my foot is healed. I hope to be able to spend time in Québec with my family over the summer.