Ryan Ing

Hey guys, if I haven’t talked to you within a few weeks, just wanted to let you guys know I’ve been travelling China for the past week or so. Chinese people don’t celebrate Christmas, so there was no Christmas break for me.

Instead, we get a super long break for the Chinese New Year, (Jan 7 – Feb 20).

Decided to pack up all my things (minus the laptop) into two MEC backpacks and bravely embark on an adventure travelling China. Not alone though, accompanied by one of my classmates, Steven, who’s from England.

Here’s my travel itinerary: (though I don’t expect you to know any of these cities unless you come from them or something, the only places I knew in China before I came here were Beijing and Hong Kong)

(Starting place): Beijing

1. Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province

2. Lijiang, Yunnan province (As of Jan 17th, have arrived)

3. Kunming, capital of Yunnan

4. Guilin, capital of Guangxi province

5. Sanya, Hainan province (Southernmost part of China, same latitude as Hawaii, so gonna be nice and warm)

Feels like this is a pretty young age (18)to be travelling a foreign country alone.

Travelling alone with just one other guy has proved to be quite a feat. I have travelled to many places in the world in my lifetime but it was always with my family; so I would never have to worry about things like accomadation and transportation.

So I’m learning as I go along how to book hotels, figure out how to use a city’s public transportation system, find fun things to do in a new city.
BUT WHAT MAKES THIS TRIP INTENSE IS THAT IVE ONLY BEEN STUDYING CHINESE FOR 4 MONTHS!!

So most of the time it’s a slight loss of translation, but regardless, my communication skills (not just specifically Chinese) are improving at a fast rate.

Things like Hostelworld.com, the Lonely Planet guide, and the compass I was given have proven to be extremely useful. I’ve taken a ton of photos as always, and I’ll post them up and keep you guys up-to-date about all of my travels (from the point I’ve left off at day 25) once I return to Beijing and get access to my laptop.

I’ll be back before you even know it,

I always expected that the food I would get in Beijing would be the Chinese food that I’ve been eating my whole life at home, but I was completely wrong.

The food in Northern China (includes Beijing): OILY AND SPICY

The food in Southern China: Exactly the same dishes you find in Toronto (ex. Dim Sum)

Summary: The food sucks here. NO DIM SUM.

Though Noah and I were able to find a Southern Chinese food restaurant, tasted like home.

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The desk in my room is pretty awesome – about 4 feet wide and 2 feet long, with a whole lot of shelves. But that’s pretty much the only thing in my room.

Ghetto pill counter

Chinese oreos taste the same.

Tissue box mounted to wall.

Ipod shelf.

New mattress

Bought two cause they were so damn thin.

Fixed gears are really popular among the Koreans on campus. There’s one store in Beijing that’ll customize a whole bike for you (in any colours you want) for $400 CAD. Considered it, but decided it wasn’t worth it.

But if you take a closer look at the photo… you can see the lock on the bike is like one of those dollar store locks you buy in Canada. If we were in Toronto, that bike would be stolen and put on Craiglist faster than I cay say “Woodfield”. But in Beijing, stealing bikes isn’t so common.

Piece of home.

Beginning to notice that different students have different difficulties in learning Chinese.

For example, the Japanese girl in my class told me that Japanese doesn’t have the “ang” or “eng” sounds, so it’s hard for her words like “xiang” (to think).

Also, the class is directed towards English speakers wanting to learn Chinese. They teach you a new word by telling you the Chinese word, then the English word for it. But some of the people in the class don’t understand the English word in the first place.

However, everyone in the class already speaks a little English (the Mongolians, Koreans, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Kazakhstan, Belgium, etc.).

It’s pretty cool to have people all over the world come to learn in one place, and they already know your language (I feel pretty lucky to have already learned English). Never knew that English is taught as a second language (officially or de facto) in so many other parts of the world.

Thanks Eric, helped a lot.

Funnily enough, I have the same language teacher that taught all Adam, Eric, and Noah, the basics of Chinese. She says I don’t look like any of my siblings.

Enjoyed some “TOSSED” cucumber for lunch. Had a nice sauce on top.

