China 01: Our first excited, adventurous and thrilling month in China.

From 5th May 2017 to 7th June 2017

Our flight from beloved Bangkok landed in Hangzhou in a cool pleasant morning. We were really in China, under the same sky with roughly 20% of the world’s population. I started to feel the stress of being-an-asian-looking-person in China without knowing Chinese. People expected me to communicate in Chinese and they couldn’t take it when I refused to reply. I simply didn’t understand a word, but they thought that I wasn’t listening so they repeated with more words and louder volume. I have prepared myself for this situation for months before arriving in China, but the reality was really hard to manage. 

China at the first glance

After cycling 50 km from the airport to the heart of Hangzhou, we arrived at the cozy flat of Dóri - a friendly and hospitable Hungarian girl who Péter knew through IAESTE. We spent some days there to discover the famous scenic spots of Hangzhou. I could say that the visit to Hangzhou had more meaning for me than for Péter. The main reason is that I’ve learnt about Chinese literature and watched so many movies about this country for years. I always wanted to visit those scenes to see how they look in real compare to how they appeared in poems and novels. The West lake is beautiful in every angle and dominates our time here. We also cycled to the famous village of Longjing which offers one of the best teas to the country.    

West lake

The Chinese version of Paris

Shanghai was the next highlight of our China trip with its fabulous Bund,  the fancy look of the city, the wonderful ancient water towns and Tee Polgar - the super Hungarian traveler-blogger-Couchsurfing host. 

The People's square in Shanghai

The Bund

Suzhou became our favourite place in China because of its well-reserved look through the centuries. New buildings appear almost every year but the old quarter still shines bright to every tourist. We loved to walk around, seeing the old streets, trying the snacks and watching life passing by slowly. 

The modern Suzhou

...and the old quarter

After leaving Suzhou, we had one week of camping in nice and clean parks in the next towns and cities. It was quite a comfortable way of free accommodating in China where hotels are expensive and hosts are not so active. In the parks, we had nice camping spot with nice view, clean toilet and some curious look from the locals but we didn’t mind as long as they just watched. There was a day, someone appeared and invited us to his home for taking shower and having dinner but not staying the night. Another day, a cyclist allowed us to stay inside his closed teahouse and invited us for a huge dinner and a feast the next morning. Oddly, there was a night that we camp in the meeting room of the local police station. Things are unpredictable on a cycling tour, right?

The teahouse where we camped

And the feast that our host treated us

Somehow, we found Chinese people much friendlier than how they appeared on the news. Of course, everything else written about them was mainly true though! The language barrier is the biggest problem during our time here. It was very hard for Chinese people to accept that other nations don’t have the same mother tongue as them! And that’s how when we met someone who could finally speak some English, the first thing they asked was always: “Can you speak Chinese?”.

Every scene, to take photos or to die 

The most amazing story of our first month in China must be how we supposed to camp in the park but later ended up in a fancy wooden summer house at a private ranch. Well, that day, we arrived in Guangde without having any lodging. As usual, we searched on the map and went straight to the park to set up our tent for the night. However, before entering the park, we saw a small elegant museum, so Péter went inside to ask if we could camp in their yard. The owner of the museum refused our request as no one is allowed to stay inside the museum after it’s closed. But he didn’t turn us down as he offered the bathroom of the museum so we could take shower before going to the campsite. Meanwhile, he made a phone call to an English teacher of one private school. The teacher helped to be the translator between us and the museum owner which was a perfect role in China! It’s not the end of the story yet because the English teacher made another phone call to the principle of her school who owns a ranch some kilometers deep in the forest. The principle used to travel a lot and he thought that it was time to help other travellers in his homeland. That’s how he went to the museum and brought us to one of the beautiful summer house at his ranch. We spent two wonderful days relaxing at his place and were totally ready to cycle again.

The ranch

The principle

Arriving in Chizhou with the acceptance of our Couchsurfing host, Carey and Callum - a lovely Chinese - British couple. They have been running an English school in this city and it seemed to be a good business. 99% of the foreigners that we met were teaching English and having a comfortable living in this country. We asked for 1 night but ended up staying 13 nights because I got the most serious infection in my life which didn’t allowed me to sleep and stop coughing for a single minute. This is so far the record of hosting on this trip! We could not imagine how bad the situation would have been if we didn’t stay with them. Who would brought me to the hospital in need and talk to the Chinese doctor? Who would let us use their house freely for 13 days? Would you do the same ever? We even thought of ending this trip if I could not have recovered faster. Luckily, I felt better slowly and finally we could get back on our lovely saddles again… 

Linh