Timbudon country
my impressions of the country were formed during the 3 months of my stay there. let's say even a full life. during this time I saw a lot, I even tried to understand the psychology of the locals (to no avail). and if earlier I jokingly called myself a racist, now I can say for sure that after China this is not a joke. I don’t know if there are racists who hate only one nation, but here I am.
before China, I traveled around Asia - 3 months in Indonesia, 2 in Malaysia. everything was magical there. here I had to drink alcohol every day.
Let's start with the country in general. it is huge, a bunch of provinces. even in small towns, skyscrapers and infrastructure are no worse than in Kyiv.
there is communism in the country, most of all it is felt in the fact that Facebook is not available. you see, the authorities found out that the population is negatively opposed to them, and they have enough problems with Tibet. so they just went ahead and cut off access to facebook. there are hacker programs, of course, but if you do not have Macintosh equipment, then I do not advise you - the computer will fall within a week from the number of viruses. the country is clean, albeit a wild stench in places. in order to unload public transport to work in China, everyone goes at different times. At 6 o'clock in the morning, life is already in full swing. in the evenings they gather in the squares, as well as near large shopping centers and dance. My jaw dropped on the first day. dances are different - and cha cha cha and samba and rumba. there are also group yoga classes right on the street. they charge in the morning. this is the creepiest. even employees of expensive spas, malls, etc. go out into the street, line up and dance something like a dance of little ducklings. fun and music. it really needs to be seen. I'm sorry I didn't make a video. . .
weather. the sun in Beijing was somewhere until mid-October. then very rarely. it has to do with the cold. heating in Beijing is something. they heat with coal because of which there is smog on the streets. The wind blows with such force that it is difficult to fall asleep at night. during the day it can be warm, about 15 degrees, and in the evening it is already minus temperature. so the ugg boots and down jacket were bought quickly.
transport. I liked the subway, especially if you get on new beautiful cars. I can not say that this is the fastest transport. there are a lot of lines and sometimes you need to ride 3-4x until you get to the place. the worst thing is the line-to-line crossing stations. 8 exits to the city + transfers to 2 other branches. pointers are of little use. The flow of people is huge and the transitions themselves are very long.
Taxi. it is generally a separate issue. taxi drivers in Beijing are all visitors from the provinces, since this work is considered low-paid and Beijingers do not want to work as taxi drivers. most taxi drivers know Beijing as well as I do, sometimes even I know better. and therefore they will carry you along the main streets only. that is, they will drive an extra kilometer before the turn, although it would be possible to turn into a quarter and turn around there and go around. it is not given to them to understand + you are driving on the counter. don't even try to give Chinese addresses. they will hear it wrong or deceive that they did not understand. ride you will be long and expensive. addresses written on paper should be in capital letters. They don't see well on business cards either. And as you know, they don't speak English. so if you know the route yourself - show the taxi driver where to go with gestures, and even better, learn Chinese forward-right-left-stop and you will be happy. watch also that they include counters, they often "forget". it is easy to deal with deception with them - to threaten with the police. they are afraid of her. there were many times when they were specially taken to the wrong place, once even with a navigator, so they received money for getting into the car and adios. twice we didn’t pay at all, they pointed to the mobile and said “policy” the taxi driver had no questions. he will not be patted on the head for deceiving tourists. He knew it, and we used it.
