China 2005

China: March 11-18, 2005

Cathleen at the Great Wall of China, Ba Da Ling

China was very cold. And memorable not only because it was cold, but because I got the sick. The most sick I have ever gotten while on vacation. I am talking fever, chills, congestion (but not my nose), a horrible and painful cough, and loss of my voice. I spent two days of the trip not doing or seeing anything. I actually did not get my voice back until a few days after I was home, and that due (I believe) to some anti-biotics administered because my cat, Ethan, bit me. Badly bit me. But that is another story for another day.

The trip itself was relatively inexpensive. After all was said and done, I think I spent about $2000 for the flight, hotel, day trips, and souvenirs. Not a bad price. I was able to see a lot of things I'd only read or heard about, such as:

A couple of observations about China:

First, almost all of the signs come with subtitles. Meaning that they are in Chinese (as I would hope they would be as the signs themselves are actually located in CHINA) but a second line in English existed underneath the Chinese. Made things a lot easier. Although some took a few seconds to decipher. I saw one sign on the highway with the English words "Overtaking Lane" - passing lane to you and me.
Unless you are very brave or very foolhardy, I would not drive in China. Yes, they drive on the same side of the road as we do in the United States. But traffic is pretty constant and the drivers themselves are in a constant state of "Merge". Meaning if they want to move over into your lane in front of you, YOU had better watch out. The good news is I only saw one accident the entire time I was there.
Volkswagon is winning the automobile war. Most of the cars I saw over in China, especially in Beijing, were Volkswagons. Not to say other manufacturers were not represented, but Volkswagon has a decisive edge. The make of Volkswagon I saw most often was labeled "Santana"; looked to me like a Jetta.
Most of the Chinese people I spent any amount of time with also had an English name. For instance, our tour guides were Frank, Jessica, and Annie. I can not remember what their Chinese names are - they gave us the English names and that is what we called them.
Beijing is at the same latitude(?) as New York and Philadelphia, so the weather is similar. That means it is still very cold in March, which I found out the hard way when a frigid wind from Mongolia came blowing in the day we arrived. Shanghai, a city we visited several days later, is at the same latitude as North Carolina so it was appreciatively warmer.
Street vendors are persistent!
China is communist in name only.
Xian and Suzhou are considered small cities. Only about 7 million people live in each. By contrast, about 17 million people and 14 million people live in Shanghai and Beijing, respectively.
McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and KFC are a big deal over there. Almost all cities have them.
Finally, I find it odd that I arrived back in the US at 9:30pm Pacific Time on a Friday night but did not depart Beijing until 2:30am Saturday morning.