China pt.5: The Great Wall

Realized I never posted enough pics from the wall we pranced around on in China. So here's a whole bunch!

And this is how charming I looked as I practically inhaled 1,5 liters of water at the end of the hike: 

Note to self: I you're planning on walking for hours in the scorching sun on a stone wall ever again, bring more water. Bring a horse carrying tens of liters. Or at least another bottle.

And wait, it's not over yet! Here's something less green and blue for you as well:

China: pt.4 - Shanghai

Ok, so I thought Beijing was a big city. I was convinced that Beijing was crowded, filled with smog and packed with cars. Man, was I wrong. It was like a rural village compared to Shanghai. (Or well, maybe not that bad, but the difference was none the less striking.)

Originally, we had planned to take the train both back and forth to Shanghai. Sadly, we were a tad late on ordering the train tickets, and all that remained when we came to the station were "standing tickets". 11 hours of standing in a crowded train suddenly seemed like a long night. And as my Mr.Man was convinced we'd be locked up in a wagon with goats and other funky animals, we decided to book a flight down, and then take the train back to Beijing. In retrospective I think this was smart. Smarter than smart, actually. Genius.

So, how was Shanghai? If I have to compare the two cities, I left my heart in Beijing rather than in the pulsating chaos of Shanghai. But it was a striking city! Born and raised in Norway, I'm still a bit awestruck when I'm standing in front of a skyscraper. Staring up at all the tall buildings in that city can make your neck sore. At left and right I could spot Chanel, Cartier, Gucci and Armani. In the streets I was looked at by beautiful Chinese women, in killer heels and perfect make-up. My 170 centimeters suddenly felt so incredibly tall and clumsy, haha.

I read a few places that Shanghai can be said to be Asia's New York. And even though I've never been to the US, I can understand why someone would describe it in such a way. It's the world's biggest shipping harbor, and one of the major financial centres on the planet. It's shiny, it's bright, it's pulsating, and it's a strange kind of mix between capitalism and communism, covered in dazzling neon lights.

So, how did we spend our time in such a metropolis? Well. We did pretend to be filthy rich, sipping at a drink in the sky bar of China's 2nd largest building. A drink does taste a lot better when enjoyed at the 57th floor. (It better, as the price easily could have bought us a good dinner for two at a simple restaurant. Maybe even for four.) A lot of the time in the city was spent walking, looking at the mixture of old art deco buildings and shiny skyscrapers disappearing into the clouds. The neon lights and the historic architecture blended together into something.. interresting. And very Shanghai.

To sum it up, Shanghai was huge. Overwhelming, to someone like me. The people were remarkably different from those in Beijing, and so was the city. And that's one of the reasons I'm really happy we went there. I've only seen a fraction of China, but at least I've seen a few different aspects. Would I recommend anyone else to go there? Gods, yes! Just to stare at the lights, the buildings, the fashionable people and the expensive cars. Just to pretend you're filthy rich, just to stare at the ridiculous consumerism and expensive things. Just to see, and be there.

This, by the way, is one of the waiting rooms at the train station we departed to Beijing from. Just one of them. Taking a train in Norway will never be the same - it's as if we're one step behind in the evolution of travelling humans. The train was superb, the beds had TVs in them and the Chinese businessmen we traveled with were more than polite. (I think. We didn't understand a single word they said, and vice versa.)

Superfast jellyfish

When I grow up, I'm going to be a jellyfish. Because then, then I'll be awesome. And as I suspect them of lacking the ability to think much (but what do I know, I study social sciences), it's got to be a rather relaxed life. If they know they're living, that is.

Pictures are taken at the Beijing Aquarium.

China: pt.3 - Beijing Aquarium

I realize I didn't start my little "how I experienced Beijing/China"-series in the most positive way. That will change though, pinkie swear. It got better after the zoo. A lot better.

After walking until our feet (and my heart - pardon the cliché) hurt in the zoo, we finally found the Beijing Aquarium. It has huge, as things apparently tend to be around there. And, even though we were a tinsy bit scared of what we'd find, (I personally fantasized about whales lying in a puddle in concrete boxes, and fish gently floating on its back in various aquariums), we finally decided to go in. The blistering sun ushered us in as well, I'll admit. And man. What a different world, compared to the outside zoo.

Fishies! And in so many colours! I got my diver's license in Sri Lanka last year, and one of the best parts of it was so just follow small fish around the corals. Just staring at the rainbow of colours found in both the tiny things swimming around me, aswell at the plants and corals, was an awesome way to spend a day. And now, there were fishies everywhere!


I'm not sure I can say, with my hand on my heart, that all the little creature we stumbled upon in the aquarium had the optimal sized area to move in. Freedom would be the optimal size now, wouldn't it? But consider this: while a panda is stuck on the ground, a fish held captive in the same area would also be able to move up and down. To be rational about it: they're using their given area more effectively. I don't support putting everythig we see in cages and boxes. But when I'm presented to all these things that the world has to offer, I'm still baffled by its beauty. And so many things in the aquarium cannot be described in any other way. Simply beautiful. I like aquariums. They let me see a world I don't belong in, a party of colours and shapes I'm not invited to but still get to peek at.

