China Is Right Next Door

...We met at the bar for breakfast one morning, my brother and I, and as he helped himself to a coffee he uttered these exact words: "How about a trip to China in October?" I said "am piasares" [I'd love to], and six months later we found ourselves on a Finnair MD11 bound for Beijing. We had booked the flights, including the domestic ones, and a few hotels recommended by Lonely Planet; besides, we were excellent guides to ourselves! The not inconsiderable problem if you want to do a DIY China lies in the language, or rather in the six thousand dialects spoken from region to region, and in the fact that English is spoken by very few people.

A classic example: pronouncing your hotel's name in pinyin clearly enough to be understood by a taxi driver is practically impossible, so it's essential to always have at hand the accommodation's business card, on which the name is also written in Chinese characters. The language problem comes up again in almost every situation, but it's not impossible to understand each other with a good phrasebook and plenty of patience! Beijing was the first stop; let me say at the outset that it was the first time I found myself catapulted into a city of thirteen million inhabitants, all alike. A city launching itself into the future at an incredible pace, gradually destroying its artistic history to make room for offices and skyscrapers.

Unfortunately the hutongs, the old popular districts steeped in history, are disappearing ahead of the 2008 Olympics, and everywhere open building sites and cranes in the background make this air of renewal palpable. Beijing is a very spread-out city; the metro and taxis (I recommend with tapiao, i.e. the meter, otherwise you risk endless haggling and arguments) are means of transport that greatly ease getting around, but I recommend renting a bicycle for at least a day. The bike is the quintessential means of transport in the city, fun as it is dangerous; in fact imagine riding along broad avenues as if taking part in a sporting race, flanked by loads of other cyclists on both your right and your left — as long as you go straight all is well, but the problem arises when you have to turn...

The capital still offers plenty, both in terms of artistic and architectural testimony and in terms of cultural shows (a very involving experience is the circus show, at which they are masters). China opened its doors to international tourism recently, and the Mao government of the 1950s enrolled itself as superintendent of cultural heritage.. The temples and residences of the imperial dynasties are well preserved, although following some restorations commissioned by the government they bear the marks of crude and somewhat gaudy interventions. The Great Wall of China is also worth a visit. ****MY ENTHUSIASTIC ADVICE: perhaps choose a starting point different from Badaling, the most convenient access to the wall and perhaps for this reason also overrun by hordes of tourists.

With our time in Beijing used up, we moved by plane to Xi'an; the reason for our interest was clearly the six thousand terracotta statues, a good part already restored and arranged side by side in parallel rows inside three pavilions. Unesco's hand has allowed the sobriety of this site to be preserved — truly moving!!!! In Kunming we devoted ourselves to visiting the Stone Forest, very very special — I hope the photos do it justice. The area attracts many travellers bound for Tibet; the Camelia hotel offers various services, from multi-day mountain tours to flights to Lhasa and Vietnam visas; in short, Kunming is a fairly strategic place for continuing the journey. Last stop Guilin, a tourist town that has a bit of a seaside feel, perhaps thanks to the already tropical and humid climate and the presence of the Li river.

From here the boats that navigate among the limestone formations depart. The cruise lasts about 4 hours, lunch included, and the spectacle you witness is truly evocative: a series of limestone peaks following one another and piling one upon the other in a curious optical effect. The trip ends at Yangshuo, A LEGENDARY PLACE!!!!! The town is very neat and surrounded by limestone formations. It is the quintessential destination for backpackers from every corner of the world; indeed you find every kind of little restaurant; guesthouses are most popular, and the days are spent exploring the surrounding countryside by bike or climbing the limestone peaks. A magical place, Yangshuo, as are the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, also reachable from Guilin.

In short.. China is pandas, many temples, the Great Wall, people who in the morning eat noodle soup strictly with traditional chopsticks, bicycles, wonderful landscapes, a strange language, immense cities, karaoke, chaos, Tai chi quan at six in the morning in the park, Mao, big smiles and almond eyes... XIE XIE