Tag Archives: china

China Part 2: Red Capitalism

There is no free lunch in China. You have to pay for visiting monasteries, historic buildings, parks, mountains, lakes, scenic areas and nature in general. Anything remotely interesting has a price tag on it. Sometimes you have to pay just to get a look at a building from outside, entrance is not allowed (Three Pagodas, Dali). Government is not the only one collecting money, but entrepreneur locals do it independently by charging for using public roads (Shangri La) or ladders and bridges (Tiger Leaping Gorge). Nature spots are turned into neat theme parks with paved roads, curvy bridges and electric carts. Designed for mass consumption and tuned for efficient money extraction. Sometimes the theme park approach adds a nice touch, as it greatly simplifies exploring the area. Other times it feels just generic and tiresome. In some cases it may feel absurd, as you can enjoy exactly the same nature for free just next to the walled gardens.

Money extraction schemes can be cunning, as in the Stone Forest near Kunming, where the ticket booth is placed 3km away from the entrance. It is either a walk or a 3€ electric cart trip. As a reference, in China you can get a decent three pieces meal for this amount of money. Sightseeing is not cheap by any standards too. Entrance fees can reach as much as 30-40€ for top mountains. Student card is good to have nearby in order to get a discount (sometimes half the price). Paid attractions also are a sure way to summon tourist crowds, unless it involves a lot of walking. Eventually all of this was enough to kill all the interest in sightseeing in China.

Stone Forest was nice though.  A funky karst formation turned into a labyrinth set among lush green landscapes. It was naturally crowded, but at the same time large to provide solitude. Maze was challenging enough almost to get lost too. On the way to Stone Forest, a number of unwalled free-for-all similar karst formations was seen. So maybe another trip is in order sometimes for an alternative free exploration.

Otherwise Kunming was unremarkable apart from a) impressive sunsets, which seemed to go on forever b) having pig intestines for dinner that were gross and tasty at the same time c) putting  local buses into use. Thanks to Google Maps and a local SIM card, figuring out public transit has never been any easier. Just select the destination and it will figure out the rest. Turned out to be much cheaper than taxis and eliminated no need to deal with cocky taxi drivers, who spoke no English. Intense looks from locals on the bus were provided free of charge.

Stone Forest at glance.
Stone Forest a bit closer
Stone Forest even closer.
Stone Forest up close
Old meets new.
Yuantong temple
Solar water heaters are ubiquitous in China.
Mahjong on a street
And card games in a park.
Men gaze at the white man in a local bus.

China Part 1: Roads and smog

The first impression of China was massive awe-inspiring infrastructure and ever present air pollution. The impression remained true during the entire stay in China. Only when we reached the mountains of northern Yunnan, air turned clear and roads started showing signs of negligence and decay. Elevated highways, high speed trains and skyscrapers are all over the country and more are being built. Everything covered with thick hazy smog naturally. Elevated highways are particularly interesting. They seem to be the universal solution to road problems. A congested road, a canyon or a body of water? No problem, just build a highway on top of it. I wonder if three-level highways are on their way. Some naysayers claim that this building frenzy is nothing more than a construction bubble. Whether true or not, all this infrastructure is truly impressive.

Guangzhou was our starting point in China. Situated in the heart of Pearl River Delta, it is the most populated area in China. Indeed, the map of the area looks like one gigantic metropolis with cities seamlessly merging with each other. Guangzhou does not feel crowded or even large, though. The city is rather spread out and decentralised. It is modern and neat, but at the same time rather dull and grey. However, the city gets points for its space submarine like opera house, amazing food and Redtory, a hipster art district. The latter was thin on art, but had a lot of selfie-taking hipsters and expensive cafes. A nice half-day trip nonetheless. Another thing about Guangzhou is that motorbikes are banned in the city and electric scooters are preferred method of transport. Green, fast, quiet on the verge of dangerous and a good example of a vehicle of the future.

A Chinese man and Canton Tower.
Guangzhou Opera House
A woman lightening up incense in Guangxing Temple
Beggars in front of the Guangxian temple.
Monk shows how a prayer is done to three men in Guangxian Temple
A mannequin shop.
An art installation.in Redtory
More of Redtory
Girls posing in Redtory
Two men enjoying a football match for free.
Three Rams statue in Yixue Park.
Street Walnut cracking station on the streets of Guangzhou
Evening lights in a park.
Chinese park kitsch

Progress of my journey (part 2)

For the first part, see here.

