Expectations
I came to China expecting to experience its changing culture, absorb its natural beauty, and marvel at the grand historical monuments. I now know that in a first visit, fulfilling all these expectations will be difficult. China has put language, noise, and crowds as the main obstacles between me and my expectations. Accepting these obstacles as part of China, allowed me to enjoy my visit here.
Frustrations
The morning after my arrival, I stepped out of the hotel into a world totally devoid of English. It felt like a sudden transition from light to darkness. I don't recall having this feeling in my previous travels, and I certainly did not expect this in the capital of a world super power. As you move farther from Beijing, the center of the Chinese universe, the situation gets worse. People assume you speak Mandarin. There is one exception to the lack of English. All vendors, touts, and guides, know at least one word in English, which they use loudly anytime a foreigner is within visual range "Hello!". Soon this sound starts to annoy, and the hope of a discussion of the Cultural Revolution starts to fade. I had to adjust. Hand signals and the Chinese phrase pages which I tore out of the Lonely Planet guidebook allow me to handle travel practicalities. I learned to appreciate small pleasures. The vendor that can count in English and say "Bye", the university student that haltingly but happily translates the menu, and mostly the middle school girls that giggle and practice their homework: "Welcome to China. Where are you from?". The culture is changing, but If I am to capture it, I will have to master the language or slow down and find a local friend.
Now, in the safety of my room overlooking the Tuo River, I can recall scenes in Chinese movies of fearless leaders wielding megaphones. These grainy black and white images of an officer rallying troops to battle, a party official promoting the Great Leap Forward, or a young student inciting his fellow students to riot, are alive in the form of the Tour Guide. A Chinese tour guide comes equipped with a microphone that seems to be surgically attached to her mouth, and a loudspeaker that is either hand carried or hangs from her belt. In either case, it is permanently set at "Stun". While cruising down the Yangtze river, the thirty-something Chinese couple sharing the cabin did not object to turning the overhead speaker off. The continuous public announcements came in clearly from the rest of the speakers on the ship. Passing through each of the three gorges, when all passengers gathered on deck, it was harder to avoid the noise. The tour guides joined us to provide a running narration. Escape was possible by moving to the other side of the ship. It was not until the side trip to the "Little Three Gorges" that the full impact of the weapon hit me. Corralled on a small boat, there was no escape. A tour guides set herself at the back of the boat, and for four hours, as we floated on clean blue water between sheer walls rising high above, the megaphone blared without pause. (What can be said at such length?). The river was quiet, the scenery beautiful, but the high volume in that close proximity turned the experience into a splitting headache. On the next side excursion, while attending a folk performance I finally got it. I rolled two wads of toilet paper into my ears and enjoyed the beautiful costumes while avoiding the worst of the sound system. On land, the incredibly shrill car horns add to the discomfort. The Chinese seem to relish the noise. Maybe generations of exposure resulted in survival of the deafest. For all others, add ear plugs to your packing list.
As for the crowds, I cannot claim to be surprised. Almost all location descriptions in Lonely Planet have some disclaimer in the form of "…despite the swarms of Chinese tourists…". It makes sense that with increasing wealth and the freedom to travel, one billion people can easily saturate the relatively few spots on the tourism map. (Do the math, it's fun). Still, on the first few times the view is intimidating. Dozens and dozens of groups, each obediently following a flag carrying tour guide (with a megaphone of course) cover the grounds of any site worth visiting. I, for whom traveling includes the feeling (usually imaginary) of discovery, and a search for (relative) solitude, needed an attitude adjustment to be able to share the space with so many. Fortunately, it was an easy adjustment. Chinese tourists, are not Israelis. While not exactly quiet, they are not intrusive, they are always in a good mood, and seem to appreciate their surroundings. So once I learned to wait my turn and slow my pace, even my mild annoyance faded.
Rewards
Language, noise, and crowds, are obstacles but not barriers.
