I seldom write about my trips and travels, but I made an exception this time.
Even if the places I go to are explored by others a long time ago, they are new to me, and so I explore them to see something beautiful, taste something delicious, hear something interesting. If there is a time to fulfill the dreams of a young boy studying the world maps and imagining how things would be there, it’s now. And see the differences between the West and China. I was in China in 1990 and in 2016, so it would be interesting to see what changed in those 35 years.
Even if it took me 4 flights to get ti myu final destination, and a train ride (and 4 back home) but I don’t see myself, walking, cycling of swimming to visit these places, it was worth it.
I am pretty sure those flights would have left without me as well. The people who wantto tell you not to travel however, all have platinum frequent flyers cards or private jets.
In order to save the planet and they meet in a place where they had to cut 40 km of pristine rainforest to build a road to gather and talk about how to stop the destruction of the rainforest. Can you believe that?
Most likely they are also the same people that are making the biggest mistake in the history of mankind by trying to shield the sun, by spraying toxic chemicals in the air that somehow will come down again, in our lungs and in our food. Simply brilliant news for the future of the generations to come.
Anyhow, after 8 hours of flying, first stop for a very short visit: Almaty, beautiful city of apples at the foot of the Tian Shan mountains, bordering China. Sitting outside the coffeeshop of my friend Nikita, (the best coffees in Almaty).
One can see lots of snow on the mountain range still, a 15 minute drive to Shymbulak, the mountain resort and ski area above the once famous Medeo speed skating rink.
Next stop Beijing, China. And again, just a transfer. The airport is enormous, efficient, clean and new.
Now, if you think everything in the USA is so big, go visit China.
Whatever you look at, you cannot find bigger and more than in China.
China is not like you think it is. The pictures created in the western media still look like 60-80 years ago, at the height of the Cold War: the great yellow (and red) danger.
I ‘ll make a bold statement: in many aspects China is at least as free as the west.
Think about our cameras in the cities and the streets (but look at the increasing crime rates despite). If you think China is spying though your phone, listen or read again what Edward Snowdon said and wrote …the west is doing exactly the same and worse, but most likely, you don’t know and you don’t care
Also in Europe, people get a knock on the door by security agencies, when they say or state something that their government doesn’t like, it happens more and more.
We can clearly see repression of dissident voices increasing.
China for me, is like the old USA, the pioneer spirit, stretching the limits, setting new records, exploring new possibilities.
The funny thing is… China doesn’t need us.. for what? This is no longer the same country I visited in 1990 or 2016. It developed in many aspects at an incredible rate. Ten years from now China will dominate in all areas: science, technology, media, economy, education, development, healthcare, or military.
China does not import refugees or asylum seekers. They are proud of their culture and protect it well. They have all the reasons not to like foreigners, Marco Polo, the missionaries, the opium wars, and they built the impressive Chinese wall to keep out the hordes of barbarians.
And then…on to Wuhan, yes, that Wuhan…… a fabulous city, something out of a movie. Never seen something like it before, 12 million people in one city, how can you manage?
The thousands of very high apartment buildings.
The roads and.. the amount of electric cars and scooters….
All produced in … China. The people of the company I talked to were very friendly and helpful. We stayed in an excellent and affordable hotel, where the word service still has meaning.
A few examples: a special wet umbrella machine to dry your umbrella and put it into a cover when you go into the hotel.
A second set of buttons in the elevator so people in wheelchairs (or very short people) can also push the buttons.
Interesting were the colorful designs of a lot of things, like murals, transformer stations, but also
sculptures, etc.
After that we flew to Haikou, the city on the tropical island of Hainan, the most southern part of China.
A tropical paradise that makes you think you are in Hawaii or Maui, coconut trees, and fresh tropical fruits everywhere.
Its geographical position and its isolation are the cause of a very different wildlife and plant life than in mainland China.
Noni trees (Morinda citrifolia), coffee, and my favorite: agarwood trees (Aquilaria sinensis) If you are interested in bugs, and I bet you are, I liked a well-written book about insects on Hainan, called “Jungle Gems” by Yikai Zhang.
Again we talked to a company which was one of the most dynamic companies I ever talked to where the general manager and the rest of the sales team. They are intelligent, speak English, the general manager studied MBA (in Holland) gave a very well prepared presentation which answered all of my questions immediately. They are lightning sharp and fast, and funny too.
Haikou is again a big city, with modern parts and older parts.