First day of class goes by well. Learn the 4 tones of Mandarin Chinese.

All of the people in my class are from different cultures (ex. Spanish, Russian, Finnish, Ethopian, Japanese), so that makes me the only person that is ethnically Chinese.

Being in the absolute beginner class (Have zero knowledge of Chinese), I start to wonder if I’ll be able to learn Chinese any faster than the people from other cultures, due to the fact that I am actually Chinese. Sorta brings up the Nature vs. Nurture arguement, hmm. But you can tell me what you think.

Get my student card.

My dormitory hallway during le golden hour.

Baguette sandwich. Onion, ketchup, and last but not least… hickory sticks!!

Hao chi.

Visited the art district of Beijing. A lot of outdoor street art and statues, pretty awesome.

Swirly

Spoons on spoons on spoons, with kid trying to take one (bottom right of photo)

$500 CAD. Nice colour combination.

Not exactly sure how to describe it.

But I guess he liked math.

Louis Vuitton Trunk (aka old school suitcase) interior

Bull ramming a man. Was hilarious to see in real life.

Thrilling.

Outdoor area

Chairs on chairs on chairs (chair freeze)

Look closely at my head.

Bad graffitti.

“Hello I’m a martian, space jam Jordan” – Lil’ Wayne.

Seriously, who would buy a mask with a jordan logo on it?

Visited a lounge/bar/club with a bunch of people from campus. It was on the 6th floor patio of a hotel, very luxurious.

I guess it’s comparable to Rockwood Nightclub in Toronto (if you’ve been there before), except for a lot bigger and more balling.

Huge patio, with pretentious things such as small fountains, great view (below), and even a live band playing music.

Went to another club after, named Spark.

DJ’s play about the same music as they would in Toronto.

Lots of foreigners (you can clearly see in the photo)

And to top off the great night: 24 hour Mcdonalds. With Chinese people sleeping in them.

This is the people in my class next week. You can see the names are very ethnically diverse.

My name is 5th on the list.

Banana a day, keeps the diarrhea away, hah.

Had to get a pair for myself.

Was inspired by this guy.

My current visa for China is 30 days. Within those 30 days, I have to get a Physical Exam done, register with the University, and pay a few fees, in order to extend my visa for the whole school year. I don’t wanna get deported.

The physical exam took place in a small health clinc, and consisted of an eyesight test, an x-ray, a heartbeat monitor, and last but not least, drawing blood. All of the tests (except for drawing blood) were very poorly conducted; the staff seemed apathetic and unqualified.

For example, for the eyesight test she just held up a card saying “9 6 9″, and she pointed to it. I asked her “What am I supposed to do?” and she just signed my paper and checked pass. Guess she gave up when she realized I couldn’t speak Chinese.

I was laughing so hard when I was getting this done. It felt ridiculous.

Just realized I had this lighter in my backpack.

Made it all the way through the airport!

Banana candy cause I don’t have bananas and I used to eat a banana on the daily.

Electric scooters + bicycles are extremely popular here. You can buy an electric scooter for $300 CAD, and it has a max speed of 45 km/h, which is pretty good. Fast enough to drive in the car lane, small enough to cut through cars.

(Friends scooter)

This hotpot looked good, but tastes bad.

Fun to try, but not worth it.

Why pay extra money for food that you have to cook yourself? Imagine KBBQ in Toronto, but you have to pay for each tray of meat.

$2.50 CAD fish at Carrefour. Cheap pet huh?

Carrefour is pretty much similar to Wal-Mart. French supermarket chain, third biggest in the world, after Wal-Mart and Tesco.

Chinese toilets don’t have toilet paper, so you always have to bring a roll with you when you’re going to the washroom. Stocked up.

Birthday gift from a New Zealand friend. Sound great. Sorta look like Rokits.

Havianas swag. Roomate got me a pair from Brazil.

This old Chinese dude right here is like the campus hermit. He walks around campus all day collecting plastic water bottles out of garbage cans, off people, and anywhere else he can find them. Then I guess he goes and sells them to the recycling plants for a few cents each. Kinda handy since he’ll just take any empty bottles you have off you any time you run into him. Guess it gives him some purpose since he’s old and retired.

