Day 75: Today I Woke Up in Yangon, Myanmar…

…starting a new chapter in my traveling adventures. China belongs in the past, and yet the experiences I had there still linger and I’m finally moving out of the fog. My month in China was full of extremely good food and unique sights, but there’s no denying how intense and impactful it was.

(Only some of the amazing dishes I had in China. Spoiled and inspired, I cannot wait to begin implementing some of the spices and cooking techniques I experienced, especially those that made me tear with their spiciness.)

While in China I traveled to seven different cities, and slept in 8 hostels; I used mostly the train system covering more than 15,000km or 8,000 miles, and transferred locally using DiDi (the Chinese Uber), the subway and buses. Despite the amount of time I spent among the Chinese and doing as they did – at least to my best efforts – at no point did I feel like a traveler. I was always an outsider, a mere tourist. China did not allow me to dive in beyond its surface, and for a whole month that’s where I remained. The language barrier has always been an issue while traveling, but it’s never been such an absolute one before.

(One can never be too old to pose with a giant panda.)

It is my perception that the majority of Chinese are uninterested in becoming affiliated with any other culture after of hundreds of years of being a wholesome and self-sufficient nation. China is the first country I played the “I am Greek” card and for the first time ever it was met with apathy instead of offering a topic for conversation per usual. During this trip, even before I was asked where I’m from I was already labeled as yet another European tourist – which in this case, unfortunately, it was true. Despite my sincere efforts I was just a curious white out-of-towner, and there was no way to prove I am here because I want to have a deeper understanding of the culture. The wall I hit in China was great – pun wholeheartedly intended.

(Wontons, assemble! A war I’d happily lose any day.)

The whole month of November was spent doing many touristy things, however, more so than in any other country, it did not feel like leisure: China kept me constantly on my toes, turning even the simplest activity into a complicated one. I saw the Great Wall in Beijing and the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’An, I hiked the Zhangjiajie National Park and saw baby and adult pandas at the breeding center in Chengdu, and devoured endless amounts of noodles and dumplings. During most of my time in China I was the only white person among hundreds of Asians, and although I got the occasional node and smile and wave from mostly the elderly and the children, none of them spoke – or was willing to speak – English.

(If only I had a Yuan for each time a group of older ladies wanted to a picture with me…)

The rapid financial growth China is experiencing in the past years is quite palpable to its guests. A country that due to overpopulation one can find public toilets and police officers in every corner, and there are more cameras than traffic lights. It took me a whole month to finally get used to crossing the streets with aggressive traffic coming from all directions – even when the light is green for pedestrians, somehow, there’s always motorbikes crossing either along with or towards you, and most of them are electric, so you can’t really look away even for a second. The cities I visited were all quite polluted and smelly but otherwise extremely clean – even the non-touristy parts – not because people don’t litter, but rather because there is staff sweeping away every corner, every day. In order to attract people’s attention many shops either have their employees clapping, yelling or just have a loud recording advertising their goods, creating a sense of havoc at the commercial streets. Many cities will post the local newspaper’s contents in a central spot for people to read, something that I actually find quite progressive.

(At the farmers market, this man happily posed for a picture when he saw me looking ecstatically at his spicy merchandise.)

Each popular place I visited was extremely crowded – the majority of the tourists being Chinese – with the only exception being places that do not offer an easy, comfortable access. For instance, the Zhangjiajie National Park was filled with tourist groups of all ages crowding every corner offering a viewpoint. However, instead of walking to the top, the vast majority of the visitors opt to use overpriced elevators and gondolas to reach the top. leaving all the wonderful hiking trails leading to the top empty and quiet. Those were the only precious moments of real solitude I had in China, surrounded only by nature and the occasional monkey with it’s baby.

(Real or fake? Doesn’t really matter when it looks something like this.)

Many of the monuments I visited have obviously been reconstructed with materials failing to reincarnate the feeling they’re attempting to convey. After doing some research I discovered that until recently, doing academic research before reconstructing a building was not a priority, making conservation work equal to simple construction work. This way, an old building getting renovated meant getting a completely new feeling, losing forever its history. However, preserving the historical value of a monument is the focus once again, and recent renovation projects focus on researching old techniques used in the past, and even revitalizing traditional craftsmanships and recording them to make renovation easier in the future.

(Beautiful and unique tiles ruined by the passing of time get to be recreated using the same old techniques men used hundreds of years ago in an effort made by universities in China to bring back an authentic feeling in their ancient monuments.)

In my last couple of days I met a Chinese girl who spoke English very well. We decided to visit a market together and ended up spending the entire day walking around. I got to ask some questions about the Chinese culture I’ve been dying to ask, and I got some answers I did not expect. The first question I ask when I find someone in a new country that I feel comfortable with is about women’s rights. As a passionate advocate of feminism I am always curious to hear about how other cultures treat the idea of equal rights, and what actions they take – if any – to move on from an older cultural identity generally suppressing all genders, races, religions, and minorities. My online research presented me with evidence that in most areas Chinese women have been suppressed for hundreds of years, from having their feet bound to tolerating their husbands lawfully practicing polygamy; however, my new acquaintance was adamant these practices belong to the past, and nowadays there’s gender equality at least in the bigger cities. Later in our discussion though and while she was talking about her family, she told me that her family’s first child was a girl, and when she, the second child, was born a girl as well, her family chose to exchange her with a boy a family gave birth to at the same time. Having two boys would be very costly for the other family, one they wouldn’t be able to afford since they’d be responsible for building a house for each son to offer as dowry on their wedding day, while her family’s name needed a male heir in order to continue their name and traditions. Therefore, the baby exchange was worth it for both sides. It goes without saying that daughters in most cases receive little if anything from their family when they get married.

(Moral of the story: be like a panda. Eat and rest whenever possible, and let go of things you don’t understand.)

Being alone in the most populated country in the world I did not get to make any deep connections either with other travelers or with the locals; in fact, I can count in one hand the times I talked with someone with the purpose of getting to know them better. Deep down I realize this is exactly what I needed at this time: space to be, to think, to evolve. China has provided the most fertile ground for me to become an even more independent, fearless and courageous traveler. I like to think that if I survived the month long adventure called China, I can survive anything.

(I saw myself in China’s mirror, and the reflection said eat more spicy food.)