My Chinese group mate Yuxin had invited us to come and experience China over the break. With a mixture of a few Brazilians, an American, a Brit, Yuxin and myself, we took a 7 o’clock flight to China for a packed, intense, and fantastic 8-day trip to Shanghai, Xi’an, and Beijing.
The main format of the trip was perfectly in line with INSEAD tradition “culture, action, friends, food, party, no sleep.” Fresh out of the plane we discovered that China in early March did not have the same temperature as Singapore… it was freezing! In Shanghai we went sightseeing, got to know this hypermodern city, joined Yuxin’s wife Ming for dinners at famous and typical Shanghai restaurants, had drinks at trendy places on the Bund, and cool bars in the Concessions, and went to some great tourist sights around Shanghai. And we had food…
I won’t keep on writing how great the food was (just this paragraph) but every meal in China was completely awesome, and I could write stories about every meal.
Each lunch or dinner was completely different to the others, which added to the appreciation of the size and diversity of this country! Whether Mongolian, Shanghainese, Muslim, or very local and typical from whatever region, we loved the variety of food, smells, spices, colours, and tastes. Don’t get me wrong, Chinese food in Holland tastes good, but after having been to China I know that it’s not close to what you can get over here. Apart from that: every Chinese meal is a social event with loads of Pijiu's and Chinese wine - which truly has nothing to do with wine but everything with spirits like vodka, tequila or jenever… Gan bei!
After Shanghai we went to breathtaking Xi’an… terracotta warriors, impressive tomb sites, old city walls, serene Buddhist temples, a missile launch site, a hotel complex fit for presidents and kings, and many late drinks with friends. Everywhere we ended up haggling, negotiating, eating, drinking and enjoying what this beautiful country has to offer.We were quickly accustomed to do our sleeping in the minibuses, during the small stretches between sights, cities, villages, bars, clubs and restaurants. From Xi’an we flew to Beijing for more food, good clubs, Tiān'ānmén square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, cheap Prada and Louis Vuitton, the birds'nest, the CCTV tower, karaoke at massive KTVs, dinners at 8 story restaurants, taxi rides without any means of communication, being lost, being the only foreigners in some places, being moviestars on pictures with teenagers, and constantly marveling at so much cultural richness...
Our China trip... Thanks again Yuxin and Ming, for what was truly the best possible introduction to China I can imagine, shie-shie!
