Bullying around the world.

The Great Firewall of China

                                Trip to Beijing with Nikolai, China. 9-12/9

Intro.

I’ll try to focus and remember as many details as possible of my trip to Beijing with Niko, but since a month as already passed it will be pretty hard!

Chapter 1. BARBECUED SNAKES AND COCKROACHES

After an everlasting flight, we got in the Capital City of China. As soon as we where making our first steps in this country we realized that it would have been an adventure: nobody, NOBODY could speak english. But we are brave enough and with our knowledge of mandarin we were able to say nihao and hen hao! 

After a glance to the hotel we where staying at, that was awesome and extremely comfortable, we bounced to experience the city during the night. MTR fare is 2 ¥, so more or less 0.2 ; and it’s fixed, so it doesn’t depend on your destination. You can feel the communist regime just entering the MTR, when there is security checking every 2 meters. But at least we felt safer walking in the streets, even at night.

We jumped off at Wangfujing, eclectic area bursting with life every day and night. Since we were starving, we looked for something to eat. We followed some men to a long road full of street peddlers that were cooking almost everything : from the normal chicken to snakes, seahorses, cockroaches and ostriches. And everything barbecued !

As we were getting in the alleys of the city, I learnt how large is my bargaining power: it was my first time to bargain in the street markets and I got away with it very well! Actually, not “very well” since they convinced my to buy everything that was on their stands, but at least I agreed on every price :D

Chapter 2. FREE TIBET!

First real day in Beijing: rain! Not heavy rain that stops you from going out of your super comfortable hotel, so after a hearty breakfast we made our way to the Forbidden City.

The name it doesn’t remind anything, anymore. This place is full of tourists, most of them are even Chinese, so it’s not “forbidden” anymore. It has been the residence of the emperor of China for millenniums, and it’s a huge complex full of buildings that, more or less, look all like the same : red walls, golden roofs and blue/green details. I have to admit that I have been very disappointed by this place, but at the same time it was still worth seeing it, to better understand the greatness of the Empire of China once upon a time.

As we entered the Forbidden City from the side and we walked up north, we had to go back to the southern entrance to visit Tian’anmen Square. Because of the rain we didn’t want to walk, so what is better than experience the classic rickshaw and passing through the Hutongs of Beijing? The formers are narrow alleys where, usually poor, people live and set up their own business. Only problem was that the rickshaw driver made fun of us and heactually turned around the corner, pretending that we where in Tian’anmen Square.

After walking a lot we got to Tian’anmen Square, and there is where my disappointment began to raise even more. I don’t know what I was expecting from that place, but surely I thought that I could feel more the atmosphere of the 89’s protest. Actually is just a huge square with Mao Zedong’s mausoleum and what they call “Parliament of China”. That was when I was proud of myself wearing a “Free Tibet” t-shirt in front of that building. Last stop of the day was the Lama Temple, that looked exactly like the Forbidden City, except for the statues of Buddha; we had the chance to see the biggest statue of Buddha (indoor I guess…): it was golden and tall at least 8 meters. 

Chapter 2. “BE A MAN, WITH ALL THE FORCE OF A GREAT TYPHOON” 

Very early alarm, but it was necessary to make our way to the Great Wall of China, in the site of Mutyanyu still one of the best wonders in the world. We decide to get there very early in the morning so that we could be on the wall without many tourists, and we reached our goal! The taxi driver picked us up at the hotel and we where ready for our climb. 

It’s amazing how powerful you can feel once you’re on the wall. There was a little bit of fog and clouds that made the atmosphere even more mysterious. As we made our first steps on the wall, we realized that we couldn’t miss that experience for nothing in the world. I can’t seriously add anything else, because it is something that you have to witness by yourself and not read on my blog. Little reminder: we slid down from the wall with a damaged sleight, but it was totally worth it (even though the brakes weren’t working as needed).

