Unfortunately, it looks like this may be a photo free blog because Flickr appears to not be working. Those bastard Chinese officials have meant I haven’t checked Facebook properly in 3 weeks (apologies if there are any messages waiting for me to reply to), have only intermittently updated Twitter, and now can’t upload photos (apparently my pictures are too big to upload directly to my hosting, so I’ve been using Flickr to resize). Although it’s actually quite refreshing to not be relying on social media for my entertainment!

A quick beard update: it got it’s first trim of the trip this morning, as I decided it was looking a bit too fluffy and a bit too ginger for my liking. The extra insulation on my face is helping against the cold, and perhaps finally I won’t feel quite so inferior to Alan and James in the facial hair department.

So, after my last post I spent a few more days hanging around Shanghai, and I have to admit it’s a city that I love, and could very easily see me living in at some point if I were to move abroad. After Chad (“I’d rather shit in a Western shitter”) and Brad (“you can be my new British best friend”) – Chad ‘n’ Brad, perhaps the American Chaz ‘n’ Dave? – left my room, I had my own dorm for 4 nights for a bargain price of approximately 3 pound a night, in what was a really cool hostel, with a bunch of sound people. One of them was a a guy called Reed, who has a sister called Paige, who’s Mum is a librarian, and Dad a writer. Which I found pretty funny.

Shanghai involved a couple of really boozy nights at some of the city’s underground bars, hanging around with people from all over the globe. Most of the people I met were actually living in Shanghai, rather than travelling like myself. A lot of teachers, but also a lot of people setting up business there, hoping to capitalise on China’s rapid economical growth. Infact in my short time there I was offered a couple of jobs, which if I wasn’t just travelling through would have been hugely tempting. The 2010 expo is being hosted by Shanghai, which you are constantly reminded of by this horrendous blue mascot throughout the city, which I can only describe as a blob of toothpaste, with a face and limbs!

One of my favourite moments was when I was sitting in a park one day, drinking coffee and reading my book, when I was approached by 3 Chinese girls. I automatically thought they were going to try and scam me by taking me to their tea house or art gallery (a common scam in China that several people I have met have fallen for!). Anyhow, they just wanted to practice their English (which was really good). They started the conversation off by asking me if I was a model, because I have “the sweepy hair” and facial hair (a prime example of the beard coming into it’s own). I had to disappoint them, but told them I was a designer, which they assumed to be a fashion designer. I let them believe that as it sounds cooler! It was really interesting spending time chatting to them and finding out about living in Shanghai from a local’s perspective.

Another comical trait of the Chinese is their love of photographing (or literally just staring at) Westerners. Whilst up at the top of the Shanghai World Financial Centre (3rd highest building in the world?), I spent most of the time photographing a man who’d made it his mission to photograph me rather than look at the amazing views. It was pretty funny, and we shook hands at the end, and he spoke to me in Chinese. Fuck knows what he was saying, but I imagined it to be somnething along the lines of “you bastard, you kept running away from my photos”.

The highlight of Shanghai though was a visit to Moganshan Road. The art district that started out underground, and is now at the forefront of the Chinese modern art culture. I knew I was approaching the area because all of a sudden I saw the first graffiti I’d seen in China (which was pretty impressive in itself). At M50, there were dozens of small studios and galleries that belonged to each artist based in the area, which each have their own unique style. There was the odd crap artist, but the rest of it was really inspiring stuff, particularly one of the photographers who had some amazing shots of Shanghai, and one of the painters who mixed Western icons with a distictly Oriental style. I’ll definitely be heading back there when I return to Shanghai in a month.

So, anyway, back to the point of the blog. In the last week I’ve gone from generally bumming around a city to going hardcore on the touristy stuff. And I have to say, there is only so much sightseeing you can do before it gets boring. I wouldn’t be disappointed if I didn’t see anymore Chinese temples that’s for sure! As beautiful as they are, they all look the same. The designs did not change at all through time, and the insides of them are really boring.

