China: It’s Not So Foreign

Today’s guest talks about a very interesting country: China. It’s at the top of many lists of places that are “very foreign” yet really, at the end of the day, is any place any more different than the next? Sure, the languages and the sights and sounds change…but at the end of the day, we’re all human. Anyway, Jess has some fantastic tips and ideas for the first (or next) time you head to Asia. Read on…

Can you introduce yourself?

I’m Jess Marsden, a China-based traveler-expat and the blogger behind To China… and Beyond!

I first became seriously interested in China when I got to tag along on a university junket to China back in 2007 as the “official blogger.” (And no, you don’t get a link. It was my first time blogging, and there is definitely a learning curve.) We were only there for 10 days, but something struck a chord, and when I got back to school in the fall, I signed up for first-year Chinese. Daily morning classes were a bit rough as a senior, but I stuck with it, and when I graduated I accepted a two-year English teaching position that sent me to Changsha, deep in China’s heartland.

Travel was one of the big draws of moving to China, and teaching afforded me plenty of vacation time and just enough money to explore a good chunk of China during my two years. I started To China and Beyond! as a way of recording my travel and helping out other China travelers. I’ve now finished up my two years of teaching and am headed to Beijing, where I’ll be studying Chinese and hoping to squeeze some travel into school vacations. The blog will live on!

China seems like such a foreign country to some people. What things do you usually tell folks who are travelling to China for the first time?

China’s a very contradictory place right now. Travel to Shanghai or Guangzhou and you feel like you’re in a fully developed country, but spend a week in the countryside in Guizhou, one of China’s poorest provinces, and you’ll wonder why people are saying China is the next great economy. Those contradictions also make themselves felt on a smaller scale. Computers and fancy cell phones are everywhere, but it’s not uncommon to find oneself squatting over a tile trough full of excrement, either (even in a decently large city). So take what you read in the newspapers with a grain of salt, keep an open mind, and always carry toilet paper!

Andy: Seems like pretty solid advice to me! Note to self on the TP….

What are your favourite Chinese foods (that are suitable to a Westerner’s palette)?

Number one on this list is definitely jiaozi — the boiled, steamed or fried dumplings that most Westerners know as potstickers. But in China you’ve got way more choices than just “meat” or “veggie.” My favorite dumpling place in Beijing has around 40 different fillings. My favorites are lamb and leek, carrot and egg, and pork and fennel.

One of the foods I tried for the first time in China and absolutely love is bullfrog, cooked Hunan-style with tons of red chilis. It may not be an ingredient familiar to most Americans, but it would suit an American palate just fine — it really does taste just like chicken.

Andy: I can actually see all the sceptic faces out there in the audience

You’ve travelled a lot in Asia too. What are your favourite places, and why?

The first is Fatehpur Sikri, outside Agra, in India. Everyone goes to the Taj Mahal. But if you don’t stop in Agra long enough to visit Fatehpur Sikri, you’re missing out. It was briefly the capital of the Mughal empire in the late 1500s, but it’s basically been deserted since then. The palace is partially ruined, but the gorgeous massive red sandstone mosque is perfectly preserved. And it’s completely crowd-free.

The second I’ll call the kopitiam experience. Kopitiam is the Malaysian word for coffee shop, which are ubiquitous in Malaysia. But I’m not talking about any old Starbucks. Malaysian coffee, called kopi, is a revelation — the beans are fried with margarine before being ground, and the resulting coffee is strong and rich (even more so with a dash of condensed milk). The best place to try it is a neighborhood kopitiam, where old Malaysian men sit for hours nursing kopi and reading newspapers. It’s relaxing just to watch them.

What’s been your most inspirational travel experience?

Recently, I’d say it’s probably when I tried CouchSurfing for the first time back in June. When I first heard about the site, I was a little wigged out. Both hosting and surfing require that you make a pretty big leap of faith in trusting a total stranger, and I wasn’t sure it was for me. And yet it works really well. My first CouchSurfing host was terrific, and she really went out of her way to show us around her town. I think it’s a pretty amazing testament to the good side of humanity. I’ll definitely CouchSurf again, and I’m looking forward to becoming more involved with the community when I get settled in Beijing in September.

Andy: I think it comes down to people. People are inspirational. In all shapes and sizes. No?

So what are some of the top experiences to have in China?

1. Taking an overnight train: Trains are still the main mode of transportation for ordinary Chinese, and they’re one of the best places to meet the locals. Chinese people are, as a general rule, friendly and very curious about the rest of the world. Even if you don’t speak any Chinese, you’re sure to make a few new friends.
2. Walking the kora at the Labrang Monastery: This is one of the most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in China, but it’s outside of the territory that China calls Tibet. You don’t need any special permit or a guide (as you do in Tibet “proper”), so you’re free to wander around the monastery at your will. It’s well worth it to get up early so you can be at the monastery around 6 a.m., when pilgrims and locals walk a path around the monastery, spinning prayer wheels as they go.
3. Hiking through the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces: The most beautiful landscape in China, in my book. Over hundreds of years, the people of Guangxi, in southwest China, have carved these rolling green mountains into giant “staircases” that allow them to farm otherwise unfarmable land. The terraces are a work of beauty and a testament to the grit and determination of the Chinese.

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