While the tropical fishes and corals were nice and dandy for a good while, what we found next held up captive for an indecent amount of time. There were colours, and shiny lights and aquariums so big I felt like a little kid just staring into the water. "Why", you might ask. "What can be better than little fishies in shiny colours? Hmmm?". Well. They had this:

JELLYFISH! After seeing this video a few months ago, I've been just a tiny bit obsessed with the mindless little lumps of jelly. Because, even though they're probably not so self-conscious about it, they look absolutely stunning. They way they swim, the way they float and the way they seem to just not give a damn about how we struggle with gravity while they magically float around - the little girl inside me wanted to jump up and down, clap her hands and yell "prettyyy!". (Let's not discuss if the older girl on the outside did the same.)

And hold on tight, because there will me more jellyfish up soon. I have too, I've got some many photos of these little jelly monsters that I should be ashamed of myself.

China: pt.2 - Beijing Zoo

One of the first things we went to see in Beijing was the aquarium. And the zoo, since the aquarium is located within the area of the zoo. "A nice and relaxing thing to do for two jetlagged kids from the other side of the planet.", we thought. And the whole thing was.. interesting. Zoos can be many different things: they can be lush gardens where animals can be, well, animals. And they can be concrete boxes that simply hold an animal. Beijing Zoo can be said to be of the last kind.

The park in general was beautiful at times. Small lakes, big and fresh trees - it would've been a nice place to just go for a stroll. The weather was fantastic, allthough so hot we had to drink water continously in order go be able to stand up straight. But, it was a good day. It was.

Before we headed for the aquarium, we had planned to see how the pandas in the zoo were doing. We were in China, there were pandas. "Allright, gotta see it." The road there was long though. As both Beijing and Shanghai proved: if you're going to do anything, you've got to do it big. An ideology that was reflected in the zoo aswell. It was huge! So we walked, and we walked, and came to see a lot of.. well. Various animals in various conditions.


I can, for example mention the "Penguin House" that we agreed to pay a few extra yuan to enter. I guess you can say what we paid for - it was a house. With penguins. That just stood there behind a wall of glass. Some were so still that my Mr.Man was convinced the zoo had a real' good taxidermist, just trying to hide that a few of them had called it the day. (They did shuffle around a few millimetres after that, but that was it. The life of a zoo penguin.)

After that we tried to head a little more straight to the pandas, wanting to see at least what we had planned. It took some time, and on the road we hurried past a lot of different animals in different boxes, cages or fields. We found the pandas in the end though. And, as the main attraction of the Beijing Zoo, I'd read that they'd be treated like royals compared to the remaining inhabitants of the zoo. Royals? Well, I'm not sure I'd say that. But they had a significantly better place to stroll around in than most other creatures we saw. They did seem just as stressed and understimulated as I would, living my life with a whole bunch of people staring me down from the other side of a transparent wall. It is, however, a beautiful animal, and I'd love to see in out in the wild. Free. Sitting in its furry ass, being chill and eating bamboo.

Having found the star of the zoo, we decided that enough was enough. It was time to get out of the place, and find that aquarium that was supposed to be somewhere in that zoo. We grabbed some bottles of water, picked up a somewhat comprehensible map and left the furry bamboo-chewing panda. We left little turles in little glass boxes, and we left tigers in concrete cages. There and and then, we'd had enough zoo. Do I regret going there? No, not at all. Did I feel comfortable there? Again: not at all. But I don't believe in only going places, seeing things that pleases you. To be able to know and express what I like, I think it's equally important to experience the things I don't like. And this day held some of both sides.

I'm awfully sorry for starting my experiences in China like this, I know it seems harsh and brutal and.. well, awful. But as I'm writing this, I'm also looking through my photos from the aquarium, which we finally found. And that, that is a whole different story. Promise!

China: pt.1

I live in Oslo, Norway's by far most populated city. Compared to Beijing, however, it's an empty little dot on the world map. The only place I'd been to that I'd dare compare it to before I went, was Bangkok. "Ah, big Asian city, lots of cars, lots of people." Had to be somewhat similiar. As I got out of the airport, it hit me though: "Oh, oh, oh. This sure ain't Bangkok." So, to put it short. Beijing was nothing like anything I'd been to before. Because never, ever had I been to a place with so much people. Everywhere. (And man, you can say the same thing about Shanghai.)

The people were, mostly at least, a great bunch of friendly faces. Sure, we didn't understand a damn word the other said at times, but with sound effects and frantic waving of hands, communication is easily made possible. In short, I learned to say only two phrases in Mandarin: nǐhǎo (hello) and xièxie (thank you). If you're able to smile and laugh at yourself, those two are at least somewhat sufficient. At least in the process of ordering dinner, or asking for basic help and directions. If you want a taxi however, just give up. We did. And then we tried again. And gave up again. And so it went on. To put it short: we basically lived down in the subway system.


There's a lot of things I'm eager to show you; the places we lived at, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and our visit to the zoo/aquarium. There's Shanghai at night, and there's the resaturants in the alleys of Beijing. There's crammed experiences at the subway, and there's seriously strange visits to the supermarket. But.. Where do I start?