Had to get another fix of chicken.

KFC CHICKEN ON RICE!

Finally turned 18.

Noah asked me what I wanted to eat for my birthday… nothing other than good ol KFC.

The KFC here actually tastes better believe it or not. The have chicken in a bunch of different flavours, (ex. spicy, barbeque), instead of just the original recipe

But enough about chicken.

Headed out to watch a soccer game with one of Eric’s old friend, Mars. The teams were two different Chinese cities facing each other. Pretty cool to watch. 

While watching the game I learned a new word “Sha Bi”, which is pretty much the Chinese equivalent to “fuck you”. It was hilarious watching, because every time the opposing team got the ball, the whole audience would start chanting that in unison. I guess it’s pretty normal to swear at the other team, hahaha.

Beijing Nightclub called Vics. Not really much to explain about that.

But all in all, had a great 18th birthday.

And thanks a bunch for emailing me a happy birthday:

Started off the day with an international skype call from a familiar face:

Or not…

Dropped by a local foreigner bar with a few friends to hang out:

Ginormous 3L jug.

Alcohol is pretty cheap here, and is also sold in all supermarkets and convenience. I don’t think “carding” someone who looks young exists here either.

Haircuts here are pretty awesome, because for 10 RMB ($2.50), they’ll wash your hair, cut your hair, then wash it again.

And they actually use scissors here, not like those Chinese hairdessers in Chinatown who just use the electric razors and finish the job in 5 minutes.

The only problem is that they prefer completely different hairstyles (That long, sometimes mullet-esque style).  Plus, they of course do not know what a lineup is. Left the place with crooked sideburns.

One haircut used, 10 more remaining. (Membership card was 100 RMB)

Took a look around inside The Peninsula, which had all of the flagship designer brand stores also in the building.

(Parked in front, two BMW 7 series, in the background, two Rolls-Royce Phantoms)

Good ol louie

I’m a fan of the Museum

Ate at Japanese fast-food restaurant called Yoshinaya. Was amazing. I don’t think you can find anything like it in Toronto.

Fast food (Ex. Mcdonalds, KFC,) is actually more expensive than local Chinese restaurants; I guess because they’re international companies. So it’s actually sort of a treat for Chinese people to go to these places.

Well fed.

Lastly, dropped by the campus cyber cafe  to play a game or two of Dota. The cyber cafes are about the same as the ones in Toronto, except that they are usually a lot bigger (about 100 computers split between two rooms). BUT TO MAKE IT EVEN WORSE, YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SMOKE INSIDE. Cyber cafes are already known to be hot and sweaty (some guys take off their shirts while playing), but the cigarette smoke makes it even worse.

And one last thing I forgot to mention about restaurants; they all do delivery. And it’s also free! (Tipping is not part of the culture here anyways)

But while in the cyber cafe I saw about the craziest thing: a dude got Mcdonalds delivered to him, inside the cyber cafe, and he didn’t even have to leave his seat. (Photo below)

So literally you can sit in a cyber cafe all day without even having to get out of your seat to get food.

This is what they do delivery on. Awesome ain’t it?

Went out for a morning jog and found… a shelf.
Fit in well:

Just enough shelves for all my shoes

Picked up some weights and a mat.

Was awfully confused because they told me they weighed 15. I kept telling them that was too little, (15 pounds?).

In China they have fully adopted the Metric system (6 foot 4 inches tall = 162.5cm), so they actually meant 15kg, which is actually 30 pounds… heavy.

BURNING PROOF!!!!

Went to the International Imported Food Market, and bought a 15 RMB orange ($2.50) out of curiousity. Tasted horrible.

The Mandarin oranges here are better than ever though, hah

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Summer Palace is one of the most popular tourists attractions in Beijing.

Entering…

A view from one side of the palace to the other side. You can take a boat across instead of walking around the circumference. Would say the whole thing is about the size of the Toronto Islands. And if you think about that, that’s a huge piece of land build for one person to live on.

