Goodbye me old China
Last week we boarded a China Eastern Airways flight. In the back of my mind was the question, was it a China Eastern or China Southern plane that dropped out of the sky a few weeks back (not that you'd have heard about it in the UK, no dead Brits.) Usually the thought would have been enough to produce a sweaty palm, not this time, the pure euphoria of leaving China made us invincible. Death vs. another day was a fair trade. We board the plane, it taxis to the runway, starts to accelerate then slows and stops, a technical problem... After 30 minutes on the ground we nervously take off. Needless to say arriving in Vietnam was enormously relieving.

We visited some fantastic places and saw some amazing things. The highlights have to include the landscapes of Guilin and the Yellow Mountains, the Panda reserve, the Great Wall & Terracotta warriors. The cities of Beijing and Shanghai have to been visited to understand the facade of modernity. At times we felt like filmstars, at others like dirt.

China may appear superficially advanced but outside of the main tourist attractions and cities the people live in very poor conditions. At times it felt as as underdeveloped as South America, with the same levels of contrast between the rich and poor - a real animal farm type of communism.

If you are thinking of taking a trip please go 5 star, you'll see the parts of the country the government wants you to see, you'll eat some mouthwatering food and meet some lovely people, you'll enjoy every minute. Backpack if you like, but be warned, its more difficult than it needs to be, the government makes sure of that.

- posted by Adrian @ 1:37:00 PM