Coming back from the wall at lunch time, we had still half day waiting to be filled with sightseeing. What about Summer Palace? Well, very good choice. This place is amazing, even though it looks like a forbidden city outside Beijing (but that’s how it’s supposed to be, right?). Unluckily, we got there very late (4ish) and we were told it was about to close; we rushed to see many things thinking it was going to close soon and we didn’t have the chance to see everything. In the end, we got off at 6.30 pm, that’s when we realized that the closing time meant that no one could enter later than 5 pm.

Last stop of the day: the best restaurant in town to taste the famous Beijing Duck. It’s not a big deal, it’s just a roasted, dry duck: that’s what happens when you follow all of your travel guide’s tips ! 

Chapter 3. “CHEAPER, CHEAPER, CHEAPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER”

Struggling to get off the bed on the last days, we head to the Temple of Heaven. The great thing about this place is that not just the temple is beautiful, but also the whole frame. It is enclosed in a very nice park where Beijingren live their daily life, singing with their choir, playing chess, mahjong and many traditional chinese games.

After spending an entire weekend taking pictures with chinese girls amazed by european beauty, we were seriously surprised when these american girls asked to take a picture with us. I’ll probably see my face in same random pictures on Facebook, one day.

Just a brief tour in the busy Pearl Market: despite few vendors selling pearls, this place is full of fakes of every kind: iPhone, clothes, shoes and so on. This is where we improved our bargaining skills, reaching incredibly low prices. Everyone was pulling my arms after seeing me walking with bags full of souvenirs and random stuff; everyone in that market wanted me to buy at their place!

Conclusions.

I will repeat myself again: I had too high expectations on Beijing and this probably “ruined” my trip. But in the end, as I told everyone in HK once back from this adventure, it was really worth it and I couldn’t not do it. The Great Wall is definitely THE place to go if you’re in China for any reason.  Zaijian! 再见！！！

Vietcongs for a week.

                       Weekend Getaway to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 6-14/10/2011

Chapter 1. MILLION DOLLAR BABY

we are MILLIONAIRES!!! the exchange rate is so ridiculous that we couldn’t stop making fun out of it!

The hotel was very comfortable and central even though it was just a 2-star hotel, but we decided to bounce to have a glance of the city and headed to this colored street full of bars. Roads were so full of motorcycles that Naples cannot even be compared to it (even in the way they were driving!!).

At the bar we stopped by we realized how cheap Vietnam is; a bottle of Saigon, tasty but light local beer, just 25000 Dong (less than 1 €). And as the streets were full of motorbikes, the bars were full of prostitutes (not escort, but real cheap sluts!). Another common thing in these bars were the absurd contrast between communist symbols, Ho Chi Minh pictures and American shows on the tv.

Chapter 2. DISCOVERING THE CITY

Set up the alarm early, we are ready for our first day in Ho Chi Minh City. Be careful of the huge amount of uncovered electric cables all over the streets. We decided to follow the walking tour suggested by my guide book, Lonely Planet of course. Since we were ten it was impossible to complete the tour: every two minutes someone was lost!!

First stop is a very tiny street market with fresh fish and VERY FRESH FROGS: they were skinless but still jumping and breathing. We also tried a little tropical fruit called “rambutan” that looks like a little ball with thorns and tastes like grape. As the time passed by and the hunger was higher and higher, we headed to a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant were you could feel the influence of the French colonialism. We tasted fresh spring rolls, made with rice paper, vegetables, shrimps and beef: they were fresh and tasty, but the lemon grass inside made everything too much sour.

After refreshments, the Vietnamese War Museum is waiting for us. It was as interesting as shocking because of the cruel pictures depicting dead or deformed people after war and chemical agents, but at least it was an occasion to learn something more about that war.

Too tired for clubbing, we had a chilling walk on the Saigon river where we met a little kid selling chewing gum; he was seriously fascinated by us and we played with him for a while. Reminder: witnessed live “CRAZY TAXI” thanks to the taxi driver that had to much cocaine and was running down the streets of Saigon like Schumacher without stopping to honk. 

Chapter 3. WHEN I SHOT WITH A GUN

We had to escape from Saigon’s traffic for a little trip. Destination: Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels.

