The land of the not-so-great wall

China seemed like an odd option to go on a family vacation. But one of our family friends, who has settled there, told us we’d be in for many surprises. She couldn’t have been more right — it was a roller-coaster ride indeed! Compared to the other countries we’d gone to, there aren’t many ‘touristy’ places you can visit in China — but its heritage, culture and history are too vast to absorb in just 10 days. However, we tried to make the best of our visit there.

What surprised me most was the fact that the people were so happy and content being exactly who they are, and where they are. In fact, even all the tourists in China are Chinese! It’s a completely different world out there, because everything is so structured and organised. The trees grow exactly perpendicular to the road and I couldn’t see even a single stray branch. It did get monotonous, but that’s when we headed to places like a water village near Shanghai, and the famous Forbidden City.

The former is similar to Venice, where a water body runs through the middle of the village, but the difference is that it is alive and constantly buzzing with activity as the locals still reside in homes beside the river. The Forbidden City on the other hand, was a bit of a shock — thousands of life-size soldiers, and even horses made of terracota, still in the process of being excavated, was quite a sight! Legend says that the then-king wanted all these statues (his entire battalion, might I add) buried beside him, to protect him during his afterlife. And yes, like every other person who visits China, we too went to the Great Wall. I didn’t understand what the hype was about, because it was just one really long wall! My expectations were sort of dashed against the huge stones used to build it.

But another experience I won’t forget, is shopping of course! The vendors in the crowded markets don’t understand a word of what we’re saying — this gives them the liberty to hike up the prices as they please! We were quick to learn about their devious ways, so all our Indian bargaining skills came in handy here. Speaking about not understanding Chinese, ordering food in restaurants was harder than we thought. I remember trying to tell this particular lady at a restaurant that we don’t eat beef, pork or any other creepy crawlies — she looked at us pitifully. I think she was almost disappointed that she couldn’t ‘feed’ us properly, but the kind woman tried her best nonetheless! That’s the thing; population or pollution, Chinese are friendly and hospitable, and realising that was the best part of our vacation!