Might help you float if you fall in

Hand painted, a few kilometres long walkway

Meticulously painted, most def. Wish my ceiling could have that.

Bowser doors, hahah. If you remember the old  SNES games.

Drop by the one of the markets with Noah, to pick up some sunglasses. When we first asked them what the price was, they said 150 RMB. But Noah was able to haggle them down to 20 RMB. That’s like 20% of the original price, lol. They really make an effort to try and rip you off if you look like a foreigner.  Only a few dollars spent ($3.50 CAD)

After a long trip, return back to the room. Now have a Brazillian born Chinese guy as my roomate (Korean guy switched out).

Get my phone set up. In Beijing most people don’t have cellphone plans like they do in Toronto. Instead, people just use pay-as-you-go cards. $15 CAD will last you a month or two no problem.

Go rock climbing with Andre and Noah.

Have dinner after at a chuar (Chinese shish kebab) restaurant which was pretty dirty.

- In China, you can smoke cigarettes in most restaurants. So it really sucks when you’re in a small restaurant, andthe table beside you has 4 mans smoking bogeys.

- Unless it is an upscale restaurant, it is not too socially unacceptable to leave your garbage on the table or on the floor.

- Outside drinks ARE allowed. So you can buy drinks or alcohol somewhere else, and drink them there. A couple times I’ve ran to the convenience store to buy drinks while waiting for our orders, then having them with our meals.

- It is also common in a lot of restaurants to pay first (right after you tell them your order), but it makes sense, since you do not have to tip in Chinese restaurants. It’s also a lot faster, since you can just eat your food and leave, without having to call the waiter for your bill.

One of the nicer restaurants I’ve visited.

Get my keys to the room. Not your typical looking key…

Fits in like that, kinda weird.

Meet my roomate, a Korean guy named Kyu Jung Park, studying his masters here. Not able to communicate much more than that since he barely knows English.

Noah takes me around the city to various malls.

Beijing has a few “Downtown” like areas, instead of having just one big one in Toronto.

This one is called Sunnytune, and is similar to Yorkville with a lot of upscale stores.

Bape store is crazy decorated, way more than the one in NY.

Same with Uniqlo

The currency conversion rate is 1  Canadian dollar = 6 Chinese Yuan (also called RMB).

Took the subway around, here’s a photo of the map:

A lot bigger than the subway system in Toronto, and a lot more modern. Inside there are TV’s playing commercials and stuff, as well as electronic maps so you always know which stop you’re approaching.

EATING SUBWAY IN THE SUBWAY!!!

Until next time…

Packing for the trip wasn’t all too bad.. vaccum sealed my clothing into a brick. That’s 25 pounds right there.

Plus, finally got a new backpack after using the same one (left) for 4 years.

Though the flight was 13 hours long, it wasn’t that bad at all. Luckily, I had an empty seat on the left, and a white guy from Halifax going to Shanghai to teach Chinese on the right. No crying babies.

Slept for most of the flight; woke up to finally have a look at the big goodbye card you guys made me, thanks.

Also took a look at the video you guys left on my ipod for me to watch. It was jokes.

Best part: “Yo when you come back, we’re getting you a penthouse party” – Josh

I’ll remember that.

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Hop off the plane. Unlike when Adam, Eric, and Noah all arrived, I had my own brother pick me up at the airport.

Hop in a Chinese taxi (Hyundai Elantra, no Toyota Camry taxis up in here) and we zoom off to Renmin University.

What blew my mind was.. NO ONE WEARS SEATBELTS. That’s right.. not even that taxi driver, and we’re going 120KM/H on the highway. Maybe more dangerous, but it’s nice to just hop in and not have to worry about it.

Arrive at campus, get fitted into my room. Meet Andre Milov, who was Adam’s roomate 6 years ago, and he takes us out for dinner. Go for a massage after. A massage. NO, NOT WHAT YOU”RE THINKING.

Just a normal massage by a dude. It was kinda weird to lie there face down with my eyes closed, being massaged, while everyone else in the room was speaking a foreign language.

Leave a comment if you like, check back tomorrow for Day 2.