Talk the talk

It has always been hard for me to find the exit of a big city. Beijing, which I like, gave me more of the same. In a place that is so rapidly evolving my Lonely Planet, barely two years old, is already outdated. It is still a lifesaver though. If I wouldn't be able to point out the places I wanted to go to I'd surely be stuck in that place where it took me three hours to find out where the railway station was.

Beijingers simply built a huge new one on a place that couldn't be reached by public transport and so fast that a book published in 2007 has no clue of its train schedule that takes me 497km further in exactly 3 hours.
Why can't we do that?
Brussels - Amsterdam, a poor 200 km by train, let's you grow a beard by the time you've arrived. Maybe you can save out an extra shave by now. At least that is what they've promised us more than a decade ago. No wonder I forgot about it. The only thing left to do is selling one of your livers or another organ to pay for the ticket. Sounds like a bargain to me.
So while European politicians love to talk the talk, something they've become very good at, this Chinese Republic realises that you better spend 10 min of your time on the problem and the next hour and a half on the solution.
And their ticket price... not even worth mentioning.

This said, why then, do they produce such crap cars?

Pingyao

In order to get here I've probably spend half a week in all sorts of smog polluted cities. Just to find out that a village blocked from traffic is worse because of the coal fires.

As most cities in China I start liking them when the sun goes down. Lights are turned on and everything that looked grey and drab changes into a world of colour.

North equals cold

A view in Fenghuan, number one for Chinese tourists.

Even though I didn't want to leave Yangshou behind I did and endured more cold and some days of basically no conversation. In some towns people can be very friendly towards me and in others I just start to make a resume of some of their habits. The not appealing ones that is. When that happens it's time to move on and see some more of this magnificent part of the world.



This being a touristic center I seem to be a rarity as well. Cameras are just as often turned on me than I turn mine on them.

Got stuck, or..?

I've been told that if you travel to China there is never a good time to go. Either it is to hot or it is to cold.

And you know what, who cares. I've been so flabbergasted by this country, the way it looks and it's people. What a relief being able to travel in a place where they just let you be. So I don't care that I'm still cold even though I'm wearing all the clothes I took with and then the next day the weather gives me a sunburn.

Once you arrive somewhere it is hard to pick up your bags and leave, for the moment I could stay for a very long time in Yangshou, but I'll have to... someday.
However, it took me some days to appreciate all of this. The language barrier is huge and if no one speaks english, like in almost any occasion, you're on your own.




Around Yangshou, Xinping and Yangdi.

Ha HK

Describing this city when being there only to obtain a visa for China and giving in to a jetlag would be a mistake.So for once I'll think twice before saying something and keep my lips seeled. But I can say this, it's great...