I’ve never heard about Cao Daism so this first stop gave me the chance to get in touch with this fascinating religion, a mix between all the religion around the world.
After the lunch with an annoying German guy from Australia that told us the story of his whole life, we made our way to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietcong’s ploy to escape from the American troupes. As we stepped in the jungle, we saw hidden traps, entrances of the tunnels and destroyed American tanks. The most amazing thing was shooting with a M16; I thought that the recoil would have been stronger but instead we had just an amazing surge of adrenaline!

With an height of 120 cm and little light in some spots, we had to walk on our knees in the tunnels to avoid weakness. As you reach the exit hole is like a rebirth, seeing the light and breathing full-throated. Nice stop in the jungle to taste some steamed Tapioca with sugar and minced peanuts.

Even more tired than the first day, we went to a very particular restaurant: the owner hires only homeless kids and orphans and helps them providing accommodation, education and a good salary. Besides the charitable side of the restaurant, the food was very good and the location was an old french loft, so that the atmosphere was perfect.

Chapter 4. TROPIC THUNDER

Another guided tour is waiting for us, as we are not that “brave” to witness Vietnam countryside all by ourselves. First stop is a little factory where they carve wood and make beautiful ornaments.

Vietnam wasn’t in Asia if we hadn’t seen a “Big Buddha” also there, smiling and fat. We couldn’t resist to the Vietnamese fashion so we bought our conic hats and discovered how comfortable and useful they were.

When we reached the Mekong Delta, this amazing delta of a very long river that springs in Tibet, we started our boat trip on a little wooden boat. First stop, lunch on Turtoise Island: actually, I saw just 2 turtles on the whole island. Back on the boat just in time to enjoy an amazing tropical storm that flooded the boat!

Our second stop was on Coconut Island, and this one was seriously full of coconuts. In fact, we stopped at a “factory” where they made coconut candies that tasted like caramel; we also tried coconut wine, but because of the 40% of alcohol, we couldn’t feel the coconut at all! I don’t know exactly what this has to do with coconuts, but we grabbed a huge python that was coiling up on our necks. I thought it would have been very viscous but instead it was very soft.

As we saw the snake we understood that it wouldn’t have been a normal trip; we witnessed rowing in a river with crocodiles and piranhas, even though we haven’t seen any of those. As every guided tours, we had a break for tea and a colored plate full of tropical fruits: mini bananas, dragon fruit, watermelon, something unknown and of course “rambutan”. Served with the fruits, we enjoyed some traditional Vietnamese music with young ladies singing off-key.

Chapter 5. LA DECLARATION DE VOL

Ready for our coming back home, we went clubbing because our flight was scheduled at 5.50 am. But, LUCKILY, some “motorbike cowboys” decided to kindly steal my friend’s purse while she was crossing; and, LUCKILY, she had her passport inside. The first thing you think in this situation is to reach the police, and it was actually a very good idea, but just because we had a lot of fun there. Of course no one spoke english in the station, so we had to mime the action to let them understand what happened.

Sure they didn’t understand anything, we want back home and postponed our flight tickets. I said luckily because this nightmare gave us the chance to live the city a little bit more and deeper, so we could forget about it and transform it in a nice memory. Even though we had to go back on forth over embassies, immigration departments and other police stations (with jails inside :D ), we had great time renting a motorbike with very light helmets and running down the streets of HCMC just like a Vietnamese.

You can’t go to HCMC without tasting once street food, so we did. And, since there was no English menu, I randomly tried this little shellfish called “Oc Hu’ong”, which apparently are barbecued snails served with lime, salt and pepper: “sooooooooooooo good” as my french friend Damien would say.

Conclusions.

A fantastic mix between undiscovered culture and reminders of the late 60’s war, Vietnam is the place to be to taste awesome food, ride motorbikes with other 7 million of people (out of 10 million of citizens!) and experience wild life in the jungle.

Ps: let’s don’t forget about the immigration officer of the vietnamese airport without shoes that was listening to the BACKSTREET BOYS telling me that my passport was FAKE.