中国共产党万岁
I’ve heard good things about dreaming spanish
Maybe we’re both just biased, but it’s crazy what you said about rude airport security because i swear that was the first thing i also noticed when getting back to the USA. Maybe they just hide it better in China, but i swear the workforce in the us is in a state of visible desperation. it’s really sad seeing alternative realities firsthand
Depends on what you’re looking for. Zhangjiajie, Huashan, some Great Wall scenic areas, and other famous sights are definitely reachable via train + didi or bus. However, the Chinese idea of hiking is a little different: most sights are highly developed with stairs, paved paths, trams, temples, shrines, and snack bars throughout. The more popular ones can be extremely crowded like OP mentioned, especially during Chinese holidays.
If you wanted for example to fuck off to somewhere more “pristine” the altai mountains in Xinjiang, that’s much harder chiefly because China does not accept intl driver’s licenses (apparently you can get a permit but you have to go through local offices). Beyond that barrier I’m not sure what else it would take to go on a western-style camping trip.
Sure thing. I think trip.com is the english version that you can check other routes for. It is super cheap. I think the harbin-kunming and hangzhou-urumqi routes i mentioned are also not high speed rail, but i’m not sure. I think the capability to run HSR on those routes exists, but seems like i’m not able to find those tickets, in which case it would be much faster.
Thank you for sharing! I’m curious how being a 华人 colored your experience. How did this trip inform your feeling of identity belonging to both your 祖国 and 美国? What’s your sense on how the broader 华人 americans / ABCs feel about the above?
Also, I totally agree about the malls. I’m not sure what percentile of people can actually afford it, but some of the shops were really creative. I loved that they were essentially selling themselves as arts and crafts centers, like you could fashion your own leather goods or paint things or make pottery. It felt like that sort of thing is much healthier for society within a consumerist culture.
I spot checked this on 携程 for you. if you wanted to, for example, go from Harbin to Kunming, it would cost you about 400 RMB ($50) and take about 1.5-2 days with 1 transfer, which is comparable to going from LA to DC, or from Barcelona to Moscow. It’s a similar story from Hangzhou to Urumqi. You’re probably better off taking a flight for that distance. Where the system really starts to shine is for something like Beijing to Shenzen, which costs 1000 RMB ($110) and takes about 8 hours, direct, which is equivalent from brussels to kiev, or from miami to nyc. Even then, that distance is about the limit of “worth it on HSR”. The best is when you’re going inter-city within a region. It’s also amazing because there’s no surge pricing/gouging, so you can buy last-minute tickets at the same prices as long as they’re available still.
Didn’t they just let their mining investments in Africa languish? Among other things of course, but that was the fatal mistake.
What other place could have:
- Police on every corner
- Ubiquitous surveillance
- Systemic repression
what’s that? it’s new york city? whoops.