It's been a while since I posted. About a few weeks. And between my last post and this one, I've already been in three different cities and flying to another one next week. For someone who hasn't returned to their home country of birth (China) for about 16 years, there are definitely mixed feelings involved. Grateful to be able to travel and finding family miles away, yet still feeling like an outsider in my own homeland. While I don't really know how I feel about China right now and how to put all my thoughts together, I'll just list some things I noticed in every place I went.
BEIJING (5 days)
Visited: Summer Palace, Beijing National Grand Theatre, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, National Stadium (Olympic Bird Nest), Peking University
- in the winter, you're lucky if the sky is blue. I apparently hit the weather lottery jackpot because that was the case 5 days out of the 5 I was there so wearing a mask wasn't necessary but recommended.
- best peking duck by far is in peking, pretty self explanatory right? I had it at Quanjude Peking Duck House and trust me, the manager gets offended when he hears Canada and peking duck in the same sentence so don't even bother pointing it out haha.
- queues are apparently not a thing. If you are too nice, you might never even get your 2 juniors and small fries. People aren't about that first come first serve.
- time flies by incredibly fast with security checks EVERYWHERE (making it probably the safest city in China), ridiculous road traffic and a rather confusing subway system (see it for yourself)
SHANGHAI (5 days)
Visited: Nanjing Road, the Bund, New World (Xintian Di), Jing an Temple, Yu Yuan
- fast-paced city with so much to do especially if you find a hotel near Nanjing Road/ the Bund- eating five meals a day is the way to go (nothing beats spicy hot lamb skewers during chilly nights)
- isolated streets have the best food and the lines are usually good indicators of how good the place is. I think most local businesses usually don't stay open for long unless they're really good (as we have learned trying to find a bar for two hours just to discover it had already closed down 2 years ago).
- how to get a cab on the street after subway hours: you don't (we painfully learned this on our 45 minutes walk back to the hotel)... but later realized most people reserve cabs using an all-chinese app which we couldn't understand a word of and there is also NO UBER :'(
- get a TUK TUK for the full shanghai experience. It's basically a small bike with a small cabin attached in the back enough to squeeze in about 2 people. I'd recommend it for shorter distances as it can get quite bumpy and a bit scary with all the cars on the streets but it's A MUST TRY!
XIAMEN, FUJIAN (currently here)
This is the closest city to my hometown (Fuzhou where I was born). I haven't visited much yet except eaten a bunch of seafood but I already love how peaceful it is in contrast to both Beijing and Shanghai. This small island built from mountains with countless tunnels makes a great getaway from the skyscrapers. I also learned upon my arrival that it was hit by a severe typhoon a few months ago and the entire city was still recovering. Surprisingly, if no one had told me, I would never even have noticed except for some palm trees held by wooden stabilizers. I heard that it only took a day to clear all the major roads and return them to their functional state (meanwhile it takes almost a year to redo a sidewalk in Montreal... lol). I will be leaving for Fuzhou in two days but hopefully, I'll still have time to explore Xiamen a little bit more.I haven't had much time to take actual outfit photos since I left so these are pretty much a throwback. I promise I'll have updated photos soon, but I hope you enjoyed this post x
OUTFIT DETAILS
ROMWE Sweater (SHOP HERE)
ARITZIA Blanket Scarf
AMERICAN APPAREL Skirt
AMERICAN APPAREL Skirt
DANIEL WELLINGTON Watch
ALDO Knee High Boots
Photos by Soo
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