Culture can be observed even without a common language. The people are friendly. A smile is always returned, and an attempt at speaking Chinese is warmly welcomed. Foreigners are still a rarity to some Chinese. Tourists approach and ask to have a joint photo with me (See example above). If a Chinese can speak a few words in English, they will try to communicate, and if they don't, they do their best to be helpful in Chinese. The wide gaps in the society are visually evident too. The fashionably dressed city tourists, point their fancy cameras at a barefoot farmer wearing the traditional straw hat who is using a hoe to turn the earth in his small rice field.
The natural beauty of China can hold it's own against the megaphones. The cliffs in the narrow Yangtze river gorges tower 1000 meters over the water. The knowledge that the dam has reduced that height by 100 meters does not reduce to feeling of awe. Another superlative can be encountered in Wulingyuan Park. Karst columns over 300 meters high are closely placed in any direction you turn. Their irregular shapes and groupings prompted names such as the obvious "Mother and Son", and the not so obvious "The four beauties waiting for the Generalissimo". It did not take long for me to start attaching my own names and stories to some towers. The following day the clear sky turned to rain, the peaks drifted in and out of the clouds and mist swirled around the columns. The same towers now turned into supernatural, mysterious creatures.
Appreciating China's history was easy. The forbidden city is so splendid and huge that the thousands of tourist strolling the golden halls and decorated courtyards do not detract from it's splendour. On the contrary, they help your imagination appreciate the grandeur, and recall the scenes from the "Last Emperor". The amount of engineering and labor that went into building the Great Wall boggles the mind. It is built on the crest of the steepest mountains, and it is tiring to reach it, even without any stones on your back. Is the Great Wall long? It is one of the few places in China where I did not feel the crowds. It's easy to avoid the most touristy access point. In Pingyao imperial China is well preserved and somewhat reconstructed. "Raise the Red Lantern" was filmed in a residence near Pingyao. Visiting the old residences I could taste the privileged life of the nobility.
I came to China expecting to experience its changing culture, absorb its natural beauty, and marvel at the grand historical monuments. I now know that in a first visit, fulfilling all these expectations will be difficult. China has put language, noise, and crowds as the main obstacles between me and my expectations. Accepting these obstacles as part of China, allowed me to enjoy my visit here.
Frustrations
The morning after my arrival, I stepped out of the hotel into a world totally devoid of English. It felt like a sudden transition from light to darkness. I don't recall having this feeling in my previous travels, and I certainly did not expect this in the capital of a world super power. As you move farther from Beijing, the center of the Chinese universe, the situation gets worse. People assume you speak Mandarin. There is one exception to the lack of English. All vendors, touts, and guides, know at least one word in English, which they use loudly anytime a foreigner is within visual range "Hello!". Soon this sound starts to annoy, and the hope of a discussion of the Cultural Revolution starts to fade. I had to adjust. Hand signals and the Chinese phrase pages which I tore out of the Lonely Planet guidebook allow me to handle travel practicalities. I learned to appreciate small pleasures. The vendor that can count in English and say "Bye", the university student that haltingly but happily translates the menu, and mostly the middle school girls that giggle and practice their homework: "Welcome to China. Where are you from?". The culture is changing, but If I am to capture it, I will have to master the language or slow down and find a local friend.
