Quote:
Originally Posted by flatbutt
Hi Rick, what would it be like if you weren't traveling with someone fluent in the language and culture? I've always wanted to go but I have no clue about either.
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I went there twice on my own before I knew Mrs. Lee, actually met her in VA. First time was January, 2005. I had been engaged to a woman, co-incidentally also from the same city as where Mrs. Lee grew up, and the engagement broke off. By then I was so damn curious about China, I just had to go. I took some classes at a local high school, but they kept canceling the level 3 classes because I was the only person who signed up. So I booked a flight from Newark to Hong Kong, non-stop, no tour, and just went by myself. I had gotten involved in a chat forum a while before and had some offers of local help in a few cities. A guy, who I thought was a Chicom, offered to come get me at the HK airport and take me to Shenzhen and then Guangzhou.
He turned out to be as white as I am, was an Aussie expat arms dealer, spoke Chinese, had a driver, a bodyguard (former local cop) and really gave me a great intro into how things work in Mainland China. Once he dropped me off in Guangzhou, I was on my own and it was like getting hit the face with a bat. Just a different planet and Cantonese is nothing like Mandarin. Two local ladies I had met on that chat board really helped me out and I'm in touch with them to this day. Ditto for when I went to Chengdu and Xi'an.
English was pretty rare there back then, even in the hotels. Sometimes women would just walk up on the street and want to chat to practice their English. But I sure spent a lot of time on my own and trying to figure things out. Getting food on my own was tough. At one point I walked for miles before I found a restaurant with photos on menu. That was before iPhones and Google Translate. Street vendors were much easier to deal with for food. I ate things that'd make a billy goat puke and I never had the slightest stomach problems there.
Now that I always go with Mrs. Lee, I've really gotten lazy. She handles everything for me and I'm rarely on my own. I kind of like the feeling of getting myself into situations, purposely knocking on the wrong door, starting a chat with someone I know I can't finish, getting lost, etc. I don't get to do that as much anymore with Mrs. Lee always by my side and her folks usually nearby. Next time I really want to spend some time in Korea and/or Vietnam before I head to China. Mrs. Lee won't want to do that, so I'll get to do some adventure travel on my own then.