A rough arrival in Chongqin (pronounced Tjongtjing)
Dear family, friends and supporters
Today we arrived in Chongqin, a rough arrival, why?
Well:
1. Our seats at the train to Chongqin were a carriage apart, 2,5 hours we weren't together, the longest we've been appart since the beginnen of this journey.
2. We had to wait 40 minutes on our bus, while it was standing right in front of us with closed doors.
3. The trip to Dazu tomorrow wasn't as convenient as we thought, cause there's no public transport that goes there, except if you wanna take a detour of only 17 hours with trains and busses, we found the private busses that drive to Dazu after 2 hours of searching on the internet.
But hey, it's all part of the adventure.
What to say about Chongqing: it's the city with the biggest difference between poor and rich we've seen so far. One side you have the skyscrapers and neon lights, the other side is filled with buildings that we wouldn't dare to touch because they look like they're about to collaps.
This afternoon/evening was one at a slow pace, we went to a nearby park to sit down, drink some thee and beers and play some cards. This all happened under the curious eye of many local people, we don't think they know the game manillen, but that doesn't stop them from giving you advice, in Chinese...
Now we're going to sleep because our alarm goes off at 5:45 to visit Dazu tomorrow.
Xi'an was not our cup to tea. We saw the terracotta-army and it was very impressive. Xi'an is for the rest a quiet depressing city. To make it simple: Xi'an feels like a Chinese version of Brussel. Traffic jam all day long, dark streets, shopping malls and fastfoodrestaurants. Almost no parks in the city and no blue sky because of the pollution. No need to tell you that we were glad to leave this city.
We took the nighttrain to Chengdu in a hard sleepers compartiment. As an explanation: you have to share a compartiment with 75 people. 1 toilet, 1 tap of hot water, rows of 3 beds above each other in beds made for little Chinese people. But it was fun!
Chengdu is a very pleasant city. Still no blue sky due to the pollution but beautiful parks and temples. In the parks you see people playing cards or Mahjong while they drink their tea, you see them dancing... it is a city that lives. Yesterday evening we even went to a karaokebar with Americans we met on the train. We even sang some Stromae, which they never heard of, shame on them :)
Seba tried the famous hot pot... it was a quick try. I never saw my husband becoming purple due to too hot food. You can't imagine how hot is was. It is out of our league.
Tomorrow we'll visit the pandapark and on Monday Dafu in Leshan (one of the biggest Bouddha in the world).
How are we doing? Good! Enjoying on the fullest and walking around with eyes wide open! Some thing we have learned by now: - 1 When you go to China you'll get asked for a photo together with them 2, 3 time a day. Why? No flippin idea - 2 People take photos without asking, sometimes in a subtle way, mostly they don't care if you see it or not. Why? See nr 1 - 3 Toilet paper goes in the trash bin next to the toilet. Sounds easy no? Try it for once to not throw the toilet paper in the toilet, you'll see how difficult it is. - 4 Don't think because a tourist center is marked in english, they'll speak the language or take the time to listen. Even when you take a translating app in hand. - 5 Scooters: everywhere, litteraly everywhere, traffic rules don't apply to them. Mostly on batteries by the way! And the most important part of a scooter (or anything else on wheels for that matter): the horn, any reason is good, they pass a corner, they want to pass you, they think your shirt is nice... - 6 Red lights and cops are more a suggestion then rule, the fastest and loudest horn wins. - 7 For a communistic land it's rather funny that it's impossible to pass a street without seeing a Starbucks, KFC or Pizza Hut and by preference next to each other!! The Holy American Trinity. - 8 The Chinese throw money at everything! Why? Because it's holy, because it might bring luck, because see 1 & 2
Today we arrived in Shangzhou, a little south from Shanghai. So yes we took our first train. It is so well organized! Here you have safety checks everywhere, in each subway and in train stations... without having to wait for half an hour :) Hangzhou is the place to be for the welthy people of Shanghai and is also a town visited by a lot of Chinese tourists. You see them coming from their bus and follow their guide. Very familiar view:) There is a very beautiful lake with tempels all around. At night you see all the lights getting on, the bats flying around and some music in the back. A little romantic. Our new hotel is located in the middle of a closed park (we will have to figure out tomorrow what this place is exactly). We hear the crickets and the water... it will be a good night of sleep. Now it is time for us to rest our bodies and especially my feet (parents, why have you given me so sensitive feet?)
2nd and last day of Shanghai. To be honest we are not sad to leave Shanghai tomorrow. It has been fun today but it feels too much like an asian version of Brussel. We visited a temple at noon and it took us the whole afternoon to find the second one. So lesson number 1: never trust indications of a random Chinese, but you can trust cops :) so we found that second temple 1hour after closing. We had to search our comfort in dumplings, by accident we were at the birthplace of those delicious little things. After a little detour (a very, very big detour) we found our way back to the subway and went back in the vecinity of our hotel. We went to 'our' bakery (according to Albane) and finalised our evening with a couple of beers in the French pub.
After a long flight we arrives this morning in Shanghai, local time 8 but for us 1 am. Customs cleared us out in no time and we decides to take the subway instead of a cab. We wanted an adventure so we make it an adventure. I'm very proud of ourselves for figuring out where we had to go.
What to say about our first impressions? Maybe the smell of spices everywhere, even if you don't see any restaurant. Also the streetfood, everywhere and at every moment of the day, everyone is eating. We had a fantastic meal this afternoon. As I am not as adventurous as my husband I'm very proud of myself today :)
We walked to the historical center of the city. At 5pm local time we were exhausted and now w're enjoying a Vedett in a french bar of 6 euros for 2 half liters. What to expect more in life than a Belgian beer in a French pub in China?
In a couple of hours we will choose our street food for dinner and we'll go to sleep. It has been a long first day but we are ready for what China has in store for us!
Saying goodbye tot the belgian beers, we'll miss you!
Over here it's 10 o'clock. But in China it's allready 17 o'clock.
You can call it alcoholisme, we call it adapting to our destination!
1 day before departure and we still can't realize that we are going on our honeymoon very very soon. Some people think it is amazing, some think we are crazy... we are sure about 1 thing: our holiday in China will be an adventure. We are ready for the public bathrooms, the strang hygiene habits, the food, the big cultural differences and the complety different language... Or we think we are ready :) Just to say that we are aware of the adventure that is waiting for us. As long we are together I am sure we'll find a way to laugh about it. We are sure that we'll come back with in our head beautiful memories, funny stories and amazing pictures. We wish you all the best and we'll try to get you posted on our journey in China and Hong Kong. We'll also be happy to see your comments. Don't hesitate to let us know how you are and things happening in Belgium, this blog is maybe the only way we'll be able to communicate.