Now, in the safety of my room overlooking the Tuo River, I can recall scenes in Chinese movies of fearless leaders wielding megaphones. These grainy black and white images of an officer rallying troops to battle, a party official promoting the Great Leap Forward, or a young student inciting his fellow students to riot, are alive in the form of the Tour Guide. A Chinese tour guide comes equipped with a microphone that seems to be surgically attached to her mouth, and a loudspeaker that is either hand carried or hangs from her belt. In either case, it is permanently set at "Stun". While cruising down the Yangtze river, the thirty-something Chinese couple sharing the cabin did not object to turning the overhead speaker off. The continuous public announcements came in clearly from the rest of the speakers on the ship. Passing through each of the three gorges, when all passengers gathered on deck, it was harder to avoid the noise. The tour guides joined us to provide a running narration. Escape was possible by moving to the other side of the ship. It was not until the side trip to the "Little Three Gorges" that the full impact of the weapon hit me. Corralled on a small boat, there was no escape. A tour guides set herself at the back of the boat, and for four hours, as we floated on clean blue water between sheer walls rising high above, the megaphone blared without pause. (What can be said at such length?). The river was quiet, the scenery beautiful, but the high volume in that close proximity turned the experience into a splitting headache. On the next side excursion, while attending a folk performance I finally got it. I rolled two wads of toilet paper into my ears and enjoyed the beautiful costumes while avoiding the worst of the sound system. On land, the incredibly shrill car horns add to the discomfort. The Chinese seem to relish the noise. Maybe generations of exposure resulted in survival of the deafest. For all others, add ear plugs to your packing list.
As for the crowds, I cannot claim to be surprised. Almost all location descriptions in Lonely Planet have some disclaimer in the form of "…despite the swarms of Chinese tourists…". It makes sense that with increasing wealth and the freedom to travel, one billion people can easily saturate the relatively few spots on the tourism map. (Do the math, it's fun). Still, on the first few times the view is intimidating. Dozens and dozens of groups, each obediently following a flag carrying tour guide (with a megaphone of course) cover the grounds of any site worth visiting. I, for whom traveling includes the feeling (usually imaginary) of discovery, and a search for (relative) solitude, needed an attitude adjustment to be able to share the space with so many. Fortunately, it was an easy adjustment. Chinese tourists, are not Israelis. While not exactly quiet, they are not intrusive, they are always in a good mood, and seem to appreciate their surroundings. So once I learned to wait my turn and slow my pace, even my mild annoyance faded.
Rewards
Language, noise, and crowds, are obstacles but not barriers.
Culture can be observed even without a common language. The people are friendly. A smile is always returned, and an attempt at speaking Chinese is warmly welcomed. Foreigners are still a rarity to some Chinese. Tourists approach and ask to have a joint photo with me (See example above). If a Chinese can speak a few words in English, they will try to communicate, and if they don't, they do their best to be helpful in Chinese. The wide gaps in the society are visually evident too. The fashionably dressed city tourists, point their fancy cameras at a barefoot farmer wearing the traditional straw hat who is using a hoe to turn the earth in his small rice field.
The natural beauty of China can hold it's own against the megaphones. The cliffs in the narrow Yangtze river gorges tower 1000 meters over the water. The knowledge that the dam has reduced that height by 100 meters does not reduce to feeling of awe. Another superlative can be encountered in Wulingyuan Park. Karst columns over 300 meters high are closely placed in any direction you turn. Their irregular shapes and groupings prompted names such as the obvious "Mother and Son", and the not so obvious "The four beauties waiting for the Generalissimo". It did not take long for me to start attaching my own names and stories to some towers. The following day the clear sky turned to rain, the peaks drifted in and out of the clouds and mist swirled around the columns. The same towers now turned into supernatural, mysterious creatures.
Appreciating China's history was easy. The forbidden city is so splendid and huge that the thousands of tourist strolling the golden halls and decorated courtyards do not detract from it's splendour. On the contrary, they help your imagination appreciate the grandeur, and recall the scenes from the "Last Emperor". The amount of engineering and labor that went into building the Great Wall boggles the mind. It is built on the crest of the steepest mountains, and it is tiring to reach it, even without any stones on your back. Is the Great Wall long? It is one of the few places in China where I did not feel the crowds. It's easy to avoid the most touristy access point. In Pingyao imperial China is well preserved and somewhat reconstructed. "Raise the Red Lantern" was filmed in a residence near Pingyao. Visiting the old residences I could taste the privileged life of the nobility.
China is an amazing country, and traveling here is rewarding, if you accept it's limitations.