One old street stood out, with hundreds of old fashioned shops for the rare finding.
Anybody interested in bear gall bladder? It is at least as effective and safe as the COVID-vaccine. I have an address for you.
I bought some wild exotic mushrooms with very strong properties (no, not those mushrooms). Ling Zhi
After that we took the train to Sanya, the most southern point of the Hainan island, train tickets were very cheap, but comfortable. and trains go 250 kilometers an hour.
Don’t tell me that Hollands train traffic density is higher than here, but our public transport system has become unreasonable expensive, unreliable, and inefficient.
Outside the temperature is 35 degrees, very tropical, but the hotel we stayed was next to the beach, with a gentle cooling wind. Also here: nothing but praise, everything is efficient, smooth and with almost scary clean streets and beaches.
And what to think about the coconut sellers at the beach.
The food in China is not surprisingly.… Chinese, with its own peculiar dishes like fish heads, whole pigeons, small turtles, and chicken feet, a real delicacy.
But there are a lot of other choices as well.
Flying back with a flight and short stopover in Hangzhou, and a long flight back to Almaty and Amsterdam.
Let me sum up some of the differences between China and the west.
For foreigners there are a few hurdles to take. Almost everything is electronically. Cash and credit cards are going out of fashion, something of the last century. For foreigners it is hard to pay: credit cards (World Card they call it!) do not always work and ATMs are hard to find.
The Chinese firewall is blocking things like Google, Outlook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Paypal, YouTube, Amazon, Wifi, Visa, etc.
Of course, when you have WeChat, Alibaba, Alipay, who needs those western programs? And look at their latest AI programs.
But it doesn’t make things easier for tourists, travelers and business people. At the other hand is was a kind of forced digital detox and in a sense very relaxing.
About freedom, we can enter China without a visa now, but for example, my protégé from Kazakhstan wanted to come to Holland for a cosmetics exhibition in Amsterdam, since we set up a cosmetics line for her in Kazakhstan and she wanted to meet the Dutch producers of her products about future cooperation. But no chance to enter Europe, her visa request was rejected. I think it is, she is a smart young woman, too smart, speaks 5 languages, like Kazakh, Russian, Chinese, Turkish and English, and I am pretty sure she would not throw away her passport.
But our rulers prefer to invite and import boats full of uneducated young man from countries that are “culturally different” (other word for “shitholes”) with nothing to lose. Maybe I am biased, maybe they are doctors, engineers, and quantum physicists, and they will contribute greatly to our society an culture instead of looting, raping and killing. Maybe some of them are criminals and terrorists, but we’ll never find out since they were smart enough throw away their passports to avoid being known to the “authorities”.
The Umvolkung must go on, there is no Chinese wall around Europe, and you will find out sooner or later. One day these people might knock on you door as well, but by that time it is too late to turn the tide.
China doesn’t have that problem, it does not suffer from that multicultural diversity illusion. Multicultural?? In Holland we already seem to have a problem with a handful of wolves enriching our cultural and wildlife diversity and see what happens. And that is just a handful of shy wolves….. and they are just sometimes are eating just sheep…
We saw Chinese children learn about the planets, even at the beach and learn to watch the planets through a telescope and about robotics and AI.
Our children learn about how many genders there are (should be easy) and pronouns, of course, And what bad bastards our ancestors have been some 400 years ago. and that we should feel guilty and ashamed about that.
While Chinese children get shooting lessons, we have to create “safe spaces” for our vulnerable western children.
Can you see in which direction the future of China and the future of Europa are going? Like a fast escalator, one going up, the other one going down.
China found out: the best way to predict to future is to create it, and the best solution for solving problem is to prevent them from happening.
China seems to have learned from its mistakes from the past, whereas the west just didn’t, it just starts to create some huge problem about which it is in total denial, but for sure will pay a very high price in the future. Many millions of lives of citizens are at stake. Like a tsunami, we see the ocean suddenly pulling back real fast, and we should be knowing what is coming and act, but we don’t. We prefer to look the other way, not to see the writing on the wall, to ignore or deny these problems.
And guess what, stepping out of the airport, wanting to enjoy the Dutch sun…
This is how pests must feel when sprayed with toxic chemicals from the air. If nobody disagrees with this, who am I to complain about your and my health and the health of our food and your children? But don’t worry, your government will tell you it is for your own health and safety, so that must be true.
Somehow I start to look forward to my next trip to Chbugs
