In the month I spent in China, I saw a lot of stuff that I think is worth mentioning here. Stuff that surprised me, amused me, disgusted me, scared me or impressed me.

As I said in my previous post, I stayed near Dalian(in the theme park Kingdom of Discovery, 40min by train  from Dalian), so I frequented only semi-touristic and non-touristic areas(and here I mean you would see few foreign tourists). Dalian is located in Northeast China, in the  Liaoning Province and it has a population of 6.2 million.

Here’s all the stuff about China(that region of China) that needs to be said…

First thing that really surprised me was that Chinese people are absolutely crazy about white people. This is the main reason that 90% of the Kingdom of Discovery’s employees(the entertainers, not maintenance personnel) are white – to attract Chinese people. And it works perfectly. I heard from a manager there that the park must have at least 6.000 visitors a day to make profit.

I personally  was asked lots of times by Chinese to take a picture with them …  The usual formula you will hear is “Can I make a take a picture with you?”.  Very very funny )).  This can happen anywhere … on the beach, on the street, in a restaurant. And you make them so happy if you accept … you start feeling like a star.

Second thing is the road infrastructure.   I was really impressed. Even the smallest cities are linked by highways… Good roads,  but the driving is absolutely crazy …. At one point we took a cab between two cities and that guy some how thought that we were in a hurry … We thought we were going to die. There is no driving conduit … everyone is driving with any speed on any lane … on the highway … There are no rules.  It’s really scary.

Third thing: they have motorcycles as taxis. This is probably the most scary stuff I saw.  20years old motorcycles, most of them with no lights or any signaling, and nobody is wearing a helmet. And you can see them on the highway, day or night. Many of the friends I made there, that were working in the park, had at least one motorcycle accident. The motorcycle taxi fare is half compared to a car taxi and they can carry up to 3people with luggage besides the driver, so they are popular.    For a car taxi, the price is 4Yuans per  kilometer.  The minimum cab fare is 12Yuans(you are charged 12for the first 3km at start, and after that, with 4Yuans/km).

Fourth thing is the fact that Chinese are not so good with English. But they don’t realize that. They have a lot of written signs and welcome messages also translated into English. One of the funniest translation I saw was at the entrance of Kingdom of Discovery. There is big sign there that says:  “WELCOME TO HERE”.   And they have many many more of these funny translations.

Fifth thing is that they have Starbucks.  I had my first Starbucks coffee in China, in QuaiFaChu, a non-touristic city(small city close to Dalian – I don’t know to spell it, I just sounded it out.). I payed for a coffee 37Yuans, that’s 3.7Euros.  This is more than the minimum salary for a day’s work in China(normal people make 2-3Euros a day).

Sixth thing are the malls.  There are malls just everywhere. In Dalian, all the center of the city has a big mall underneath, like 3-4 floors in the ground, that connects to all the malls in the area, that have 7-8 floors. You need more than a week to go to every mall.  There are 3-4types of malls/stores: First are the malls with the original big brands, that have higher prices than Europe. Second are the malls with smaller brands, that have more accessible prices.  Third are the malls/stores with fake brands, that have written “No bargaining” … These are the malls that usually have good and very good prices for stuff. And last, there are the malls that have no prices listed and you have to ask the seller for the price. These are the “bargaining malls”. Read more about shopping in Dalian.

Seventh thing is that Chinese people are scared of water. I think about 99% of them can’t swim. They all enter only 2-3meeters in the sea and also wear a swim belt.

Posted by George as China

Tags: Dalian, visit China