你好, Beijing

I went to sleep in the Gobi desert’s endless flat sand dunes and earthy colors with nothing but a scattered house to see and flocks of animals, and I woke up to the green fauna of the Chinese mountains with small lakes passing regularly. I had finally come to China, the country too small for its ppl and yet too big to comprehend or ignore. Also the country I have no expectations towards as I’m only passing thru to get to my next destination. I find many are immensely fascinated with this country thou, as if there’s something that drags them towards it; they have to visit, to experience and to explore. It’s the far east, supposedly a different world.

I have come to realize that I’ve so far been held as a fool by all the stereotypes that roam the west – and probably the world – about China. My expectations were low and close to none existent, since China wasn’t a specific choice I made to travel to, but rather a country to travel thru to get to the destination Nepal. The easiest way to Nepal is via Tibet, which in itself didn’t seem repelling at all. And here I am, my third day in Beijing, and I cannot do anything but take my hat off and admit that I have been wrongly influenced by twisted prejudgments, being my own fault of course. I’ve always heard of how filthy, smoggy, noisy and unpleasant Beijing is, but on the contrary. As I got up bright and early today I found myself walking under a clear blue sky with the sun caressing my shoulders as I walked to get a morning Starbucks. It was a wonderful moment where one can almost hear the world go “aha!”. I constantly met ppl sweeping the roads, cleaning railings, dusting whatever might be filthy. I also noticed that even thou the early morning traffic jams were taking place in front of my very eyes, the cars were merging as a oiled zipper without making a whole lot of noise as one should and could expect. Words cannot describe how nice it is to finally be able to cross the street again without fearing for your life (a huge contrast to UB to say the least)! As for the smell, I’m not going to lie, there are a lot of different odors that I’m not used to,  but nothing as bad as I had pictured (if you can picture a smell that is).

What impressed me the most was the metro. First I must say that I like metros. I like their function, the rapidness of moving from one place to another, the environmental aspect of it and their non-rocket science level to figure out. After “having done” quite a few metros in my life, I have never been more amazed over any metro like I have this one. The cleanness, the directories, the signs, the security, the prices, the modern style and futuristic look all adds up to a metro experience like no other (did I mention the prices?!). I believe it’s in its place to give some credit to the Olympics for this well-functioning system, but I’m certain they had a great foundation to further develop upon. A small detail as having English announcements and signs in and on the metro makes the world for a tourist, in an almost none-English speaking city, a whole lot easier.

And by the way, Chinese now come in taller versions as well. In other words, yet another stereotype can be washed out of the world along with many others.