china week 1
This trip felt surreal to me – both for the entire duration of time leading up to my flight to Beijing and for the entire time I was in China. Even though it wasn’t, it felt like a novel experience to me, and I had conflicting feelings of excitement and fear when I thought about being in China for a whole two weeks, reuniting with my extended family members who I haven’t seen in 8 years, speaking Chinese out of pure necessity, eating only Chinese foods for the entire duration, integrating my boyfriend with my family, and travelling around parts of the country without a native Chinese person to guide us.
I consider myself a bold adventurer, but I felt a great deal of anxiety entering the trip which I think stemmed from this air of uncertainty around China. Coming from America, Chinese culture isn’t mainstream. If it’s talked about, it’s frequently in a negative context, revolving around government corruption, economic competition, and covid. Sometimes, positive aspects of the culture get introduced into western culture by being rebranded as Japanese or Korean, which Americans are more likely to accept. It shapes up to feel like propaganda against China which America pushes and citizens buy, because who knows better? For most of 2024 and half of 2025, the US travel advisory listed China as a level 3 country which recommends you “reconsider travel”. Other level 3 countries are Uganda, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and etc., countries with serious risks of violence and terrorism. At the bottom of the list is level 4 countries such as North Korea and Ukraine. Given this juxtaposition, I had concerns about safety in China.
Overall, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better experience in China. To be cliche, I would describe it as life changing. This is why:
- I discovered China feels extremely safe and very easy to travel around. This widened my realm of possibility because it proved the feasibility of traveling, exploring, and living in China.
- This trip reaffirmed my ability to speak Chinese well enough to get around most areas of the country.
- I noticed that my Chinese was naturally improving through the trip as I actively spoke and conversed in it.
- Sam met my family and even connected with them. He’s the only person from my personal life to have ever met my extended family.
- I had an amazing time with my cousin Wei Wei and felt like we were actually friends because we spent a lot of time together and really enjoyed it. Living across the world from all of my extended family, I’ve generally lacked this experience of closeness with relatives.
- I experienced the culture as an adult and couldn’t help but compare it to America and feel impressed by certain aspects.
Beijing (May 18-23)
May 18
When we got to Beijing, we took a 90 minute Didi to my dad’s apartment which only cost $15. I was already impressed by the city. Turns out my dad is renting a two story apartment in a sprawling residential complex decorated with roses. In large, China is primarily decorated with roses. I have mixed feelings towards it since I like roses, but I also like variety.
At my dad’s apartment, I walked in nervously since I haven’t seen my grandparent’s in eight years. My grandfather greeted me warmly despite his temporary blindness and broken rib. I sat down with him and Sam and we talked for a bit in his room, covering topics like past memories, what it’s like in America, how China has changed, and how Sam broke his leg.
The first thing a lot of my relatives say about me, especially my grandfather, is that as a child, I memorized hundreds of Tang poems, stylistic poems written during the Tang dynasty. Then they ask me if I still remember them to which I have to unfortunately say no.
This is one of the most famous ones by Li Bai:
床前明月光 (chuáng qián míng yuè guāng)
疑是地上霜 (yí shì dì shàng shuāng)
举头望明月 (jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè)
低头思故乡 (dī tóu sī gù xiāng)
Translation:
Before my bed, bright moonlight streams,
I wonder if it’s frost on the ground.
I lift my head and watch the moon,
Then bow my head and think of home.
My grandmother is in a wheelchair due to her Alzheimer’s and wasn’t able to interact. There was a live-in nanny taking care of her. It was really sad and uncomfortable to see her in such a disabled state, but I’m grateful to have gotten to see her at all and for all the memories I have with her before her health started deteriorating. We were also surprised by my dad’s cousin in the apartment. She flew up from Nanjing, to spend the weekend at the apartment helping out since my dad was going to be busy hosting me, Sam, Michelle, and her childhood friend Rebecca.
One of my main priorities in Beijing was to eat Peking duck. My dad immediately suggested we go to a local restaurant that makes really good duck. As a guest, I felt very heard. The restaurant was tucked away on a narrow street rampant with mopeds. I love the presence of mopeds because it reminds me I’m not in America.
Even though I wasn’t hungry to begin with, we ordered a variety of dishes, and I ate to the point of bursting. I passed out in bed soon after.
May 19
In the morning, Dr. Cai, the head of science at my dad’s company, picked us up and drove us over to their office for breakfast in the cafeteria. In the past, my sister and I raved about the cafeteria breakfast, so my dad made sure to include this on our itinerary. The cafeteria did not disappoint. Sam and I piled our plates with different buns, oil sticks, and egg rolls. It was delicious, and I took the opportunity to practice my Chinese with Dr. Cai. Afterwards, he gave us a tour of my dad’s office and walked us through a few of their different products which was cool. Growing up and still to this day, it’s hard for me to describe what my dad does for work, so I always appreciate further insight into his company.
