THE GOLDEN WEEK
This last week China has been celebrating its National Holiday week. Only implemented as late as 2000, the 'Golden' week commemorates the founding of the National Party in 1913. It came about also to help boost tourism within China whilst the weather is so nice.
Foreigners are warned not to travel in this period as great swarms of people move across this country in record breaking numbers! Here are some stats from Wikipedia.
'In 2012, the PRC government announced that national highways would be toll free for Golden Week, and as a result 86 million people travelled by road (13% increase compared to the previous year).[3] The same year, the Forbidden City in Beijing had a new record of 182,000 visitors within one day on October 2, the Mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen had 215,000 visitors on October 4 (10 times the number of visitors on a normal busy day), 7.6 million people travelled via domestic airlines, 60.9 million people travelled via railway, and revenues from tourism totalled at 1.77 billion renminbi.[4]
Thankfully I don't have to wait to long till I can go on holiday. My contract is up on the 10th, I have a visa extension to the 26th of October. So enough time to do the things I want to do before heading back to the UK.
CHINESE PEOPLE ABOARD
There is something about Chinese people traveling abroad which provokes aggravation. The country's reputation whilst traveling has gotten so bad that the Government has issued helpful 'Do's and Don'ts' tips to people leaving the country.
I had a few encounters with Chinese folk when I went to Nepal and Australia in the summer and in all instances they just made themselves stand out, or in others it was refreshing for me to see Chinese folk in a different light. Here are some of the Chinese people I met when on my travels. Unfortunately no pictures.
The Chinese Hippy. A Chinese couple wearing pants, multicoloured knitted hoody with beanie on top. They'd really gone to town. It was funny the thing which made them recognizable as Chinese was the fact that they had brought matching gear.
The Chinese not airline trained. Man I felt sorry for the Qantas airline hostess who had to tell a fair proportion of the Chinese folk on the plane that, once finished with the tray the airline will come round and pick it up. You had the bizarre sight of Chinese people walking around with their finished trays when they couldn't find the hostesses to take it off them they put the tray down in the wheelchair assigned space.
The Chinese who revel in foreign conversation. Whilst waiting for a friend in Sydney, I encountered two Chinese kids on the steps by the Town Hall. I asking them some questions in Chinese. Their family loved this so much they had the Granddad filming, the Mother and another woman both taking pictures of this conversation.
The Chinese person after a photo together. Funnily enough haven't had as much as you'd think in Shanghai. However when we went to a seaside town, an elderly couple came over and requested a photo. I was with a friend and we flanked them either side in beach wear. One for the mantelpiece perhaps?
The Chinese person who is representing. Feeling completely at home again in the comforts of Australia's Western culture, I get a little reminder of what's waiting in store for me back in China when a middle aged woman walks past in her favourite pink trouser things. Maybe in China, not here.
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Here is an article detailing the governments advice to people going abroad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
And the actual document
http://www.cnta.gov.cn/html/2013-7/2013-7-15-9-58-46078.html
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