Bei Jing (night-train hard sleeper, 27€) ⇒ Xi’an (sci-fi fast train, 18€) ⇒ Luo Yang (bus, 2€) ⇒ Deng Feng (bus, 2.5€) ⇒ Zhen Zhou (0.7€) ⇒ Keifeng (fast train, 27€) ⇒ Shanghai (train, hard-seat, 2.7€) ⇒ Hangzhuo (32€) ⇒ Guilin (bus, 1.5€) ⇒ Yangshuo (sleeper-bus, 15€) ⇒ Zhuhai (on foot, 0€) ⇒ Macau (boat, 13€) ⇒ Hong Kong (Air Asia, 103€) ⇒ Bangkok

Total: 245€

Again, could be done cheaper (no soft seats or high-speed trains for example), but both were totally worth it for experience and quite a contrast to the hard seat, which is the cheapest train ticket available. Also it is cheaper to fly out from Macau than Hong Kong, but I found it out only after I had booked my flight.
Total for Helsinki-Bangkok: two months and one week of leisurely traveling and 622€, which is comparable to a cheap flight from Helsinki to Bangkok.

Good-bye China! It was nice visting you. Hopefully will see you again next March.

Last Vegas of East (Part 2)

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A couple of words is ought to be said about casinos. I went to a few (Sands, CIty of Dreams and Venetian), did not spend any money and even grabbed a free water bottle, which I later smuggled into the Cirque Du Soleil show (that’s what I call being cheap!). Sands at 11AM Wednesday morning was an interesting sight – quite crowded with many people looking like they spent a night there. Wednesday. 11AM. Inconceivable. Next on the programme was City Of Dreams, a huge building consisting of a casino, several luxurious hotels, a concert hall and numerous shops. Very chic, very modern and very posh. House Of The Dancing Water is the show they currently have there. I did not go to that one, but the trailer looks promising.
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But the most interesting of all was Venetian. It is one gargantuan entertainment complex designed to meet your every need, if you can afford it of course. Here again you can find a hotel, an insanely long boulevard full of designer shops and top-end restaurants, Renaissance type ceiling paintings, an indoor river (with gondolas naturally) and even an artificial sky, which actually looked passable. The scale of Venetian is simply massive, you could spend days indoors without venturing outside. I could not decide whether all this luxury was awesome or way over the top. Probably a little bit of both. Now if they only made this thing more nature-like (the artificial sky and river are the first steps) and self-sustainable, we would have the first biosphere.

Anyways, Cirque Du Soleil Zaia was the reason why I went to Venetian in the first place. I found out about the show completely by accident from a German room-mate and was fortunate enough to buy one of the last tickets for the same day’s show. A bit steep price for a budget traveller in Asia, but you cannot measure a unique experience like this with money. The show was simply mind-blowing and was totally worth the price. Dancing Chinese lions, a cosmonaut, flying bicycles fueled by sparks, a floating polar bear, an Arctic yogi, romantic love – Zaia had it all. Much better than Saltimbanco which I saw last year. I whole-heartedly recommend it, if you ever get a chance to see it. Coincidentally the show marked two months of my travelling. Nice one.

Las Vegas of East (Part 1)

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Macau is an odd beast. Only a walk away from the mainland China, it feels like a China Town somewhere in the heart of Europe. Portuguese architecture, catholic churches and bilingual signs are enough to make you forget that China is not that far away. There are plenty of heritage sites, beautiful architecture, peaceful gardens and labyrinth-like streets that make Macau a very nice place for just walking around. Old architecture is starkly contrasted with casino-entertainment complex and impressive skyways and bridges. This small patch of land is full of casinos, designer shops, luxurious hotels and everything else that is designed to make you part with your money in a more or less pleasant way. As for infrastructure, there are three impressive wavy bridges connecting Manau peninsula with the Tapai island. The longest one is over 5km long. A bit surprising to see something like this in a small place such as Macau, but this is China.

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Despite the fact that Macau is the densest populated area in the world, there is a sizable park on Tapai island. This is partly due to hilly terrain, but I saw signs of development there as well. Hopefully they will keep that area as it is. Unlike Chinese parks, this park is actually a forest with a few maze-like jogging paths. I spent hours in it trying to find a way out, reaching the point when I just wanted to get out of there. Macau itself is not any better from the orientation point of view. Forget Chinese grid cities, Macau is medieval Europe at its best with its narrow abruptly ending streets going in all directions with no clear plan or logic. I still have no idea about Macau’s downtown geography, it is all one big maze to me.

All in all, a surprisingly lovely city and it makes a nice place to visit even if you are not into gambling. Plus t is apparently considerably cheaper to fly to/from Macau than Hong Kong due to lower airport taxes. Unfortunately I found out this only after booking a flight ticket from Hong Kong, but I will save this information until the next time