The Land Of The Dragon

China is a huge place. It consists of a huge desert in the North, vast areas of grassland and mountains, mostly bare land in the West and the rest is a huge vegetable garden. A giant dragon undulates over the land protecting the country against the evil coming from the North. A golden dragon at sunrise and sunset, a dragon of fire as certainly some enemies must have experienced the Great Wall.

That is the simplified view of it. That is what you see if you criss-cross the land by train - the most comfortable way, I'm sure.

I have a wonderful travel companion. A few days before leaving Kathmandu, while browsing through the bookstores, I found a book by Paul Theroux. Entitled "Riding the Iron Rooster" it contains his impressions from a year-long tour through China by train only.
Since I already had a book I left the bookstore that night but kept thinking of the book. It seemed like a sign, like the book was really there for me. The night before leaving Kathmandu I went back to the bookstore and bought it. The book depicts China from 20 years ago, when it had recently opened up, but in some aspects my impressions I find to be very similar to Theroux's. Even though I do not ride the same trains and my itinerary diverges from his, I find it wonderful reading the book while riding the train.
It also contains some valuable historic information, especially from the most recent history.


I also have a China guide which is very useful when I sit down on the cold pavement. It's a good insulator. But I'd be unfair to say that the guide is useless otherwise.

China is undergoing changes. What Theroux noticed 20 years ago in its incipient state is now in full swing. Constructions, demolitions, business initiatives, money making, cool looking.

There are countless beautiful places to visit and enjoy. Chinese flock there themselves so sometimes it can be challenging to enjoy some peaceful moments, but travelling in winter is probably the best time. To have the Great Wall for yourself for a couple of days. To find quiet inner courts in the many palaces. To find quiet spots in the many parks around palaces and temples. To have the clear blue sky of the cold winter days and the beautiful sunsets.
"No Chinese destination is complete without a restaurant, and the Chinese do not consider they have visited a place until they have eaten there." observes Theroux and that certainly holds true.


There is a language schizophrenia that I find very annoying. Every place, every street, every magazine title has an English version. I have yet to find one person who understands it. When asking for directions it never works. And so far the people I asked did not know their neighbourhoods well.
Names like "Glory Mall", "FAB Endless Culture Plaza", "Paris Spring", "True Love", "Real Love" (these are neither selling lingerie nor sex shops), "Lady's Diary", "Fishing Collection" (selling some high-end clothes), "Partylife" are not uncommon.

As Theroux mentioned many years ago, the mending and patching culture instilled in the population during the not so distant past is making way for the new culture. Fashionable, trendy, new, shiny and glitzy are the new attributes. The mending and patching you can maybe still see in the old generations, the ones disappearing as fast as the historic residential areas in Beijing.

China Post is a marvel of efficiency. There are at least a dozen different box sizes available and numerous counters with eager to help clerks. They even box and tape things for you. Chinese seem to be avid stamp collectors - the number of counters for philately services is amazing in the post offices. Anyway, it keeps some people busy.

I have a problem with the food. Chinese tastebuds only appreciate sweet, sour and spicy food. I am craving for salty food. I bought a bag of popcorn only to discover it was sweet :-( So I ended up buying junk food - the American flavour. That for sure is salty. You can bet your life on it. So for the 4th time in my life I entered a McDonald and bought fries and for the first time in my life I bought a bag of potato chips. Boy, did those taste good for a change :-)
But I'm impressed by the imaginative names (and probably translations) of some of the Chinese dishes: "Duck paws with mustard", "Stewed sheep head in clear soup", "The tough vinegar bites the head" are just a sample.

Chinese Ming and Qing dynasty architecture is beautiful. I love the wooden temples, marvellous constructions with beautiful exterior details. There is no place without a dragon painted or carved, without the spirit walls or the dragon walls meant to scare the evil away. Dragons are good and protective. I think if they existed for real they would be venerated and protected here just like the cows are by the Hindus. The Holy Dragon - what an image. This is amazing, considering that Chinese eat any animal or insect around. There is even a saying that they eat anything four-legged but a table, anything winged but a plane.

China is still a society based on mistrust. You notice that when you go eat somewhere, or when you check in at a place. You need to pay upfront. Sometimes even in the middle of your meal. At hostels you need to keep the receipt and show it on the way out to get the key deposit back. In the stores you are being watched closely or even followed step by step with a watchful eye. I hate this shadowing.

There is not one day that passes without a rude encounter that threatens to ruin my day. But I withstand. I have grown up and lived in a communist country where individuals were insignificant and treated as such. So why would I let anybody spoil my day?
"It is wrong to see a country in a bad mood; you begin to blame the country for your mood and draw the wrong conclusions." says Theroux. And I can only agree with him. I enjoy every single moment. It's not as difficult as I thought - travelling across China.


Theroux states it very clearly and nicely "The Chinese can be extremely rude in turning you away - the Chinese elbow is very sharp."

When Chinese do not want to listen to you they may simply cover their ears with their hands, elbows wide apart. They might close their eyes as well and clench their teeth. All indicators of their lack of interest. It doesn't matter whether you're asking for directions on the street or you're at a ticket office.

Just yesterday there was a young couple eating at the next table facing me in a small restaurant. Whereas she was eating more or less ok, when he wasn't stuffing his mouth he was spitting under the table in between his legs spread apart. It was disgusting but fortunately they left before I started feeling nauseaous.

It is not uncommon that they mock you as a foreigner. They can get very close to your face and start making faces and imitating English in a very rude and mocking way.

There's a lot more I wanted to tell but my time is running out here. Need to run to the train station...

I must have presented just the spicy details, but rest assured you meet also nice and friendly people. Who are offering you food, who are offering help, who talk to you in Chinese (in spite of you repeating in English "sorry, no Chinese :-( " ) who smile at you and say hello. Travelling in China is fun. And I think there's a small invisible dragon around me here keeping all evil away.
The food is delicious, the sites are awesome and the museums are exquisite. China is a great destination.