I also met up with Xin Ying, the office manager/administrator, who would take Michelle and I around China when we were young.
Sam and I were exploding with desire to explore the city so after the office tour, we headed straight to the summer palace. I’ve been here a few times in the past but it was a really different experience to go as an adult and realize the significance of such a historical place. We meandered around admiring the architecture, the natural beauty, and the fact that emperors strolled around the palace grounds hundreds of years ago. We took a peaceful boat ride around the massive green lake and admired the grand temples and gazebos from over the water.
We even scaled the palace walls and got to listen to music on a chinese instrument after finding a wild cat!
For lunch we met up with my cousin Wei Wei who picked up Michelle and Rebecca from the airport. We went to a seafood restaurant where we ate a bunch of dishes featuring fish, mushrooms, and beef amongst other meats and vegetables.
After lunch, Wei Wei recommended us to an avocado and mango based smoothie place which was incredible. Sam and I split from the group and continued to Yuan Ming Yuan, a massive garden near the summer palace. This garden was the definition of serene, and I wished we could have spent more time here. We walked through miniature forests to reach vast meadows and watched the koi fish and black swans dance in the pond. We passed a couple practicing ballroom dance on the platformed floor of a gazebo. We also saw a swastika in the middle of the pond which is where the emperor used to live. He would move from one end of the swastika to the next as the seasons changed. While the appearance of such a symbol was alarming, it stands for infinity in ancient culture and is not related to the Holocaust. Sam walked the swastika and posted his route on Strava.
Sam and I had been walking almost seven miles at this point which is four miles further than Sam has ever walked on his broken leg. We were exhausted and basically crawled to the street to get into our Didi.
Unsurprisingly, we had a miscommunication with our dad and three hours after our giant, late lunch, we were at dinner sitting around thinly sliced meats and a bubbling hotpot. It was delicious so we ate anyway, trying almost 8 different cuts of beef to dip in the hotpot.
May 20
Now that Michelle and Rebecca have arrived, we repeated yesterday’s morning routine. This time Xin Ying picked us up, we ate breakfast in the downstairs cafeteria, and then we were off to our activity of the day: The Great Wall of China.
It was extremely easy to get there. We took a Didi through the valley and were there in an hour. On the great wall, we stomped up and down the stairs, in awe of the sprawling wall and mountainous views. At one of the peaks, Rebecca in particular rose to stardom as many tourists requested to take a photo with her. Sam was also requested but at a lower frequency. Humbled by the journey up, we paid good money to take a toboggan down. The toboggan deposited us at a different entrance where we bought watermelon and looked at the souvenirs.
On our way out, we stumbled upon multiple enclosures full of sun bears. It was very depressing as they had no vegetation or shade in their living space and it was much too small for the quantity of full grown bears they had in there. The little water they had was brown. My mood was completely thrown by this and slightly soured my impression of China. I found a whole petition demanding these enclosures be shut down, yet on Trip.com (China’s version of Google reviews/Yelp) there was nothing but raving reviews, none mentioning anything about the inhumane conditions these bears have to live in.
For dinner, my dad had a vision. We went on a group bike ride to his favorite noodle place. Bikes in Beijing are abundant and bike rides come out to only cost a few cents. My dad puts in six orders of his favorite noodle dish, and we find it is indeed very delicious. In typical fashion for my dad, he suddenly announces we have one minute before the Didi will be here to take us to his tennis game. We are all mid-bite and hastily package everything up to attempt to keep up with the itenerary.
The tennis match is against a friend who he met somewhere unconventionally. The tennis court is at his friend’s company grounds, an amenity apparently requested and tastefully designed by his friend, which my dad mentions many times in the presence of said friend. I have a positive experience sitting in the umpire chair and robotically stating the score.
My sister has plans to get jelly nails. My dad’s cousin supports this desire by booking us an appointment at a nail salon. We leave the tennis court to get our nails done. Unfortunately, we are severely impacted by our illiteracy and it takes us 90 minutes to find the nail salon, by which point we have missed our appointment and the nail salon is closing.
Tianjin (May 21-22)
Before heading to Tianjin, we went on a little hike with Wei Wei at a nearby mountain that my dad frequents. Sam and I intently listened to my cousin share about his love life. After the hike my dad took us the dinner at a famous Xian food place where we ate rou pao mo which is a traditional Xian food that is very delicious and consists of meat in soup with bread that you rip apart yourself.
