More than two weeks back in China already, so it’s about time for an update again. So first things first, I finally went to the great wall of China! It was a very impressive place to be. Definitely one of my highlights in China. I walked over a less touristic part of the wall together with three French girls and an Canadian couple. It was a really good part of the wall, with nice views and even some parts which were not restored. All together it was a very nice walk from about 4 hours.
In Beijing I Also went to the Summer Palace, but this place was quite disappointing, because there where far too many people there. It proves me that Chinese tourists want different things than Western tourists, cause they seemed to love this place, while I found it one of the most disappointing places I’ve seen in China. On the other hand the Chinese also know more of the history about this place, while I have no to little idea.
After Beijing I took a night train to Hohhot, the capital of inner Mongolia. Now I’ve been on night trains before in China, and so far my experience with them has been great (Yes, even the train ride of 32 hours was quite good.) Let me quickly add, that so far I’ve always had a nice hard sleeper, which is not a great bed, but good value for the money your paying. This time however I had a hard seat… and I was one of the lucky ones. There were also people who didn’t had a seat, and just stood or sat on the floor the whole night long. Even though I might have been luckier than others, I still had a horrible night on the train, and didn’t slept for one minute.
I went to Hohhot to visit the grasslands of inner Mongolia, who turned out to be a circus for Chinese tourists. Another sign that Chinese tourist really want different things than me. It reminded me a little bit of Centerparks in Holland, a kind of holiday resort where you can imagine to be staying in real nature. There are big camps of tents with Chinese tourists, including karaoke and “real” Mongolian restaurants. Another thing which disappointed me here, was that I didn’t feel for one second that I was in Mongolia. The people were Chinese and the ones who looked a little bit different, where still very Chinese. Maybe I would have liked it more when I went here, when I just got to China. But now after my travel experience in the west of Sichuan to the Tibetan towns, this was just simply disappointing.
After Hohhot I moved on to a very ugly city called Datong. This city was poor and polluted and made me very happy that I lived in Wuhu instead of this place. The reason however why I went here, where the Yungang caves with big Buddha statues and these were happily enough quite impressive. From Datong I took another hard seat in the train (daytime though) towards a small city called Pingyao. This is about the only Chinese city which inside the town walls hasn’t got any new buildings. All the buildings inside the city walls are 18th and 19th century. Yes, that’s quite a big change from the main Chinese cities. I really liked this place, it was nice to see an older more historical part of China.
After Pingyao I decided to go off the beaten (foreign) tourist route, and take a look at one of the not so many Chinese waterfalls. This place is visited by a lot of Chinese, but almost no foreigners go to this place. Mainly because it’s off the beaten track and it’s less easy to reach than most places in China. This trip turned out to be more interesting than I expected, it included Chinese people who wanted to see European money, a stay in two very small villages, who see very few foreigners and finally a stay in a city where most hotels didn’t accept foreigners, happily enough there was a Chinese woman who helped me to find a hotel, cause else it would have taken hours to find accommodation. Oh and of course the waterfall who wasn’t as impressive as I hoped, to be honest. But the trip itself through a more remote (poor) region of China, with sometimes a bit xenophobic, but most times very curious people, of whom most never even heard of Holland was worth it. Quite a change from the beaten track, Beijing, Pingyao, Yunnan etc, which made it very special to see.
Yesterday I arrived in Xi’an and although I enjoyed the last trip through mostly rural China, I’m glad to be back in a developed city again. Tomorrow I will go to the famous terracotta army. Hopefully I will be able to somehow put some pictures up any time soon.
In Beijing I Also went to the Summer Palace, but this place was quite disappointing, because there where far too many people there. It proves me that Chinese tourists want different things than Western tourists, cause they seemed to love this place, while I found it one of the most disappointing places I’ve seen in China. On the other hand the Chinese also know more of the history about this place, while I have no to little idea.
After Beijing I took a night train to Hohhot, the capital of inner Mongolia. Now I’ve been on night trains before in China, and so far my experience with them has been great (Yes, even the train ride of 32 hours was quite good.) Let me quickly add, that so far I’ve always had a nice hard sleeper, which is not a great bed, but good value for the money your paying. This time however I had a hard seat… and I was one of the lucky ones. There were also people who didn’t had a seat, and just stood or sat on the floor the whole night long. Even though I might have been luckier than others, I still had a horrible night on the train, and didn’t slept for one minute.
I went to Hohhot to visit the grasslands of inner Mongolia, who turned out to be a circus for Chinese tourists. Another sign that Chinese tourist really want different things than me. It reminded me a little bit of Centerparks in Holland, a kind of holiday resort where you can imagine to be staying in real nature. There are big camps of tents with Chinese tourists, including karaoke and “real” Mongolian restaurants. Another thing which disappointed me here, was that I didn’t feel for one second that I was in Mongolia. The people were Chinese and the ones who looked a little bit different, where still very Chinese. Maybe I would have liked it more when I went here, when I just got to China. But now after my travel experience in the west of Sichuan to the Tibetan towns, this was just simply disappointing.
After Hohhot I moved on to a very ugly city called Datong. This city was poor and polluted and made me very happy that I lived in Wuhu instead of this place. The reason however why I went here, where the Yungang caves with big Buddha statues and these were happily enough quite impressive. From Datong I took another hard seat in the train (daytime though) towards a small city called Pingyao. This is about the only Chinese city which inside the town walls hasn’t got any new buildings. All the buildings inside the city walls are 18th and 19th century. Yes, that’s quite a big change from the main Chinese cities. I really liked this place, it was nice to see an older more historical part of China.
After Pingyao I decided to go off the beaten (foreign) tourist route, and take a look at one of the not so many Chinese waterfalls. This place is visited by a lot of Chinese, but almost no foreigners go to this place. Mainly because it’s off the beaten track and it’s less easy to reach than most places in China. This trip turned out to be more interesting than I expected, it included Chinese people who wanted to see European money, a stay in two very small villages, who see very few foreigners and finally a stay in a city where most hotels didn’t accept foreigners, happily enough there was a Chinese woman who helped me to find a hotel, cause else it would have taken hours to find accommodation. Oh and of course the waterfall who wasn’t as impressive as I hoped, to be honest. But the trip itself through a more remote (poor) region of China, with sometimes a bit xenophobic, but most times very curious people, of whom most never even heard of Holland was worth it. Quite a change from the beaten track, Beijing, Pingyao, Yunnan etc, which made it very special to see.
Yesterday I arrived in Xi’an and although I enjoyed the last trip through mostly rural China, I’m glad to be back in a developed city again. Tomorrow I will go to the famous terracotta army. Hopefully I will be able to somehow put some pictures up any time soon.
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