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dzasta travels
China is everything you expect of it and more.
The transport system is great. There are heaps of flights and they are realitively cheap. Planes seem to park all over the place and you either walk or, usually, take a bus to the terminal. The anouncements are usually made in chinese and english but the english only resembles english and you cant understand them. I found myself walking around with ticket in hand til someone pointed the way.
Trains are slow but cheap. All the anouncements are made in chinese only. The timetable boards are in chinese except the train number and time are in english. I dont know why but it makes it ok to catch train. Buses are cheaper and soo slow. I hated the sleeper bus where you gotta lie down for 24hr and cant sit up. The other buses are OK, just slow. Usually you can buy ticket at short notice, well at this time of the year anyway.
The language is a barrier. Not many chinese speak english at all. They have a huge tourist infrastructure but it is mainly for the chinese. For everyone of me there are about 1000 of them. For the chinese they can holiday in a different province and it is like a different country. The advantage is they can speak the language, use the same money and buy anything and take it home. Even in the hostels there were a lot that spoke no english. Looking at a package tour might not be such a bad idea.
The food usually wont kill you. It is the way they cook it. In Chengdu the busy places were cooking in oil that looked like diesel oil. It was that old and they never replace it just top it up. As long as it is cook all the way through it should be OK and I have not been sick so far this trip.
The traffic is terrible. China has just overtaken USA as the biggest car market in the world. I think it is about 1 million new cars on the roar every day. The roads here are just made for cars. Every city has a 10 lane highway going right through the center and usually a 8 or12 lane highway crossing it. The country roads are the best I have ever seen, usually 2 lanes each way and dual carriageway. The chinese are like all asian countries and treat the road rules as a suggestion. I saw a lot of traffic crashes while I was there, I guess about a dozen, nothing major just fender benders.
Crossing the roads is a real pain in the a... Most major roads have an underpass so you have to walk down the road, down stairs, across then up again. In Xian the major intersection has a hexagonal underpass that would be about 1km distance in total. If you cross at the lights it is a different story. They have the green man like us, you know the one that changes to red when you are half way over the road. When the man goes green just step out on the road. The cars dont stop till there are enough people crossing, the bikes dont stop. If enough chinese follow you you will be OK, if not start jumping cos you will be ducking and weaving around traffic. If you hear a screech of brakes or a horn dont look around just keep walking. If you look around they will just look straight through you and keep driving.
The Chinese are the biggest users of the internet in the world now but it is pretty hard to get on in china. A couple of hostels had the net to use, Hollies and Han Tang, but else where it was impossible. In Chengdu I found a net cafe, full of gamers, and tried to get on but they couldnt even change the language to english. In Xinjiang the net is completely blocked after the riots last year.
I loved Zhongdian, the lay back peaceful place and Xian, the manic muslim quarter. Its all or nothing for me.
The transport system is great. There are heaps of flights and they are realitively cheap. Planes seem to park all over the place and you either walk or, usually, take a bus to the terminal. The anouncements are usually made in chinese and english but the english only resembles english and you cant understand them. I found myself walking around with ticket in hand til someone pointed the way.
Trains are slow but cheap. All the anouncements are made in chinese only. The timetable boards are in chinese except the train number and time are in english. I dont know why but it makes it ok to catch train. Buses are cheaper and soo slow. I hated the sleeper bus where you gotta lie down for 24hr and cant sit up. The other buses are OK, just slow. Usually you can buy ticket at short notice, well at this time of the year anyway.
The language is a barrier. Not many chinese speak english at all. They have a huge tourist infrastructure but it is mainly for the chinese. For everyone of me there are about 1000 of them. For the chinese they can holiday in a different province and it is like a different country. The advantage is they can speak the language, use the same money and buy anything and take it home. Even in the hostels there were a lot that spoke no english. Looking at a package tour might not be such a bad idea.
The food usually wont kill you. It is the way they cook it. In Chengdu the busy places were cooking in oil that looked like diesel oil. It was that old and they never replace it just top it up. As long as it is cook all the way through it should be OK and I have not been sick so far this trip.
The traffic is terrible. China has just overtaken USA as the biggest car market in the world. I think it is about 1 million new cars on the roar every day. The roads here are just made for cars. Every city has a 10 lane highway going right through the center and usually a 8 or12 lane highway crossing it. The country roads are the best I have ever seen, usually 2 lanes each way and dual carriageway. The chinese are like all asian countries and treat the road rules as a suggestion. I saw a lot of traffic crashes while I was there, I guess about a dozen, nothing major just fender benders.
Crossing the roads is a real pain in the a... Most major roads have an underpass so you have to walk down the road, down stairs, across then up again. In Xian the major intersection has a hexagonal underpass that would be about 1km distance in total. If you cross at the lights it is a different story. They have the green man like us, you know the one that changes to red when you are half way over the road. When the man goes green just step out on the road. The cars dont stop till there are enough people crossing, the bikes dont stop. If enough chinese follow you you will be OK, if not start jumping cos you will be ducking and weaving around traffic. If you hear a screech of brakes or a horn dont look around just keep walking. If you look around they will just look straight through you and keep driving.
The Chinese are the biggest users of the internet in the world now but it is pretty hard to get on in china. A couple of hostels had the net to use, Hollies and Han Tang, but else where it was impossible. In Chengdu I found a net cafe, full of gamers, and tried to get on but they couldnt even change the language to english. In Xinjiang the net is completely blocked after the riots last year.
I loved Zhongdian, the lay back peaceful place and Xian, the manic muslim quarter. Its all or nothing for me.
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