It’s really easy to reach Tianjin from Beijing. I sat on the one hour high-speed train ride and furiously edited my TikTok vlogs. It was nerve-wracking to reach the apartment complex in Tianjin knowing I was about to see my mom’s entire side of the family who I hadn’t seen in eight years. The apartment complex looked the exact same, concrete block buildings with wirey balconies where people hang their laundry.
First we met up with my uncle, who was accompanied by a mysterious woman we have never met. He led us into my grandfather’s apartment. My grandfather is ninety-two and has lived alone since my grandmother passed away in 2020. He lives in the same apartment complex but has moved a few buildings over and lives on the first floor instead of the fourth floor to avoid stairs. Despite his age, he is spry, positive, lively, and I was amazed by both his physical and mental state.
We sat in his living room and exchanged a bunch of gifts my sister and I brought over and also received some gifts. The woman my uncle was with, he revealed, is our soon to be aunt. He has a strange relationship with his prior wife where they don’t talk but refuse to get divorced…no one understands. He is also very private about it, keeping the situation very mysterious. She gave us a silk scarf, and my grandfather gave us a bunch of cash.
It made me emotional to see so many people at once and to also have Sam meet everyone.
After a while, we went to a nearby seafood restaurant for dinner. In China, when you have a large group, it’s very often that you will get a private room which is really nice. We had a pretty insane seafood feast with scallops, three different types of clams, live shrimp, abalone, big conch, small conch, and octopus. All of it was extremely fresh as it got cooked right in front of us. We also had uni, lamb skewers, and even more. Sam and I were really excited to try abalone after visiting this expensive store in Australia full of dried abalone. It was pretty good, but I wouldn’t say I’m craving it.
At night, we went back to a nice hotel in Tianjin, and I slept like a rock from finally not having to share a bed with two other people.
In the morning, we met back at Wei Wei’s place for breakfast. He presented us with a classic Tianjin breakfast spread, just like we used to eat there. There were oil sticks, soybean milk, spicy tofu, pork buns, and more. We reminisced about the old times we had at his place playing Plants vs Zombies. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see my grandfather’s old place since he moved. He offered, but we didn’t take the opportunity and now I really wish I had.
Before we left, we walked over to my grandfather’s place and said bye to him and my uncle. It was sad to say bye after such a short time together, but hopefully we’ll meet again soon.
Chongqing (May 23-25)
Chongqing was even more breathtaking than I imagined. I had seen the TikToks of the city lights, but nothing prepared me for the moment we drove in the city. When we crossed the bridge in our Didi, the view exploded into a sweeping panorama of lights. The towering buildings shimmered with lights across the water and cars weaved through the web of streets and highways. To be honest, it really did fill me with wonder and a strange, quiet hope for humanity.
As we drove deeper into the city, everything was cinematic – we noticed groups of young men lounging against trees, women running to catch Didis in stilettos, and outdoor restaurants packed with strangers laughing and socializing. It felt like what I have always imagined a city to be like but have never first hand experienced.
Our first day we prioritized seeing the dreamlike imagery of a train running through a building. It was crowded but did not disappoint.
Then we visited Ciqikou which is an ancient town with an intricate network of winding alleyways full of street vendors and shopping. We had an extremely entertaining time there watching food being prepared, looking at jewelry, and taking pictures.
For lunch we had a somewhat traumatic experience. Chongqing is one of the hotpot capitals of the world. Visitors cannot pass through without trying the hotpot there. However, Wei Wei introduced us to some hotpot well above our adventure level. This hotpot restaurant was so spicy we all started coughing as soon as we entered the restaurant. Instead of regular cuts of beef and pork, we were presented with stomach, heart, intestines, pig’s feet, liver, blood. I tried the stomach which was tasty but not more tasty than beef. Sam tried everything because he is brave and open-minded which I love about him. After this eating experience, I felt we were unanimously hoping to eat something else for dinner.
We visit the area where the ground floor is actually 22 floors up. The architecture is really imaginative and futuristic.
At night we went to the iconic Hongya cave which is an ancient town that is covered in glowing lights. It was so packed I thought the bridge might go down, but it was well worth it because it was a truly beautiful and unique sight. We squeezed through the throngs of people to reach an opening on the bridge to get a view of the lit up city. Once there, we had my cousin hold up his phone flashlight, and began a methodical photo rotation system capturing various combinations of us.
After we snapped out of the trance the lights put us in, we embarked on a search for food. This was no easy task given that we were weary of the hotpot in the land of hotpot. We settled for the same place we ate breakfast and got another bowl of beef noodles. Delicious.