When in China | Part 2

Now as you guys know, I am back from my time in china which saddens me greatly. It was such an eye opening experience and filled me with such energy, change of heart and change of understanding. Something quite indescribable unless you do it for yourself. After spending week’s pre departure being hesitant about my decision, I’m so glad I didn’t go back on it.

Although I have a few more posts with china related pics coming up, I want to share the last leg of photos to sum up my last 6weeks out there immersed in an internship, meeting new people and finding new things.

This place that was the first of many long haul trips and this place is one of the most unreal places I have ever been too called Jiuzhaigou (without the tones roughly pronounced joe-jie-go). It looked like an oil painting and every image taken made it so much more worthy of embarking on a 7 hour walk to the main tourist centre within the park. This route was free from the crowds of tourists we encountered at the entrance and a chance to breathe some fresh air, and have long chats with friends made. This place will always hold a special place in my heart especially as we were still there coming towards the end of the trip, this place was hit my an earthquake and luckily there were very few causalities but it’s a shame how such a nature driven place could have been partly destroyed just like that. Well I guess the pictures will just have to speak for itself.

The second of the lengthy journeys we made out of china was to Kanding, the Tibetan area of china. Another one of those indescribable experiences.

I have thought long and hard about going into depth about what it’s like to go to china and be there who isn’t strictly from china because, especially for me, it was tough to feel like you kind of belong somewhere where they continue to see you as outsiders or other. But if you want me to talk about it more let me know.

Kanding is another place that holds a special place in my heart because they are treated like outsiders in their own country, but they are some of the nicest people I had ever encountered throughout my time in china. Beautiful fashion, history and place to visit. We went horse-riding, joined in this daily town dance that they have and embraced a new culture. Plus this was also the first time I had had a yak burger and I have to say not too bad. It kind of tasted like a beef burger but yak…this will only make sense till you have had one.

I touched on the food a little bit in my first post but I have to say thinking about it again, there is a shit tonne of food to choose from. Some looked questionable but others were really enjoyable. Always bear in mind that if you find a non-Chinese cuisine, it’s a Chinese version of that cuisine haha! But at times, I do find myself craving it especially those little white buns. That with like a mince meat mixture was soooo good. And potato noodles (kind of like gnocchi but Chinese) were sooo good. I think I need to stop talking about it because it’s making me really hungry.

All I can say is that china I will be coming back for you. You have given me such an unforgettable experience that I would do over and over again in a heartbeat. But here are the final thoughts; the good the bad and the ugly

The good: gaining knowledge about somewhere on the complete opposite side of the world to you as well as being able to gain working skills to take back for future jobs. Aside from that it’s a rapidly developing country with soo many things that I wish the UK had, like their bike system

The bad: the air pollution. I can’t tell you how much I missed breathing in fresh air whilst I was there and how opening a window is something you just shouldn’t do there. AC is the way forward.

The ugly: how backwards and uneducated they seem to be about race and diversity. I feel so lucky to live (most of the time) and have grown up in London where being black wasn’t such a bigger deal and being a bigger size wasn’t such a big deal. Now, London is in no way perfect but it’s a giant leap from china. I feel blessed that I have a diverse group of friends and we have different interests and styles. As they are slowly being exposed to more western media and ideals, you can see with some of the people that you encounter it doesn’t bother them but they have a long way to go.

I hope you enjoyed the post. You can check out part one here and let me know some of your favourite destinations you have been too below.

Much love