Reflections on the trip

Since we returned from our trip I’ve been reflecting back on it and writing in my head—sometimes during the night—some of my reflections on the trip. I’ve also asked Jarrah, Jade and Paul to write some of their reflections on the trip. To help them to do this I gave them a series of questions to answer so I’d like to first give my impressions of the trip.

What did you like/enjoy about the trip?

I really liked just being in China after so many years of thinking about going, wanting to go and learning Chinese partly in preparation to go. I loved speaking Chinese and surprised myself that I didn’t worry at all about the things that hold me back from speaking in class such as not being sure of a word or how to pronounce a word. I just went ahead and expressed myself as best I could in China and for the most part I was able to make myself understood.

I enjoyed doing winter sports Chinese style—chair ice skating, bike ice skating and normal ice skating.

I enjoyed taking the trains and mixing with people in that environment. Our first train ride from Chengdu to Xian was probably the best because we were on the train overnight then in the morning as well so we got to look out the window and see rural China pass by.

As far as locations went I liked everywhere we went. Hong Kong was great because it was familiar to me from previous trips and we had a fabulous hotel overlooking Victoria Harbour. The kids were really looking forward to Hong Kong Disneyland and that didn’t disappoint.

I enjoyed our time in Nanning especially seeing the places we went during our adoption trip through fresh eyes.

Chengdu and the panda reserve were definitely a highlight. Who could resist those gorgeous pandas especially the babies?? Tianfu Square with its musical fountains was an unexpected highlight as well.

Xian was so modern it was a huge surprise. It could have been a city anywhere. The Terracotta Warriors were also a highlight as was riding our hired bikes around the city walls.

Beijing’s sights were of course highlights—the Great Wall, Summer Palace and Forbidden City. We also enjoyed visiting our friend Henry Zhang and seeing a small slice of local life by being taken out to lunch on the university campus where his parents live.

Harbin was a huge highlight with the Ice and Snow Festival. Wow I never expected that it was going to be as good as it was. Spectacular! We also loved meeting our friends John and Emma, former Monash students, who live there.

Shanghai’s Maglev train was also a highlight and probably made more so by the silly antics of the British Airways flight staff that we first rode it with.

Singapore was also fantastic because we were ready at that stage for warmth and a swimming pool.

What didn’t you like/enjoy about the trip?

That’s easy. I didn’t like the Chinese custom of spitting out phlegm everywhere. This was especially prevalent in Beijing. People spat in the streets, on footpaths and even on beautiful granite floors in subway stations and other public places. They made no attempt to disguise what they were doing or to ensure that they spat in the gutter or at the base of a tree so that other people wouldn’t walk in it. I know that this custom was also prevalent in the West probably about 70 or so years ago so I think it is just a matter of time and education before people in China come to see it as the unsanitary practice it is.

I also didn’t like the Beijing taxi drivers refusal to take us anywhere. We didn’t take taxis that much but when we did we were sent on a wild goose chase trying to find a driver who would take us. I don’t understand why they don’t want to do their jobs!

I didn’t like the train booking system—or lack of it—which made getting our pre-booked sleeper tickets to Harbin near impossible. They really have to come up with a better system for booking train tickets especially for foreign tourists on an itinerary who need to get from one city to another.

I didn’t like the people at the train station on arrival who were so aggressive in pushing either their baggage trolley service or gypsy cab service or selling things like maps. When people push you so hard to the point that they swear at you when you don’t accept their service then that is a minus for travelling in that country. These people first of all need to be less aggressive and more polite. They need to learn English if they want to appeal to foreign tourists and they need to accept that we don’t all want help.

What will you remember most about the trip?

Oh there are so many memories I will keep of the trip. One that I haven’t mentioned is how well Jade coped with all of the attention on her and with her visits to the orphanages and foster family. She took everything in her stride and wasn’t fazed by anything. She also kept exclaiming to me how people kept speaking to her in Chinese! I hope this spurs her on to working harder on her studies in the future!

What do you think about China now compared with seven years ago?

China has changed a lot in seven years. It is much more modern. There are fewer ‘old-time’ things such as pedicabs which we saw last time. There are more cars, more high rise buildings. The air is also much cleaner. I was amazed at the amount of infrastructure building that is going on. Many cities are building or expanding their subway systems. There just seems to be no limit to what or where China is building and modernising even to the extent of putting in an experimental system as the Maglev in Shanghai. What a contrast to many Western countries where aging infrastructure is failing, sometimes dramatically as with the bridge collapse in the US. Why are we not investing in the infrastructure we need? The one area where I was surprised that there hadn’t been more changes was in Shanghai. The buildings just one block away from Nanjing Rd are decrepit and boarded up and the view from the Oriental Pearl Tower still shows much of the surrounding area’s construction to be either halted or at the foundation stage. I remember it was much the same last time and don’t understand why more of the buildings there haven’t been finished.

What did you learn from the trip?

Other than the experience of being in China I learned many new Chinese words and expressions. I think I also gained the confidence to plan a much more independent trip next time.

Was there anything you didn’t see/do that you would like to see/do next time?

We did and saw a LOT of China this trip. No doubt about that. I would like to go to Tibet and possibly Yunnan next time and I’d also like to see the Yellow Mountains and water towns near Shanghai. But I feel quite happy to wait a few years for any future trips.