The worst touristy moment came in the last night of Shanghai, where I went to see the Shanghai acrobatics. The acrobatics themselves were really impressive, however they were wrapped in the cheesiest choreography you will ever see. The highlight of this being when a man and woman were swinging about on some ribbons to Celine Dion’s classic “My Heart Will Go On”. However, it didn’t stop there. On the large screens they were playing clips from every Chinese persons favourite film, Titanic. I just wanted to vomit right there. Horrendous stuff.

I joined up with a tour group to Xi’an and back to Beijing, which at first I was sceptical about because there were several older people. However, as it turned out I had a great time, and made some great mates in the week, of all ages. Before getting to Xi’an, we went to a traditional Chinese water town (I have forgotten the name). It wasn’t quite the “Venice of the East”, but it was cool seeing a more traditional town, although the locals there seem more interested in the fact that Tom Cruise filmed some of Mission Impossible 3 there, rather than it’s heritage. I also had the best tea I’ve had in China there.

The highlight of Xi’an for me was cycling the city walls (the only city in China with it’s entire walls intact), and wandering around the lively Muslim district. Whilst there I had to go and see the Teracotta Warriors as well, which are certainly an impressive discovery (with a load more still to be discovered when Chinese technology improves), but nowhere near as interesting as just sampling the everyday Chinese culture, and learning more about the people. I feel sorry for the bloke who discovered them, who was given next to nothing by the government at the time, and now just sits at the museum looking like a right miserable bastard as tourists ask him to sign their books. Apparently he did meet Bill Clinton once though, lucky man.

The tour also took in the phenomenom of Chinese overnight trains. I took 2 of them, and surprisingly, they weren’t too bad! We were on hard sleepers, which meant 3 bed bunkbeds. Each time I was on the top, and despite regularly banging my head on the roof of the train, and lying on planks of wood, the sleep wasn’t too bad. The long journeys were made easier by playing cards, which were made more entertaining by the large crowds of Chinese people we would get watching us.

And finally, I arrived back in Beijing 3 days ago, and promptly went to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden Palace. Tianamen Square is massive (the largest public square in the world). Whilst there, I went to see Chairman Mau’s preserved body, which to be honest just felt wrong. There were hundreds of Chinese people there with the once in a lifetime opportunity to see the body of one of their heroes, and us tourists doing it just because we were there. It was also quite freaky, his face was lit up to a bright orange, and he wouldn’t have looked out of place in Maddam Taussaud’s!

By far the best touristy thing to do in China is the great wall. It really was incredible being there, on a day when the wall was nearly empty, covered in snow, but with the sun out. I walked pretty much the whole distance of the part we were on, and enjoyed a celebratory beer before taking the toboggon back down (which was great fun in itself!). I imagine in the height of summer, when it’s full of tourists and very hot, the moment wouldn’t have been quite so fun.

All this sightseeing has confirmed something that I already knew though. That to really get to know somewhere you need to spend extended time there, and immerse yourself in everyday life. As fascinating as it is to see famous landmarks, essentially you’re just ticking them off the list, you don’t learn too much about the locals, and how they live (and there are a hell of a lot of locals in China!).

Last night I did the ultra touristy thing of eating snake, scorpion and octopus amongst other things. Which was good fun! I can confirm that scorpion tastes of seasoned twig, and snake is actually quite nice. I passed at eating sheep penis and bollocks, it seemed unecessary. Although I swear the penis was far too long for it to have actually been a penis. But they insisted it was.

This appears to have turned into another long essay, apologies! I hope to be able to add pictures to it soon as well. Tomorrow morning I am taking an early train to Qingdao for a couple of days. It’s a small coastal town, with a huge German influence, and home of the famous Tsingtao beer, so I’ll have the inevitable tour of the brewerey. It’ll be nice to get some sea air and get away from the pollution of the cities (which really is as bad as they say).

Posted on Tuesday January 19th 2010 at 8:08 am