food. this is the most wonderful thing there is in every sense of the word. in the mornings, the Chinese run to work and on the way they eat incomprehensibly what. local breakfast + hot soy milk. This picture still pisses me off. towards evening the aromas on the streets leave much to be desired. filthy dirty salesmen. with dirty hands, they pour local meat and other crap into bags, and the buyers eat it. You have to be careful even in restaurants. "know save" is your motto. they cannot put spices at all, therefore they put a minimum, but after this minimum one wants to breathe fire. I often ate at McDonald's for both lunch and dinner. Hot Pot restaurants are quite popular there, but I can’t eat that. sushi super. a month after arrival, kind people showed us places where it is worth eating for which a separate respect. supermarkets sell everything for every taste and color. they bought groceries there. prices are cheaper than in Kyiv, the quality is better, the choice is greater. from what I liked from food: roasted chestnuts, fresh dates, pomelo, nut milk, peanut butter. delicious bread. rice with variations that the soul desires. Chinese tea is very good. large leaf, there are with additives. you need to buy where it is kept in refrigerators (green) in the Russian district of Yabaolu in the shopping center there are many points of sale. we took on the advice of friends in Tanya. at first they gave us all kinds of drinks and fed us free sweets, which we later also bought because they were delicious)
Attraction. there are a lot of them. we went everywhere by ourselves. keep in mind that on the Chinese Wall it is one and a half times colder than in Beijing and the wind is much stronger. the trip there cost us a penny - first by subway, then by bus and we are there. they also traveled under their own power to all temples, to the forbidden city, to the zoo. although the favorite excursion was shopping.
shopping. cheap and cheerful. the main places, in addition to a huge number of shopping malls, are original markets. the same shopping centers are multi-storey, but instead of shops there are trays. if you want to buy fakes then you are on Silk. if Chinese and Korean clothes are of different quality, then go to Xidan. Xidan is designed for local residents, and they love themselves! prices there are also often written, and are not taken from the head as on Silk + bargain, they drop very well. in the Russian district in the shopping center, mostly good things for wholesale. also near the zoo there is Zoo Market. also a good place. Oh, and shopping malls. during sales there are great discounts, great deals and gifts. I can especially advise you to buy Chinese cosmetics - masks, creams, shampoos, etc. the prices are low, the quality is high, the effect is like after magic.
about the Chinese themselves - I hate them. Their English is below the level of a rural school, do not expect help from them - they will pass by with stone faces, pretending not to hear you. if you grab by the hand like I did in the first week, they will point the wrong way to evil, unless of course they understand what you want from them. children are something with something. they have all the children's pants and sliders with holes in the pope - it's easier to seat the child to pee. I was out of my mind when I found out. children run through the streets and shopping centers, fall with their fifth points on their bare ass, and their parents have zero reaction. I sincerely wonder where such a birth rate comes from...
tickets, etc. - all in Chinese. I felt like Harry Potter at the station, looking for platform 9 and three quarters. Really. and the Chinese just created a crowd around. no one helped, but everyone pissed me off.
helped me survive in this country for the first 2 weeks of novopasit and valerian, and then alcohol and the Russian region of Yabaolu. I spent all my free time there. restaurants for every taste and color. I really fell in love with the Caucasus, the Turkish-Russian restaurant in the Las Vegas club and Mango.
night life. Yabaolu has 2 Russian clubs Las Vegas and Chocolate. Vegas is bigger, there are fewer people. the reason is that there are a lot of prostitutes in Chocolate - there is a crowd of men. in Vegas they are closed and therefore there were days when there were only 3-4 tables occupied. but there are a lot of young people in Vegas, mostly students from the CIS. he can learn a lot of useful information from them. not far from the Russian district (you can walk) is The Place. there is the largest hinged screen in Asia (photo). In the evenings it is noisy and there are many tourists. of the clubs there is the best Spark. new club. opened it just during our stay. also an interesting Susie Wong club - many themed parties. I do not advise you to go to purely Chinese clubs, there is nothing for our people to do there - only Chinese and specific music. and already at 11 pm everything is "burped" under the clubs and in the toilets. because the Chinese don't know how to drink. . .
the most expensive area is San Li Tun - everything is designed for European and American tourists, especially prices. but it's beautiful there. also Soho - expensive boutiques, restaurants and apartments with hotels.
conclusion: you need to go to China with empty suitcases. you can buy everything there and good quality. at what completely repulsed the cost of air travel and accommodation.
at moments when hatred for the inhabitants of the country was overflowing, I simply shouted in the streets that I wish them war with Tibet as soon as possible and that I can personally kill them in the name of Tibet (this is to somehow explain the state of the nervous system).
and as all the Russian-speakers in China said - "if it weren't for the Chinese, one could live in peace in China. " true truth
